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Hello! I have taken quite a few trips to China and have done my best to take cooking classes, and capture new recipes while I've been there. My favorite foods are the street foods, and with the exception of Fuchsia Dunlop's amazing books, it has been very hard to find recipes for the "real deal". The memorable foods I've had in my travels were in Xi'an, in the Muslim district where they have stall after stall of amazing street food. My favorite food was Guo Kui, which was a flaky fried dough (almost pastry-like), stuffed with minced meat, sichuan pepper and chilies. It was incredible and I cant find anything online to tell me how it's made. I'm wondering if anyone out there has a recipe they can share? Fuchsia Dunlop describes this food in her newest book, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, but unfortunately there is no recipe and I've found no way to contact the author. Any assistance is much appreciated! Thanks Marc

Cook's Illustrated recently determined that a skillet works better for stir-frying on a western-style stove because more metal comes into contact with the fire as opposed to a Chinese style where the wok sits down in a hole. I thought one of the benfits of a wok was you used less oil than in a skillet. Any thoughts?

Hello! I’m not sure this is the right forum to post this, but here goes: I am trying to understand the differences among the various regional cuisines in China, starting with the usual eight: Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Sichuan, given in some geographical order. Of course, I have read about the differences, in particular on this forum, but find it difficult to translate what I read to what I could see, smell, eat. Biased by my upbringing as an experimental physicist, I would like to experiment with typical recipes from each of the regions to see how they differ with my eyes, nose, taste, etc, even ears in the case for example of sizzling rice. But I am having difficulty in finding recipes from some of the regions; in particular, it appears easy to find recipes in my cookbooks or on the web for the latter three regions but the others seem harder. Any suggestions for cookbooks, sites, etc? For example, are any of Yan Kit-So books what I am looking for? I wonder, in particular, about the very definition of the word “cuisine” as opposed to, for example, a dish which is associated with a given place. An example, since I live in France, the dish called bouillabaisse is usually associated with Marseilles, just as Peking duck is associated with Peking. Even if we can associate more dishes with a given area, at what point does that make a cuisine? Surely, there must be some common elements of techniques, ingredients, etc which should enable us, confronted with a new dish, to say that it probably comes from such-and-such a tradition. Has anybody a clearer idea than I on this question? I am not sure that I have been clear but, at least, if I could be pointed in the right direction (i.e. recipes), I would appreciate it. And I would certainly report back if people are interested.

A few days ago, I was given a lovely gift. A big jar of preserved lemons. I know Moroccan preserved lemons, but had never met Chinese ones. In fact, apart from in the south, in many parts of China it isn't that easy to find lemons, at all. These are apparently a speciality of the southern Zhuang minority of Wuming County near Nanning. The Zhuang people are the largest ethnic minority in China and most live in Guangxi. These preserved lemons feature in their diet and are usually eaten with congee (rice porridge). Lemon Duck is a local speciality and they are also served with fish. They can be served as a relish, too. They are related to the Vietnamese Chanh muối. I'm told that these particular lemons have been soaking in salt and lemon juice for eleven years! So, of course, you want to know what they taste like. Incredibly lemony. Concentrated lemonness. Sour, but not unpleasantly so. Also a sort of smoky flavour. The following was provided by my dear friend 马芬洲 (Ma Fen Zhou) who is herself Zhuang. It is posted with her permission. How to Make Zhuang Preserved Lemons By 马芬洲 Zhuang preserved lemons is a kind of common food for the southern Zhuang ethnic minority who live around Nanning Prefecture of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. The Zhuang people like to make it as a relish for eating with congee or congee with corn powder. This relish is a mixture of chopped preserved lemons, red chilli and garlic or ginger slice in soy sauce and peanut oil or sesame oil. Sometimes the Zhuang people use preserved lemons as an ingredient in cooking. The most famous Zhuang food in Guangxi is Lemon Duck, which is a common home cooked dish in Wuming County, which belongs to Nanning Prefecture. The following steps show you how to make Zhuang preserved lemons. Step 1 Shopping Buy some green lemons. Step 2 Cleaning Wash green lemons. Step 3 Sunning Leave green lemons under the sunshine till it gets dry. Step 4 Salting If you salt 5kg green lemons, mix 0.25kg salt with green lemons. Keep the salted green lemons in a transparent jar. The jar must be well sealed. Leave the jar under the sunshine till the salted green lemons turn yellow. For example, leave it on the balcony. Maybe it will take months to wait for those salted green lemons to turn yellow. Later, get the jar of salted yellow lemons back. Unseal the jar. Then cover 1kg salt over the salted yellow lemons. Seal well the jar again. Step 5 Preserving Keep the sealed jar of salted yellow lemons at least 3 years. And the colour of salted yellow lemons will turn brown day by day. It can be dark brown later. The longer you keep preserved lemons, the better taste it is. If you eat it earlier than 2 years, it will taste bitter. After 3 years, it can be unsealed. Please use clean chopsticks to pick it. Don’t use oily chopsticks, or the oil will make preserved lemons go bad. Remember to seal the jar well after picking preserved lemons every time.

