Gary Soup

The Jenaer is one I've considered getting, because the infuser is almost as big as the glass. Plenty of room for the leaves to "perform." But I fear my wife's scorn, so I resolutely adhere to the Shanghai style: no infuser, and just a tall glass tumbler without a handle. I call it "double jeopardy" style, because you not only usually get tea leaves in your teeth, but also burn your fingers.

I've been impressed with G&S's service and pricing, but feel let down by them this year. I'm not a tea maven, just a nut for longjing and an occasional biluochun (for variety, LOL), but G&S seems to have dropped the seasonals. I even emailed David Gray several weeks ago to ask when the 2004 longjings would come in, and never got a response. I got my shipment from Todd & Holland today, and the 2004 pre-Qing Ming longjing was, if anything, better than I got from G&S last year, though it could be weather-related, of course. T&H is notably pricier than G&S, but pleasant to deal with. They (that would be Janet Todd) are very prompt to reply to email queries and they have an 800 number. Gray & Seddon are in Australia.

For China greens, I'd suggest Todd & Holland. For Japanese greens, Gray & Seddon. Both companies also feature a range of other Asian teas, but there's a lot of less pricey importers who will do for the more mature teas like oolong and pu erh. You can learn a lot from browsing the two websites, and both companies offer samplers.

I've had them with Dazha (hairy) crab and roe in Shanghai. Awesome!

"Mutton" and "lamb" have the same name in Chinese. I made this mistake when I bought some boneless lamb leg from Costco for use in hot pot. My wife informed me it was the "wrong kind" of lamb. She bought some sliced mutton for the hot pot, and "red cooked" the lamb leg (it was pretty good!) Goat also appears on the menu of some Chinese restaurants in San Francisco as "lamb" in English. On the Chinese menu it's "mountain lamb," of course.

The Antonovs have all been retired (or have crashed), I believe.

I've been told that they will make crab xiaolong by special order, if you order a day in advance. It's a large order, as they do in a whole dungeness crab for it. Not sure about the roe, but I don't see why not; they've offered other crab roe dishes as specials. I also don't know if this is only during local dungeness season or not.

I hope there's no cause and effect here.

No, I switched my planned spring trip to an October trip this year (hairy crab season, yeah!) DTF's definitely on my list, but I'll hit the Nanxiang Dumpling shop first to re-calibrate, and be going there with a critical eye. I was wondering if you'd been to DTF, since I believe you are in LA.

Blame it on the 50's musical "Expresso Bongo"

What was I thinking? Of course, they're not jiucai jiaozi, as they were obviously steamed, not boiled. Actually the "Beijing boiled dumplings" look like what my wife calls Shandong Jiaozi, which are wrapped more casually than the labor-intensive pleated crescents often featured in restaurant jiaozi or potstickers. BTW, it's OK to belch in a Shanghainese restaurant.

Watch for a great movie called "Zhou Yu's Train" coming this summer (I've actually had the DVD for weeks). It features the lovely Gong Li (who ages better than fine wine or Sophia Lauren) shuttling back and forth on a train between two small south China cities to visit her lover. What does this have to do with eating? Just let me tell you my fantasies about Gong Li..... [Edited to say "that should be lover(s)". World of difference]

He, nothing wrong with spreading the Shanghai Dumpling gospel here! SD's shengjian bao (listed as "pan fried pork bun" on the menu, I think) are also as good as any I've had this side of Shanghai, and the cold dishes and mains are pretty good, too. The veggie dumplings in the bottom picture look like the jiu cai jiaozi my wife likes to make. Did they have a sour/garlicky taste, and make you belch? Here, once again, is a picture of what I consider the model for all xiaolong bao, taken at the Nanxiang Steamed Dumpling shop in Stanghai:

Definitely. I think it's easier that way. You get a bigger margin of error --- there's less risk of the tops getting too soggy while the bottoms are browning.

