trillium

Winter melon soup with peas and chicken velvet Soups can play many roles in southern Chinese cooking, especially to the Cantonese. They can be a snack, such as ground roasted black sesame soup, lightly sweetened and thickened with rice flour, a medicinal health tonic, such as those containing ginseng and other herbal medicinals, or as a soothing part of the family meal. Winter melon (doong qwa) is very favorably considered for medicinal soups, fancy banquet soups presented in carved melons, or in a soup for the family dinner. Unlike a medicinal soup where the whole melon is used, peel, seeds and all, we’re going to peel and remove the seeds for ours. You can usually find pieces of winter melon cut for home use in the refrigerated section of the produce area in an Asian grocery. Many cooks believe that the more white powdery coating a melon has on its peel, the better it is, so I always look for that coating on the pieces I pick out. Avoid melon pieces that have been cut for too long, they’ll start to be soft and transparent near the rind. I’m giving a recipe for a fairly large amount of soup, because the pieces I can buy are quite large, but it scales down very nicely. The stock should be clear and light, made from meat, feet and bones that have not been cooked or roasted previously. I like to make mine with just a little salt, although some people add a few slices of ginger to theirs. Avoid adding any other aromatics, you’re going for a clear stock full of chicken “essence” and not much else. 4-1/2 c homemade chicken stock (store bought is not an option for this) 3 lb winter melon 14 oz frozen peas, thawed 1 recipe for chicken velvet salt and white pepper to taste The easiest way I’ve found to prepare the melon is to de-seed it, cut it into 1/2 inch slices, slice it off the peel and then cut the slices into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. If you want it to be prettier, you can peel it whole and cut it into cubes. Heat the stock to a light simmer and add the melon pieces. You’ll hear them hiss as they are warmed in the stock. Simmer covered until the melon is transparent, depending on the melon and the size of your pieces it can take 15 – 30 minutes. Add salt to taste, around 1/2 teaspoon, and a few turns of white pepper. You have two options with the chicken velvet: you can add some warm stock to it to thin it out and then stir it in, which will result in a more refined texture, or you can just put it in straight and stir it as it cooks, to break it into the larger pieces. You can see these larger pieces in the finished soup in the photo. What I do depends on mood and occasion. After you’ve added the chicken, stir in the thawed peas, let them warm, and then serve the soup with fresh ground white pepper on top. Keywords: Soup, Chinese, eGCI ( RG762 )

Claypot casserole of chicken and salted fish The claypot, sandpot or sapo, a pre-iron age cooking vessel, is inexpensive, and is available in almost any Asian grocery store. Like other cultures who prize claypot cookery, southerners use it for long, gentle cooking. These pots need to be brought up to heat very gently, and not subjected to abrupt changes in temperature (like heating one up and then dumping something very cold into it. I lost my first pot doing that). Chinese grannies believe that things cooked in a claypot are more nourishing than the same dishes cooked in metal pots. However, if you do not wish to go to the trouble of finding and caring for a claypot, please do not let that stop you from making claypot dishes. Use an enameled casserole pot or anything suitable for slow and low cooking. Claypot dishes are true comfort food, they’re not usually very pretty but are delicious and homey, perfect for cold evenings. Salted fish (hum yue) is used a lot by the Hakka peoples, and we’re pretty fond of it at our house, too. Well, we’re fond of almost any form of salted, preserved fish (baccala, anchovies, sardines, ikan belis, you get my drift). It’s a wonderful match with chicken. It has a very pungent taste and needs to be used with restraint or it can overpower a dish. The long simmering in this recipe mellows the fish and adds a wonderful rich taste to the dish. If the thought of dried fish repels you, you can use preserved soya beans in its place (Yeo’s is a good brand) but do try it with the fish. A classic fried rice dish is also flavored with chicken and salted fish. If you like this dish, you might try that as well. Use fresh tofu packed in water for this dish, Nasoya or Sunshine are good brands. 14 oz package of firm tofu cut into 1 inch cubes and pressed down to drain 3/4 lb Chinese cabbage, about a half of one. Cut in half lengthwise and then sliced into 1/4 – 1/2 inch pieces. 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 wings from a chicken (use the breast for the soup recipe) 3 T minced salted fish, rinsed 1 T of chicken fat or lard (homemade lard only, not the disgusting non-refrigerated store-bought kind) or safflower oil 3 cloves of garlic, sliced 1 slice of ginger (1 inch wide, 1/4 inch thick) 3/4 c chicken stock or water (store bought, low sodium is ok, homemade is ideal) white pepper and salt 1 T of light soya sauce 1 tsp of sesame oil 1/8 tsp MSG (optional) 1.7 oz packet of mung bean or cellophane noodle potato or corn starch (optional) 2 green onions, julienned Chop the chicken into pieces with a cleaver. Set aside the wingtips for use in stock. Clean off any bone chips, and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. If you do not like chopping legs and thighs bone-in, try it with 1 lb of wings instead, they’re easier to cut. If you prefer to use boneless chicken, use about 3/4 lb, but again, please do not use boneless, skinless breasts, thighs are nicer. Preheat the claypot on very low, using a diffuser if you have one, for about 10 minutes. Brown the chicken in a frying or sauté pan in about a teaspoon of the chicken fat or lard on as many sides as you have the patience for. When you’re done, put the chicken in a bowl, pour the fat into the claypot, deglaze the pan with a little water or stock and pour it on top of the resting chicken. Add more fat to the claypot to make about 1 tablespoon. Turn the heat up under the pot to medium and fry the garlic and ginger until it begins to brown. Add the chicken and the deglazing liquid, the stock or water, sesame oil, light soya, dried fish, white pepper to taste, MSG, and cabbage to the pot. Put the lid on and allow the pot to come to a simmer. This will take some time because the cabbage takes a while to wilt down and start to cook. Cook until the chicken is tender, about 20 - 30 minutes after it reaches a simmer. Soak the mung bean noodle in cold water until it is pliable, and then cut it into 2 – 3 inch lengths. At this point you should have quite a bit of liquid from the cabbage in the pot. If you don’t, you could add some water and let it come back to a simmer. Add the mung bean noodle, let it heat for 5 minutes with the lid on, and then add the tofu. Stir it in gently so you don’t break it up too much. Allow the pot to come back to a near simmer. If you like, you can stir in a couple of teaspoons of a slurry made from 4 parts water to 1 part potato or cornstarch to slightly thicken the liquid, but it’s optional. If you do, stir it in gently and allow 5 minutes or so for it to thicken. Sprinkle with green onions and serve Keywords: Chicken, Fish, Chinese, eGCI ( RG761 )

