dmreed

It is kind of everyone to pitch in with info. Thank you. When i was talking a bout the flame...if you have seen the flaming stir fried vegetable...the flame does go very high. Not just at the edge. Further...can anyone say how high the heat should be? My burner is a gas stove double the size of the notmal home kitchen one but not as powerful as the restaurant version. ← if I understand correctly, you are asking if it is necessary for the 1) vaporized or 2) spattering oil droplets from contact with water wok oil to ignite above the cooking food to get the wok hei/hay taste...I would think that it is not the flaming oil above the wok because it is above the food but the very intense heat of the wok which causes the wok hei/hay.

I think a lot of aspiring cooks should clean out their kitchen drawers and jettison a lot of the toys therein, and really start to learn techniques. Like you said Ah Leung, is there really a need for egg beaters, garlic presses, 5 different tongs, mandolines, 20 different knives, etc., ad nauseam? A pair of chopsticks, a sharp medium Chinese cleaver (or a heavy 8" chef's knife) will meet 95% of my needs. I absolutely hate wasting time looking for, setting up,and washing the "toys". Garlic press indeed ← I love kitchen gadgets! I understand what you are saying about minimalistic kitchenware and useage. But some things are considered progress...maybe you would like to have to raise all of your food or walk down to the market to buy what you need or buying meat that has not been refrigerated...how about giving up you computer and using a messenger on foot or horseback or a carrier pigeon? IMHO gadgets for gadget lovers...minimalist tools for those so inclined...do not make fun of either extreme...maybe there is some kind of middle ground!

Regarding "authenticity", I try ask a person from the area of China I am interested in, i.e., Canton, Sichuan, etc., which local restaurant is the most "authentic" for that particular cuisine so I can find some dishes which are more like those cooked in China than those normally found in the USA. I know to expect that virtually all Chinese restaurants will have dishes "from" or "similar to" dishes from other locations in China. I usually have a hard time getting the chefs to cook spicy/Sichuan dishes hot enough...I usually order spicy 15 on a scale of 1-10 and still have to add chili oil :>( Once I have eaten a dish I particularly like, I will check my reference library or check online for recipes and then cook the dish my way using/mixing the ingredients from the various recipes. I know for sure that my next stovetop will have a powerful wok burner!

I am under the impression that "chop suey" really just means essentially "odds and ends", i.e., left-overs, which are thrown/cooked together. Is this correct? If so, then I would suspect that "chop suey" has existed in China and all over the globe since time immemorial!

I suspect that this is a common event, i.e., better quality food stuffs in the West. Several Vietnamese friends of mine from Vietnam say the beef used on phó here in the USA is far superior to the beef they had in Vietnam. Additionally, beef is generally much more available here in the USA than in many Asian countries. I would like to add, based upon reading rather than travel, that many "authentic" Chinese recipes have many variations based upon where in China they are made or where the chef is from or how he/she is trained. So to speak of "authentic Chinese" food can really be misleading. I do look forward to the discussions in this forum!

one of my all-time favorite dishes both at home and at one of my favorite restaurants, Golden City in Kearny Mesa (San Diego). thanks for your recipe...I have found such a recipe in only one of my many cookbooks!

Rinsing the fermented black beans is a traditional, hand-me-down method. It serves several purposes: 1) As liuzhou mentioned, to rinse off dust or what not. 2) To moisten the black beans a little bit. Depending on the quality of the fermented black beans you get... some of the poorer quality ones (the one that my family could afford back in the old days) are quite dry. The beans should be moisten a little bit, and smashed a little bit to release their full flavor. 3) The most important reason, I think (why they used to do it in the old days)... I don't know about others, when I grew up the fermented black beans bought from the market were full of small rocks. Putting some water into the bowl containing some fermented black beans helps in picking out those small rocks, which were detrimental to children's teeth. And in this day and age you probably don't need to worry about that... Eating dried shrimp? No I don't water it and just eat as is. If moisten, the flavor would be diluted, which is very different from preparing fermented black beans for cooking. ← Thanks. As usual, you have a great perspective. Apparently tradition still seems to govern much of what and how we eat (thanks goodness for tradition!). I have not found any small rocks in the brand I use (Yang Jiang Preserved Beans) and I measure them by dumping some out of the storage jar into the palm of my hand. I do use a bit of moisture when mashing them.

Why? Have you seen the conditions in which they are produced? The advice to rinse them is to get rid of the dust and dirt. You're not going to damage the beans or taste. It is simple food hygiene. ← Hummmmmm...thanks for the comment. No, I have not seen them made...have you some details? In the many cookbooks I have read, probably 50-60% suggest rinsing and mashing the beans but none of them said anything about dust and dirt? The only reason I have seen to rinse them is to get rid of extra salt and to make the taste milder. Have you actually seen dust and dirt in the rinse water? I am not sure that hygiene is an issue, they are not generally eaten raw so any germs would be killed by cooking. This does pose an interesting question: when eating dried shrimp or other dried snacks directly out of the package for a snack, the shrimp are not washed and I am pretty sure that most shrimp and other snacks are sun dried out in the open. Is hygiene an issue for dried food snacks in general? Again, thanks for your comments and concerns. Does anyone else have anything to add regarding rinsing the beans?

