Gary Soup

I'm glad someone else besides me understands that "The Valley" is not part of the US.

Is that Damiano's on Fairfax near Beverly? I used to get pizza there around 30 years ago, when I did hard time in our LA office. Even cold on the morning after it was good. I always stayed at the Beverly Laurel or the Farmers Market motels and hit Damiano's, a Hungarian(?) place next door, and of course Canters (warm atmosphere, lousy over-cooked brisket, just like home -- but I've upgraded chefs since then).

Well, maybe you'll slowly but surely learn how to post a link that works. perilla frutescens

Hey, we've already got a PBR thread.

My take was that they could benefit from a little more(?) sesame oil. Maybe salt, but definitely not pepper. I've seen mixed reports on DTF's XLB. Tough skins are a damning indictment though, for they should be melt-in-the-mouth delicate. The soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai are a different animal. They are tasty in their own right, but too large, flabby and overly souped to be considered as classic XLB. Be that as it may, they've become the standard for New Yorkers, who may be disappointed with the real thing in Shanghai, or even with the XLB in San Francisco, which tend to aim for the prototype. I call them "New York style soup dumplings." It's a bit like the difference between American pizza and Italian, the latter of which many people don't like. I've never been to a Grand Sichuan, but what's with a Sichuan restaurant featuring XLB? I guess soup dumplings are an expectation in NY.

There's a good number of Honkongese whose roots are in Shanghai and who like to consider themselves "Shanghainese" even though they were born in HK and primarily speak Cantonese. We have friends whose daughter fits that description, and they weren't happy until she married a boy of like background.

It's good to see you here again, Fuchsia, and I think we'd all love to see you get that post count up! In the Chicago Tribune article about the new heat-treated peppercorns approved by US authorities, they quoted you as saying (by phone) that you had tried the heat treatment at home and found that the peppercorns still "worked", though there was a "slight" loss of aroma and intensity. Was that a fair characterization of your reaction, and do you have any further comments on the "approved" peppercorns in comparison to nasty ones?

I think I've seen what you are looking for in SF Chinatown markets, but have no idea what thet are called locally. "Facing heaven" chiles are usually classified as Mirasol ("admiring the sun") varieties. A good substitute might be Guajillo chiles from a Mexican market. For reference, the heat is approximately that of a young Jalapeno.

Nope. The only name Shanghainese cuisine seems to have for itself is "Benbang." I have no idea where the term comes from, but it typically refers to red-cooked dishes. Other terms like Su-Hang (or Jiang-Zhe), Huai-Yang and Jiangnan reflect Shanghai's role as a crossroads or focus of several local styles.

My office's resident expert tells me that "Lu" is an alternate name for Shandong (like "Hu" for Shangai) and that it derives from one of the names for Confucius, who was born in the state of Lu. [Edited for clarity]

It's really debatable how many Chinese cusines there are. Tanspace's 4 are often subdivided. Here's a good rundown on Chinese cuisines from a semi-official source: Chinese Imperial Cuisines Note that Jiangsu-Zhejiang encompasses what's usually called Shanghainese. I'm sure some would argue that Chaozhou cuisine deserves a separate classification, and of course there are distinctive cuisines in the "Wild West" (e.g. Xinjiang and Tibet) but I guess these aren't considered "Imperial."

Tsk, tsk, you didn't check out the link to the cute Flash tutorial on Zongzi from Hong Kong in my original post. You would have learned, like me, that Beijing White Zongzi are just glutinous rice, no stuffing, steamed and served with sugar.

OK, I give up. That won't stop the sticky-rice chicken at my favorite dim sum parlors from reminding me of Jiaxing zongzi with their simple, moist savory filling. BTW, Beijing "white zongzi" are steamed, yet they're referred to as zongzi..... Apples and oranges are both fruit.

In the North, bamboo leaves are never used for zongzi. It's always reed. Palm or banana leaves are also sometimes used elsewhere. They are all zongzi.

I think it's all a matter of semantics. I would consider anything with a filling stuffed into glutinous rice, wrapped in leaves, bound and boiled a zongzi. Different regions (and different families) have different "traditional" shapes and fillings but it's really "chef's choice".