Claypot casserole of chicken and salted fish The claypot, sandpot or sapo, a pre-iron age cooking vessel, is inexpensive, and is available in almost any Asian grocery store. Like other cultures who prize claypot cookery, southerners use it for long, gentle cooking. These pots need to be brought up to heat very gently, and not subjected to abrupt changes in temperature (like heating one up and then dumping something very cold into it. I lost my first pot doing that). Chinese grannies believe that things cooked in a claypot are more nourishing than the same dishes cooked in metal pots. However, if you do not wish to go to the trouble of finding and caring for a claypot, please do not let that stop you from making claypot dishes. Use an enameled casserole pot or anything suitable for slow and low cooking. Claypot dishes are true comfort food, they’re not usually very pretty but are delicious and homey, perfect for cold evenings. Salted fish (hum yue) is used a lot by the Hakka peoples, and we’re pretty fond of it at our house, too. Well, we’re fond of almost any form of salted, preserved fish (baccala, anchovies, sardines, ikan belis, you get my drift). It’s a wonderful match with chicken. It has a very pungent taste and needs to be used with restraint or it can overpower a dish. The long simmering in this recipe mellows the fish and adds a wonderful rich taste to the dish. If the thought of dried fish repels you, you can use preserved soya beans in its place (Yeo’s is a good brand) but do try it with the fish. A classic fried rice dish is also flavored with chicken and salted fish. If you like this dish, you might try that as well. Use fresh tofu packed in water for this dish, Nasoya or Sunshine are good brands. 14 oz package of firm tofu cut into 1 inch cubes and pressed down to drain 3/4 lb Chinese cabbage, about a half of one. Cut in half lengthwise and then sliced into 1/4 – 1/2 inch pieces. 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 wings from a chicken (use the breast for the soup recipe) 3 T minced salted fish, rinsed 1 T of chicken fat or lard (homemade lard only, not the disgusting non-refrigerated store-bought kind) or safflower oil 3 cloves of garlic, sliced 1 slice of ginger (1 inch wide, 1/4 inch thick) 3/4 c chicken stock or water (store bought, low sodium is ok, homemade is ideal) white pepper and salt 1 T of light soya sauce 1 tsp of sesame oil 1/8 tsp MSG (optional) 1.7 oz packet of mung bean or cellophane noodle potato or corn starch (optional) 2 green onions, julienned Chop the chicken into pieces with a cleaver. Set aside the wingtips for use in stock. Clean off any bone chips, and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. If you do not like chopping legs and thighs bone-in, try it with 1 lb of wings instead, they’re easier to cut. If you prefer to use boneless chicken, use about 3/4 lb, but again, please do not use boneless, skinless breasts, thighs are nicer. Preheat the claypot on very low, using a diffuser if you have one, for about 10 minutes. Brown the chicken in a frying or sauté pan in about a teaspoon of the chicken fat or lard on as many sides as you have the patience for. When you’re done, put the chicken in a bowl, pour the fat into the claypot, deglaze the pan with a little water or stock and pour it on top of the resting chicken. Add more fat to the claypot to make about 1 tablespoon. Turn the heat up under the pot to medium and fry the garlic and ginger until it begins to brown. Add the chicken and the deglazing liquid, the stock or water, sesame oil, light soya, dried fish, white pepper to taste, MSG, and cabbage to the pot. Put the lid on and allow the pot to come to a simmer. This will take some time because the cabbage takes a while to wilt down and start to cook. Cook until the chicken is tender, about 20 - 30 minutes after it reaches a simmer. Soak the mung bean noodle in cold water until it is pliable, and then cut it into 2 – 3 inch lengths. At this point you should have quite a bit of liquid from the cabbage in the pot. If you don’t, you could add some water and let it come back to a simmer. Add the mung bean noodle, let it heat for 5 minutes with the lid on, and then add the tofu. Stir it in gently so you don’t break it up too much. Allow the pot to come back to a near simmer. If you like, you can stir in a couple of teaspoons of a slurry made from 4 parts water to 1 part potato or cornstarch to slightly thicken the liquid, but it’s optional. If you do, stir it in gently and allow 5 minutes or so for it to thicken. Sprinkle with green onions and serve Keywords: Chicken, Fish, Chinese, eGCI ( RG761 )

