Chinese Pantry

[Suvir Saran]

What do you think are the basics a novice must have before starting Chinese cooking?

What are your favorite stores in NYC where one can find these ingredients?

Are there mail order places one can buy from?

And any other tips for someone like me that has never cooked Chinese food would be much appreciated.

[eatingwitheddie]

My pantry basics are: (I've cheated and included some fresh items as well)

Dry sherry or shaoshing rice wine - usually the rice wine

Kikkoman soy

Amoy golden label dark soy

Cornstach

Hoisin sauce

Hot bean paste with garlic

Oyster sauce (today there is Lee Kum Kee premium)

Rice - usually jasmine rice

White Chinese rice vinegar (any kind works)

Sugar

Salt

MSG

Sesame oil (I buy Kadoya)

Veg oil (sometimes peanut - usually the least expensive soy or corn)

White chicken stock- made from 4-5 pounds of bones, a little ginger and scallion

White pepper (I use freshly ground - I always keep two mills, one black, one white)

Dried Whole Chiles

Tree ears

Dried Shitake Mushrooms (preferably hi quality ones with 'lines' in the cap)

Garlic

Ginger

Scallion

Cilantro

Fresh hot peppers

Cellophane Noodles

Rice Noodles

Eggs

[Suvir Saran]

Thanks Ed!

How often do you see yourself using Cilantro in your Chinese cooking?

What kind of dishes do you add it to?

[eatingwitheddie]

Thanks Ed!

How often do you see yourself using Cilantro in your Chinese cooking?

What kind of dishes do you add it to?

I use fresh cilantro in many kinds of dishes: Cold apps, salads, dumpling fillings, stir-frys, steamed fish etc.

Since it has a pronounced character I usually only include it in one or two dishes on any particular menu.

[Toby]

Nice list, Ed. I like to have star anise for Chinese stews and red-cooked dishes and chen pi (dried orange peel, usually labeled "dried tangerine peel", easy to make at home) both for stir fries and braised dishes.

[Jinmyo]

Fermented tofu.

[eatingwitheddie]

I also use and keep on hand:

dried orange peel

star anise

fermented beancurd

red fermented beancurd

dried green bean noodle sheets

Sa- chia Sauce (sometimes sold in a Barbecue Sauce labeled bottle - (Lan Chi brand)

fermented sweet wine rice (yum)

sweet red ginger in syrup

(sweet) bean sauce

waterchestnut powder

Black Chengkong vinegar (one of my favorite things)

Thick Soy

Black pepper

Dried Scallops

Frozen Eggroll Skins

Frozen Wonton Skins

FrozenSpring Roll Skins

Dried Shrimps

Black Sesame Seeds

White Sesame Seeds

Tiger Lily Bud

Almonds, Walnuts, Peanuts

Fermented Black Beans

Many kinds of fresh noodles (fresh and frozen)

[Jinmyo]

Ed, "waterchestnut powder". What is this used for? As a thickener?

[Miss J]

I've been looking for sweet bean paste for ages, and not been able to find it. I've come across hot bean sauce, crushed bean sauce, yellow bean sauce, and sweet lotus paste, but not the elusive sweet bean sauce.

Does anyone know if there's another name for this stuff? I've searched London's Chinatown and Wing Yip pretty exaustively. In the end I used a wee bit of lotus paste to make steamed belly pork in lotus leaves. The result tasted okay, but the lotus paste was a lot harder and drier than I anticipated the sweet bean paste would be. I suspect it had quite an impact on the texture of the finished dish.

[Toby]

I've been looking for sweet bean paste for ages, and not been able to find it. I've come across hot bean sauce, crushed bean sauce, yellow bean sauce, and sweet lotus paste, but not the elusive sweet bean sauce.

Sweet bean sauce is pureed soybeans mixed with sugar or maltose; garlic and sesame oil can also be added. In Cantonese, it's called tim min jeung. You can just mix three parts bean sauce or ground bean sauce with 1 part sugar to make your own.

[eatingwitheddie]

I've been looking for sweet bean paste for ages, and not been able to find it. I've come across hot bean sauce, crushed bean sauce, yellow bean sauce, and sweet lotus paste, but not the elusive sweet bean sauce.

In the end I used a wee bit of lotus paste to make steamed belly pork in lotus leaves. The result tasted okay, but the lotus paste was a lot harder and drier than I anticipated the sweet bean paste would be. I suspect it had quite an impact on the texture of the finished dish.

If you can't find sweet bean paste use hoisin sauce instead.

As for bean sauce - koon chun brand out of HK is widely available in US Asian food stores. I believe that bean sauce and sweet bean sauce are the same item - it is called 'sweet' not because of the sugar in it - but because it is not a 'spicy' (hot peppered) version. Much in the same way that we have sweet and hot Italian sausages

[eatingwitheddie]

re: Waterchestnut Powder

Waterchesnut powder can be used to thicken, but I primarily use it to give an extra crisp exterior to fried foods.

[Toby]

I've been looking for sweet bean paste for ages, and not been able to find it. I've come across hot bean sauce, crushed bean sauce, yellow bean sauce, and sweet lotus paste, but not the elusive sweet bean sauce.

This is really confusing. Sweetened red bean paste, made with little azuki beans, apparently is often confused with sweet bean sauce. What you wanted was the sweet bean sauce? This does seem to be hard to find -- Bruce Cost in Asian Ingredients says that "the only available sweet bean sauce comes in cans from the Taiwan company Sze Chuan Products." You really can substitute the hoisin sauce, but that probably will have some chiles in it, or just add some sugar to bean sauce.

[SteveW]

Ed, to cook your rice, do you use a rice cooker? I don't think it's absolutely necessary, but nice to have.