I have read and been told about several methods for seasoning a Chinese Yixing teapot. All assume you are going to use only one type of tea for the pot. One suggests boiling it in a pot with used tea leaves of the type you plan to use in the pot, then letting it soak for a few hours. Another suggests steeping new tea leaves in it for three hours. A third method, told to me by a Chinese aquaintance, who says it is used by tea professionals in China, is to steep new leaves in it and then leave it in a cool spot for three days. I have tried a modification of these that worked okay, but not as well as I expect that the three day soak would producce. What method do you use? Any of these or something different?

I plan to eat these for it's cholesterol reducing effects (from something I read long time ago.) Do I soak them first before using? I plan to cook them with my noodles and soups most of the time. I have seen then in stir fries and clay pot recipes and would like to try that, too. Is there a brand you recommend? I guess my worry is pesticides and contaminants (bugs, lead, etc.) as most of this stuff are from China. I am in Vancouver BC Canada so I hope to find some recommendations. Thanks.

Can someone tell me how to make tofu dumplings like the sister in Eat Drink Man Woman was making? I can't find anything here or online. Or were they made up for the movie?

My interest in chinese dessert soupy 糖水 is greatly influence by my cantonese speaking friends from Hong Kong and elsewhere and over the years I learned on my own through trial and error and my family loves it and ask me to make whenever I am free. However I substitute it with raw sugar or rock sugar which is healthier. I like to make the Black sesame paste or red Bean paste with Glutinous rice ball and others varieties like Hasma with red date and gingko, Sai Mai Lo, Sweet Almond soup, Sweet Walnut soup and others. I live in a tropical climate and I don't know what dessert you normally eat in colder climate? my 2 cents...

Am desperately missing real hokkien noodles and was wondering if anyone has a good recipe and how to from scratch. I live in Amsterdam at the moment and it is very hard to find certain authentic ingredients/products. Also what is your favourite way of preparing them? Personally I am looking forward to a good Singaporean mee goreng (I have always assumed those were hokkien noodles but am starting to doubt myself - so if they are something else, then those are the noodles I'd like to make from scratch - the really yellow chewyish ones if memory serves). mmmmm. I ate this mee goreng every day, practically, when I lived in Singapore and you never think to ask how to make it when you're there as they are everywhere. so sad - please help. Thanks ps this should have gone in the general Asia section but.....

