mudbug
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Posts posted by mudbug
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Another vote here for Pearl River Bridge: Superior Soy Sauce
As mentioned above, they have several different variations (light, dark, mushroom, etc)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid1...32.jpg.orig.jpg
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I had a crab dish many years ago at a restaurant in Seattle and fell in love with the dipping sauce. For years I'd kept that flavor in the back of my mind and finally discovered while eating something else years later that black vinegar was the base of the custom sauce they'd designed for the crab.
Well, it's always good to figure out exactly what it is you really enjoy... and for me, black vinegar is one of them. I assume the primary use of black vinegar is for dipping sauces when combined with garlic, rice vinegar, sugar, chili peppers, scallions, fish sauce, etc.
We don't use ours very often because we forget it's "there". But I always enjoy when we do.
How about you? What do you normally use it for and find it works best with?
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Some are even specific to a dish! Mapo sauce (for Ma Po Tofu), Hai Nan Chicken sauce (for Hai Nan Chicken).
Really? Huh... learn something new every day! (Not surprised though.
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Ah... the equivalent to the Cajun Trinity only different.I just use the basics: salt, pepper, msg, sugar.
Understood. Yes, measurements would be most appreciated if I'm to actually execute the dish to surprise the one who sustains my palette and keeps me fed. Looking forward to it!Gota make some soon, so I will try and get some measurements for you. Like most of us here, I cook by " a little of this, a bit more of that"...
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Ben Hong,
Very informative. I will read the thread when I get a chance to focus on it.
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"what do you use to season the ribs and how much soy sauce before adding water?"
I usually add enough to balance out the saltiness and to enrich the colour.
Thank you. Have I missed the spices you use to season the ribs?
If you don't wish to comment, I respect that too.
;)
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hzrt8w,
Thank you for the clarification and the link, I'll check it out.
EDIT: Interesting thread... must have been more heated at the time it was alive, just goes to show how human each of us is our individuality and how the experience of life affects each of our perspectives on the world. I could make a couple of statements but don't know if it's worth resurrecting...
BTW: Did you catch my questions to you in post #12?
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So, mudbug, tell us how your bday party turned out. What did you make for dessert?
Where is mudbug when you need him/her? Maybe too much dessert and took a long ZZZZZZZZ...
Mudbug got distracted with other life issues and never had time to make any desert, although I am still constantly on the lookout for good, traditional recipes. I always thought it'd be fun to make a good mooncake but I'd want a good mold first.
Have you ever noticed that the desert section of Chinese cookbooks is almost non-existent?
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hzrt8w,
Gonna be hard to beat your initial pic and top yourself. First duck looks polyurethaned - a little to pretty for me. And I'm the crispy skin fan... that didn't look crispy. Second pic not close-up enough.
Whew! That was easier than I thought!
Take a gander at this one (no pun intended):
http://www.shangrila.lv/Images/Menu/Menu/4...ing-duckBIG.gif
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Nay Ho Ma?
Ohhh boy, here goes: Gnoh Ho. Ho Yeh... lol... was I even close?
Where were you when they were ganging up against Cantonese food? We need more fellow Cantonese like you! Cantonese food bland. Ouch, still hurts! 
Well heck... I missed all the fun.
Are you referring to the links in post #8 or can you direct me to the battleground?Cantonese food isn't bland, it's refined. Beautiful compositions of quality ingredients combined to complement each other in flavor, coler, texture, and density - all in balance. Nothing overpowering, pleasantly allowing the ingredients to speak for themselves in harmony.
Besides... how many people have had truly "authentic" (there's a thread on this word floating around) Cantonese dishes which are not altered for restaurants? Personally, I've always had a tough time eating at Asian restaurants because most of the dinner food has been Westernized and I don't care for it. Is it just me?
When I got older and started eating more "American" food, I could not for the life of me figure out how anyone could eat the meat in anything because it was always so tough, dry, bland - ick! I grew up with meat that was, as we like to say, "soft". (I love when they say that on Iron Chef. I empathize completely.) So soft in fact - that when cooked properly - you can get chicken breast to be fully cooked and yet literally melt in your mouth. Little did I know the standards had been set when I was young...
There is an interesting description of Chinese cuisines and their differences at this blog from someone who has been teaching Asian cookery for years:
http://tigerberries.blogspot.com/2005_01_0...es_archive.html
Hit [control] + [F] on your keyboard to "Find" and type in: January 26
Then hit return. It will take you to the complete entry.