-------------

Steve

[Jinmyo]

re: Waterchestnut Powder

Waterchesnut powder can be used to thicken, but I primarily use it to give an extra crisp exterior to fried foods.

Oh, that's very interesting.

[eatingwitheddie]

'Ed, to cook your rice, do you use a rice cooker? I don't think it's absolutely necessary, but nice to have.'

I have never used a rice cooker in my entire life (though restaurants of mine have.) Makes no difference at all. Though good rice is extremely important - for Asian food I ususally prepare Jasmine rice (from Thailand).

[pjs]

Amazingly, I have almost everything on hand in Ed's first post and a lot of the staples in the second. My problem with the more unfamiliar items is how and where to store them. For example: Currently the oyster sauce, hoisin & bean sauce, and sesame oil is in the fridge but my three liters of different soy sauces are on the counter. The labels say they belong in the fridge but they take up too much real estate. I think they would be fine left out due to the salt content. Dried mushrooms and chiles are in jars in a cabinet but curiously I keep my salted black beans under refrigeration. Some storage tips would be appreciated.

The fish sauce is staying safely in the garage despite what anyone recommends.

PJ

[Kerouac1964]

Amazingly, I have almost everything on hand in Ed's first post and a lot of the staples in the second.

PJ -

Boy! I envy your pantry! Living in the Midwest, I have the first of Ed's list, but almost none of the second! I'm slowly gathering pantry items via the internet ethnic grocer sites.

Do you find yourself trying different soy and fish sauces? I really enjoy that aspect of my study of Chinese cooking. There are a lot of subtle differences between the different brands. I prefer Patis in my soups because of the saltiness.

I'm trying to decide what is mose addictive -- using soy or fish sauce in every dish I prepare!

[Fat Guy]

Let's catalog a few of those Chinese-ingredients mail-order sources:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...ST&f=71&t=14464

[pjs]

Boy!  I envy your pantry!  Living in the Midwest, I have the first of Ed's list, but almost none of the second!  I'm slowly gathering pantry items via the internet ethnic grocer sites.

Do you find yourself trying different soy and fish sauces?  I really enjoy that aspect of my study of Chinese cooking.   There are a lot of subtle differences between the different brands.  I prefer Patis in my soups because of the saltiness.

I'm trying to decide what is mose addictive -- using soy or fish sauce in every dish I prepare!  

I'm in central Florida but I'm lucky that I have a good Asian grocery five minutes from where I work. I agree, there are subtle differences between the brands. I currently have three different shoyus on the counter that I like. Import Kikkoman dark, import Kikkoman light and a Korean light (by far the saltiest of the three). I love the fact that once you become familar with the taste of imported shoyu you immediately detect it--or its absence --when dining out or getting take-out.

BTW I looked it up last night. Virginia Lee's book says shoyu lasts "almost indefinitely" stored unrefrigerated. Good, I can buy some more varieties, like Black Soy. And yes, fermented black beans and oyster sauce belong in the refrigerator.

PJ

[Ruth]

The best source for your pantry in NYC is the Hong Kong Supermarket on East Broadway. They have virtually everything. The place is huge. Give yourself half a day. There are also branches on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn and in Flushing - not as large, but still with all the staples. By the way, has anyone tried the new fresh shiitake which I think actually come from China? They are the fresh version of the familiar dried shiitake, complete with the striations, much meatier and more flavorful than the domestic variety and a bargain at $3-$5 per pound. I buy them on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn and have not seen them outside the Chinese markets.

[pjs]

I prefer Patis in my soups because of the saltiness.

Thanks for the tip. I bought a bottle over the weekend. Good stuff. Much better than the Thai sauce I was using.

PJ

[Kikujiro]

BTW I looked it up last night. Virginia Lee's book says shoyu lasts "almost indefinitely" stored unrefrigerated. Good, I can buy some more varieties, like Black Soy.  And yes, fermented black beans and oyster sauce belong in the refrigerator. 

Yes, storage confuses me. And how about Xiaoxing wine? Does it last or does it need constant replacing? (that is, is it like wine?)

[blackduff]

How about Gow Choy, or Dok Phak Pene which is a small green stalk with a flower on the end.

It has a slightly garlic flavor and I use it in lots of different dishes. I sometimes will just put it on a tomato salad, with oil and vinegar.

It also has a taste something like chives too.

It's lovely in Thai foods and wherever else you are looking for a subtle taste of garlic.

The flat blades of this plant are also sold under the same name or similar name (Phak Pene). The Gow Choy is the Chinese name.

I buy this fresh every week. Smells terrible in the refrigerator though.

BlackDuff

[jo-mel]

Being new here, I am still going through old threads. I hope you all don't mind my resurrecting an old one, about 'pantry items'.

It is not a specific item I have a question about, but the storage of some of them. When did all these "Refrigerate after opening" on the labels come about? Years ago, I don't remember as much as I see now. LanChi's Chili Paste with Garlic never had it on the label --that I know. But somewhere along the way, it appeared. Is this just 'legal protection' ----just in case?

I refrigerate a lot of my stuff, because I don't have that much shelf space, but when people ask me how to store things I usually tell them to do as the label says, but where to draw the line?

Koon Chun's Barbecue Sauce has no refrigeration caution, but Lee Kum Kee's Char Siu Sauce does. LKK says it has no preservatives added, yet it does have 'acetic acid' as an ingredient. KC doesn't claim 'no preservatives added' and doesn't add them specifically. The vinegar in the list is a flavoring -- not meant as a preservative, but I guess it acts as both. But why does one brand require refrigeration and another doesn't?

Different brands of soy sauce also differ on refrigeration.

I'll continue to do as I've done for years. I've never had a problem, and don't expect to, but what is the game going on?