Search the Community

Who makes the best dry chow fun in the city? The best chow fun wih gravy? best pan-fried noodles? best noodle soup? the best dan dan nooldes? thanks, B

Cooler weather is upon us (here in HK)! Time to get the ol' tabletop stove out for hot pot. (For those new to this, this is traditional Chinese cuisine is known as "huo guo" in mandarin - "fire stove", and "dah been lo" in cantonese - "hit side of pot". Delicious stock sits bubbling in the middle of the table, plates of raw stuff is laid out around the table and people pick what they want to eat and give it a quick swish/good boil. Popular items are slices of lamb, sirloin, fish, tofu, turnip all types of veges, seafood. Similar in spirit to Swiss fondue, Japanese nabe). Holding one at my house for friends this weekend, fishing for good ideas here. I'll be heading to the wet market on the day, thinking of getting some of these: protein: - super thin-sliced japanese marble beef - shrimps (if I can find ones that are still swimming in the tank) - blocks of fresh tofu - balls: plain as well as with filling. fish, squid, beef, pork, liondog roll (a Japanese fishcake), leng yu (fresh fish). - meen gun (I think translated as fried gluten, yum yum) carbs: - home-made shanghainese wonton (pork & cabbage) ~ star of the evening - udon - fun see (rice vermicelli) fibre: - chinese cabbage - bak choi - various other greens - turnip (super duper flavour comes out when cooked soft) flavours & stuff (in little bowls on the side): - diced spring onion - diced red hot chilli pepper - diced ginger - diced garlic - coriander / cilantro - soy - vinegar (zhejiang dark vinegar, canto clear rice vinegar) - nam pla (thai fish sauce) - satay sauce - guilin chilli oil drinks: - ice cold beer - hot ginger honey - mandarin tea (candied orange slices) - green tea - coke and the various other usual ones post-dinner (thinking of something not so heavy): - grapes, oranges - bday cake. still trying to decide what to bake / whether to buy. Wanted to do dips and chips in the beginning, but this really sounds like a lot of food already... What else to finish with?

In the spirit of the U.S. Thanks-Giving holidays... Let's talk TURKEY! Turkey doesn't really exist in the Chinese food dictionary. There is no traditional dish that uses turkey as an ingredient. Heck, we don't even raise any turkey! Has anybody made any turkey Chinese style? Soy-sauce turkey? Kung Pao turkey? Turkey stir-fries? Orange peel turkey? Any stories?

Anyone know of a good chinese restaurant on the UWS 80's westend ish. I have been enjoying thai food, vietnamese food and even tibetan shambala, but cant seem to find a place that has even decent chinese food.. Eventually, I caved and went to Ollies.. That place was god awfull. Is cottage any good? Any sichuan. Thanks.

Arthur-- Having read the excerpt from your book, I wanted to share parts of an email conversation that my folks and I had on the very same topic. This started because my mom sent a note with a quote from the Reform Judaism magazine article on Christmas vs. Hanukkah: "Jewish immigrants living on the Lower East Side chose in large numbers to spend the evening of Dec. 24 in one of the city's 40 nickelodeons. Thus was born the custom of Jews going to the movies on Christmas." I forwarded it to my dad, asking who started the part about going for Chinese food, and this was his response: "Actually the first 'going out for Chinese' started on SUNDAY nights, when the Yidden could not shop for food on Sundays because of all of the (now gone) blue laws forbidding any retail on THE LORD'S DAY. There was nothing in the house after eating everything that had been cooked for Shabbos. SEE, it's very simple if you know history." Thoughts/comments? All of it makes sense to me... Thanks again for graciously taking the time to join us here on eGullet! Curlz

The only foods i can think of are.. Hokkien Prawn Noodles Fried Tunghoon(fried vermicelli with pork and dried prawns) Khong Bah Pau(buns with dark stewed meat filling) Most dark soy sauce stewed meat dishes My chinese dialect group is hokkien and it's kinda embarassing i can't provide curious friends with more info on fujian traditional foods .Can anyone help?

Any recommendations for a Cantonese style Chinese restaurant in the Springfield area?

One of my students told me to try chayote in a stir-fry. Any recipes to try? What is this "vegetable? fruit" like?

I was looking for shrimp brain paste a while ago and accidentally bought something else - salted shrimp paste. It's purple in colour and the label says in Chinese "Famous Product of China" . Since I don't want to let it go to waste, I was wondering how does one use it? Any ideas would be appreciated! Thnx!