Dear Fellow chinese food enthusiasts, Normally most of the times chinese cold dish combination comprises prawns salad on bed of fruit cocktail, mini spring roll, jelly fish, chix BBQ coin,Baby Octopus, any ideas to expand the items listed? Thanks

Lately, I've been increasingly interested in the different varieties of Chinese pancakes -both sweet and savoury (but much more leaning towards the latter). There's Peking pancake for duck (uhh not sure of its official name), popiah, green onion pancake, crisp red bean pancake and...well, that's as far as my knowledge reaches. Please help shed light on the other varities! I've seen some really peculiar ones lately and the combinations of foods you eat with the pancakes are ENDLESS! I figured it'd be a nice change from eating noodles and rice all the time -having crisp onion pancake with lamb as dinner for eg. I'm drooling... On to another note, has anybody here ever tried making Chinese pancakes (in any particular form at all)?

Recently I cook chinese haute cuisne for a table of 10 VIP and my western colleague dressed the food in western presentation. It was an excellent western presentation which makes the food real striking. Some of the garnisehes used were sweet potato leaf, Baby sardine leave, opha leave boat and others. Could anyone cares to shares some garnishes ideas? Many Thanks

I have known about this option for a while but I never actually tried delivery until yesterday and what we got was very good. New Golden Palace, 801 Washington, 627-2822/89. They will prepare dim sum at any time of the day. Furthermore, they will deliver it. The food we had was not up to the highest Chinatown standard, but it was recognizably "Chinatown quality" and not "Chinese-American." Now, to clarify definitions, so far as I know, the ONLY restaurant in Philadelphia without exception (until New Golden Palace), that delivers Chinatown quality Chinese food is Szechuan Tasty House. I would say all the food was on the same level as STH delivery though not on the same level as STH's best dishes. The dim sum ranged from acceptable to very good. In the context of "Chinatown quality" I would say the dim sum was one step below what Lakeside used to serve, and I always considered that one step below the best I had had in NYC. Were I to have a numbered system and the best dumplings I had in NYC were a 5, Lakeside's would have been a 4, STH's food in general would be a 3 with their best dishes a 3.5, the best non-Chinatown delivery I have had here would be a "zero" and I would rate New Golden Palace a "3."

Last night i was at the dinner buffet at Sunset Station casino and happened upon the MOST FABULOUS Chinese BBQ pork ribs i have EVER had ! unfortunately ...they dont offer take out LOL can anyone give me a recomendation for chinese style ribs that are REALLY GOOD? i live in Henderson but dont mind the ride if its not too far away. i need to find a place i can get take out...too bad the casino wont do it. those ribs were to die for! any suggestions will be most appreciated. thanks.

If you noticed the trend on my posts, you can see that my family is kinda partial to carbs. Really, we don't eat that many carbs....really.... I went back home for a weekend one day and as I was trying to decide what to make for dinner for the entire family, my cousin insisted on fried noodles instead. Apparently, the other dishes I was calling out to make wasn’t very appealing to her. So we decided on fried noodles. And since I didn’t feel like going to Chinatown (even though it’s like a 5 min drive) to get fresh noodles, we decided on Italian thin spaghetti. (I just got back from a 3 hr drive!! Okay, fine, so I'm lazy.) Now, this isn’t the first time we’ve done this and quite frankly, I find using Italian pasta easier to move around the wok than the fresh ones I get in Chinatown. Plus it gives more of a chew and bite. *Please don’t hate me* After adding a whole bunch of ingredients, that includes Chinese sausage, egg, carrots, celery, cabbage, spam (yes, I said SPAM, the other white meat), etc. I quickly fried everything together with great wok hei. The results were very tasty and cousins approved. Even my Dad said “Hey! Your noodles are better than your Mom’s!” Funny he should take the opportunity to say that when the woman is thousands of miles away in China. Here’s my finished product: Here’s her close up: Now, here’s my question. What do YOU do with your Italian pasta? Any other ideas? I have another plan for Italian pasta that I will be trying out soon, so I will keep you guys posted.

