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In a home kitchen set-up, an individual can`t cook his/her steak(s) at the super high temperatures that the top steakhouses can. Same idea could hold true, for Chinese dishes, that are cooked at super high temperatures in woks at Chinese restaurants(can`t be duplicated at home, with residential equipment). ----------- Steve

I too love cooking with my mom...and hate cooking with my mom! My mom is the best cook that I know and I can't eat Chinese food out without comparing it to hers. She had a restaurant in the 70's when I was a kid. Until I lived in San Francisco (around 1999), I thought General Tso's Chicken was her invention (Tso is her maiden name and it was on her menu)!!! She hates her kitchen. She has one of those corning flat-topped electric stoves from the 70's. It takes about an hour to heat up and you can turn it off and the water will still boil for 20 minutes. She instead cooks outside under a little lean-to (sounds like little house on the prairie). She has a wok ring attached to a propane tank and mostly stir fries things she's grown in the garden. As a child, I remember sitting on the floor on newspaper peeling carrots or potatoes for whatever we were cooking. I would mince garlic and ginger. I was her little prep cook. She's upset that I didn't spend more time cooking with her...but not as upset as I am. Now I do spend that time with her and she teaches me something new each time. But...sometimes I hate cooking with her too! Having worked in restaurants, I waste too much food when I prep. She's always complaining that I'm throwing too much away. When we make potstickers and I think the filling is used up, she can use a rubber spatula and make four more dumplings! I guess that's why Chinese are known for being cheap! Squeezing blood from a stone is nothing to my mother...

Hi Pongi, Here is a simple potatoe dish using amchoor, quite popular in the north. It will give you an idea of one way of using amchoor in a dry dish. we will just call it Sookhae Aloo ( or Dry Potatoes, in case you are not familiar with hindi) Peel boiled potatoes into one inch cubes. heat oil in a wok or kadai add cubed potatoes and cook on medium to low heat. the trick is to let it brown slowly, turning the potatoes occasionally. Messing around too much will mash the potatoes. When you have the desired crispness. Add -Salt -red chiili powder or cayenne -garam masalla -amchoor powder Mix so the potatoes are well coated. Heat another minute and serve as a wonderful side dish. Note: how when you add the amchoor and spices all the oilyness dissapears.

CLAMS OR MUSSELS WITH BASIL While I haven’t measured out the proportions, if you read these instructions carefully I’m confident they will produce an excellent result. By the way I love using basil in my Asian cooking, especially right now when it is plentiful and fragrant. In fact I just used handfuls in a Hunan-style chicken stir-fry. Also try leaving out the soy, oyster sauce and the thickening: you’ll end up with a delicious brothy casserole style dish. Make the sauce base: Heat 1T of vegetable oil in a wok and add 1t minced garlic, 1t sliced ginger, some sliced fresh chile (more or less to taste – none is fine too), and a couple of chopped scallions. Cook, stirring for ten seconds then add a cup of chicken stock. Quickly bring it to a boil then add 2 T dry sherry or shaoshing rice wine, 1-2T oyster sauce, 2-3T soy, 2t sugar, a touch of salt, 1/2t white pepper and if you use it, 1/2t MSG. Taste for seasoning: the sauce should have a nice brown color and be flavorful without being too salty (when you add the clams their juice will dilute the sauce slightly and add more salt at the same time). Cook the clams: Add 1 1/2- 2 dozen well scrubbed clams (mussels work well too) to the sauce base, and cook until the clams start to open (clams may take 3 or 4 minutes, mussels much less). Using a slotted spoon, remove the clams just as soon as they open (so they don’t toughen) and hold them on the side as you finish the sauce. Thicken & finish the sauce: Taste the sauce and correct the seasoning, checking for depth of flavor, salt, sugar (which will give the sauce a rounded taste), spiciness and rich brown color. Reduce it if necessary, then when it tastes right, add a big handful of basil leaves and some coarsely chopped fresh cilantro. Working quickly, thicken the sauce with cornstarch slurry, and then recheck the seasoning. Return the clams and any of their accumulated juices to the sauce, and heat through for just a few seconds. Serve immediately.