Thanks to Irwin's(wesza) brilliant insider information, light is beginning to shed on the 'old school' Chinese BBQ rib mystery. I don't know about everyone else, but I've been looking for this recipe for many years. Although I could have tacked this onto the previous thread, I believe that the occasion is momentous enough to merit a new topic. I made spare ribs!!! They were ridden with flaws (dry, stringy, weak tasting) but the taste, that taste of my childhood, was there. Barely there, but there, none the less. OH BOY THIS IS EXCITING STUFF! And now that the celebration has died down... I've got questions. 1. Duck sauce is apricot and sugar, and the less expensive peaches. Since Duck Sauce has been around for ages wouldn't it make sense that it might at some point have replaced the apricot puree? 2. How hot is the Chinese roasting oven that spare ribs hang in? 3. Are the ribs basted as they roast? 4. How long are they marinated for? 5. Might they be boiled before roasting? 6. Ratio of apricot jam to soy sauce? (I used 1:1 but found it too salty, not enough fruit notes) 7. Final char occurs on a grill? What kind of grill? 8. Length of final char My recipe is only in it's preliminary stages, but for those interested, here's what I have so far 16 parts apricot jam, strained (may try duck sauce) 8 parts soy sauce 1 part grated ginger (not sure about ginger - may try without) Red Food Coloring until dark red Marinate in this overnight, remove, bring marinade to a boil, set aside. Bake ribs for about 6 hours in a 225 degree oven, basting with liquid (watered down marinade?), then glazing heavily and finishing for 5 minutes/side on a searing hot grill.

We are familiar with the multi-course meals at weddings. What about for birthdays, baby's "full month shaving head" celebrations, or any other special occaisions? Does your family observe any special rules for the food served? My Mom always required: "sam sang". . . chicken, pork, seafood, plus rice, some kind of "tsee" (Chinese pastry), and fruit. There must be 6, 9 or 12 dishes. For the baby's special day, did your family have a banquet? Were there pink eggs, new mother's soup? Was this banquet oly for baby boys, as was the old tradition?

There are a few blogs linked in this forum which mentioned insects as snack food in China (and pictures). I am fairly adventurous when it comes to eating. But I have yet tried eating insects. I know, I know, some said it's just a source of protein. Scott O'Grady, the down pilot, relied on eating ants to survive while waiting to be rescued. Has anyone tried eating insects in China (or elsewhere)? Would you share with us what you thought of them?

Tonight we made Egg Rolls, Spring Rolls, and Fried Dumplings/Wontons. First we made the fillings: This filling for the Egg Rolls is made of Napa Cabbage, Red Cabbage, Bean Sprout, Scallion, Shittakke, Black Fungus, White Mushrooms, Chinese Roast Pork, Ground Pork, and Shrimp. We sauteed the veggies in the fat rendered from the sauteed pork and seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. The entire mixture was then put into a colander and allowed to drain for an hour. Second filling for the spring rolls is Chives, Ground Pork (uncooked), Firm Pressed Tofu, Bean Thread Noodle (allowed to soften in hot water for about 20 mins), Celery, Carrot, Ginger and Garlic, salt and pepper, sesame oil, soy sauce. Here is a picture of the prep station, which includes beaten eggs for washing and sealing the eggrolls, a cutting board for rolling, and damp towel covering the egg roll wrappers to keep them moist. A 1/4 cup of egg roll mixture is put into the center of the egg roll wrapper. Edges are then brushed with eggwash Roll is then wrapped thusly And thus Finished rolls are painted with a coating of eggwash Deep fry until golden brown in vegetable oil (corn oil is good) Finished eggrolls draining. Note that some of the eggrolls are fried in spring roll wrappers (although these are also called "egg roll" wrappers if you buy the imported ones from Hong Kong) Egg Roll fried in domestically made egg roll wrapper And one fried in imported wrapper, this kind is more like a spring roll For the second batch we cut the imported wrappers into quarters, put in a teaspoon of filling and rolled up just like the big ones, but didn't use eggwash. These were sealed with just a dab of water at the edges. Spring rolls cooling off Spring Roll Closeup We also bought some gyoza wrappers and deep fried those with the spring roll filling as well. Spring rolls and Egg Rolls are easily frozen, put into freezer bags, and reheated in the toaster. So you can make a lot like we did all at once and eat the rest as you need them. Any questions?