Stir-fried vegetables : One of our favorite parts of the meal are the stir-fried greens and the variety of different greens available to stir-fry are seemingly endless. We generally choose whatever looks best to us at the farmers' market and then use it during the week. Sometimes we’ll have gai lan (Chinese broccoli), or Shanghainese bok choy, spinach, dau gok (long beans), ong choy (water spinach), dau miu (pea shoots), long cabbage (Napa), or even just plain old bok choy. What you’ll see in the photos goes by the name choy sum, flowering Chinese cabbage or yu choy. Some people have trouble telling it apart from gai lan when it gets older. In general, it will have yellow flowers while gai lan has white ones. These were so young they had no flowers at all. While the home cook cannot mimic the feet-tall flames of the restaurant stoves used to stir-fry vegetables and impart that delicious smoky “breath of the wok”, we’ve come up with something that comes very close. We use a flat bottom frying pan because our home stoves do not have a large enough output to use a wok. There are a few tricks to getting this right, and it takes a little practice, but it’s a very satisfying pursuit. The first trick is to make sure your greens are as dry as possible. If you don’t think to wash them hours before you’ll use them, spin them several times in a salad spinner and then lay them out on a towel. The second trick is to be fearless when it comes to how hot your pan is, both during the preheating stage and when you heat up the oil. We're talking a minute short of a grease fire, here…keep the lid handy in case you wait too long and remember, oil fires need suffocating! Do not pour water on an oil fire. You need an oil suitable for hot temperatures, preferably peanut oil, or if you don’t want to use that, then safflower oil. Please don’t use canola oil, it tastes like crap and makes your house smell bad when you heat it up this high. For the garlic, it’s worth hunting down the smaller, purple, hard necked type. We’re buying a Korean one from the farmers' market that is just great…lots of spicy garlic goodness. I’ll also note that I may be advising you to let your pan get hotter than the manufacturer recommends. We feel it’s worth replacing a pan in 10 years to have delicious vegetables. You may feel differently. The last trick is to be very fast. I’ve timed what we show in the photos below, you may find that your stove needs more or less time to preheat your pan enough to get the desired flavor. 1 lb of greens, washed, cut or torn to manageable sizes and dried 3 cloves of garlic, smashed 1-1/2 T of peanut oil light soya to taste Heat a large frying or sauté pan over high heat. For the aluminum pan shown, we heat it for 3 1/2 minutes on full blast. A cast iron pan would take longer. Add the oil to the pan and heat it until it just begins to smoke, about 2 minutes further. Add the smashed garlic and stir it around while it browns and blackens. Add the greens all at once and do not stir. Wait 30 seconds, pressing down on the greens to let as many come in contact with the pan as possible. This is your best chance at getting that nice smoky flavor. The rest of the greens that come in contact with the pan later will not sear because the greens will begin releasing liquid. Begin to stir and toss, about 1 minute for these, a little longer for more mature greens. Once they have mostly wilted, splash in soya sauce, stir for 40 seconds and then put on a plate, fast! As you might have noticed, it takes longer to preheat the pan than it does to stir-fry the greens. Don’t worry if a few pieces of your vegetable are black or dark brown that means you’ve done it correctly Keywords: Vegetables, Chinese, eGCI ( RG760 )

Stir-fried vegetables : One of our favorite parts of the meal are the stir-fried greens and the variety of different greens available to stir-fry are seemingly endless. We generally choose whatever looks best to us at the farmers' market and then use it during the week. Sometimes we’ll have gai lan (Chinese broccoli), or Shanghainese bok choy, spinach, dau gok (long beans), ong choy (water spinach), dau miu (pea shoots), long cabbage (Napa), or even just plain old bok choy. What you’ll see in the photos goes by the name choy sum, flowering Chinese cabbage or yu choy. Some people have trouble telling it apart from gai lan when it gets older. In general, it will have yellow flowers while gai lan has white ones. These were so young they had no flowers at all. While the home cook cannot mimic the feet-tall flames of the restaurant stoves used to stir-fry vegetables and impart that delicious smoky “breath of the wok”, we’ve come up with something that comes very close. We use a flat bottom frying pan because our home stoves do not have a large enough output to use a wok. There are a few tricks to getting this right, and it takes a little practice, but it’s a very satisfying pursuit. The first trick is to make sure your greens are as dry as possible. If you don’t think to wash them hours before you’ll use them, spin them several times in a salad spinner and then lay them out on a towel. The second trick is to be fearless when it comes to how hot your pan is, both during the preheating stage and when you heat up the oil. We're talking a minute short of a grease fire, here…keep the lid handy in case you wait too long and remember, oil fires need suffocating! Do not pour water on an oil fire. You need an oil suitable for hot temperatures, preferably peanut oil, or if you don’t want to use that, then safflower oil. Please don’t use canola oil, it tastes like crap and makes your house smell bad when you heat it up this high. For the garlic, it’s worth hunting down the smaller, purple, hard necked type. We’re buying a Korean one from the farmers' market that is just great…lots of spicy garlic goodness. I’ll also note that I may be advising you to let your pan get hotter than the manufacturer recommends. We feel it’s worth replacing a pan in 10 years to have delicious vegetables. You may feel differently. The last trick is to be very fast. I’ve timed what we show in the photos below, you may find that your stove needs more or less time to preheat your pan enough to get the desired flavor. 1 lb of greens, washed, cut or torn to manageable sizes and dried 3 cloves of garlic, smashed 1-1/2 T of peanut oil light soya to taste Heat a large frying or sauté pan over high heat. For the aluminum pan shown, we heat it for 3 1/2 minutes on full blast. A cast iron pan would take longer. Add the oil to the pan and heat it until it just begins to smoke, about 2 minutes further. Add the smashed garlic and stir it around while it browns and blackens. Add the greens all at once and do not stir. Wait 30 seconds, pressing down on the greens to let as many come in contact with the pan as possible. This is your best chance at getting that nice smoky flavor. The rest of the greens that come in contact with the pan later will not sear because the greens will begin releasing liquid. Begin to stir and toss, about 1 minute for these, a little longer for more mature greens. Once they have mostly wilted, splash in soya sauce, stir for 40 seconds and then put on a plate, fast! As you might have noticed, it takes longer to preheat the pan than it does to stir-fry the greens. Don’t worry if a few pieces of your vegetable are black or dark brown that means you’ve done it correctly Keywords: Vegetables, Chinese, eGCI ( RG760 )