My grandmother steams chicken in a wok, basting it with fat from another chicken, giving it a nice rich yellow colour. Don't know how she times it but she gets the flesh just cooked. It's very good, but dependent on the quality of the bird. She visited once and cooked a supermarket bird, and we agreed that it was the chook. The thigh meat is crazy like this just firm, still slippery, and the well cooked skin divine when dipped in a sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and chilli... and spring onions, i believe some know it as scallions... I wouldn't get grandma to cook if the bird wasn't reared properly.

thom, i would suggest you decide how much space you have for your oven/range and what fuel/s.As i said when we designed our small kitchen we found we only had 90cms left thus went for the toldeo 90(rangemaster,the Aga company), it has everything we need. 5 rings (1 for woks) 2 ovens (one normal.,one tall-for rib roast & plate warming etc) Seperate grill(big plus) and dual fuel,fan assisted oven Our choice was made on the fact that it had all the features we wanted, it looked good(simple,sleek but sturdy), which we personally didnt find the smeg did when we looked closely, I find agas are lovely in the right enviroment but often look out of place.Our 2nd favourite was a belling was our 2nd favourite but i found the door seal a bit shoddy.And it fitted ! Johnathon is correct that alot of these ranges do look fake close up, trying to look classic or flashy with giant buttons etc. U really do need to go and have a good look at whats availiable. I am sure there are which reviews availiable, i think u have to pay online or try the library Check online as there are so many websites but beware sometimes prices look low but infact delivery is extra. The reason we went to a small local store in surrey was the fact they discounted as we also bought washer dryer and fridge freezer. Once u have choosen your favourite model/s look on [url=http://www.kelkoo.co.uk as they compare online prices & advise of p&p...(i know see i could have saved £36 on mine !) have fun looking sarah xx

I have a traditional residential gas stove... kind of crappy but quite big for a Manhattan apartment. I still find that I can't get a wok hot enough on my stove to make decent use of it. This is complicated by the fact that the heat capacity of most woks is so low that theylose any stored heat if you put much of anything into them. This may not be as much of an issue with normal "cooking-for-one" amounts of food, but is problematic if you want to stir-fry a whole cut up chicken or something that size. Special wok burners make up for this by cranking out so many BTUs that the heat is replenished immediately. As for using a wok for Western style thick reductions... you would run into several problems: 1) only a very small area of the wok is heated by the most intense part of the flame as oposed to a saucepan or sauteuse evasee where there is a comparatively large area; 2) most woks are made of materials that have poor thermal conductivity, therefore the sides of the wok would not conduct much heat into the reducing liquid and almost all the heat would come from the small area at the bottom of the wok; 3) that small area at the bottom of the wok is a "hot spot" by another name, and could burn the reducing liquid.

More like the miniwok, but It feels stamped. Your points on the stovetop are well taken; I forget that not everyone has gas. I'll give using my sauteuse evasee a try-- never occurred to me. However, now that I'm thinking about it, seems that a wok would likewise be very good at quick evaporation.

morning thom i've got the cheaper of the smeg ranges, think it was about £800, got 5 burners incl a central wok one, and a single large gas oven. i've had 5 years cooking daily out of it without trouble, oven might not be very good for low temperature work as it does heat up very quickly and needs a separate internal thermometer to keep a check on it, but other than that no problems. looks the part with a stainless splash back and big chimney hood, my chef mate likes cooking on it too, i'd certainly buy another one unless i was prepared to spend a lot more. gary

Johan, I didn't include woks because they aren't standard stovetop equipment in the Western kitchen. In my own personal experience I have also found that most of them do not work very well in the home kitchen unless one has special burners. Back when I used to have a wok, I made two stir-fried dishes at the same time -- one in a nice wok and the other in my stainless lined heavy copper curved sauteuse evasee. The stir fry in the copper piece worked 100 times better. I haven't used a wok at home since. I find the curved sauteuse evasee by far the most versatile pan in the kitchen. Mileage, opinions and preferences may differ on this matter, of course. Hard to say what your wok is made of without more information. Does your wok look anything like this or like this? I have a feeling it is probably enameled cast iron, even if it isn't very thick.