Does anyone here fancy themself as a master of making tea eggs? I could use some advice. The recipe I have, from the Encyclopedia of Asian Cooking (published by Hermes House) calls for the eggs to be hardcooked in water, cracked all-over, and then simmiered in a mixture of soy sauce, water, star anise, and a few other items I cannot recall (here at work). The problem with this is, even though the eggs are only simmered and not boild the second time around, the yolk turns green from being overcooked. Do the flavours penetrate the egg if the liquid is not hot? Any alternative methods for making beautiful looking, and great tasting, tea eggs?

Our local dragon boat team of breast cancer survivors, Westman Waves of Hope, have put on a fundraising fashion show for the last few years. Each time it's been a sell out with a waiting list. For April, 2005, they want a Chinese theme. Who do they call? They will be putting on 3 shows, a matinee and evening show on Wed, then an evening show on Thurs. They are expecting about 200 for each of the shows. Last year, a grocery chain store in the city donated all the finger food for the event. Except for one Chinese restaurant, I don't think the others are so community-minded that they would donate "all that food". Aiyeeah! So, what kinds of economical Chinese finger foods would be good to prepare on the Tues, and will hold up well for the shows? The chapter has about 40 members so I offered to coordinate if it comes down to doing the work themselves. We will have access to the large kitchen in the church where the show is staged. It would be good to have some items prepared for the freezer. I have suggested summer rolls, meat balls in sweet & sour pineapple sauce, perhaps chicken wings. We need stuff to feed the adventurous and the timid. It would be good to stay away from deep frying, but oven stuff would be fine.

For Chinese cooking, what are people's thoughts on the Pearl Bridge brand of soy sauce? All the Asian grocers in 100 km radius from where I live stalk only Pearl Bridge (light, dark, mushroom flavoured, and shrimp flavoured), and a HUGE variety of Kikkoman (which I use for Japanese cooking). (I thought something like this may have been brought up already but I did a site search and didn't find an answer.)

Can anyone recommend any dim sum restaurants in Toronto's Chinatown, or any other really good restaurants?

Ahem. New Kowloon and China Harbor??

the article the nominees Did your old standbys make the list? Waiting to see which ones win? I will bet money on Blue Ginger being in the top 10 ... Think the results will be read onstage by Martin Yan? and come in individual fortune cookies?? Is this going to be a good thing for Jason, who enjoys this genre of cuisine? Stay tuned for results .. Price Waterhouse knows more than we do at this point ...

I've started working near the ID again and would love to try more of the restaurants here. My friend suggested Chinese for lunch next week but when I asked her where she shrugged. Of course we can wander and try any old place but I know you all have your favorites!! Looking forward to your suggestions for restaurants and the things they do that make them special! Thanks!

The other night I had Kung Pao Scallops. Think of stir-fried scallops with veggies, chiles and peanuts in a nice tasty brown sauce. Perhaps a bit oily but nothing spectacular. It wasn't bad, it was kind of....meh. If the classic Sichuan standard is the kung pao chicken at Grand Sichuan here in New York, redolent with Sichuan peppercorns and scallions and chiles, how can restaurants elsewhere and everywhere aspire to the gold ring? It seems so impossible to reach, given the tendency to standardize everything. What next? Kung Pao Tempeh? I can just see it now. Share your kung pao stories and other tales of Sichuan cuisine, good or bad. Soba

Got a hold of some fresh Manitoba pickerel . . . also known as walleye. My mom likes it poached whole. Once I cleaned the fish, I seasoned it well with white pepper, salt, a little msg and fresh ginger. I made a light stock with celery, green onions and ginger. The fish was poached in the stock for 15 minutes. I put the fish on a deep plate, splashed on some light soya and topped with shredded green onions and more ginger. On top of this, I poured heated peanut oil. What a splattering mess! but, oh so yummy! I have several more in the freezer now. How do you like your fish? Do you eat the eyes first? My mom got the fish cheeks.

Only in recent years, I've heard about Chinese truffles. Are they worth getting for the price(much much cheaper than Italian or French truffles)? What should I use it for? -Steve

Making Jiaozi Album A few months back we made Jiaozi at a friend's house -- for the filling we used Ground Pork Cellophane Noodle (cooked) Firm or Pressed Tofu Scallion Ginger Soy Sauce Sesame Oil Greens (We used "Shepherds Purse" greens but it could be spinach or any other type of Chinese green) The dough was a simple mixture of flour and water, but if you are too lazy to make your own, use wonton skins. To cook, steam until done or pan fry.

There's an interesting article in today's New York Times about Chinese restaurants in America. You need to be a registered user to read the NY Times online but registration is free. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/dining/2...d=all&position= As I was reading, at just about every turn, I thought to myself, wasn't that a recent topic of discussion on eGullet? Some quotes: