eatingwitheddie

I also use and keep on hand: dried orange peel star anise fermented beancurd red fermented beancurd dried green bean noodle sheets Sa- chia Sauce (sometimes sold in a Barbecue Sauce labeled bottle - (Lan Chi brand) fermented sweet wine rice (yum) sweet red ginger in syrup (sweet) bean sauce waterchestnut powder Black Chengkong vinegar (one of my favorite things) Thick Soy Black pepper Dried Scallops Frozen Eggroll Skins Frozen Wonton Skins FrozenSpring Roll Skins Dried Shrimps Black Sesame Seeds White Sesame Seeds Tiger Lily Bud Almonds, Walnuts, Peanuts Fermented Black Beans Many kinds of fresh noodles (fresh and frozen)

I have recently noticed fresh high quality shitake mushrooms in Chinatown. They are exported from China and seem to be a different (and superior) variety than those grown here. They are what the Chinese call 'flower' mushrooms due to the lines and crenellations in their caps (when dried, these sell for a premium over the other types of shitakes). They sell for the reasonable sum of $3-5/lb.

I use fresh cilantro in many kinds of dishes: Cold apps, salads, dumpling fillings, stir-frys, steamed fish etc. Since it has a pronounced character I usually only include it in one or two dishes on any particular menu.

My pantry basics are: (I've cheated and included some fresh items as well) Dry sherry or shaoshing rice wine - usually the rice wine Kikkoman soy Amoy golden label dark soy Cornstach Hoisin sauce Hot bean paste with garlic Oyster sauce (today there is Lee Kum Kee premium) Rice - usually jasmine rice White Chinese rice vinegar (any kind works) Sugar Salt MSG Sesame oil (I buy Kadoya) Veg oil (sometimes peanut - usually the least expensive soy or corn) White chicken stock- made from 4-5 pounds of bones, a little ginger and scallion White pepper (I use freshly ground - I always keep two mills, one black, one white) Dried Whole Chiles Tree ears Dried Shitake Mushrooms (preferably hi quality ones with 'lines' in the cap) Garlic Ginger Scallion Cilantro Fresh hot peppers Cellophane Noodles Rice Noodles Eggs

ABOUT WOKS I strongly advocate a flat bottomed wok for the home cook. It does cook differently than a saute pan, but it holds oil and food just as well as a round bottomed wok, and is much more stable. As to what it should made out of: you want a metal that transmits heat very quickly and that cools down quickly too (as soon as you turn off the light). Thats why a wok made from a heavy metal or cast iron - Calphalon for example - doesn't really work so well. I recently bought a hand hammered tempered metal wok in Vancouver's Chinatown. You can recognize one from the hammer marks abound the upper part of the interior. I am extremely happy with it. It gets quite hot quite quickly, and then cools down just as fast. It was inexpensive (under $30). A 14" wok is a perfect size. I also have a cheap 11" non stick wok with a flat bottom. It is quite helpful. By the way, I frequently use an old electric wok. I top it with bamboo baskets and steam with it Ed

If you have a flat bottomed wok forget about the ring. The ring is merely to make the wok more stable.

The reason to partially freeze meat is to cut it more precisely. If you could cut it without freezing that would be preferable, but not at the expense of getting the right shape.

First, thanks to all for your input. I too, did a double-take, on the amount of oil and rushed to my cookbook collection to see if I had mis-read any recipes. But no. All called for a minimal amount of oil and touted stir-frying as a healthy cooking process because of the small amount of oil used. But I trust Ed and will be more than willing to give his method a workout. But I have a question - naturally! Often, I do a stir-fry to make use of leftovers. Right now I have some rib-eye steak cooked to blue-rare and was planning on using it in a quick stir-fry. How do you think this deep-frying method will work when the meat is already at least partially cooked? Thanks. This method is only for cooking raw, marinated meat. Your steak should be done in a traditional stir fry with very little oil. A non stick wok would work extremely well since it will allow you to use even less oil. ED

Try splitting them down the back and 'opening' (butterflying) them. The French call this a la crapaudine (in the shape of a toad). Season them (they react well to overnight brining) and brown them over very high heat, for just a minute or two, in some butter and oil, skin side down in a heavy skillet. Cast iron works well. Put the pan in a preheated 425 degree oven and roast, always skin side down, until cooked through. They should be med/rare in about 20-25 minutes.