Steamed Beef with Black Mushrooms, Lily Buds and Cloud Ear While most people think about stir-frying when they think about Chinese food, steaming is often used to cook food that will be eaten with rice. Sometimes the partly cooked sung is added to the rice pot before the rice is finished cooking and left to steam the rest of the way while the rice cooks. This also imparts the flavor of the sung onto the rest of the rice. Other times the sung is steamed separately and then brought to the table to be placed on the rice by the eaters. For dinners where there will be more than one or two dishes besides vegetables, it’s a nice balance to include as many steamed dishes as stir-fried ones. I strongly encourage anyone interested in Chinese cooking to acquire a bamboo steamer. While you can steam your dish in anything that works (like a steamer insert in a pasta pot set or a pressure cooker), it’s my contention that the bamboo itself will lend a special fragrance to the dishes. The Cantonese, in particular, steam seafood very often. My favorite dish ever is a steamed whole fish, bathed in ginger, scallions, light soya and a little sesame oil. This much-loved dish requires that you start by picking your victim from a tank full of healthy, lively fish, having it killed to order, rushing it home, and steaming it, without ever storing it in the refrigerator. I like sea bass best, and don’t like tilapia at all, so I’ve had some trouble finding a suitable fish to steam where I live. Instead, I’ve decided to show you another classic steamed dish that can be made with beef, pork, chicken or even tofu. This dish is simple enough to be part of your everyday cooking routine but also nice enough to include in a meal with guests. I’m showing you the way to make this dish with beef, but you can substitute any meat you might like. This is not the time to use beef from the mark-down section of the meat department. Steaming requires that your meat be very fresh, no stickiness or off-odors. Chicken is also good, and if you decide to use the fair fowl please do not use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Best is a free range, fairly lean, freshly killed chicken that is chopped into bite size pieces while still on the bone and then steamed (see the photo of cut chicken in the claypot recipe). If you must go the boneless, skinless route, use thighs. Black mushrooms come in different grades. I don’t buy the really expensive kind, but I do like upgrading from the cheapest ones with all-brown tops to a higher grade. I usually buy a grade that has a certain degree of flowering or creamy white cracks on the brown tops. This results in mushrooms with a firmer, less chewy texture when reconstituted. Lily buds are a great ingredient to have in your repertoire. They have a subtle, sweet smell reminiscent of dried fruits, and add an interesting textural variation to any dish. Shaoxing wine should not be the kind labeled “cooking wine” on the bottle, its flavor isn’t as good as it could be and you don’t want the additional salt in the dish. Substitute sherry if you must, but it’s worth finding a bottle of non-salted for the larder. The non-salted ones start around $3-4 dollars a bottle and go up to about $10 dollars a bottle, depending on how long the wine has been aged. 3/4 lb of flank steak 3/4 oz dried black (dong qwoo or shiitake) mushrooms 1/4 oz dried cloud ears (wun yee) or wood ears (or use fresh – scant 1/4 cup) 1/4 oz lily buds (gum tzum) also found labeled in English as golden needles, tiger lily buds, lily stems 1-1/2 T finely julienned ginger 2 tsp shaoxing rice wine 1 T oyster sauce 2 T light soya sauce 1 tsp dark soya sauce fresh ground black pepper 1-1/2 tsp potato starch (you can substitute cornstarch, which gels to a harder consistency, but use a little less) 2 green onions, julienned, white and green parts separate a handful of cilantro leaves The mushrooms, cloud ears and lily buds need to be reconstituted in water before you cut them up. If you are a super-organized person, it’s nicer to soak them in cold water for an hour or two. I’m never that prepared, and I opt for the boiling water routine. In separate bowls, cover the mushrooms, cloud ears and lily buds with boiling water. Top with a saucer and let steep for around 30 minutes. The cheaper your grade of mushrooms, the less time you’ll need to soak them. While you’re waiting, cut the flank steak into pieces about 1 1/2 inch long and 1/4 inch thick, taking care to cut across the grain of the meat. Sprinkle 1 T of the light soya over the meat, and a few turnings of the black pepper. Toss and sprinkle the potato starch over the beef and toss again. Let it sit while you prepare the green onions, ginger and cilantro. I use beef that has been dry-aged. If your beef is more wet, you may want to add a little more thickener if you do not care for a more brothy dish. There should be no pools of liquid, but it should not be completely dry either. Depending on how it looks, I may add a couple tablespoons of the reserved soaking liquid from the mushrooms to the mixture. When the dried ingredients have plumped in the water, squeeze the mushrooms dry, reserving the soaking liquid (for use in this or other recipes), and remove the stems. Thinly slice the caps. Remove the hard bits from the cloud ears and thinly slice. Squeeze the lily buds, discard the soaking water and cut them in half crosswise. Spread the meat in a Pyrex pie plate and sprinkle on the mushrooms, cloud ears, lily buds, ginger, shaoxing, oyster sauce, the rest of the light soya, dark soya, and the white part of the green onions. Place in the steamer, taking care that no sides of the dish are touching the sides of the steamer. Place over about 2 inches of boiling water and steam on medium-high, 10 minutes for medium rare beef, 15 for well done. Removing things from the steamer can be tricky, but since this dish does not have a lot of liquid, it’s a good one to practice with. Using potholders, tilt the steamer while grabbing the side of the pie plate. Sprinkle with the cilantro and green parts of the green onions and serve. Keywords: Beef, Chinese, eGCI ( RG759 )

