Stock

[Suvir Saran]

Ed,

What would be your recipe or understanding of a perfect stock in Chinese Cuisine.

How is it made?

Where are stocks used and how?

What differentiates a good stock from a not so good one?

And while we are talking stocks and inferring maybe to soups would you share any insight into Double Boiled Soups. Where can one fine good soup like this in NYC? I was in Singapore and had some great Double Boiled Soups. Not sure how I can find these here in NYC.

[Suvir Saran]

Chicken Stock Thread

Just in case you have interest and or time, the thread above is about chicken stock.

But most of all, I think I want to understand how you would make your stock for soups and other preparations.

[eatingwitheddie]

Ed,

What would be your recipe or understanding of a perfect stock in Chinese Cuisine.

How is it made?

Where are stocks used and how?

What differentiates a good stock from a not so good one?

And while we are talking stocks and inferring maybe to soups would you share any insight into Double Boiled Soups.  Where can one fine good soup like this in NYC? I was in Singapore and had some great Double Boiled Soups. Not sure how I can find these here in NYC.

[mamster]

Hey, Ed, if you don't mind revisiting this thread, what do you like to order at Sun Sui Wah when you're not having dim sum?

[eatingwitheddie]

Hey, Ed, if you don't mind revisiting this thread, what do you like to order at Sun Sai Wah when you're not having dim sum?

I just recently visited Vancouver for the first time. My 3 visits there were all during lunch and unfortunately there were only 2 of us. My guess is that everything there is worth trying (I usually cringe when someone says everything is good). I had their famous squab, the one dish they promote, and it could not have better. I also had an ordinary pan-fried noodle and it was cooked with a slightly smokey superior stock which elevated to really special level. Live seafood would certainly be high on the list: especially local and/or live stuff: crab, lobster, clams. oysters, santa barbara prawns etc. Bring money! Next time I head in your direction, which may not me too long because I have a kid in college in Olympia, I'll contact you - maybe you want to take a little ride!

Ed

[Toby]

And while we are talking stocks and inferring maybe to soups would you share any insight into Double Boiled Soups.  Where can one fine good soup like this in NYC? I was in Singapore and had some great Double Boiled Soups. Not sure how I can find these here in NYC.

Suvir, double boiled soups are not so hard to make at home. You can either use a good stock as the base or just water. You put the liquid into a pot that will fit inside a larger pot along with the ingredients you want to use, and cover the smaller pot. You place the smaller pot on a steamer tray or rack and add water to the larger pot just to reach the bottom of the smaller pot and then you cover the larger pot and cook for several hours (adding water if necessary). You're really steaming the soup. You can also buy a porcelain double-boil soup container in Chinatown and do it the traditional way, by placing the closed container into a larger container of boiling water coming halfway up the sides of the smaller pot, which is kept simmering over low to medium heat for 3-4 hours so as to cook the food in the inner pot.

Some ideas for double-boiled soup are squab and ginseng (believed to be restorative); chicken chopped through the bone with dried mushrooms and/or ginger; chicken feet, red dates, peanuts and dried mushrooms; chicken chopped through the bone with ginger and rice wine; black skinned chicken with slices of dried Chinese yam, ginger, wolfberries, and a little sliced pork.

I've just dug up a cookbook of nutritious Chinese recipes -- there's a whole chapter on double-boiled soups with recipes for sea cucumber and scallop soup; herbal mutton soup; shark's fin with Chinese cabbage hearts; chicken and walnut soup;,Chinese pears with almonds; turtle soup with herbs; snow fungus soup; chicken stuffed with pomelo; abalone, chicken and ginseng soup; pig's spleen with corn silk; winter melon and duck gizzard soup; pig's brain and chicken feet soup; bird's nest soup; pigeon with fish maw; oxtail soup; dried scallop soup; pig feet and black bean soup; and some others that are kind of too yucky to think about.

[Kerouac1964]

Toby --

Could I get the title, author, publisher info from the cookbook you are referencing? I've been heavily involved in Chinese cooking for over 3 months straight, and have reached the point of needing to purchase further reference materials!

Ed --

This Q & A has been outstanding. My mouth keeps watering everytime I come back to read new posts in the various threads !!

[Toby]

Toby --

Could I get the title, author, publisher info from the cookbook you are referencing?  I've been heavily involved in Chinese cooking for over 3 months straight, and have reached the point of needing to purchase further reference materials! 

Secrets of Nutritional Chinese Cookery, by Ng Siong Mui, Landmark Books, Singapore, 1988. No idea if this is still in print; I got it in a used book store about 10 years ago; the list price was $25.00. Other books I looked at for double-boiled soup were The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen, by Grace Young, Simon & Schuster, 1999; A Spoonful of Ginger, by Nina Simonds, Knopf, 1999. My favorite Chinese cookbook is Chinese Gastronomy by Hsiang Ju Lin & Tsuifeng Lin, Perigree Books (Putnam), reprint 1982 -- don't know if this is still in print or not.

[awbrig]

I hate making stocks personally - takes too long, makes a mess etc...

I have been buying my chicken and beef stock from Williams Sonoma (jars) lately and have been pretty happy...

Edited December 4, 2002 by awbrig (log)