Neither. When you say Hunan chicken I'm not sure what you're referring to since similar dishes may vary so much from one restaurant to another. In most Chinese diced chicken dishes with a brown sauce, the chicken is initially sauteed, just barely cooked through, and its appearance is quite white. It is then tossed in a brown sauce which colors as well as flavors it. We usually cook with some dark soy in addition to light soy, to get a rich brown color. When the chicken is first marinated with egg white and cornstarch before cooking, the coating ends up being almost invisible after cooking. Next, the food is tossed in a sauce. The thin layer of surface starch on the chicken absorbs the sauce, coating each piece of chicken with both color and flavor. This a subtle and extremely important thing. It cause the sauce to cling to the food rather than slipping off it onto the plate. In a dish like General Tso's Chicken where you have large chunks of chicken, there is usually a heavier marinade/batter, usually with a whole egg, not just whites, and it is cooked in oil until browned. To obtain a browned exterior and a fully cooked but extremely moiste interior, we would typically cook the chicken in hot oil for 20 seconds, remove it and reheat the oil to 375 degrees, and then put the chicken back in for a second cooking for another 20 seconds. We might then remove it and do the process a third time, again in extremely hot oil. After the chicken is cooked it is then sauced. Its color comes both from its frying and its sauce

You're correct in talking about the use of oil. But I think a little more explanation would be helpful In home stir frying the food is cooked by being tossed in the pan, and the pan transmits the heat to the food. When you 'velvet' (marinate protein in egg white, cornstarch, salt and wine) and then pass it through the oil, the oil rather than the pan transmits the heat. Since the food is surrounded by the oil, it cooks much more evenly, and quickly. You end up with a better and more uniform result and ultimately a less oily one. At first this may sound contradictory. But follow me for a second. When you stir fry you have 2-3 T of oil in the wok. This will typically end up being part of the sauce. When you 'pass' food through oil, the food is well drained and the wok is wiped cleaned before the food is returned to the wok for saucing. Using this method you can usually end up with less oil in your finished product. Keep in mind the following: In Chinese cooking when we do a stir fry dish we first cook the meat and vegetables until they are 96% done, remove them from the wok and then create a sauce. When we make a sauce we almost always start with the herbal ingredients first, garlic, ginger, scallion, hot peppers, and then any pastes, hoisin, sweet or hot bean paste, and then afterwards add the liquids and dry spices: stock, soy, oyster sauce, wine, salt, sugar. By the way in a Cantonese kitchen vegetables are usually blanched in water, however in a northern or Szechuan kitchen they may often be cooked in oil. They cook very differently in oil because is is at least 100 degrees hotter than boiling water - 10 second string beans - crispy and beautifully bright green.

You're correct in talking about the use of oil. But I think a little more explanation would be helpful In home stir frying the food is cooked by being tossed in the pan, and the pan transmits the heat to the food. When you 'velvet' (marinate protein in egg white, cornstarch, salt and wine) and then pass it through the oil, the oil rather than the pan transmits the heat. Since the food is surrounded by the oil, it cooks much more evenly, and quickly. You end up with a better and more uniform result and ultimately a less oily one. At first this may sound contradictory. But follow me for a second. When you stir fry you have 2-3 T of oil in the wok. This will typically end up being part of the sauce. When you 'pass' food through oil, the food is well drained and the wok is wiped cleaned before the food is returned to the wok for saucing. Using this method you can usually end up with less oil in your finished product. Keep in mind the following: In Chinese cooking when we do a stir fry dish we first cook the meat and vegetables until they are 96% done, remove them from the wok and then create a sauce. When we make a sauce we almost always start with the herbal ingredients first, garlic, ginger, scallion, hot peppers, and then any pastes, hoisin, sweet or hot bean paste, and then afterwards add the liquids and dry spices: stock, soy, oyster sauce, wine, salt, sugar. By the way in a Cantonese kitchen vegetables are usually blanched in water, however in a northern or Szechuan kitchen they may often be cooked in oil. They cook very differently in oil because is is at least 100 degrees hotter than boiling water - 10 second string beans - crispy and beautifully bright green.