First a comment I was suprised that the list slkinsey made for FG didn't include my one time favorite pan: The calphalon 10" or 11" nonstick wok. For anything from reheating left-overs to a quick stirfry (esp when cooking for one) this is the single most versatile pan I own. It does everything but sear steak or boil pasta. I highly recommend it (and it can be had discounted at ~$30). True asian cooks might find that it has too even a heat distribution (it doesn't get the true hot-spot that really high-heat searing needs), but asian supermarkets have cheap woks so that may not matter. then a question What is my cheapo wok made of? The outside is some red enamel, but the inside is rough, like cast iron. However, it is (I would have thought) much too thin and light to be cast iron. It isn't non-stick, as it definitely has stood up to some vigourous scraping with steel brushes. Perhaps it is this porcelain enamel? The best clue I have is that the surface is not smooth, nor regular. It really looks alot like cast iron.

Today I rarely use a thermometer to check oil temperature, though when I first started 'velveting' I did. Over time one can learn how to discern the temperature of the oil by looking at it: heat waves appear in the oil when it approaches cooking temperature. Keep in mind that you want to COOK the food at 280-300 degrees F. When you put cold food in hot oil, the oil loses heat. The temperature of the food and the volume of oil and the strength of the heat source (this promotes rapid temperature recovery) all effect the process. Very often I start my velveting when the oil is at a slightly higher temperature, say 325 F, knowing that the oil will decrease in temperature as soon as I put my protein in. If the oil is too hot, all the egg white marinated pieces will stick together in a lump and the process won't work well. By the way if your oil is too hot have some room temperature oil at your side and quickly mix some in. This lowers the temperature immediately. With regard to oil in your finished product, it's my experience that the protein absorbs much less oil than you might think. Oil does cling to the food. After removing the protein from the oil bath let it drain well for about 30 seconds making sure to shake the colander a few times to facilitate removal. Your wok should be coated with a film of oil, but much less than you would have in it if you were stir-frying the protein. Your wok should then be ready to sauce the blanched food. I consistently have very little oil in my finished dishes when I velvet. In fact I sometimes have to add some oil to the finished dish to give it a little extra sheen and smoothness. For example this week I was in California and came across some unusually delicious fresh Hawaiian shrimp which I made with with fresh chanterelles and broccoli: at the end of the saute I tossed in a 1/2t of sesame oil and 2t of chicken fat. BIG YUM.

Mongo, I was afraid to share my recipe, for fear that you may find it rude that I shared another recipe for Tarkari Wale Aloo. Our recipes are similar and yet different. I hope I do not offend you with this offering of a Kayastha (Uttar Pradesh) version of tarkari wale aloo. MY BROTHER’S POTATOES WITH TOMATO AND MIXED SPICES Tarkari Wale Aloo Serves 4 When we were kids, this was my older brother’s favorite dish. He literally refused to sit down to dinner without it. My grandmother liked it a lot too, so she encouraged him as my long suffering parents waited impatiently for his tastes to diversify a bit. I, being the younger brother, had to be different, so I refused to eat it at all while I lived at home. But once I left for college in Bombay I relented and allowed myself to appreciate it. Now it’s one of my favorites, too. SPICE MIXTURE 1 tablespoon coriander seeds 2 teaspoons cumin seeds 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns 1/4 teaspoon turmeric 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 cup canola oil 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds 3 whole, dried red chilies 1 fresh, hot green chili, cut crosswise into 4 1/8 teaspoon asafetida 2 pounds medium, red boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks 2 tomatoes, cut into large chunks and pureed in a food processor or blender 8-ounce can plain tomato sauce 1 cup water 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1. For the spice mixture, combine the coriander, cumin, black mustard seeds, fennel, fenugreek seeds and black peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the turmeric and cayenne; set aside. 2. Combine the oil, cumin and dried and fresh chilies in a large wok, kadai or saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. 3. Add the asafetida and give it a stir, and then add the potatoes. Cook, stirring often, 5 minutes. 4. Add the spice mixture and cook, stirring, 1 minute. 5. Add the tomato puree and sauce and stir to coat the potatoes. Add the water and the salt and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. 6. Uncover and simmer 5 more minutes to thicken the sauce slightly. Taste for salt. Then transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with cilantro and serve hot.

