Chinese Eats at Home (Part 2)

[Dejah]

I can't wrap my head around Barbara Tropp's explanation that the 20-second blanching was a technique common to Chinese kitchens. The process is not practical or efficient in kitchens using 24" woks.

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When I've seen chefs on TV do it they use big steel strainers like this one:

http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/acces..._perfscoop.html

The strainer is dipped in the oil and then the meat is placed on top and stirred around for a few seconds, then lifted out using the strainer.

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Chefs on TV and "cooks" in big bustling restaurants are two different things.

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I had worked in 7 different Chinese restaurants in San Diego. The chefs in the different kitchens were quite uniformly using the same method. The marinated meats (chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.) were run through a wok-ful of hot oil - free and clear - and then scooped up using type of the strainers shown in that picture. Usually a big Chinese ladle is used to separate the meats so they won't stick together. In the "chop suey" type restaurants, they used the professional size SS spatula.

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?????

Many cooks in Chinese restaurants marinate meats only once a day. They keep the meats in the refrigerated counters until cooking time. The marination process would inadvertantly have taken more than 6 hours. Sometimes overnight (or longer).

Dejah will keep "mum" as promised.

Besides: OFF TOPIC!

Ladies and Gentlemen: What did we cook at home?

CNY's eve, for goodness sake! There's got to be loads of posts and pictures!

[liuzhou]

CNY's eve, for goodness sake! There's got to be loads of posts and pictures!

Sorry, we're all too busy eating!

Happy New Year from Guangxi!

[Dejah]

Supper menu today as requested by birthday boy - number one son:

lotus root and dried octopus soup

BBQ duck

siu yook

Vietnamese grilled lemongrass baby back ribs

black bean garlic clams

shrimp - possibly spicy tamarind shrimp from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen as are the above ribs

beef and mixed vegetables: fatt choi, lotus root, wood ear, snow peas, fresh waterchestnuts, sweet peppers, etc

ha mai chow (yes, Bruce, this means stir-fry ) fun see and fuzzy melon

rice, of course

and for dessert, it's cheery pie, mince meat pie , and mango pudding!

Gung Hai Fat Choi! Everyone!

Edited February 17, 2007 by Dejah (log)

[hzrt8w]

Mentioned in My eGullet Foodblog:

Fresh sweet potatoes, cut in thin slices, baked for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Home-made fresh soy milk.

And for the occasion, being the first day of CNY and all: red water melon seeds and candied coconut strips.

Edited February 19, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[Gastro888]

Oh oh oh! Me first! I'm the youngest! (hee hee)

(That is, until herbacidal or aznsaliorboi shows up again)

My mom and dad cooked for me this weekend. We had the traditional jai, bak chet gai, roast pig, and fish. My mom made soy sauce mung bean noodles which were super yummy. She sent me home with a braised chicken dish that has tree ear fungus, shiitake mushrooms and salted turnips. I love my parents.

OH! And she gave me some "fat goh" that my aunt & her friends made. Bleah, they suck compared to hers. Tough crumb, no "may-doh" and not bouncy. She doesn't make them anymore due to her diabetes and my father's borderline high blood sugar. Mom makes the best "fat goh" and "but gai goh".

ETA: Oh yeah, when I go home in the spring, I'm going to ask for gai loong so it'll be a few months before I post the recipe for that.

Edited February 20, 2007 by Gastro888 (log)

[hzrt8w]

My mom and dad cooked for me this weekend.  We had the traditional jai, bak chet gai, roast pig, and fish.  My mom made soy sauce mung bean noodles which were super yummy.  She sent me home with a braised chicken dish that has tree ear fungus, shiitake mushrooms and salted turnips.  I love my parents. 

...

ETA: Oh yeah, when I go home in the spring, I'm going to ask for gai loong so it'll be a few months before I post the recipe for that.

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Is mung bean noodles a Toisanese tradition as a CNY dish? I saw the very same thing in my MIL's kitchen last night.

And... this mui mui doesn't deserve a lei see. All I heard were promises of a recipe.

[hzrt8w]

The “opening of the year” dinner tonight. Reposted from My eG Foodblog last night:

No-head salt-baked chicken.

Got to my in-laws’ house. My MIL made a few dishes of her own. Shredded BBQ pork stir-fried with mung bean noodles.

Some Chinese cabbage on her well-used wok.

I chopped up the chicken, Cantonese style. The skin turned out very dry and crispy, just the way I preferred it.

This dish has a good title “Ho See Fat Choy”, with “Ho See” (the dried oysters) means prosperity and “Fat Choy” (the hairy moss fungi) means getting rich.