I don't know if you had a chance to look at my Q & A from 2 weeks ago but I wrote a post talking about many of your concerns. I have copied it here and hope you find it helpful. Please feel free to respond or ask any further questions. By the way, I too like Irene Kuo's book and mentioned so during the Q & A. ES AN APPROACH TO COOKING AND FLAVORING CHINESE STIR FRYS To my mind learning to cook proper Chinese is food is akin to learning a craft. Once you have mastered the techniques you can move ahead and apply your knowledge to create a series of basic preparations and their variations. Unfortunately I don’t think there are just two or three supreme tips. I have a philosophy about how to approach and think about this way of cooking and hope that it will be helpful in guiding you as well as others. 1) Learn how to select the correct cuts of meat and vegetables and how to prepare, cut, and flavor (marinate) them for cooking. 2) Learn how to cook these meats and vegetables so that they are properly cooked through and exactly the right texture. 3) Learn how to season the food you’re preparing. Time after time my cooking seems to reinforce this approach. For example when you’re making beef and broccoli, you start by purchasing the right cut of meat and learning to slice it to the desired shape. Different cuts lend themselves to different shapes. Of course you’ll need some really fresh broccoli. Make sure it isn’t too old and tough. When we start to cook this dish we fry the meat so that it is just cooked through and quite tender, and cook the vegetables so that they aren’t raw, but bright green and crisp/tender. Finally we create a sauce and then toss the whole thing together, for just 20-30 seconds, so that the meat and vegetables are properly seasoned. We quickly dribble in a touch of sesame oil, to create a great smell, and then remove the food from the wok and plate it. Should you toss the meat in the sauce for more than a few seconds it will toughen and your dish will lose some quality. ***This 3-step technique of preparing the food, then cooking it to the right texture, and then flavoring it, recurs in recipe after recipe. Most importantly, when you start to think about stir-frying this way, it provides an approach for dealing with all sorts of Chinese and Asian recipes.*** Beyond this here are some other basic pieces of advice: For home cooking I suggest cooking in a 14” flat-bottomed wok. Get a wok strainer Use a Chinese spatula and a Chinese stir-fry spoon Get good recipes Use really fresh food Use good homemade chicken stock As a practical example I have included a fairly detailed recipe for your perusal. Ed Sliced Beef with Broccoli Ingredients: 1 lb. flank steak, trimmed and partially frozen NOTE:you could also use other cuts among them boneless sirloin or filet mignon or my favorite poor man's cut: chicken steak (also know as beef blade chuck steak - it first needs to be trimmed of exterior silver skin and interior gristle) for the beef marinade: 1 egg white 1 T dry sherry or Shaoshing wine 1/4 t salt 2 T cornstarch 1/2 head broccoli, washed and cut into 2”pieces 2 scallions, cleaned and cut in 1/3” pieces 1 t minced garlic 1 t thin sliced ginger, cut in 1/2” pieces for the seasoning sauce: 1 1/2 T Kikkoman soy sauce 2 t oyster sauce 1 t dark soy 1 T dry sherry or Shaoshing rice wine 1/2 t sugar 1/4 t MSG (opt) dash white pepper 1 T cornstarch dissolved with 1 1/2 T water 3 cups vegetable oil add at the last moment: 1/2 t sesame oil Prepare Ahead: 1. To slice the beef: Holding your cleaver at a 45-degree angle to the cutting surface and cutting across the grain, slice the partially frozen flank steak into 1/3” thick pieces, each 2”- 3” long and 1/2” wide. 2. To marinate the beef: Put the beef slices in a mixing bowl and add the egg white, wine and salt. Using your fingers briskly mix for about 30 seconds until the beef is evenly coated. Next add the cornstarch and continue mixing until it is just dissolved. Transfer the beef to a clean mixing bowl, discarding any extra marinade clinging to the first bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook. The beef may be cooked immediately though its texture is best after 12 hours. If well refrigerated it will stay fresh for at least 48 hours. To Cook: 3. To cook the beef: Heat 3 cups of oil in a wok until it is moderately hot: 280-300 degrees F. With the heat turned to it’s highest level, add the sliced beef to the hot oil, and using a pair of chopsticks or a slotted spoon, gently swirl the beef in the oil so that the slices separate from one another. Cook, stirring gently, until no trace of pink remains and the beef starts to bubble vigorously in the oil: about 60 seconds. Using a slotted spoon transfer the beef slices to a strainer suspended over a pot to catch the dripping oil. After removing the beef from the oil continue to leave your wok full of oil over high heat. 4. Cook the broccoli: With the flame still at its highest level, reheat the oil for about 2 minutes: until it is 325-350 degrees. Now add the broccoli to the oil and cook stirring gently for 30 seconds. Immediately stop the cooking by draining the contents of the wok over the beef and into the same strainer that’s suspended over a pot to catch the oil. If any of the beef marinade has stock to the wok scrape it out and discard it. Wipe out your wok and return it top the heat. Note: If a great deal of marinade has stuck to the pan you may have to wash out the wok and reheat it. 5. To sauce the food: With the heat turned to its highest level add 1 T vegetable oil to the wok followed by the garlic, ginger, and scallion. Cook, stirring for 10 seconds, then add the seasoning sauce that has first been briefly mixed to redistribute the cornstarch. Stir constantly until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens. Working quickly add the beef and broccoli to the wok and continue stirring until the food until it is completely coated with the sauce, about 30 seconds. Don’t stir the meat in the sauce any longer than necessary: boiling it in the liquid will toughen it. Immediately sprinkle with the 1/2 t of sesame oil and serve. -------------------- Ed Schoenfeld

What kind of fish stock do you make? What goes into it? How much do you use per week? At one time I had heard that instead of conventional fish stock you steam large quantities of mussels and use their juice instead of stock. Is that true? What kind of white wine do you cook with? Thanks, Ed Schoenfeld

While Balti I am told is hindi for bucket, Baltistan is the name for a region.