Steamed Beef with Black Mushrooms, Lily Buds and Cloud Ear While most people think about stir-frying when they think about Chinese food, steaming is often used to cook food that will be eaten with rice. Sometimes the partly cooked sung is added to the rice pot before the rice is finished cooking and left to steam the rest of the way while the rice cooks. This also imparts the flavor of the sung onto the rest of the rice. Other times the sung is steamed separately and then brought to the table to be placed on the rice by the eaters. For dinners where there will be more than one or two dishes besides vegetables, it’s a nice balance to include as many steamed dishes as stir-fried ones. I strongly encourage anyone interested in Chinese cooking to acquire a bamboo steamer. While you can steam your dish in anything that works (like a steamer insert in a pasta pot set or a pressure cooker), it’s my contention that the bamboo itself will lend a special fragrance to the dishes. The Cantonese, in particular, steam seafood very often. My favorite dish ever is a steamed whole fish, bathed in ginger, scallions, light soya and a little sesame oil. This much-loved dish requires that you start by picking your victim from a tank full of healthy, lively fish, having it killed to order, rushing it home, and steaming it, without ever storing it in the refrigerator. I like sea bass best, and don’t like tilapia at all, so I’ve had some trouble finding a suitable fish to steam where I live. Instead, I’ve decided to show you another classic steamed dish that can be made with beef, pork, chicken or even tofu. This dish is simple enough to be part of your everyday cooking routine but also nice enough to include in a meal with guests. I’m showing you the way to make this dish with beef, but you can substitute any meat you might like. This is not the time to use beef from the mark-down section of the meat department. Steaming requires that your meat be very fresh, no stickiness or off-odors. Chicken is also good, and if you decide to use the fair fowl please do not use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Best is a free range, fairly lean, freshly killed chicken that is chopped into bite size pieces while still on the bone and then steamed (see the photo of cut chicken in the claypot recipe). If you must go the boneless, skinless route, use thighs. Black mushrooms come in different grades. I don’t buy the really expensive kind, but I do like upgrading from the cheapest ones with all-brown tops to a higher grade. I usually buy a grade that has a certain degree of flowering or creamy white cracks on the brown tops. This results in mushrooms with a firmer, less chewy texture when reconstituted. Lily buds are a great ingredient to have in your repertoire. They have a subtle, sweet smell reminiscent of dried fruits, and add an interesting textural variation to any dish. Shaoxing wine should not be the kind labeled “cooking wine” on the bottle, its flavor isn’t as good as it could be and you don’t want the additional salt in the dish. Substitute sherry if you must, but it’s worth finding a bottle of non-salted for the larder. The non-salted ones start around $3-4 dollars a bottle and go up to about $10 dollars a bottle, depending on how long the wine has been aged. 3/4 lb of flank steak 3/4 oz dried black (dong qwoo or shiitake) mushrooms 1/4 oz dried cloud ears (wun yee) or wood ears (or use fresh – scant 1/4 cup) 1/4 oz lily buds (gum tzum) also found labeled in English as golden needles, tiger lily buds, lily stems 1-1/2 T finely julienned ginger 2 tsp shaoxing rice wine 1 T oyster sauce 2 T light soya sauce 1 tsp dark soya sauce fresh ground black pepper 1-1/2 tsp potato starch (you can substitute cornstarch, which gels to a harder consistency, but use a little less) 2 green onions, julienned, white and green parts separate a handful of cilantro leaves The mushrooms, cloud ears and lily buds need to be reconstituted in water before you cut them up. If you are a super-organized person, it’s nicer to soak them in cold water for an hour or two. I’m never that prepared, and I opt for the boiling water routine. In separate bowls, cover the mushrooms, cloud ears and lily buds with boiling water. Top with a saucer and let steep for around 30 minutes. The cheaper your grade of mushrooms, the less time you’ll need to soak them. While you’re waiting, cut the flank steak into pieces about 1 1/2 inch long and 1/4 inch thick, taking care to cut across the grain of the meat. Sprinkle 1 T of the light soya over the meat, and a few turnings of the black pepper. Toss and sprinkle the potato starch over the beef and toss again. Let it sit while you prepare the green onions, ginger and cilantro. I use beef that has been dry-aged. If your beef is more wet, you may want to add a little more thickener if you do not care for a more brothy dish. There should be no pools of liquid, but it should not be completely dry either. Depending on how it looks, I may add a couple tablespoons of the reserved soaking liquid from the mushrooms to the mixture. When the dried ingredients have plumped in the water, squeeze the mushrooms dry, reserving the soaking liquid (for use in this or other recipes), and remove the stems. Thinly slice the caps. Remove the hard bits from the cloud ears and thinly slice. Squeeze the lily buds, discard the soaking water and cut them in half crosswise. Spread the meat in a Pyrex pie plate and sprinkle on the mushrooms, cloud ears, lily buds, ginger, shaoxing, oyster sauce, the rest of the light soya, dark soya, and the white part of the green onions. Place in the steamer, taking care that no sides of the dish are touching the sides of the steamer. Place over about 2 inches of boiling water and steam on medium-high, 10 minutes for medium rare beef, 15 for well done. Removing things from the steamer can be tricky, but since this dish does not have a lot of liquid, it’s a good one to practice with. Using potholders, tilt the steamer while grabbing the side of the pie plate. Sprinkle with the cilantro and green parts of the green onions and serve. Keywords: Beef, Chinese, eGCI ( RG759 )