If you got pre-made day old rice, toss some rice into a wok with some oil, throw in some chopped veggies and a cracked egg, some shopped up leftover meat, toss up with some soy sauce and some sesame seeds, and you got yourself some really good fried rice.

SWEET AND SOUR BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH GINGER AND CHILIES Kaddu Kee Sabzi Serves 4 to 6 In my grandmother’s home in Delhi, visitors would arrive begging to eat Panditjis preparation of this very simple and humble vegetable. His recipe, reproduced here, was fabled to be deliciously addictive; you will find out. Kaddu is the Hindi word for the oblong shaped, Indian pumpkin. In America, I use butternut squash instead: it comes close enough in flavor and makes it unnecessary to go hunting for the real thing in Asian markets. The end result is a dish that is authentic in taste and just as beautifully orange. Try it with a traditional Thanksgiving meal. 2- to 2 1/4- pound butternut squash 3 tablespoons canola oil 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced 1 fresh, hot green chili, chopped 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/8 teaspoon asafetida 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons dried mango powder (amchur) 1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Peel it with a vegetable peeler or a paring knife and scrape out the seeds. Cut the two halves lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick strips. Then cut the strips crosswise into 1 1/2-inch pieces. 2. Heat the oil in a large wok, kadai or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and cook, stirring, 1 minute. 3. Add the fresh chili, the fenugreek, cayenne and asafetida and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. 4. Add the squash and stir to coat with the oil. Stir in the salt and sugar. Turn the heat down to medium. Cover and cook until the squash is tender, about 25 minutes. Uncover and stir the squash every 5 minutes and check on the cooking; if the spices begin to burn, turn the heat down. If the squash doesn’t brown at all, turn the heat up slightly. 5. Stir in the dried mango powder. Mash the squash with a spoon to break up some of the pieces. Taste for salt and serve hot.

About that onion chopping: I never did understand why horizontal+vertical slices were better than just the significantly simpler wheel-spoke arc cuts. If you make them alternatingly deep and shallow, you get an even size, and since you're always slicing perpendicular to the onion layer, every cut counts. Using h+v slices you'll be be slicing along the layer for a large part of each cut. As for tips: 1) Heat the thai chili-paste and oil over medium heat first, then crank up the heat and add meat before the paste burns. Back down on heat when adding coconut milk. Only tested using gas and a thin-walled wok. 2) heat management in general, actually 3) Tomatoes slice easier drawing the knife towards you. I understand this is the Wrong Way to do it. Haven't sliced my finger off. yet.

Dinner at Dahlia Lounge was great! We sort of 'share' and had the Corn Soup with Basil Mousse...smooth as glass! The Crab Cakes were delicious but almost put to shame by the incredibly tasty wok-stirred vegetables. We can't ever ignore Potstickers on a menus...and these were a bit of a surprise...being deep-fried...or fried in some way...but terrific texture and taste just the same. My husband had the Alaskan Halibut which was served in a wonderful broth...but his meal had a hard time competing with mine...the Pork Loin with molasses-glazed pork belly and Carmelized Onion Spoon Bread. OK, most of the time I'll order the Alaskan Salmon on just about any menu...because I love the flavor..but for some reason this pork loin thing caught my eye and it was mone of the BEST main courses I've had in a long time. MsRamsey speaks the truth...the DONUTS are incredible for dessert. Actually, they are donut holes...right out of the oven...dusted in cinnamon and served with fresh vanilla mascarpoine and strawberry jam. I found the service to be perfect...professional, warm but not overly 'fussy'. The room is beautiful...sort of small supper club effect. We'll definitely go back. I give it 4 out of 5 stars...only because my pork was not piping hot...more luke-warm when served...picky picky.

