mudbug

Why thank you Shalmanese!

Hello, Does anyone know what this dish is? A friend sent it to me, describing it as tasting fibrous like ground up peanut shells, very dry, sweet and salty. What is it called? What is it made out of? Recipes? Any insight would be appreciated.

I am accustomed to one inch cubed pork butt/shoulder and prefer that over loin due to tenderness preference. I believe this came out too salty. Not inedible, but definitely too much throughout the jook/congee and I only soaked the pork in salt for 4 hours. Overnight would have been worse. It is really not possible to rinse away the salt since it melts and permeates the meat which is great... but I suggest doing it for an hour up to two hours, I will likely go an hour and fifteen minutes next time. When you come back to "rinse away the salt" what you have is liquid. It definitely seasons the meat. Just do so sparingly. I will have to cook more jook so I can add the first salty jook to it, to taste.

jsager01, Are the beans fried or simply sauteed and would this be in oil? I see no reference to oil...

Thought of a forgotten snack that I've only had once in my life and am on the search for it. It is challenging to find online and I can not find it in any of our three Asian grocery stores. They are chewy, the skins are wrinkly, and they salty and delicious. Here is a photo. I have found a few pages online which refer to it but the translations are loose: http://bit.ly/1dzrB28 http://bit.ly/1cPV9Zg Is anyone familiar with this and can anyone help with a good recipe source or post here?

For those of you familiar with Springfield's Original Cashew Chicken, created by David Leong of Leong's Tea House which closed in 1997, you may be interested in the following information: Bill Chiu, a dear friend of David Leong's, and one of the founders of the cashew chicken landmark The Bamboo Inn passed away this past Saturday, September 20, 2008. The Bamboo Inn opened it's doors in 1973 and was the first restaurant outside of the Leong family to sell the original recipe which remained unchanged through 2008. Visitation for Bill Chiu is today and funeral services are tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. The Bamboo Inn closed it's doors for the last time in March of 2008. A blog has been created in tribute to the restaurant and as a means for those who have moved away from the area, to pay their respects to Bill, catch up with his brother who also worked there for the duration, and to share memories and stories of the eatery. Please feel free to pass along this information and comment at their site, since the circumstances surrounding health issues did not allow them the luxury of time in officially being able to say goodbye to their patrons who were very much their family. Their family would love to hear from you. http://thebambooinn.blogspot.com/

Yes, made a few batches over some years. Not necessarily specifically any with the intent of an authentic Asian recipe but some from cookbooks, food shows, personal experimentation. Pretty easy... use any red meat you want (haven't tried chicken). Marinate in soy along with whatever spices you like, crushed black pepper is usually a winner. Slice thin and put in a food dehydrator before you go to bed and they'll be ready in the morning but they go fast so make sure you have another batch marinating and ready to go before you run out.

Thanks for the discussion. I'm going to guess the winter melon filling for mooncake is closer to that of bean paste, so to be more specific, still looking for a winter melon filling for mooncakes as opposed to wifecakes.

Still no input... anyone?

Anyone have a source for moon cake with a winter melon filling? It has existed in the past...

Never really had a problem finding peanut oil. It's just a little more difficult to find in larger quantities unless you go to a wholesale supply. Gallon sizes can usually be found more easily around Thanksgiving because it's being sold for turkey fryers.

Dejah, Yes. We made a very good batch of jook and between vomiting bouts, it's the only thing going down smoothly. Pork butt is melt in your mouth tender. Some dried bean curd sticks (yuba) and white nuts (ginko nuts) are how mom used to make it and our matched exactly. Even dad was surprised at how on target it was. They're asking for more! But last night and today she has a fever so.... one day at a time. We will try the Minced Beef Over Rice in Clay Pot next. But any other suggestions for anything mild like the jook would be great. The good thing about the jook is that she get's some liquid in her system as well.

hzrt8w, The dish looks like something we can try. aprilmei, Maybe you can ask some vendors what's in the sauce... Thank you for the continued contributions to this thread and the well wishes. Won't be cooking for a lot of people. Tradition is not the concern here. I can handle jook. This specific dish came up when she was asked in recovery what her favorite dish was when she visited Toronto's Chinatown a couple of years ago. She said the sauce was sooooooo gooooood. It had been at least 15 years since she was last in Toronto. I can handle the pot, the slow cooking, gathering of the ingredients... but I have never tasted this sauce so I have nothing to go by. And you know Cantonese taste buds... some of the most refined and specific palettes in regards to taste, texture, etc. in the world and all. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask. But I am completely relying on all your feedback... please keep up the discussion. Soy sauce and sugar sound like what little she could figure out. Now we just need to get that nausea medication prescription confirmed so she can keep everything down....

Thanks for the replies, but you're talking to someone who needs specific (measurements, ingredients, and all) recipes. She had four vetebrae taken out of her neck. This type of surgery is the most painful of all types of surgeries due to the location. Recovery is long. Any suggestions even if not what I asked for in regards to tradition would also be appreciated but please point me to directions. Thank you in advance.

Hi all, My mother had major surgery last week. She got out of intensive care Friday and they are ready to send her home today. She mentioned this weekend a dish I am not familiar with and I am hoping someone can help me track down a recipe or two. "Bo Ji Fan" pronounced [bō jī' fŏn] is the best I can describe it phonetically. Can be made with different meats but apparently the sauce creates the magic. Usually cooked in a clay pot. Sounds meat served on top of rice with sauce on top cooked in a clay pot. She could never find out the name of the sauce and she did not know what was in it. One of those not to salty, not too sweet but more sweet than not sauces. Just amazingly tasty - thus memorable - sauces. Any help, insight, discussion, and sources on this would be greatly appreciated as my time is limited because she needs a lot of help. Thanks in advance.