My guess? They put fertile eggs in an incubator, let 'em grow to the desired age, and then cook, pickle or whatever. You're forgetting that chicken embryos don't have to be grown inside a chicken, just an egg. For those ones on a stick, it looks like the cook 'em in the shell and then peel. The older ones with feathers look about 1 day before hatching. Um, I just managed to gross myself out here. I like my animals dead before they're cooked to be eaten, but I do make an exception for shellfish. I comfort myself with the thought that their nervous system is vastly different than ours...chickens, on the other hand... No answer for question number 2, sorry. regards, trillium

You can see really nice photos of candied fruits on a stick Ellen took on her trip here. Um, if you're squemish about seeing creatures on a stick you might not want to look at the pictures. regards, trillium

Guess again... the ones in the foreground look older than the ones in the background, but they're definitely fowl (ha ha). regards, trillium

Yeah, a couple of really thin slices are all I can manage in one sitting, and with plenty of tea or coffee...all that butter and eggs. For those who want to play along at home, here's a recipe I posted years ago on Usenet from the indomitable nonya Mrs. Leong, author of "The Best of Singaporean Cooking" (which funnily enough also goes by the moniker of "The Best of Malaysian Cooking", you can buy either in S'pore bookstores, but they're identical). I've never actually made this, but we make tons of stuff from her book and everything always comes out well. Maybe I should actually do it next lunar new year. I noticed that there is no flour quantity given, I'll double check that at home and come back and correct it. This recipe is from "The Best of Singapore Cooking" the comments in parenthesis are mine. You can really see the Dutch influence on Indonesian cooking here. Kueh Lapis Batavia Ingredients 455 g sweet butter (no salt) (1 lb) 1 t mixed spice (recipe follows) 17 egg yolks 5 egg whites (use the rest to make pandan chiffon cake?) 255 g (9 oz) white sugar 2 T brandy To prepare the batter: Beat the butter until creamy. Sift the mixed spice and flour together. Place the egg yolks and egg whites in two separate bowls. Beat the egg yolks with 200 g (7 oz) sugar until thick (it should hold a ribbon for 1 min) Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until thick (I'm not sure here just how thick she means I'm guessing until it holds soft peaks) Fold in alternately, the egg yolk mixture and the egg white mixture to the creamed butter, adding a little flour between each time. Lastly, add the brandy. To bake the cake: Grease the bottom and sides of a tin with butter. Cut a greaseproof paper to fit in the base of tin exactly (I think baking parchment). Place paper in and grease with butter. Heat grill (broiler?) until moderately hot. Place greased tin under grill for 1 minute. Remove and place in one ladleful of cake mixture. Spread mixture evenly and bake for 5 minutes until or until light brown. Remove tin from grill and, using a fine sharp skewer or satay stick, prick top of cake to prevent air bubbles from forming. Add another ladleful of cake mixture. Bake and repeat the process as for the first layer, till the cake mixture is used up. Remove cake from tin at once. Turn it over, top side up, on to a cooking rack to cool for 1/2 hr. Mixed Spice 30 g (1 oz) cinnamon (I'm guessing true cinnamon, from Ceylon is what you want, not cassia from Viet Nam). 20 cloves 1 star anise 20 pieces green cardamom 1. Wash cinnamon bark, cloves and star anise. Air in the sun till very dry. 2. Remove the rounded tips from the cloves. 3. Place all the dried ingredients in a heated frying pan to fry over a low heat fro 20 minutes (be very careful not to burn them, a very, very low heat and heavy pan will work). 4. Remove the covering from the cardamom to extract the seeds. 5. Pound the spices together until very fine. Pass them through a fine sieve and store in a clean dry bottle. regards, trillium