I used to think that Bangkok was *the* premier food city in Asia but a few days in KL changed my mind (but don't make me choose). I only regret we didn't have more time, or that we couldn't fit in more meals in a single day, bec I feel that we left a lot of territory unexplored. But thanks to the posts in this thread and the AWSJ article mentioned by Shiewie we had mostly hits and only one half-miss. I hope some of you can enlighten me as to the names of some of the dishes we had. Dim sum at Xin was a highlight (but next time I won't go for lunch on a national holiday *without* a reservation ) ... esp the fried carrot cake (rich, yes, but super greasy, no) and the pork cheong fun. The latter was new to me ... the skin is thicker and chewier than the rice noodle rolls at dim sum shops in Hong Kong, and I loved the small pile of (I'm guessing) minced dried shrimp, ground pork, and chilies on the side of the dish. I'm sorry they were out of fresh scallops by the time we were seated. Char siew bao was just as it should be (but so rarely is) .... all about the pork with sauce as an accent, not the star of the show. Prawn soup dumpling skillfully cooked to that point where the crustacean is cooked but still a little crunchy, and so fresh-tasting. After dropping our bags at the hotel at 9pm we ran out for our first meal of nasi kerabu and tuna curry at Songkhla Hawker, and a truly delicious dish of rice rolls cut with scissors, topped with bean sprouts and coriander, doused with a coconut-based sauce (I think). What is the name of this dish, and where else can it be found? And some of what in the low light looked like chicken curry but turned out to be chicken in an intensely (but not un-deliciously) sweet, sticky dark sauce .... black soy and ginger? Taiwanese place on Jalan Imbi (AWSJ article) was supposed to be small plates but even the "small" sizes were large. No matter ... started with a dish of room temp crisp-fried dofu cubes tossed in a sweet-chili sauces with bean sprouts (they just brought it to the table with the menus and asked if we wanted it). Sweet potato congee was just OK, I prefer Cantonese-style thick to Shanghai style thin jook. The only item hand-written in on the menu , pork shreds with dry pressed tofu and a mixed veg with lily bud were both delicious, esp the latter as mixed veg can be so pedestrian. Only problem is we had planned to backtrack up the street to a shop for rice rolls cut with scissors into a plate and topped with what looked like chili sauce and bean sprouts ... but were too full. Sat night we were headed to Old China Cafe in Chinatown for Nonya (AWSJ article) but were waylayed by the delectable smells rising from the smoking wok set up next to the WowWow Rock Club (where we rang in National Day later that night) on the same street. We could not resist the soy-laden stir-fried noodles ... a little Mandarin came in handy here and we had Fujian noodle (the thick ones) and another called ??? (thinner, and with a smokier flavor) and a heaping plate of qingcai (shredded cabbage and something else) loaded with garlic chunks as big as the tip of my little finger and cooked till soft but still slightly crispy. Another highlight --- sambal grilled fish at Portugese Grilled Fish (why "Portugese"?) stall at the end of the main hawker street off of J Petaling. I wasn't excited about the stingray (ikan bakar?) but I think it's bec we got mostly tail ... not much meat. The mixed seafood, OTOH, was fabulous --- tender squid rings, clams (or another kind of shellfish), a couple prawn, and that lovely fiery sambal, with extra chilies. My big regret of that evening is that we didn't also get the claypot chicken proffered at the stall next to Portugese fish. 3 university students at the next table shared a pot and the smell (we were waiting for our fish) nearly drove me mad ... oh those glistening chunks of Chinese sausage and the crackly soy-soaked rice that stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot. We were stuffed after seafood but we should have gone for it anyway..... Which leads me to ask (for the next trip) --- does this place offer the best claypot chicken in KL? Or should one seek this dish out somewhere else? Yet another highlight --- Yung Taufu at Hoong Hoong /Foong Foong in Ampang. Absolutely packed at Monday noon but so worth the wait. I've never had this dish before and it was memorable, esp (for me) the eggplant, chili, and steamed white tofu. The soup dumplings were special as well, the wrapper just thick enough and the filling studded with, I think, pieces of water chestnut? A half-miss --- our last dinner at the Sahara Tent in front of Fortuna Hotel bec we planned poorly and all the Nonya places we wanted to go to were closed on Mondays. Baba ganouj --- excellent, very smoky. But soggy fatoush with deep-fried (why not grilled, or baked, or toasted, or just day-old?) bread, limp lettuce, and nary a trace of sumac or lemon juice. OK foul, though a bit mushy bec made with a bean other than fava ... and again, no lemon juice zing (but the quality of the olive oil was quite good). Grilled fish perfectly done but some of the tomato paste spread didn't get a hit of fire (the fire-charred part was lovely with a squeeze of lemon over the tomato) and so stayed raw. OK bread. Perfectly delectable, slightly spicy pickles, and a generously sized bowl of them too --- chilies, cucumber, carrot, and cauliflower. If I lived in KL I would probably go back for the pickles and baba, and to explore the lamb dishes. I think this place may have possibility, but with a menu like a minefield. Last morning: nasi lemak at Wang Dangi Nasi Lemak --- perfect. Next trip we won't be so lazy sleeping in every morning and missing out on nasi. Followed by Indian sweets at Jai Hind (AWSJ article), yummy soft milk cake. Rolling back to the hotel to pack, couldn't pass up roti chanai at a completely packed-out no-name shop on J. Masjid India (can't miss it 'cause of the crowd). Would have liked to sample other roti at this place but my stomach said "No Way." I wonder if the donuts sitting on the long tables are very greasy or not ... they looked yummy. A great trip but --- we never got in a Nonya meal, never had any seafood other than the sambal grill, no Indian meal, and missed out on so much more. No matter .... a return is definately in order bec KL is a food lover's paradise (but the posters to this thread already know that)!

