Gary Soup

Your "jook sing" relative could learn something from some schoolkids in Westport, Connecticut: Visit to a Doufu Factory What you call "seen jook" is "sanbian fuzhu" in Mandarin (my wife calls it "doufu bi") and the stuff commonly sold in sticks, and fitting your description of "gee jook" is called "fuzhu"). I'm not sure what your "foo jook" is. The thickest doufu "sheets" that I am familiar with is "baiye." This requires a lot of technological intervention, as the kids from Connecticut found out. I don't know if this relates to your "teem jook" at all or not. My wife uses the "seen jook" (doufu bi) quite a bit and the "baiye" even more. The versatile "baiye" sheets, in fact, are very widely used in Shanghainese home cooking, usually cut into fetuccini type strips and braised with meat or veggies, or tied into figure 8 shapes or just plain knots and used in soups and braised dishes.

Something like "di xin" (Shanghainese don't like final "n's" in some contexts).

It's HSBC in the U.S. (Hong Kong-Shanghai Banking Corporation). It's wasn't "moved" from Shanghai, but closed/renamed after the revolution ("liberation", to be precise, as the "revolution" was in 1911). It existed in HK well before 1949. The shipping, banking and real estate magnates (Li Ka-Shing is another notable example) who moved from Shanghai to HK were actually keepers of a capitalistic ethic that began in Ningbo and moved THROUGH Shanghai. There's an old anecdote about the Lord Mayor of London visiting the Mayor of Shanghai, and asking: "is it true, as I've heard, that the smartest people in China come from Shanghai?" "No," said the Mayor, "the smartest people in China come TO Shanghai." There's still some truth to that. This doesn't have much to do with food, though.

Jiaozi wrappers, no doubt.

Were they round? Actually, my wife makes her own wrappers for jiaozi. They definitely are pearly white. The wonton skins and noodles she buys are all freshly made by a local company, and all contain egg. I've never really checked out the stuff in the freezer compartments, though she does buy egg roll skins frozen. (They, too, appear to have egg in them, based on the color).

I guess I'm getting confused by "white" and "yellow" wrappers. The wrappers and mian we get in San Francisco are all pale colored (off-white, never bright white) but always have egg listed in the ingredents. We do most of our shopping in Chinatown, where Cantonese predominate, yet the skins and mian look just about like what we would see in Shanghai. Maybe restaurants use wrappers with annato added to make then look richer. But then again I'm not so much of a wonton maven that I've paid that much atention. Give me a nice big bowl of tang mian (made with thick noodles, of course) and throw an extra pork chop and a fried egg on top, please!

I'd have to say I'm with Robyn on this one. What was the name of that Marco Ferreri movie again?

Well, let's hear it for Pudong! The linguistic scholars say that Pudong is the source of the original Shanghai dialect. And of course, the prized "Shanghai Chicken" is called the "Pudong Chicken" in China. Actually, our apartment is in the middle of Pudong (Jinqiao area).

I think it's the egg. In Shanghai I only have had the "xiao huntun" (but often, especially for breakfast at our local Qiaojiazha outlet). Here in the US, all the wrappers and mian are made with egg. I haven't really noticed much difference in taste or texture. I suspect the egg adds elasticity. I don't think the eggless noodles in Shanghai could be made as fine as the ones they favor in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. For wrappers, I don't think it makes make much difference. As far as taste goes, the savory broth probably overpowers any difference.

I'll never confuse you with a "Jiangbeiren," Jennie. Shanghai could use a little central heating though, IMHO.

Ju Ju shaves the stalk with a potato peeler and makes a nice cold appetizer with it. It has a nice refreshing cucumber-y taste to it. I don't think she's ever used it in any other way.

But I bet you don't put the sugar in FIRST!

.... unless they happen to hail from Wuxi. My wife is a Wuxiren, and she adds a bit of sugar to nearly every dish "to balance the salt."

It would probably be more confusing to use the correct term "radish" instead of turnip, since most Americans think of radishes as the red-skinned pungent variety. Just be thankful it's not REALLY turnip (yuck).

Daikon (lo bok, luobo) is often translated as "turnip" for westerners, but it's never actually turnip.

Sue-On, that's very interesting and suggestive. Do you know if the practice (using egg crepes) was widespread in the 50's in North American Chinese restaurants? If so, you've solved the mystery of why they're called "egg rolls!" I'd say you'd deserve a Nobel Prize for that discovery.

Historically, the wrapper was reed, not bamboo. And the famous Jiaxing zongzi (made close to the source of the legend) use a soy sauce bath for the rice, and fatty pork as the the sole stuffing. It's a territorial issue, I guess. The Cantonese seem to have co-opted zongi (like they co-opted fried rice, a Yangzhou invention, and wonton, a Northern invention). In the diaspora, of course, their numbers are great, and they are very protective of their own adaptations. What's "real" depends on where you sit.

It was actually a Japanese invention. The Fortune Cookie

All I know is that muxu rou (木須肉) always struck me as odd -- kind of "yuxiang rousi meets Peking duck leftovers". I have no idea as to its origins. Next, you'll be on to "What's mu gu gai pan?" Did these dishes become popular because they were fun to say and easy to remember?

Just to complete the circle here, the Jollibee at 4th and Harrison was replaced by a Thai place (Cha Am Express).

I don't recall seeing that out here, but it makes a certain amount of sense, if you want to serve two masters. If you make that distinction, I'd say that "egg rolls" are definitely more American than Chinese.

That was Hot 'n' Hunky, to be precise. Did you go for the "Italian Stallion?" To be even more precise, the place on Market I was referring to was originally an offshoot of the original 'Hot'n'Hunky' on 18th near Castro. Yet it is an entirely different location, which somehow (I wasn't paying close attention) wound up actually being named 'Hot'n'Chunky' (replete with awning). Other than being able to assert that the menu and execution were exactly the same when the two were eponymous -- and that they no longer are -- I have no information whatsoever. Pardon my advanced age. "Formerly Hot 'n' Hunky" Nostalgia ain't what it used to be, as Herb Caen liked to say.

It's just a matter of terminology. What in China are called "chun juan" (LITERALLY "spring rolls") are, in fact, made with a wonton-type wrapper. They are never called egg rolls (or its Chinese equivalent) in China. In San Francisco as well, they are called spring rolls more often than not, except for the neighborhood-type Chinese-Amercan restaurants.

That was Hot 'n' Hunky, to be precise. Did you go for the "Italian Stallion?"

Atctually, the more I look at these pictures, the more they look like chimichangas to me...