The Cantonese love crisp shrimp and tend to sprinkle salt and a little sugar over them and let them sit while preparing the rest of the ingredients for a dish. I hate sugar in savory food, but I'll do this because it works really well and I don't notice the sugar, the shrimp just taste shrimpier and very crisp. regards, trillium (trying really hard not to make any snarky remarks regarding "shrimp scampi" just don't make me order a "chai tea latte" and I'll be fine)

So your family uses holy basil? Any SE Asian connection? It's a pretty common SE Asian herb, but I hadn't heard of it being used on the mainland... regards, trillium

No, it's more like a ginger gummy bear, but shaped and wrapped like White Rabbit candy (with the wax paper layer). It's hot from all the ginger. I don't think it exists in Southern Chinese cuisine, so I guess it doesn't really count. The one I think of as default kueh lapis is shown here. It's an eggy batter with spices (Dutch influence I guess) that gets browned under a broiler for every one of those layers you see. I guess it's more proper name is kueh lapis batavia and the one you're showing is kueh lapis beras? Anyway, the kueh lapis batavia is a Lunar New Year staple in the partner's ethnic Chinese Singaporean family. I don't like it with peanuts either, and I've always had it without ice-cream. Is this a new thing? I have no idea who started it, but you can even buy it here in Portland, OR at Vietnamese grocery stores. It's a family size kit that contains the mung bean noodle in one sack and the coconut milk and palm sugar syrup in two other sacks, tied up with rubberbands...just add shaved ice. They call it something different that I can't remember. You can buy love letters in tins at SE Asian grocery stores in the US around the Lunar New Year but they taste like crap. Sad. regards, trillium

See anything that looks familiar here? Your description sounds like Ocimum basilicum. regards, trillium

Hi steve If the Portland you mean is Portland, OR, then you're right, I haven't seen any unrefrigerated either. In other cities I've lived in I usually could find them on the counters at bakeries or snack shops. I'm sure they can be found here in Portland, maybe at the place that actually makes them, but I haven't seen them at An Dong, Pacific Supermarket, or any of the shops on Sandy Blvd or 82nd Ave. I'll confess I'm having trouble picturing a big block with serrations. The way I usually buy them is a long sheet folded into a square of several layers. This block fits onto a styrofoam tray and is wrapped in plastic. If they've been in the fridge then the block will break in the folded area, but I've never seen them serrated, sometimes just sliced. Anyway, the treatment is about the same. You don't want to precook them at all, which you learned, boiling water is too hot for them. You want to rinse them in hot running water which is comfortable to have your hands in. The idea is to get them pliable enough to pull apart but not make them waterlogged. Something to know is that they're already cooked, they're made by steaming a batter of rice flour and water, so they're very different from wheat noodles. Try to get them into 1 or 2 layer thicknesses (1 layer is best, but sometimes it's impossible to pull them apart without breaking them) and the length that you want (by cutting or breaking the serrations). I'm guessing that your thick noodles were really more than one layer, and they needed to be pulled apart. Then pat them dry if they have a lot of water on them and toss them around so they stay fluffy not lumpy. What I do is dump them from the cutting board onto a clean dishcloth and toss and dry on that. Usually they don't have too much water because they're coated in oil so the water runs off. If you're frying 1 lb of noodle and you have a nice big frying pan (12 inches or more) then you can do them all at once if you make certain your pan is preheated and you let the oil get hot enough as well (peanut oil works well because it has a very high smoking point). To give you an idea of timing for preheating a pan on my stove you could go look at the numbers I gave for stir frying veggies in the southern Chinese cooking class here. A well seasoned cast iron pan or iron pan or wok works best, the stainless steel will be too sticky and the nonstick will not let you get as nice of a sear. If you're having tons of trouble you could start out with nonstick and then switch once you get comfortable. I don't think you'll need 1/2 cup of oil, although it might be easiest to start out with that amount, but you'll end up with very greasy noodles. I probably use 1/4 - 1/3 cup of oil total for both the noodle and the other ingredients, but when I just started I remember I used a lot more oil. You want to fry them until they're soft, and it's better to underestimate their doneness and add the rest of the ingredients, then to overcook them and end up with a soggy, oily mess. I've never timed it, but they're done pretty quickly when you're tossing them around at a high temp. There are some very accomplished cooks around and hopefully they'll add their advice to mine. Cooking fresh rice noodles at home does take a little practice, but I'll bet it will go much better next time. regards, trillium

What kind of rice noodles are you using? The kind you have to cut up yourself? If you are, then I can offer a few tips. First of all, don't refrigerate the fresh rice noodles, and try to find ones that aren't refrigerated to start with, it makes handling them more difficult then it has to be. Secondly, try rinsing them in hot running water to make them pliable enough to seperate the layers and cut into the width you want. Make sure that all of the layers are seperated and pulled apart and fairly dry. If you describe what you're doing when it comes time to cook them, maybe you'll get more specific help. Here's a start....when you stir-fry, you'll need a not insignificant amount of oil and a really hot pan. You'll also need to not overload the pan or you get steamed fun/noodles that like to stick together. At home it's usually easiest to stirfry the noodles by themselves with seasoning (soy, fish sauce) and then add back your other ingredients when they're mostly cooked. regards, trillium

Haw flakes are good, like sweet tarts but better. Preserved fruits for sure. And preserved orange peel in those little shiny bags from Taiwan. Do the Chinese diaspora count? If they do, then kueh lapis, pineapple tarts, ABC, chendol, and love letters too. Some of the sweet soups, like the black sesame or walnut can be good if you're in the right mood. But I'll confess that for a full on dessert attack it usually has to involve dairy fat and chocolate for me. regards, trillium