Unfortunately, I still have not found that original recipe which roasted the Sichuan peppercorns in salt and then added the oil and heated them. I have made chili oil lately several times with regular dried red chilis and roasted Sichuan peppercorns...I use much more chilis and peppercorns than most recipes because I like the heat...I leave the chilis and peppercorns in the bottles with the oil. If anyone has a reference to the original recipe, it would be greatly appreciated.

I was happy to see fermented black beans added to the mapo dofu recipe(s). I am very partial to fermented black beans and I ignore the instructions to rinse the them. I also frequently double the amount called for in the recipes and mash half of them and leave the other half whole. Additionally, I prefer mapo dofu over noodles rather than the traditional rice and, when I do not have Chinese noodles on hand, I use regular spaghetti (al dente) with great results! Just a note, when my Puerto Rican wife first smelled raw fermented black beans and tasted one, she said she did not like them and would not eat anything with them in it! However, I have added fermented black beans to several non-Chinese dishes and she loved them and she loves my version of mapo dofu which I make very less spicy than I prefer (I add home-made chili oil to my servings!)...on a scale of 1-10 at most Chinese restaurants, I order dishes as spicy 15 ! The latest non-Chinese dish in which I have used them is homemade baked beans...adds a great new accent.

how the actual name of the place and maybe the location???

thanks...I had already found that site...I really hope I can find the recipe for the pancake dough!!

I am interested in getting recipes for the various dishes shown in the film Eat, Drink Man, Woman. I am especially interested in getting a recipe for the runny abd sticky Chinese/Mandarin pancake dough shown towards the end of the movie.

Traditional "Soul Food," the cuisine of the African American slaves, would use the castoff pieces like pig ears, trotters, and tripe. ← As do the Greeks and the French. I do see a lot of pigs ears and other less popular parts in shops that have a large African American clientel. ← a lot of cultures eat/prepare pig ears including Asian and Latino cultures.

I am looking for a source of Anhui (Hui Cai) soy sauce??? Also does anyone know what "preserved egg juice" might be? Apparently it is used in Sichuan cooking.

I recently had akimono at Poway Sushi Lounge (Poway, CA)...I saw it on the daily special board and asked what it was...he said monkfish liver so I said "let me try it" and a while later here it comes...steamed, 4 slices about 2" diameter and 1/2" thick...served with ponzu sauce and some greens. It was very much like liverwurst in texture and a bit in taste. I would have it again when it appears on the specials board.

Sichuan peppercorns are available on the internet....for a while they were not available in the USA but they are now available.

I agree. That also goes to creatures like crab and shrimp... creatures that feed on dead marine bodies. ← hummmmmm...I guess you also cannot eat fresh stream/lake trout, free range chickens, free range pork, etc., etc. BTW most creatures eat other creatures/plants which in a chain eventually get back to dead creatures/plants. however, I fully support your attitude...it allows the rest of us to enjoy the many gifts of nature as edible delights. another thought...how well filtered is the water you drink? is it from lake, stream or reservoir sources? if so, think of all the crap which falls to the bottom before you get it!

No, it isn't obvious to neophytes! I just steamed a whole fish in a wok for the first time this weekend. My recipe called for shredded gingerroot & scallions to be placed on the fully cooked fish and then toasted sesame oil to be heated "until nearly smoking" (a little hard to gauge except retrospectively) before being poured over the fish. Needless to say, a little oil poured over a little fish did not frizzle either seasoning or release their flavors. 1. Should I have cooked the gingerroot & scallions in the heated oil for just a few seconds and THEN poured all on top of the fish? 2. Are there any tricks or tips to shredding gingerroot or scallions? I ended up cutting slivers of each, though I did attempt to use a zester for the gingerroot. And Ah Leung, again, thanks for blogging this week. I'll try to return to the Asian cooking threads a bit more reqularly. ← retrospectively? look for a shimmering sheen on the oil which should appear just before it begins to smoke.

a google search: http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Chen-Steamer-P...r/dp/B0000CFM81

back in the 1960s, I used a recipe to make hot chili oil. I remember that the Szechuan pepper corns were roasted in salt in the wok and then the pepper corns and salt were disolved in oil. I remember that the oil did not taste salty! I cannot find the recipe...can anyone provide such a recipe or a reference to it?

Japanese also eat jelly fish...so does this gringo!

the Observer article says "Under the base of meat or fish stock, there are whispers of liquorice, onion and cinnamon, smells with the promise of warmth and comfort. It is the smell of a national obsession." Liquorice and cinnamon? I know the liquorice smell is 5 star anise but what produces the cinnamon smell?

the "sawtooth substitute" is ngo gai (culantro) and, for me, it does not really taste like coriander...I do not much care for cilantro but I like culantro which tastes a bit like cilantro. I also much prefer the Thai basil rather than other basils. I do agree that unless the pho broth is just plain terrible...just use what is provided and enjoy!