Ok if I was to be entirely honest, no I've never eaten this. Another truth, I didn't know of its existence until fairly recently. All I do know is that it really captured my attention -must be the peanuts in the broth! Mmm! It's a little unusual looking from most Chinese noodle soups I've had/seen. So has anyone ever tried this and even better, has anyone tried making it? Details are mandatory! Here's a picture from flickr for those who don't know what I'm talking about http://www.flickr.com/photos/hecookssheeats/1192220116/

Good morning eGulleters! I have been itching to try to make my own baos for a few months now. My mom is usually the expert in making these baos since hers come out perfectly and looks as beautiful as the restaurants. However, since she is in China at the moment, my dad and I decided to “experiment” on our own. Since my dad’s family is from the northern province of Shang Dong he is a master at making dumpling and man-do dough and we just applied the same dough to making our baos. Both of us has never wrapped baos before and since my mom wasn’t here to teach us, I think we did a decent job! My Dad made the dough and I made the filling. Here are some pics from our Bao Day. Here’s my dad rolling out the dough: Here’s my filling: Here’s my Dad’s attempt at wrapping baos. I must say he did pretty well! : Side view of his baos. For some reason my Dad’s baos became smaller and smaller as the day progressed. I made a comment of how he was trying to make soup dumplings instead of baos. He told me it’s not the size, it’s the quality. Hmmm…I think he's trying to imply something about my baos. : Here’s my attempt at wrapping baos. I was very proud of this one. : The finished baos in the steamer: Here’s what the finished product with filling looks like: Contrast of cooked baos and raw: And a whole plate of baos!: We made quite a few baos that day. I would say about 60 or more. My Dad eats them for breakfast with a side of soup. All in all, I think we did a great job. It could have been prettier but as my Dad says, as long as it’s edible, it’s all good! I will have to have my mom teach me the professional way to wrap baos when she’s home this month!

Joke aside we will be taking the train from Shanghai to Turpan to stay for a day or two. Any places on the foodie radar not to be missed. Local cuisine to try? Any rec would be most appreciated. Thankyou.

Coming from out of town and looking to arrange a formal chinese banquet dinner. We will want to have 4-5 tables, 8-10 courses served one at a time, and a menu that would please a knowledgeable and well-traveled eater. Fairfax country is strongly preferred. Suggestions anyone?

Did anyone see this program on BBC4 last night? First of a four parter, here's a <linkety link> to the bbc website. You can catch the first episode again on iplayer. As the title suggests this is a behind the scenes of the West Lake restaurant in Hunan province, China. Really fascinating fast paced-documentary. I particularly liked the Stephen Chow-esque cooking challenge that showed live snakes being prepared and the amazing fried live fish dish. Just jaw-dropping stuff. And that poor duck!!!! I have never seen anything like that before. You have been warned if you are in anyway unsure whether you are really a carnivore then do not watch this part of the show. Please someone say they watched this show too.

I bought this powder from China town but the package does not have English instructions. The package simply states Jenrofen Powder for Steamed Meat five spice. http://store.asianfoodstuff.com/67.html There are two type of powder inside the package, jenrofen powder and meat marinating mix. What should I do with this? The meats in the picture looks as if it has been deep fried instead of steamed. Help pls

In desperate need of good Chinese delivery in the far west 40"s. Any ideas?

I've seen in my local asian market bags of red melon seeds, and wondered on their uses. I know they can be snacked upon, but must they be hulled first, as sunflower seeds? Or can they be eaten with the hull intact, as pumpkin seeds? Anyone have recipes/uses/info? I regularly make pumpkinseed brittle for use in my patisserie, and at the request of some asian fusion desserts, I'm curious about using melon seeds for that or other ideas... can anyone help?

豆腐乳. The fermented soybean condiment. I always thought it was a Shanghai/Jiangsu/Zhejiang thing but Guilin has a famous variety and Guangzhou people use it to fry with greens. How do you eat it? What's your favorite? Etc.

I am interested in getting recipes for the various dishes shown in the film Eat, Drink Man, Woman. I am especially interested in getting a recipe for the runny abd sticky Chinese/Mandarin pancake dough shown towards the end of the movie.