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Hi, Any suggestions for a fabulous Chinese meal? I’m looking for a restaurant that not only does fantastic food, but where the service is also of high standard ( I know this is normally not the norm with Chinese restaurants, that’s why I need your help!!) I’m planning a dinner out for next Friday (6 of us celebrating a birthday) Thank you

I wandered in awe through San Francisco's China Town recently. So big, so much variety! The produce was so fresh, and then it occured to me that much of the produce I buy on the East Coast comes from California. Among the things that baffled me, and I didn't ask because if I bought any I had no place to take it, was something that looked like slab bacon and probably was pig belly hanging like those ducks and chickens. And while we're at it, what's with the ducks and chickens? I have this fear unrefrigerated poultry, but these have obviously been cooked to a preserved state. I have a gut feeling they're delicious.

Big Plate Chicken - 大盘鸡 (dà pán jī) This very filling dish of chicken and potato stew is from Xinjiang province in China's far west, although it is said to have been invented by a visitor from Sichuan. In recent years, it has become popular in cities across China, where it is made using a whole chicken which is chopped, with skin and on the bone, into small pieces suitable for easy chopstick handling. If you want to go that way, any Asian market should be able to chop the bird for you. Otherwise you may use boneless chicken thighs instead. Ingredients Chicken chopped on the bone or Boneless skinless chicken thighs 6 Light soy sauce Dark soy sauce Shaoxing wine Cornstarch or similar. I use potato starch. Vegetable oil (not olive oil) Star anise, 4 Cinnamon, 1 stick Bay leaves, 5 or 6 Fresh ginger, 6 coin sized slices Garlic. 5 cloves, roughly chopped Sichuan peppercorns, 1 tablespoon Whole dried red chillies, 6 -10 (optional). If you can source the Sichuan chiles known as Facing Heaven Chiles, so much the better. Potatoes 2 or 3 medium sized. peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces Carrot. 1, thinly sliced Dried wheat noodles. 8 oz. Traditionally, these would be a long, flat thick variety. I've use Italian tagliatelle successfully. Red bell pepper. 1 cut into chunks Green bell pepper, 1 cut into chunks Salt Scallion, 2 sliced. Method First, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and marinate in 1½ teaspoons light soy sauce, 3 teaspoons of Shaoxing and 1½ teaspoons of cornstarch. Set aside for about twenty minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat the wok and add three tablespoons cooking oil. Add the ginger, garlic, star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns and chilies. Fry on a low heat for a minute or so. If they look about to burn, splash a little water into your wok. This will lower the temperature slightly. Add the chicken and turn up the heat. Continue frying until the meat is nicely seared, then add the potatoes and carrots. Stir fry a minute more then add 2 teaspoons of the dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of the light soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of the Shaoxing wine along with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium. Cover and cook for around 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are done. While the main dish is cooking, cook the noodles separately according to the packet instructions. Reserve some of the noodle cooking water and drain. When the chicken and potatoes are done, you may add a little of the noodle water if the dish appears on the dry side. It should be saucy, but not soupy. Add the bell peppers and cook for three to four minutes more. Add scallions. Check seasoning and add some salt if it needs it. It may not due to the soy sauce and, if in the USA, Shaoxing wine. Serve on a large plate for everyone to help themselves from. Plate the noodles first, then cover with the meat and potato. Enjoy.

Hi all, I work in a Chinese restaurant here in Taipei, Taiwan and we'd like to present a video teaching you how to make Radish Cakes! Many of you may know this popular dim sum dish by its Cantonese name "Lo Bak Go". This is our own personal variation on the traditional Radish Cake, so you'll see something a bit different than you're used to! Enjoy the video, hope you have as much fun watching as we did making! Drunken Monkey Eats Taiwan! How to Make Radish Cakes 蘿蔔糕 Also if anyone has any questions about Chinese or Taiwanese cooking I'm happy to answer!

Hi all, is it practical to make your own conpoy (dried scallops)? I have recently made a batch of XO sauce and want to try some more variations but the problem is getting conpoy at a reasonable price. I have had to pay $18 for 100g and I can buy great frozen scallops for <$20 per Kg. I would expect that the drying would result in a dry weight of about 20% but this would be half the cost of buying conpoy. Has anybody tried this or know of a good method? Ar they cured or cooked before drying? Thanks Simon

So... I found a wonderfully simple recipe for Chinese Broccoli. Everything was straight-forward ,easy really, until I saw baking soda on the ingredient list. Now, obviously, I can get that ingredient easily. But my question is: Why do I need it? Comments?

I found this series on CCTV english The contrasting tastes of Harbin Luzhou's taste of intoxication Hengyang's vegetarian's delight Ningbo's Original Flavors The Wild Flavors of Xi'an Zibo Snacks Whole Food for Whole People The Exotic Flavors of Yanbian Guangzhou Snacks - Taste of Good Fortune Huangshan's Natural Taste A Taste of the Sea in Beihai

Described as pancakes, crepe like with a some spicy seasoning in the middle... thoughts? Also in China.

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'm often asked to translate menus for my local restaurants. Usually by foreign customers; less often by the restaurants. I thought I'd post some here. Copyright isn't an issue as they are just lists of dishes. They may be of interest. First up is a small restaurant which I visited yesterday. Their menu is on the wall and they specialise in sand pot dishes. These are (almost) all in one meals with the dish of your choice served over rice cooked in a clay (sand) pot. They do come with a side of stir-fried cabbage and a bowl of thin soup (more like water). This is Chinese work/student canteen type food. Cheap and cheerful. At the bottom of the main menu is a variety of soft drinks plus beer, which I haven't translated. Most are unavailable outside China, although Coca Cola and Sprite are there. The smaller menus on the right are for rice porridge. I haven't translated these either Sand Pots 莲藕肉片饭 Lotus Root and Sliced Pork Rice 10 豆腐肉片饭 Tofu and Sliced Pork Rice 10 时菜肉饼饭 Seasonal Vegetable Pork Pie Rice 10 茄子肉末饭 Eggplant with Ground Meat Rice 11 鱼片煲仔饭 Fish Sandpot Rice 11 姜汁鱼尾饭 Ginger Fish Tail Rice 12 鸡杂砂煲饭 Chicken Giblets Sandpot Rice 12 冬菇骨鸡饭 Dried Shiitake and Chicken Rice 12 香辣牛肉饭 Spicy Beef Rice 16 酸甜排骨饭 Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs Rice 16 香芹腊味饭 Celery Cured Meat Rice 13 豉椒排骨饭 Salted Beans and Pepper Ribs 13 冬菇田鸡饭 Dried Shiitake Frog Rice 13 蚝油牛肉饭 Oyster Sauce Beef Rice 14 红烧带鱼饭 Red-cooked Belt Fish Rice 14 干妈五花饭 Pork Belly in Chilli Sauce Rice 14 美味叉烧饭 Tasty Char Sui Rice 14 鲜虾煲仔饭 Fresh Shrimp Sandpot Rice 14 红椒黄鳝饭 Red Chilli Ricefield Eel Rice 14 黑椒猪肚饭 Black Pepper Tripe Rice 15 肥肠煲仔饭 Pig's Intestines Sandpot Rice 15 柠檬鸭仔饭 Lemon Duck Rice 15 加菜每份 (以最高价) Extra Vegetable Portion (by highest price) 4 打包盒 Take Away Box 1 Soups 紫菜蛋花汤 Seaweed Egg Drop Soup 8 枸杞猪肝汤 Goji Berry Pig's Liver Soup 10 车螺芥菜汤 Clam and Leaf Mustard Soup 15 西红柿蛋花汤 Tomato and Egg Soup 8 Vegetables etc. 炒油菜 Fried Rape 8 西红柿炒蛋 Scrambled Egg with Tomato 12 鱼腥草 Lizard's Tail 5 凉拌皮蛋 Cold Dressed Century Egg 10 凉拌黄瓜 Cold Dressed Cucumber 5 煎蛋 Fried Egg 2 Prices are in Chinese Yuan (1 Yuan = $0.15 USD / £0.10 GBP as of September 15, 2015) This is number 4 on the menu

We went to the asian grocer today, and I picked these buns up, but can't figure out how to cook them--steam or bake, or what? Help is appreciated.

Is this: The correct tofu, in this recipe?

DH and I make Chinese dishes for our lunches quite often. He does the 'mises' and I do the cooking and get ready the odds and sods, like the tea, setting the table, putting out the condiments, etc. Truth be told, his job is more work than mine...but then he gets to have Chinese food quite often which is what he likes. And we use peanut oil, most of which we buy at our local Asian grocery store. And until yesterday, neither one of us never looked at the "Ingredient list" for peanut oil. Peanut oil would contain only peanut oil...one would think. Apparently not so. Our current container which is titled "Peanut Cooking Oil" has the following ingredient list (in order): Soybean Oil, Sesame Oil, Peanut Oil. Who knew? Yesterday we bought peanut oil at a regular grocery store, a Loblaws brand (Canadian brand), and it contains...wait for it...100% peanut oil. Hooray!

Hi all! You might remember us from our previous Radish Cake video, today we're making Three Cups Tofu. This is a fun and relatively easy to make dish that's really tasty! Hope everyone enjoys the video, have fun cooking! Drunken Monkey Eats Taiwan! How to make Three Cups Tofu 三杯豆腐 As usual we're happy to answer any questions about the dish or Chinese cooking in general!

My son married a lovely young lady from Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia, China. Mongolian: ᠶᠠᠠᠠᠰᠢ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (Ягши хот); Chinese: 牙克石; pinyin: Yákèshí We had a wedding in the US but her family also wanted to have a traditional wedding in China. DH and I have never being to China so this was an exciting opportunity for us! We spent a few days in Beijing doing touristy stuff and then flew to Hailar. There is only one flight a day on Air China that we took at 6 in the morning. Yakeshi is about an hour drive from Hailar on a beautiful toll road with no cars on it. I wish we took pictures of free roaming sheep and cows along the way. The original free range meat. The family met us at the airport. We were greeted with a shot of a traditional Chinese spirit from a traditional leather vessel. Nothing says welcome like a stiff drink at 9 AM. We were supposed to have a three shots (may be they were joking) but family took pity on us and limited it to one only.

China's plan to cut meat consumption by 50% I wish them well, but can't see it happening. Meat eating is very much seen as a status symbol and, although most Chinese still follow a largely vegetable diet out of economic necessity, meat is still highly desirable among the new middle classes. The chances of them willingly giving it up, even by 50%, seems remote to me.

I have been asked to make Chinese Bow Tie desserts for a function. However, I have never made them, but using Mr Google, there are a number of different recipes out there. Does anybody have a decent recipe which is tried and tested? - these are for deep-fried pastry which are then soaked in sugar syrup.

At the local chinese restaurant they have an amazing beef, and I'm trying to figure out the recipe. I've been searching the net for similar recipes, but could only find black bean sauce recipes. I'm pretty sure it's neither black bean sauce or pepper sauce, as these are dishes on their own. It's served in a hot pan, with onions or shallots, leeks, bells peppers and a lot of garlic. The sauce is dark in colour. Any help is greatly appreciated. A guy on another forum was talking about douchi and tian mian jiang, but then again, these are bean bases. Haven't had a chance to try it out though.

Hi out of Pork, Chicken and Beef which meat best compliments sweet and sour, and which cut of that meat? I know there is no right answer but I just wanted to get some opinions on this.

There are hundreds of offerings on Amazon, I tried to sort by # of stars in a review but a 5 start review means nothing when there are less than 10 reviews. The quality of this stuff varies quite a bit, anyone have personal experience purchasing and using Szechuan peppercorns? thanks, Rob

http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/dining/the-man-who-spent-a-year-studying-xiao-long-bao

I have received a wonderful gift from a lovely friend. A whole home cured, dried pig face. I call her Cameron. This will be used slowly over the winter. I'm dribbling thinking about the ears stir-fried with chilies Hunan style. The cheeks! The snout! I'm ecstatic. Snout I'm watching! I'll follow up with with how I use it, but for the moment I'm just content watching her watching me as she hangs in the wind on my balcony. It's love!

The new Michelin Guide to Hong Kong has a Street Food category for the first time. More here.

I've always wondering about this. Just abut every Chinese cookbook I own, says to heat the wok to the highest setting available (I use an electric cooktop with a flat bottomed wok), add the oil and when it begins to smoke, add the garlic (and ginger if required). Everytime, the garlic burns in a matter of seconds. So, I turn the heat down low enough so the garlic doesn't burn, but I was under the impression that you want a very high heat to a. sear the meat, b. cook the vegetables quickly so they remain crisp tender, and lastly, c. evaporate the water out of the added sauce to concentrate the flavor. Any commnets or suggestions? What do you do?

Hello there, I have a recipe that I started making again. It's Chinese Chicken Salad and uses red ginger threads in syrup as an ingredient in the recipe (the ginger and the syrup). If you're familiar with the restaurant Chin Chin in Los Angeles, they uses this ingredient in their version as well. In any case, I am unable to locate it anywhere. I used to find it in any Chinese Supermarket in LA, but not now. Anyone have a clue where I can find it, and why it has mysteriously disappeared? (I had a theory that red dye was used to make the ginger red and they ran into trouble with the FDA, but that's just my own theory). thanks! While it may be tempted to recommend ginger in brine or such, this is not the same thing :-) (see pic for the one I seek). Photo from web site WaiYeeHong.com