Fermented tofu is a good flavouring agent - use with rice, vegetables, meat ... whatever strikes one's fancy. I like the kind with chile and sesame oil. The recent thread on fermented tofu at http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=46375 goes into more detail. Yes, I posted to that thread. I am just wondering how you usually use it and what you enjoy it with besides tortilla chips which just sounds wrong - like eating salsa with a Ritz cracker. You don't say in that thread either. I'm asking because you obviously love the stuff if you purchased so many jars. Throw it out, not worth the lack of quality or the risk.

How do you like to prepare/eat it? What do you like to eat it with?

Grub, Evidently the answer is subjective.

Has anyone tried this with any other nut? cashews? almonds? hazelnuts? macadamia?

Qing, Whoa.... As someone who is 100% Cantonese Chinese, I'd personally appreciate it if you did not so readily generalize "all Chinese" into one lump category and speak from such a specific point of view in a way that sounds like you speak for all of us! Uh, yes. It is. Because in order to eat the cat, you have to kill it first. The issue here is the method by which they are being killed. I don't consider cats wild animals unless they're lions, tigers, cougars, jaguars, ligers, panthers, cheetahs... well, you get the point. Cantonese is about flavor, texture, balance of multiple flavors, etc, no matter what is being cooked. As with all ethnic cuisines, they evolved out of the ingredients provided by the land, by the location, by the climate, by what would keep you alive. I'm proud of the fact that the Cantonese palate is one of the most discerning palates in the world. I am not however "proud" of the fact that anyone - Chinese heritage or not - eats cats. I do however, understand that they do because that's the way it's always been. I also believe times are changing, and suffering during death is suffering during death no matter what type of living creature you are. I believe it's more specific to region than it is culture in terms of lumping all Chinese into one group. Respect to an Ox or Cow over a cat is simply because they were not abundant or common. Just as any human tends to value anything which is not common. To me, cats are loyalty. The big deal is not so much in the fact that any region of humans in the world eats cats, it the method by which some of them are killed. Don't forget, cats aren't the only animal tortured upon death for human consumption. Some parts of the world eat monkey brains while the monkey is still alive. At the same time, is it humane to raise things like chickens, cows, pigs, etc. for mass production from birth in less than decent conditions, plumping them up with steroids and not necessarily healthy foods all with the goal of raising the body fast, so they can be killed quicker, in order to increase production, in order to increase the bottom line? Is it humane to force feed ducks for fois gras? In South Korea over 2.6. million dogs and cats are, tortured, killed, and eaten. each year. I'm not going to generalize by saying something like "Koreans don't care about dogs or don't respect them." Some do, some don't. But the way the dogs are killed is just as flat out inhumane as this whole cat discussion. To make the meat more tender some dogs are killed by beating, electrocution,burning or hanging. Live animals actually in cages with body parts of dead and decaying animals. And how about this? There is a fine line there. One of how you were raised and what you learned in one country versus moving to an entirely different country and expecting to be the same way. You know, for all this talk about animals and food and torture, there are also issues about animals and pets. There was also a documentary which aired less than six months ago on HBO (can't recall the name) about dogs acquired in any way, whether they be strays or from your well-to-do backyard in cities as large as St. Louis. Acquired, dipped - eyes and all - in an acidic bath in below freezing weather and immediately put in outside cages - no warmth, no drying off, cement floors, no rinse of the chemicals. And for what? To be purchased to end up in your local pet store. Literally. Is it humane to shoot squirrels or cats with BB guns because they're in your flower bed? Is it humane to keep a bird caged? Is it humane to keep a human in a cage all it's life? Is it humane to use pesticides and chemical fertilizers (some of which contain lead) on farms and home gardens only to kill off ecosystems of life in order to attack one bug which is only out for three days? As far as I'm concerned, the issue here is not just cats. It's about lack of public awareness regarding a multitude of atrocities not only in far away places but in our own backyards. And thank goodness there are some small groups of humans who care enough to not just talk about the issue, but to actually do something to make it better, to get the word out, to educate, to save some lives or at least make their deaths humane, not torturous.

I don't know many farmers that allow their pigs and cows to roam around the house or sleep in their bed. I know people who are not farmers that have pigs for pets and they have the run of the house just as an indoor dog or cat would. I think saying it's "just a difference in perspective" is simplyfying it a little too much. If you think more about it, this is a human attribute to classify and the classification comes from where you're raised, how you're raised, and what's "always been done". Seems to me the only people who are not hypocrites about the subject are true (and I do mean true) vegetarians.

All you have to do is do an image search in a search engine like google: Click Here to See

Yes, can you take a photo of the product packaging and post it here john?

This is why I've adopted the habit if saving the packaging for anything I find that we like. There have been too many times where something has been discontinued at an Asian grocery and we don't know enough to have anyone order it or even for us to find it ourselves online. Now all we have to do is go to any Asian grocery, bring the package, and ask if they will order it. We haven't found anything we didn't receive for the asking. Thank goodness!

mvpbonds, Is it the same as the plant being discussed in this thread? It's well known among gardeners that harvesting just about any vegetable when it is younger is more pleasing to the palatte in terms of flavor and texture.