By contrast, the style of Cantonese cookery is one of restraint and sublime simplicity. The cooking of Canton is the regional style most highly regarded by Chinese gastronomes, in part because of the great respect paid to the quality and freshness of the ingredients used in creating a dish. Pure, fresh meat, seafood and vegetables are skillfully cooked and adorned with a minimum of condiments in order to bring out the natural fragrance, color and flavor inherent to the raw ingredients. There is great emphasis placed upon the aesthetic properties of food in Cantonese cuisine, and there is a lot of attention paid to contrasting colors, textures, tastes and scents of each dish. The Cantonese are particularly known for their stir-fried dishes where brilliantly hued crisp vegetables contrast with meltingly tender meat, which are often enhanced with one or two judiciously applied condiments like light-colored soy sauce or fermented black beans.I thought everybody was at the beach, thinking about margaritas or Coronas than thinking about Joong. Your input has certainly brought a lot of energy to the recent discussions.You know... I searched before posting. Thought for sure this place would have had an existing thread on this topic by now.
Was quite surprised none and also to find the small the quantity of threads in this particular niche. I know people are interested in it... Happy to stir the cornstarch and liven things up...I probably have heard of Toysan and don't realize it. Then again... you never know. What's the phonetic pronounciation? Thanks for the definition. I certainly don't want to feel unworthy of my heritage due to my ignorance, but if you're not around people who talk about it, or otherwise exposed to the information, you don't know. We're all here to learn.... right?
Where are you living now? You are not near any China Town? In Europe?Europe, eh? Well... not so much. Try: Missouri. (
heh) Does that put things in perspective? Don't get me wrong... some of the most unassuming small towns have a surprising selection of Asian ingredients.. but it's never the same without at least having a decent Chinatown where you can get a good dim sum to fill your tummy and satisfy the taste buds. 
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mudbug: would you like to see some more drooling pics like Peking Ducks or squabs?
Ok. Torture me some more. I'm ready.
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One can't really compare nor mai gai to joong. They are same but different things. Does this make sense?
Sort of... did I miss a definition of the difference between the two somewhere? Feel free to clarify...
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Dejah,
I see. Noted.
But regardless of which leaves, banana or lotus, what I'm trying to say is - why risk submerging the joong in water at all and potentially diluting the flavor of the contents when it can be steamed? Steaming is the key to infusing the contents with the essence of the leaves. Boiling would inhibit this.
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I boiled them after they were wrapped. Cooking time is less if i cook the rice a little upfront, and the fillings are sauteed.
NhumiSD,
You don't boil them. What happens is you completely dilute the flavor of the end product. You want to steam them. In my experience you usually want them in rectangular form, not triangular with is usually reserved for deserts (this way you can tell from the outside whether the contents are sweet or savoury).
Here is the recipe I use and I absolutely love the flavor and texture of the filling:
Lotus Leaf Wraps (Lo Mai Gai)
(This popular dim sum dish is made by steaming lotus leaves filled with
sticky rice, Chinese sausages, and other vegetables).
Serves 10
5 dried lotus leaves, cut in half or use banana leaves or aluminum foil
3 cups glutinous rice (aks sweet rice), washed and drained
4 Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water 20-30 minutes to reconstitute,
drained, stems removed and chopped (combination of shitake and woodear are excellent)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
6 1/2 ounces ground (preferred) or minced chicken
4 ounces jumbo shrimp (green king prawns) peeled, deveined, and finely chopped
2 Chinese pork sausages, finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour) mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Pepper to taste
Directions:
Prepare the rice and lotus leaves:
Soak the lotus leaves in hot water for 1 hour. Pat dry.
Cover the rice with water and let soak for 1 hour or overnight. Drain
Steam the Rice:
Line a bamboo steamer with a few pieces of cabbage or a parchment paper so that the food will not stick to the bottom. Add the rice and cover. To steam, fill the wok (you may use a vegetable steamer instead) approximately to the half-way point with water (the steamer should be sitting above the water without touching). Bring the water to a boil and turn down to steam. The sticky rice should take about a 20 minutes of steaming to cook and will become translucent when done. After the rice has cooled, divide it into ten equal portions.
Heat wok to medium-high heat and add oil. When the oil is ready (oil is ready when bubbles quickly form around chopstick held vertically in oil), add ginger and stir-fry briefly, then add chicken and shrimp, stir-frying until they first change color. Add, in the following order, Chinese sausages, mushrooms, soy sauce, rice wine, and oyster sauce and stir-fry one minute.
Give the cornstarch mixture a quick restir. Make a "well" in the middle of the wok and add the cornstarch mixture, stirring to thicken. Pepper to taste. Mix in with the other ingredients for 1-2 minutes. Remove from wok and set aside.
Once the meat and vegetable mixture has cooled you can make the wraps. Begin by spooning a portion of the rice mixture into the center of a lotus leaf. Add approximately 3 teaspoons of the meat and vegetable mixture, placing it in the middle and forming a "rice ring" around it. Add more rice to cover. Form llotus leaf around the rice to form a rectangular package (like wrapping a gift) and tie with the twine. Reheat the wok with water for steaming and steam the wraps, a few at a time, for 15 minutes. (Add more boiling water to the wok as required).
To serve, cut open the wraps.
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All right, too early to be reading this and salivating. Sounds delicious - obviously. You are correct Dejah, at this point I'd settle for some good siu yook... or maybe a lot of good siu yook.
If you ever figure out the rand of your black beans, I'd be interested. Ours are not salt encrusted, but there's a good chance you have much more of a selection to choose from.
On the ribs... would it be possible for you to guess measurements/quantities of ingredients? I'm not usually the cook in the house and work much better with specifics. I suppose the biggest questions I have are: what do you use to season the ribs and how much soy sauce before adding water?
I like the initial browning, the cornstarch finish and the oven.
I can taste it already... yes... lots of rice required.
The last suggestion sounds intriguing. Is this with garlic chili paste or fresh minced garlic and red chili peppers?
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From The book of Tofu by William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi (1975 edition)
page 311
In Japan, silken tofu is called kinugoshi. Kinu means "silk, kosu means "to strain": well-named, kinugoshi tofu has a texture so smooth that it seems to have ben strained thru silk. Soft and white, it melts in the mouth like custard or firm yogurt. Make from thick soymilk...The bottom line is that is created via a fundamentally different method than other tofu. One being it's source of thick soymilk, others being the fact that it's not strained but more created by pouring into a container like a soft cheese.
i think you might have misunderstood your quote. "...SEEMS to have been strained thru silk". the reality is that all tofu is strained to remove the solids. the liquid that is left over is soymilk which is made into tofu by adding a curdling/setting agent.
the difference between silken, soft, medium, hard... whatever, is whether or not, and how much the tofu is pressed to extract moisture. silken tofu is not pressed at all, thus giving it a silky, moist texture, versus hard tofu which is pressed until most of the moisture is gone. that's the only difference between the different firmnesses of tofu. so as stated above, many times silken tofu is poured directly into the final container before it is set, and there is so much moisture no skin is formed
I don't believe I misunderstood the quote at all. My conclusion with the second paragraph was not a direct response to the first paragraph alone. I continued to read the next few pages which I wasn't going to type her. It proceeds to provide instructions and various methods by which to make silken tofu. Perhaps my second paragraph should have read:
The bottom line (based on further reading of Chapter 11) is that silken tofu is created via a fundamentally different method than other tofu. One being it's source of thick soymilk, others being the fact that it's not strained and non-silken tofus are (thus they have less water content to begin with from the initial stages even before pressing). Silken tofu is ceated by pouring the liquid while hot into a container with no drainage holes or liners and coagulated with an agent such as calcium sulfate. It is the higher water content that gives the tofu it's softer consistency. The whey is never removed from siilken tofu which allows it to retain more of the nutrients from the soybean (protein, vitamin B, natural oils and sugars).
According to the book, your statement that "silken tofu is not pressed at all" is incorrect. According to the book, silken tofu is not strained - silken tofu can however be gently pressed. You can create soymilk without having to go thru the process of making tofu first.
Soymilk is not the liquid that remains from the process of creating tofu. Soymilk is created with dry soybeans (less than one year old) and hot water.
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Teepee,
Thank you. I was actually thinking of just baby ribs with black beans instead of them being combined with bitter melon all together in a dish.
We just follow recipes from any of the numerous Chinese cookbooks we have with everything from The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo to the revered Pei Mei series of which I need to acquire more. We used the shrink wrapped type of black bean. Don't have any in the pantry so I dont know the brand... black, white, and red label I believe. We don't mash and use them straight.
Yes, I'm Chinese (Cantonese). My mom once told me a story of how when I was five, I asked her... where does popo get all that food from? At that time I couldn't comprehend it because it was a kitchen "the size of a closet" (I really don't recall the dimensions - but that's how it felt). Every time we sat at the dinner table it was like a Thanksgiving feast and I was always in awe. There's truly nothing like home cookin' in this respect, eh?
Thanks for pointing out the links... I'm going to have to "ask" because I really don't know specifics. I know I can google it but what does "Toysan" mean? Forgive my ignorance...
Once I figure it all out... I'll check in.As for knowledge, I've done a lot of research on my own and I have spot-on taste buds. I don't live anywhere near a Chinatown so it's necessary to work with what's available, including growing my own Asian vegetables and deciphering what their Botanical/Latin/Scientific and American names are (yard long beans, bitter melon (foo gua), winter melon (doong gua), gai lan, yu choy, ong choy, etc). I have leads on suckling pigs... just haven't taken action yet because I haven't found a definitive recipe that would result in the end product resembling this picture: http://www.webcreationz.co.uk/image-archiv...crispy-duck.htm
from this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=49705 (Recipes out there, anyone?)
Anyway... I digress...
edited for spelling
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Thank you Tepee, would you be so kind as to share your pai guat recipe?
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Thanks Seitch. I know how I do it... was just curious how others did it and preferred to use them.
As described above, it depends on what the original form is of the ingredient that you purchase. I assume you're using dry beans and not canned? What brand?
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Love these with beef and bittermelon, fried dace, pai gwut (pork ribs), etc.
How about you?
How do you prefer to prep them? How did your elders prepare them and what did they like to cook them with? Do you soak them in water or broth first, rinse them with water, or use them right out of the bag or can? What specific brands do you prefer or dislike?
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Humm, velveted ong choy.
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Adding to the confusion is that there don't really seem to be any standards for those "soft", "medium", "firm" etc. designationsSilken tofu is particularly silky in texture. Like other tofu on the market, it ranges from soft to extra-firm. Silken tofu is poured directly into an aseptic box and needs no refrigeration before opening.
In the process of making tofu, hot soy milk is blended with a coagulant to form a curd. At this stage, soft tofu is poured directly into its package. For medium to extra-firm tofu, the curd is poured into a mold, covered with cotton, pressed to form a block, cut and then packaged.
There is quite a bit of information on the differences in firmness and texture in this Good Eats transcript of the TofuWorld episode:
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season3/Tof...uTranscript.htm
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From The book of Tofu by William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi (1975 edition)
page 311
In Japan, silken tofu is called kinugoshi. Kinu means "silk, kosu means "to strain": well-named, kinugoshi tofu has a texture so smooth that it seems to have ben strained thru silk. Soft and white, it melts in the mouth like custard or firm yogurt. Make from thick soymilk...The bottom line is that is created via a fundamentally different method than other tofu. One being it's source of thick soymilk, others being the fact that it's not strained but more created by pouring into a container like a soft cheese.
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Grandma, eh? Let's remember that most codified cuisines are not family or working-class cuisines but rather the cuisines of the courts, upper class, and (in a few cases) the bourgeoisie. And granny doesn't guarantee authenticity -- or, at least, not the authenticity that you might imagine.
I never said granny guaranteed authenticity.
As discussed above, the definitiions and interpretations of those definitions are going to be based on each individual's experience in life.
Of course not all "grandma's" cooked, but most of them did, and I'm pretty darn sure a majority of them around the world were not royalty. Certainly it willl depend on the dish and the origin of the dish, the country of origin, etc.
I believe that when those of us say "grandma", we're referring to those grandmas who are not bi-lingual or into fusion cooking. Who did not live in major metropolitain areas and hence did not have access to a wide variety of ingredients. Who never moved to another country other than their native one until they were over 70 if at all. In fact, most of these "grandmas" are most likely deceased or a good 90 years mature. The grandmas who if you're raised in America can't communicate with you because you dont' speak or barely understand their language. This is where I'm coming from.
Need Cake Ideas for dad's 80th bday
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
Shiewie,
Great pic! Thanks for sharing.
Teepee,
How's it going? or How did it go?