Ce'nedra

The father of one of my friends, who was a great natural cook, used to make a dish with fish stomach. This is how my friend described it to me: Her father took five spice powder and soy sauce, and rubbed it on a duck. He then browned the duck all over, tied it in a cloth, and steamed it for hours. Then he deboned it and served it on fish stomach, which my friend describes as like pork rind. There was a simple soy and sesame sauce to go with it. My friend rolled her eyes as she talked about it. Obviously it was delicious! I'll have to ask my friend about this again. Maybe we can make the dish together and I can post about it here. ← Wow sounds like alot of effort (I think my mum's method was kept to a minimum lol). The method you described sounds much like a feast while our one is a simple Chinese soup I'll ask my mum soon and I shall tell you more about it...not yet though as we've been very busy since my granny's passing... Oh and please do make a posting on it

I too am interested in this process. What about making the spring roll wrappers? How was that made?

nakji: I've never had lemongrass tea before -how does it taste? Also, what is Nom Du Du? Caramel pork is really delicious -although I tend to have it with fish. My grandma was a wonderful WONDERFUL cook and I was really hoping to ask her for some of her special Vietnamese recipes (to record in my family recipe book -it's a very personal thing for me) after she got better as she's been in hospital. Sadly, she died on Wednesday. I miss my granny

Very lovely and surprisingly filling. Do you add rice vermicelli or just the protein? Also- not to quibble- but aren't they Vietnamese? Despite the rain here you have inspired me to treat myself and my son to some tomorrow. Thank you. ← I agree. Those summer rolls are really filling once you pop in quite a bit. Westerners tend to eat it as entree but it's traditionally eaten as a whole meal (and we follow this tradition).

A recipe and photo please That looks really delicious (and indeed healthy) I never knew Thais ate summer rolls; I always thought it's uniquely Vietnamese? This was our dinner: Asian meatloaf (from Simply Ming -recorded this episode on tv) Salad with French dressing more Asian meatloaf then we had 'gai dan cha' again for dessert (along with fruits as usual)

Anyone ever tried this dish? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jin_lee/426541484/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_flat/112708015/ It's supposed to be a chicken and potato 'stew' (ish) and you add wide noodles to it afterwards to soak up the sauce. I've never tried it myeslf but it looks absolutely delish! A specialty from Xinjiang (apparently). If anyone is able to offer their experience/taste sensation with this dish or even better, a recipe, I'd be really grateful!

I absolutely ADORE Jamie at Home! It's shown here in Australia atm and I've been recording most of the episodes I love the whole 'fresh produce' approach and the feel of the show itself is very casual and personal, two aspects I really appreciate, particularly in relation to all things food. Ooh and the rustic-ness of the show is something else I really enjoy. Like someone mentioned above, I'm not sure if I will ever make my own tomato ketchup (tomato sauce for us Aussies) to be honest hahahhaa. I'm not too big on making things that are THAT readily available at the supermarkets. About Jamie in Italy, I think it was shown in Oz, but I somehow missed it...not sure how. I find that Jame at Home is still fairly Italian-based anyway. Just one thing I'm hoping for is Jamie to experiment with other cuisines a bit more.

Well you're right sheetz, I'm fairly sure that those traditional home recipes are normally passed down by word of mouth, rather than paper. Although me having the memory of a goldfish and also being relatively young, I'd love to learn more about these recipes that I haven't been exposed to and my only way is to actually record them! I'm actually writing my own personal collection of traditional Chinese recipes Then I've got another even more personal one for family recipes

Ahahha those duck eyes gave me the shivers...as for what we used for the stuffing, I don't know the English (or Chinese for that matter) names for some of them, but I do recall there being ginkgo nuts (mainly because I had to suffer the removal of the shells), carrots, ginger, dried mushrooms, onion and barley. I think there was more but my memory isn't the best And why I would love to see a posting on Cambodian cuisine thank you very much I know nothing of it and would like to learn more. Also, despite there being quite a large-ish number of Cambodian migrants over here, I've only come across one Cambodian (and it was Thai-Chinese-Cambodian) restaurant! I wonder why...it might be even more rare than finding Filipino restaurants! Beautiful duck, Ce’nedra, and I appreciate the blow-by-blow description of its preparation. Thanks also for the kind words about the mole. We did use Ibarra Mexican chocolate, about a disk and a half. We are fortunate to have three Latino markets nearby. Clearly, Australia needs to do a better job of encouraging Mexican immigration. By the way, if you are still looking for cookbooks Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet is a wonderful one with recipes from all countries that border the Mekong river, including Cambodia and the Yunnan region of China. Thanks but I will have to give some of the credit to my mum who did most of the 'dirty' work with the duck hhahaha. I have seen (on tv) those Mexican chocolate disks before, and I'm sure they have them here in Sydney, but it's surely rare and I've no idea where exactly. AND I really HATE ordering things online so I'm hoping I don't need to resort to that. And you're right, Oz really should start encouraging a Mexican wave to our country SOOOON! Mexican food is really big here atm, mainly because we lack any good ones arghh! Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet sounds good! Could I have the author's name please? Thanks! Yunnan...that's defiantely a region I have particular interest in.

I've mentioned this just before, but when we make popiah at home, we use rice paper (which is btw, a delicious substitute) because we haven't yet found popiah wrapper (normally flour-based). It's not bad at all though. I like our version of it -I believe the Vietnamese would refer to it as bo bia (popiah using rice paper -as they do in Vietnam).

EXCELLENT thread Dejah! Really what I've been hoping for so thank you! Hmm I'm not all that familiar with pig's stomach (well my parents have eaten it before if I remember correctly although we've never cooked it at home) although my mum has made a soup using fish's stomach. The texture is rather gelatious...I need to get back to my mum on what else she uses for the soup.