There are a few US companies making really good alambic brandies, and Germain- Robin is one of them. The other companies I know about are Jepson and RMS. For those that can't spring for the high-end Germain-Robin brandies, RMS makes a really decent lower priced brandy that goes for around $30 a fifth. It mixes really good sidecars. regards, trillium

Randall Grahm mentioned noticing a difference in some vineyards that switched to biodynamic farming during the Q&A, didn't he? regards, trillium

Now try garnishing those Aviations with the Italian black sour cherries in syrup (Amerena Fabbi is the most common brand). They're the same cherry that flavors maraschino liqueur. They're very pricey but go a long way. regards, trillium

None that I can tell, but they're two very different beasts. The oil-packed salted fish is usually mackerel, right? I love that stuff too, but it has a different taste. More fishy, less aged, and more salty is the only way I can think to describe it. The dried fish we use is red snapper, which is a milder fish to start with, I think. You could totally use them interchangably, but you'll have a slightly different dish. I haven't run into any but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen...for not plain rice the Nonyas usually fry and season the rice (like lemak fan or gai fan) and then boil it. Nonya cooking is known to be some of the most time consuming, but I've never seen the rice steamed (except for "sweet" rice). I'm curious to know how different it is steamed too. I've read what Kasma says but I've been to lazy to try it out myself, the lure of the rice cooker is too strong most nights. regards, trillium

Thanks... it's great to hear from someone who has tried them. First the rice rinsing question. For most processed rice these days, they don't require rinsing at all, but whether you do it or not depends on personal preference. To tell you the truth, I've rinsed and not rinsed and I'm hard pressed to discern a difference in the rice we eat (jasmine from Thailand, short grain rice might be a different story). My partner, who is ethnic Chinese, grew up not rinsing rice, his father had strong opinions about not rinsing it, and he thought it made the rice less nutritious. Since I can't tell a difference and not rinsing it removes an extra step, I don't bother, with one exception. When we're doing a more Peranakan/Straits Chinese rice dish where you fry the rice before adding liquid (coconut rice or chicken rice), I always rinse it because you need that extra bit of starch rinsed off so you can fry the rice without it sticking immediately when it hits the pan. On the heat question. I gave an initial method that works on my stove, which is the cheapest one our landlord could buy, but it's not too surprising that it didn't work so well on a higher quality stove. The initial method was just a starting point, when it comes to rice, you should tweak it to your preference (and stove). I have to cook rice in a Le Creuset on the smallest burner, turned down as low as it can go, and use a diffuser, or the bottom of my rice will burn before the top is cooked. It sounds like your stove has much more precise controls, so go with what works...best pot of rice of your life sounds like a pretty good pot of rice! For the steam, you shouldn't see a ton of steam escaping from the pot, you want the liquid in your pot to be at a very low simmer, some small bubbles on the surface, but not a boil. Since your stove is more powerful, you probably can cut back a little on the preheat time for your pan...sorry about the smoke alarm! The greens taste the nicest to us when the garlic is mostly dark brown with only a few blackened spots, mostly because the garlic has enough time to flavor all of the oil before you add the greens. Of course you don't have to like black mushrooms! Don't eat something you hate. Have you tried the better grade varieties and not just the cheapie ones? If you have, and you still don't like them, leave them out entirely or substitute away. The texture of a steamed fresh mushroom will be very different, but if you don't have a problem with it, go right ahead. They'll give out more moisture, but you can easily accommodate them by adding a little more thickener (potato or cornstarch). You might like the mushrooms better fresh, as shitake, or if you live in an area that has fresh straw mushrooms you could try those too. That's a matter of personal preference and even mood. For clams, I really love how the whole black beans look stuck on the shells, and I enjoy getting a variety of bites that taste more of clams or more of black beans. When we make bitter melon and beef chow fun, I smash the beans along with the garlic because I like them more evenly distributed throughout the dish. I hardly ever chop them, I'm a lazy cook and they make a huge mess on the cutting board. I usually just use a fork to smash them in the container that I've rinsed them in. I look forward to hearing your feedback on the next dishes...happy cooking... regards, trillium

You misunderstand me. I am more than happy with the produce and meats I buy locally, the disappointment creeps in when I go to a restaurant and they have the same ingredients from the same places I do, but produce equal to worse food. For that much hype and expense, I want better than what I can do, you know? I don't go to restaurants to be entertained, I go there primarily to eat. I'll confess I'm sort of irritated right now with some of the people who have got a lot of fabulous press recently for being the latest and greatest "new wave" in pdx. They talk a big talk but don't always deliver the goods. I think the praise as gone to their heads and distracted them from doing their job, which is putting out food, not strutting around with a fat head. Ok rant over... regards, trillium

Yeah, there are a few restaurants that the $25 thing makes me want to check out, but some of them I think you'd have to pay me to go to! When we go, you can be sure I'll add my comments to a thread or start a new one if we end up some place you haven't reviewed. Cafe Azul and Bluehour are at the top of the list, with Wildwood and Heathman trailing. You know, that's exactly the problem. I think we are buying our food from many of the same sources the restaurants we're attracted to going to are (local farmers) and I'm often disappointed. regards, trillium