Kate, this is kind of counter-intuitive, but your difficulty might come because the curve of the sides of the bowl is too steep. I find the gentler the curve, the easier to flip stuff. That's why I never, ever have a problem with my AllClad "chef's pan" (kind of like a flat-bottomed wok) -- the contents travel up the side, go straight up into the air, and fall right back down into the pan. Even a regular saute pan is a bit steeper, and sometimes the contents scatter a bit. I say this is counter-intuitive, because you'd think a sharper upright edge would send the contents straight up; I don't find that, though. fifi, I hope the rain is loud. The rattle-rattle-rattle sound of the beans will drive you nuts otherwise. Seriously, I hope there's no damage from the storm; I heard on the news that the winds are not bad at all, which is good news indeed.

Thanks, Jason, but I think an American editor or someone who owes favors put together the sources. As a whole, they suck. When I got this book (upon u.s. publication) the two sources you cite did not have the peppercorns. They were mediocre sources, in general. That was, what, June? I'm in San Francisco, and "she" gives two general sources here. One, May Wah, is famous, and deservedly so. The other is a joint in chinatown, and I hadn't heard of it so last week I hiked up there and it's your basic chinatown import shop. Not a grocery at all, though they had some foodstuff imports downstairs. wtf? Sadly, I conclude that whoever put the reference in the book (not Ms. Dunlop, no way) hadn't actually visited this store. I mean, it's San Francisco, we've got really great Chinese markets all over, and I'm directed to this junk shop? Ok, maybe it's nice stuff. But it ain't any sort of food store. On the other hand, I walked past the Wok Shop, where I picked up a new steamer. Pretty sweet store, right there. Thanks again for bringing up the book. This baby is a gem. Stupid stuff, like Kung Pow, is _stunningly_ good. You think, I'm not gonna make her Kung Pow, I've done that a thousand times. Then you make it, and it changes everything. This book should be a pinned topic. But you can't make anything without the peppercorns! Has anyone tried freezing these peppercorns? Are they still available via ebay (I can't find them)? Some months back it was mentioned in the food section of the sf chronicle, and a fda guy was quoted as saying the ban would never be lifted, it's too dangerous, and it would be decades before anyone was sure the bug was, well, safe.

One secret of keeping Pak-boong (in Thai) or On Choy (in Cantonese) from turning chewy is super hot wok. You must let your wok heat until super hot, then throw in the veggie with seasonings, the a couple of turns and immdediately off the heat. I never cook On Choy stir fry at home because I don't think I could ever get the wok to be hot enough in my kitchen. And chewy on choy is yucky in my opinion.

His "Ultimate Beef Stew" is incredibly good....though I would add more veggies. And his "Death Defying Shrimp with Tasso Ham and Crab", while not an "ultimate" recipe, is a real crowd pleaser whenever I've made it. I would never kick him out of my kitchen or off my TV. The "here's how the corn gets from the field to your table" films they used to show in my grade school fascinated me so I don't mind the "Unwrapped" shows. I always enjoy seeing how my Zagnut was made. Unmentioned FAVE since it doesn't involve a celebrity chef and I couldn't care less about the host, Tori Ritchie, but I love the premise: "Ultimate Kitchens" on Food Network Showing me things I will never ever have in my kitchen but I still love watching every minute of it. There was an episode showing a kitchen with a built-in wok surrounded by a water moat (to flush away anything that fell out of the wok while stir frying) just made me want to cry happy tears. Who thinks of these things?