As I've said before, every supermarket in China is heaving with milk products. There are aisles and aisles of it. ← Supermarket yes. But I'm referring to traditionally, not store bought stuff...

How easy? Yes I would like the recipe thanks very much! I'll see how it goes -otherwise, there's always the reliable rice paper lol.

Thanks for replying everybody! Really interesting indeed! So some people are obviously not so familiar with this 'concept' (if it should be called that), while others declare it absolutely NORMAL in their part of China hmm...from what I can gather, it seems popular amongst the minority groups in China...interesting...that means that access to milk is obviously possible in China, yet the Han Chinese don't like to make use of it, while the non-Han do...why? Btw, I've also heard of some traditoinal Guangxi cheese.

Which book has authentic recipes that are also lesser known? I'm tired of coming across the same recipes over and over again when flipping through countless Chinese cookbooks and I lose the incentive to buy another. So any suggestions for 'unique' Chinese cookbooks would be really wonderful P.S. Hopefully with not too many 'exotic' ingredients that would be difficult to find in the West; Australia in particular.

Hmm what about adding grounded mung beans and beer like I did? That definately helps to make it crisp Also, in addition to the above plus the water and coconut milk, I also used rice flour. Hope it works out for you

C. sapidus: Your mole looks amazing! Did you use cocoa powder or actual Mexican chocolate? I've always pondered on making this but seeing as we don't have many Mexican products here, I never got around to it... dockhl: Your souffle looks soooooo gooooddd!!! Labour intensive? I suppose that's okay considering it was for Christmas dinner Unlike me, I still resorted to the easy way out (super simple dessert) lol. Was your souffle creamy? It looks creamy. Mmm... Misplaced_Texan: Your anchovy salad looks delicious! And trust me, I don't normally say that about salads hahhaha. Shelby: How did you make that beef cheese ball?! nakji: Ooo Cambodian cuisine! I've never really seen much of Cambodian food so thanks for a peek of it Looks really fresh and tropical-like -yum! How was it? Was it hard to make? This is our Christmas dinner -it was just me and my parents -a very small dinner this year. Things were kept simple/to a minimum but it was delicious nevertheless Lobster salad for lunch And inspired by junehl's Guo Ji Aap (fruit and seed duck), mum and I made a similar style duck but we baked our duck for that delicious flavour and also to release some fats, then we simmered it in a pot and sort of made a stew out of it, with its left-over stuffings. Rubbed with soy sauce (not so nice to look at...) Prepared stuffing for duck We stir-fried and flavoured the stuffing then stuffed it into the duck Mum sewed the duck (not a very appetizing photo actually) Roasted duckie Preparing my simple dessert to go into the oven Roasted duck into the pot Our stuffed roasted duck stew-Chinese style Baked brown sugar custards for dessert (I wanted to make soft-centred choc pots but parents aren't that thrilled with chocolate, unlike me)

Gosh C. sapidus! Ok you've just pulled the final string for my hankering of Mexican food (one of my all-time favourite cuisines)! I don't think I can sleep tonight! Question, that Mexican cookbook you use, are the recipes reasonably simple (what's the name again? Sorry bad memory...)? I'm trying to write my cookbook wish list and you're really enticing me here with the decision making. Also, are the ingredients easy to find or those only-in-Mexico sorts? LOVE LOVE LOVE pies (probably the Aussie in me) and your slice right there is looking perfectly scrumptious and mouth-watering. What's the recipe you used?

Hahhaa don't worry Magictofu, this is a discussion, not a one-ended question and answer routine so no problem at all! Does that friend live in the West (so Oz, the US, etc) by any chance? That may explain why since many o'seas Chinese blend in different ingredients they learnt in the 'new' country. Or was this traditional in your friend's family? Could have well been passed down for generations. I'm guessing you wouldn't know hehe.. Btw, are you talking about lactose intolerance? My dad is lactose intolerant and I've heard alot of Chinese (and some other Asians) are as well...I wonder if there is any truth in this..and why?

I remember coming across one recipe in a Chinese cookbook (I believe it was a noodle dish) which incorporated fresh milk and it struck me as odd. Why? Mainly because I've never heard of milk in Chinese cuisine before. But that's purely because I'm admittedly (and ashamedly) quite ignorant to alot of Chinese traditions So what other Chinese dishes make use of milk and how common is this practice (I'm guessing not very?)? Which brings me to another question, I don't really hear about Chinese people (in China) drinking fresh milk (comparatively to other countries anyway), until recent years. I've heard it was common practice once upon a time but no idea what happened there...soooooooooooooo, enlighten me please!

Question: where do you get your e-books?

Thanks so much for posting your link Pat Churchill! Shall go off to read it now. From your brief description above, it sounds perfect for me (I love fresh flavours and being not so great at cooking, simple is definately what I'm looking for). Thanks again! EDIT: I missed out on Rover oops! Thank you for offering your opinon too. I too enjoy Bill's recipes so far -I love his weekly recipes that he used to write for the Sydney Morning Herald. They always worked out beautifully for me (well, I've only tried 3 but that's good enough for me lol).

Wow this book sure looks promising. Could anyone offer me the average price that the book is sold at? Even more important, do we have it here in Australia?

No problem! Do post your results please Here's our nem nuong dinner where we used the rice papers!

What is this?! All these home-cooked meals are fit for a king! Or at the very least would be perfect for upper-end restaurants! I present to you the humble nem nuong with rice paper! Had this for dinner yesterday -it was quite delicious I've previously posted another nem nuong dinner I had a couple pages back (I think) but seeing as I love these meatballs so much, I just had to do it again. Having the leftovers tomorrow woohoo! P.S. We're missing vermicelli noodles but since there were only 3 of us, I really couldn't be bothered.