I keep telling my wife that one day I'm going to take the train from Shanghai to Urumuqi. It's the longest through train route in China. She always tells me that I'll have to do it by myself. Ahfanti in Beijing was mentioned in the Flavor and Fortune article on Xinjiang food. Apparently they have a house special dish which is served on a flaming tray. Have you had it? [Edited for typo]

Historically, Sausalito Restaurants have been pricey, and seldom worth talking aobut. Lately, however, there's been a lot of buzz about a new place called, simply, "Fish." (the period is part of the name) that might be worth checking out. Not too pricey, and has had good early reviews. The chef is a refugee from Masa's. Here's the somewhat schlocky website: Fish. the Website

In China sui-gyoza are "shui jiao"; yaki-gyoza are "guo tie" (known as "potstickers" in English). Shiu jiao and guo tie are almost the same dumpling, but cooked differently. Shui jiao are always served hot in China.

I can't comment on gyoza, but Chinese chefs who are very particular will make shui jiao skins differently than guo tie skins. For one thing, the shuijiao wrapper dough is made with cold water, while the guotie wrapper dough is made with warm water, presumably to release more gluten. Personally, I don't think it makes a lot of difference. We turn our jiaozi into guotie all the time at home.

There's a picture of people making "lagman" noodles in Kashgar (no, not Brooklyn) here. (The picture cannot be linked directly).

WhiteSnow, the article has three recipes: Manti (steamed dumplings) Pilau (a pilaf-like fried rice dish) Dried Lamb on Skewer, Uygur Style The article contains an interesting discussion of "home-style" Uygur food in Xinjiang and describes a quite a few other dishes, including "Lagman", as they spell it. It's probably next to impossible to get this magazine anywhere except by mail. Although the article is well worth reading, the issue is probably not worth the $10 back issue price, because half of it is taken up by an index of the past five years' contents. If you're interested in the article, email or PM me a mailing address, and I'll snail mail you a photocopy of the article and recipes. Incidentally, the spices in the skewered lamb (could be mutton, of course) are listed as pickled bamboo shoots (minced fine), cumin, rice vinegar, scallions, salt, sugar, carrots, and small onion. No pepper here, or MSG.

Maybe not crazy, but then you probably don't have 60 year old arteries, either. I prefer to jealously hoard my fat allowance for full enjoyment of shengjian bao. I do believe that potstickers should be fatty, but not jiaozi.

I mentioned in an earlier post that the most recent issue of Flavor and Fortune has an article comparing the food in Xinjiang with the food at a Uyghur restaurant in Brooklyn. The magazine had a few recipes. When I get home tonight I'll check it out and if they are recipes you want, I'll see what we can do. (The magazine is only available by subscription, unfortunately.) [Aside to Pan: The earler post has the 411 on the Uyghur Restaurant, if you want to check it out.]

My wife likes to use lean pork loin for mincing and "rou si" (she loves the 3-packs from Costco) so her jiaozi aren't very juicy. (Her "hong shao" pork dishes, on the other hand, are sometimes a cardiologist's nightmare.) We also use the Weichuan Dumpling Sauce on occasion. Doesn't putting the sauce in the pan for pot stickers gunk up your pan and set off the smoke detector?

In a Chicago Tribune article, Fuchsia Dunlop reported that she experimented with this heat treatment at home and found that the peppercorns still "worked", though there was a "slight" loss of aroma and intensity. It might be a fair tradeoff if you can get freshly imported heat-treated peppercorns versus "intact" stock that's been sitting around for a year. Actually, I said "San Francisco", not "Bay Area". The Feds don't have a lot of imagination, and SF Chinatown was a pretty obvious target, especially considering the fact that they could cover so many markets in a small area. There were reports of them being sold openly at Whole Foods long after they disappeared from Chinatown shelves. In terms of bringing them in yourself, I imagine that the ruling is sufficiently obscure that you could plead ignorance if you got caught (not like me getting hit with a $50 fine for bringing in a piece of Jinhua ham from China).

I guess you get the prize! I had never seen them before at the Village Market, at least not outside (I seldom have reason to go inside). And when I asked the woman at the register how long they'd been carrying Rancho Gordo beans, she just said "Oh, he came by last week with a demonstration." It's not listed on the RG website under "retail stores" either.