Boaziko You are welcome! Isn,t it always true the food at restaurants and at home kitchens taste quite different. Let,s do this. Did you like the cauliflower florets itself? I also like the grated and deepfried into fritters. To add a little more charecter to the cauliflower add some grated or fine chopped cabbage and a carrot and then deep fry them to small fritters. Restaurant cooking is so fast and at so hot temperatures and we always have extra sauce, that's the reason I have asked you to pour over the sauce on cauliflower. You can cook cauliflower fritters further in the sauce, I am afraid you will loose the crispiness. It has to be high heat and fast. (Wok style cooking) It is very simple to get more saucier, add some stock or water after you have tempered the garlic, cilantro and the other ingredients and then the corn starch..(keep the corn starch very liquidy.) Now the sweet or sour or spicyness is all seasoning. You may get sweetness by some ketchup or sugar, extra spicyness with blackpepper or green chilies and shrap sour from extra vinegar. Try this way! If you have any doubts, plaese do not hesitate to post or email me. P2

Just wanted to add to this thread a bit on my favorite downtown Szechuan restaurant: Chinese Wok on 4th near Blanchard (across from the Darth Vader building, a handy landmark). The Chinese Wok used to be on Fifth and Bell or so, but disappeared temporarily. They are back in nicer space (but still somewhat small) and have the same chef, which means several superb dishes. Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Beef (or Mongolian Chicken), and a heavenly dish called Triple Delight are some of the standbys. My personal favorite, Triple Delight, is a stir fry of mushrooms, water chestnuts, mini-corn cobs, snow peas, broccoli, asparagus, and green beans (depending some on what's in season), dotted with shrimp, tender sliced beef, and chicken (the Triple Delight). All ingrediants are infused in a deep, rich one-star to five-star Szechuan sauce that is to die for. I generally accompany my lunch with a cup of their hot and sour soup, which is one of the best of this genre I've had. The above lunch entrees are in the $5-$7 range. My total bill is usually around $8. Going early (11:30 or so) usually ensures a table, although this place fills up fast.

Environment plays a huge role in what you choose to cook, but also in what you choose not to cook. I initially took to the stove (as differentiated from "the pit", which every Texas boy is born understanding, coming to age as we all do at our daddy's knee beside the woodpile) because it looked like I was going to spend a disproportionate amount of my life with a Northern girl (thank God that didn't turn out to be the case) who refused to cook the southern and creole foods that I love. So I picked up a couple of books, good knives, and a set of Calphalon, and never looked back. I moved to Boston some years ago, a town with a serious drought of Mexican food of any flavor. I attacked that as a subject with a great deal of inspiration and compulsion, working my way through Diana Kennedy and also some trashy border cookbooks, all to compensate for the bland offerings of New England. It was a case of satisfying cravings, both of taste and of technique. Now I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (ironically enough with a Texas woman this time) in a small community heavily influenced by Asian culture and food. Just before I moved here, I had decided to tackle Chinese and Thai cooking, bought the requisite cook gear and books, but have never pursued it. There's just so much diversity of Asian food here, and of such stellar quality, that it's never occurred to me to take out the wok and cook from the wondrously beautiful Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet book that I so love to browse, or any of the others. It's far easier to head to the corner where I can find what I want already plated and ready to eat, inexpensive, and of better quality than I imagine I could produce. So instead, I spend my evenings and weekends refining what I'm already comfortable with, focusing on the techniques, but also spending real time with new interests. These days I'm working on long term projects such as baking good bread and in making my cheese better (inspired by the great local curd), but also playing a bit with new passions, such as Indian food, because it seems a lot like "back home" food to me, which brings it sort of full circle. If I didn't move around so much, continually finding myself cuturally so far away from where I belong/crave/come from, then I don't believe that I would be half the cook I am today. I'd be good, but narrow, just as you posit in your post.