Chris Hennes

The curing chamber is in my garage: that was a garage-door opening event.

I decided to implement the incubation stage manually, rather than having it run automatically for some set amount of time and then switch over to the long-time cure. I'd have had to add an input switch to the system, and I'd run the risk of accidentally triggering it, so instead I've just got two versions of the code and I manually upload the one I want to run when I need it. This is a safer way, I think. I am now using a seed-starting heat mat instead of a heat lamp: it's much slower to respond, but they are designed for wet environments and are easy to clean/disinfect. The humidifier is just a cheap misting variety. Here's what the temp and humidity looked like during last night's incubation phase trial run: The humidity cycles a LOT, basically because the humidifier is much too powerful for such a small enclosure and can't really be run at a lower power (it's just on or off). I don't think this will be a huge issue, but I'm going to start up a test-cure today so I guess we'll see.

Cold chicken with spring onion oil (p. 73) I cheated on this one and used already-cooked chicken breasts from last weekend's stock-making. Actually, several of Dunlop's other cold-chicken recipes from Every Grain of Rice (the Clay Bowl Chicken and Cold Chicken with a Spicy Sichuanese Sauce) are my usual uses for the chicken breasts I end up with most weeks, so this was a nice change. It's a very different recipe from those two. My wife described it as "deconstructed chicken and rice soup" -- it's just a sauce of spring onion greens (I used chives) and ginger in a chicken broth, poured over cold chicken.

Make pretzels. I can eat entire jars of mustard with enough soft pretzels.

I don't think they are a drop-in replacement for the dumplings, which are much softer and more glutinous. Though maybe one they have been in the soup for a bit they get that way? I've only had them this one time, and they were only steamed to warm them through before eating, the didn't really rest in the broth for any length of time.

Stir-fried rice cake with scrambled egg and dried shrimp (p. 250) This is a simple stir-fry of bok choy, dried shrimp, egg, and rice cakes. I used a chicken stock as the basis (the recipe suggests either stock or water). There are a lot of dried shrimp in there, so make sure you like them before adding the full amount! Their flavor is the bulk of the seasoning in the dish.

@Smokeydoke, I'm looking forward to your posts. I really love Dunlop's books and am curious what others are cooking from them.

Shanghai potsticker buns (p. 272) These are yeasted wrappers around a pork dumpling filling. I found the cooking instructions to be a bit off ("high burner" started to burn the ones in the middle of the skillet in under a minute, rather than the 2-4 minutes it was supposed to take to get them browned). Easy enough to compensate for, thought. They were about as easy to make as their non-bun cousins, but ultimately were easier to serve because you can cook them all in one fell swoop instead of doing it in batches.

@MelissaH, I am not sure, I haven't yet used those rice cakes, though I have a package in the fridge for later this week. I'll make sure to compare the textures when I post about it. Shanghai stir-fried chunky noodles (p. 257) Another borderline-trivial dish: stir-fried pork tossed with noodles, bok choy, and soy sauce. I've been working my way through the dozens of available fresh noodles at the store and liked this brand least of all, but I can't exactly hold that against the recipe!

I nearly always make double or triple stocks in roughly the manner you are suggesting (though I pressure cook mine).

"Toothless" glutinous rice dumplings with pork and leafy greens (p. 253) I'm definitely outside my comfort zone on this one, I've never had this style of dumplings before. Their texture was unexpected. The dumplings are served in a chicken stock, bok choy, and pork soup.

I have not replaced the screen, though I'd expect I will need to before too much longer. I've gone through five propane tanks since I got mine.

Once I got the Searzall I completely stopped using a torch without it. Not only does it eliminate torch taste completely (to my palate anyway) but it also spreads the heat out a bit, giving a bit of forgiveness. I can't imagine using a naked torch the way I use one with the Searzall on it. It's sort of fun to make s'mores with, too.

I still use mine on a regular basis. Mostly to melt cheese, or finish off things that didn't brown evenly, etc. Hard do say what it's worth, it's a sunk cost now!

Shanghai fried rice with salt pork and green bok choy (p. 243) The name says it all, more or less. It's also got red onion, dried shiitake, and ginger.

Hangzhou sweet-and-sour pork (p. 91) Green bok choy with dried shrimp (p. 192) The pork is deep-fried then glazed with a Chinkiang-and-sugar-based sauce. The bok choy is tossed in stir-fried dried shrimp and finished with a bit of stock.

I've always found its flavor quite strong (hence my concern). Any recipe I've tried that had dark soy in them, the flavor was always in evidence, it never seemed to disappear into the background, no matter how little there was.

Ningbo soy sauce greens (p. 43) This is basically bok choy braised in Shaoxing and light and dark soy sauces. Served at room temperature, so you need some advance planning, and it's very rich. Red-braised fish (p. 141) I'm bad at turning fish over without destroying the lovely crosshatch pattern, so I wouldn't serve this to guests. But braising fish in dark soy and Shaoxing is a good cooking method. I was afraid the dark soy would overwhelm the fish, but it really didn't.

I did eat it, but I have no recollection of what the date was.

For the record, I've had the same experience with the same cheese.

Yes, I'll certainly make them both again. I'll make the cabbage less spicy next time, though.

Shanghai noodles with dried shrimp and spring onion oil (p. 258) Hey look, this one's got seafood in it! Sort of. Still cooking from pantry staples. The only fresh ingredient in this one was the spring onions, since I used dried noodles and everything else is just a pantry item. The longest part of the cooking process was the half-hour soak of the shrimp in Shaoxing and water. They are then fried in oil with the green onions, and that combo is poured over noodles. A bit of soy sauce in the bottom of the bowls, and dinner (or lunch, or midnight snack...) is served.

Spicy Chinese cabbage (p. 46) This requires advance planning since the cabbage needs at least a few hours in the salt, but is otherwise nearly trivial. Its ingredients are cabbage, salt, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chiles, and oil. The chiles and fried quickly in the oil and the oil is then poured over the cabbage which had been resting in the salt and peppercorns.

Are there things you can't get where you live? A molcajete? There wasn't really any cookware there that I noticed and wanted that I couldn't get more easily at home.

Stir-fried potato slivers with spring onion (p. 200) Just slivered potatoes, spring onion greens, and salt, stir-fried briefly to cook the potatoes but leave them a bit firm.