Thanks to everyone who participated/visited this past week's Q & A. If you have more questions, don't feel shy. Looking forward to hearing from you again. Ed Schoenfeld

what's your recipe for general tso?

The nuts are blanched in water, blanched in simple syrup, soaked in the syrup after blanching, then fried crisp.

I have had Peking Duck hundreds of times and to be honest I can't remember one instance where it was so much more memorable than the other 299 times. It is a fairly simple item (for a restaurant) to prepare, where a properly cooked fresh-killed duck is the essential element along with really good wrappers. By the way I most frequently order Peking Duck at Tai Hung Lau on Mott St in NYC. This restaurant has a very good authentic Cantonese kitchen and on Mondays its very good Peking Duck is 1/2 price, only $18! I particularly get a kick out going for lunch with 2 other friends. We order 4 or 5 kinds of dim sum and a duck, enough to eat ourselves silly, and the tab is only $10/person for a feast. With regard to lobsters, I particularly remember a variety I had in a Hong Kong Chiu Chow (a regional Cantonese cuisine) style restaurant. When the lobster flexes its tail, a little stream of water shoots out. It's called a 'pissing' lobster. It was alive when they cooked it, but dead when we ate it, sorry. I never see Chinese eat raw fish. For my money, the ones from Maine, Brittainy, and Australia taste better.

Most restaurants don't make their own wonton or spring roll wrappers. Though they do make their own wontons and spring rolls. Most good restaurants make their own dumpling skins and (hopefully)pancakes, including almost all Cantonese restaurants serving dim sum. Indeed the quality of the skins is one of the most impoartant criteria in judging dumplings/dim sum. CHIAM I have indeed been to Chinam though it was some years ago. It is definitely still there on 48th St and 3rd, right next to Suvir's friend's restaurant, Diwan. The original owner, Henry Leung, is no longer there I believe, and it was he who had the wine interest. He currently can be found at one of the many restaurants calling itself Evergreen. I believe his is called Henry's Evergreen. It is located on the east side of 1st Avenue at about 70th St. To the best of my knowledge Chiam caters to the east side business crowd. I honestly can't comment on the quality of the food, but I rarely hear it mentioned. I believe it's menu is regionally eclectic with a Cantonese bent.

Cabrales, thanks for the good and detailed response about course sequencing at a banquet. You're obviously not a rookie! Yes, typically a a cold appetizer would be first, and anything that might be construed as an appetizer such as squab in lettuce follows. Then a clear soup (if there is one) or shark's fin (which is soupish) and then probably a Peking Duck. Next there is a sequence of main dishes, and towards the end a whole fish and maybe a vegetable, followed by noodles, a fancy fried rice or dumpling, and then possibly a second soup, typically a sweet one (tong sui). Sometimes a fine pastry chef will make a plate of fruits (all made from dough). Usually there is fresh fruit at the end and sometimes an 8 Precious Rice Pudding.

Haven't heard a thing until your post. Thanks, looks cool! Can't wait to go back to the link and play. Ed

Absolutely EVERY restaurant makes their own roast pork. Nothing unusual. Same with dumplings wontons spring rolls etc.

Seems to me that Jewish food is made up of many different ethnic traditons which kind of simultaneously exist beside one another and sometimes intermingle with each other. There is the eastern European tradition of my grandparents which itself varies from one country to the next. My Hungarian grandmother cooked differently than my Polish one did. There is the Sephardic culinary tradition. There is a Middle Eastern cuisine. There is the contemporary Israeli food scene. I am no expert in this area, but it feels like there are enough different culinary traditions that each retains some of its own identity. As I have written in some other posts I am someone who is often disdainful of labels. For my money, I would like to see the general quality of cooking rise to an extremely high level so that wherever you go you get really good tasting food. Will it be haute? My time in Israel leads me to believe that it will not be. I also think that is a good thing. Delicious is more than enough for me. Waiter, bring me a foie gras kebob please!

Bux Of course I'm familiar with the restaurant, just not the family name! Thanks. Ed