You got it. Oddly enough enough, I found the recipe for Jiaxing zongzi as made by the famous Wufang Zongzi Shop on a Philadelphia Chinatown Website. It's pretty much the way my wife does it, although I wasn't aware of the sugar in the bath for the rice. I'll have to keep my eye on her this time. Wufang's Jiaxing Zongzi: There are two main kinds of zongzi-Guangdong and Jiaxing style. Although they are both in the shape of the pyramid, Guangdong zongzi are longer and have various kinds of stuffings. Jiaxing zongzi are smaller and are usually stuffed with pork or bean paste. There are a number of famous zongzi stores in China. Wufang Zongzi Store in Jiaxing city, Zhejiang Province, is one of them. It has existed for more than fifty years and is well-known for the high quality ingredients, the distinctive flavour and the careful preparation of its zongzi. To make zongzi, first wash the glutinous rice quickly without allowing it to macerate, drain it for about fifteen minutes, and then mix it with soy sauce, sugar, and a little salt. Many master chefs use cane sugar to sweeten the rice and make the dumpling look brighter. Next, dice the pork for the stuffing and marinate it in a mixture of choice soy sauce, sugar, fine salt, kitchen wine, and monosodium glutamate. Then the wrapping begins. First fold the bamboo or the reed leaves into a cone. Fill it about one third full with rice, and bind it tightly with thread. Finally, put zongzi into a pot and boil for four hours before eating.

There was a thread on this a year ago, but due to a somehat confusing title, it wandered all over the Chinese dumpling map. Let's stick to the topic the way the wrapper sticks to an over-cooked zongzi this time! Duanwu, or "Dragon Boat Festival", is June 22. Time to get ready to make and eat zongzi. What will you be making or having? As usual, my wife, probably in collaboration with my MIL, will be making "Jiaxing zongzi" with characteristic regional minimalism: nothing but soy sauce and salty pork in the savory version, bean paste in the sweet. No football sized zongzi stuffed with egg, chestnuts, corn, peanuts, chinese sausage and Ball Park Franks like the Cantonese make. Here's a nifty little tutorial on Zongzi. You might call it "Zongzi for Dummies." [Edited to add link to previous thread]

Jusy say no.

Carolyn, since you like the "chocolate notes," do you drink the Sierra Nevada Porter? It's one of my favorite beers, and one of the most under-appreciated beers in the US, IMHO.

When and where (far upstate New York in the 40's/50's) we always said "soda pop." But we often got it at a soda fountain, and sometimes at a Coke machine. The bottles, however, were always called "pop bottles". To raise the ante, when we got our soda pop at a supermarket, it was always put in a grocery "sack", never a grocery "bag." Did you get a: 1) A soda in a bag 2) A soda in a sack 3) A pop in a bag 4) A pop in a sack And did you drink it sitting on the sofa or the couch? After dinner or after supper?

Here in Northern California all the attention is given to fussing over wine pairings, and stiffer caffeine drinks than tea are chosen at the end of a meal in hopes of avoiding the attention of the Highway Patrol with one's driving. If you like Chinese tea, however, there's at least one restaurant that gives it due attention. Here's the tea menu at Koi Palace, in suburban Daly City:

Are you sure she didn't just blanch them? I can't imagine her really boiling them all. You can julienne them and use them in all manner of wok-braised dishes (they're a little too hard for straight dry-frying). One popular dish with julienned bamboo is yuxiang rousi, "fish-flavored" shredded pork. My wife also makes a soup beloved of Shanghainese, yan du xian, which consists of fresh bamboo shoots cut in large irregular chunks cooked with cured or fresh pork leg and bean thread. Not necessary, but she also often adds yuan xiao (egg jiaozi).

More convenient than grabbing a bite at Schwartz's deli before catching an Expos game in Puerto Rico, I guess. Did I say that? I think I mentioned that they lacked a bit of sharpness in flavor (maybe you read that on another board) but as far as I know, they may be as good as it gets in the Bay Area. Structurally speaking (wrapper and filling consistency) and in the amount and release of "soup" they are as close to the paradigm as you could reasonably expect. Some people have praised the XLB at Su Hong (Palo Alto?) but I seldom get out of town. This dish is harder to do well than you would think. My wife won't touch it unless I insist, because it is if very difficult to end up with the right "doneness" of the noodles due to their thickness. Other restaurants seem to have trouble with it too, but SDS makes a good version. Keep eating!

I've seen a dish of that description as Part II of "Peking Duck Served Three Ways" but never with pork. Maybe it's an Atkins-friendly mushu pork...

I believe the prime growing area (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of Longjing town) is under government protection. Industrialization will eventually mean a scarcer supply of more affordable LJ, and higher prices for the good stuff, though. FWIW, Todd & Holland's price for pre-Qing Ming, pricey though it may be, is the same this year as it was last. There are also vendors selling "longjing" tea from Fujian...