My MIL bought some roast pork this afternoon. Very good. Skin was crispy and tasty.

And she made some soup from pork, dried oysters, bean curd sheets, black mushrooms and dried jujube dates.

Quite good! I had a couple of bowls.

[peony]

make some prawn dumplings for tea break during CNY

These are called Scallops Pheonix Eye Dumpling, one of the appetisers for the reunion dinner.

[Gastro888]

My mom and dad cooked for me this weekend.  We had the traditional jai, bak chet gai, roast pig, and fish.  My mom made soy sauce mung bean noodles which were super yummy.  She sent me home with a braised chicken dish that has tree ear fungus, shiitake mushrooms and salted turnips.  I love my parents. 

...

ETA: Oh yeah, when I go home in the spring, I'm going to ask for gai loong so it'll be a few months before I post the recipe for that.

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Is mung bean noodles a Toisanese tradition as a CNY dish? I saw the very same thing in my MIL's kitchen last night.

And... this mui mui doesn't deserve a lei see. All I heard were promises of a recipe.

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Maybe, I don't know. I don't remember it being on the table that often during CNY.

Wait, I did specify that the recipe for gai loong is coming along. I can't give you one if my mom's not willing to cook until the spring time. She's not like Dejah who goes and grills in Artic cold- she's 75 and is kinda frail!

Edited February 21, 2007 by Gastro888 (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

Is mung bean noodles a Toisanese tradition as a CNY dish?  I saw the very same thing in my MIL's kitchen last night.

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My dad (Toisanese) made it for CNY in addition to jai. Mom (from Hong Kong) did say that it was a Toisanese tradition.

[Gastro888]

HA! I posted the modified recipe for S&S sauce just now. Pass the hung bao!!!! (Just teasing!)

[Dejah]

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Is mung bean noodles a Toisanese tradition as a CNY dish? I saw the very same thing in my MIL's kitchen last night.

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Yes. Fun see is a Toisanese tradition for CNY, birthdays, other times of "offering". Noodles is more common for birthday banquets, but fun see is always for CNY.

Our university Chinese students association is having a big celebration on March 3rd - the last day of the festivities. I got invitations, but they are "wishing that I might donate a dish of something", so I'll make a big chafter of fun see with maybe BBQ pork.

ETA: Fun see can be difficult to cook properly- must be presoaked, and enough stock added to it in the wok. Not enough liquid, it will clump and burn. The fun see really soaks up liquid.

Edited February 21, 2007 by Dejah (log)

[Gastro888]

Fun see is the tastest dish for when I'm not feeling very "hoi way". My mom likes to put oyster sauce or soy sauce depending on her mood. Sometimes she puts in bacon, which is super tasty.

[hzrt8w]

...

Sometimes she puts in bacon, which is super tasty.

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The American bacon "bacon"? Or Chinese laap yuk "bacon"?

Mung bean threads (Fun See) is indeed difficult to cook by itself. I typically only use it in other Cantonese stir-fried dishes to soak up the extra cooking liquid.

[Tepee]

I had fried fun see with minced pork last night at 2nd SIL's house.

[peony]

ya, fun see is difficult to stir fry on its own without using lots of oil to prevent sticking, so I cook fun see in soup with fishballs.

This is one of my chn favourite - in soup with big, bouncy fishballs top with crispy fried lard and chopped cilantro / sping onions.

[Gastro888]

...

Sometimes she puts in bacon, which is super tasty.

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The American bacon "bacon"? Or Chinese laap yuk "bacon"?

Mung bean threads (Fun See) is indeed difficult to cook by itself. I typically only use it in other Cantonese stir-fried dishes to soak up the extra cooking liquid.

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Both. American bacon and laap yook. She usually uses American bacon and adds celery to it as well. It's really good stuff. I love fun see. I wonder why Toisanese use it so much.

[hzrt8w]

Cross-posted from My eGullet Foodblog

Coca-cola Chicken.

Gai Lan sauteed in garlic.

[hzrt8w]

Cross-posted from My eGullet Foodblog

Laap Ngap Bei (preserved duck leg) and Ngap Gon Cheung (Chinese sausage - duck liver type) Bo Tsai Fun (rice in a clay pot).

Taiwanese bok choy sauteed with garlic.

[Dejah]

Cross-posted from My eGullet Foodblog

Coca-cola Chicken.

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Does using Coca Cola add a distinctive flavour to the chicken? Would diet Coke work the same?

That was pretty sneaky - the breast meat under the drumsticks.

Did your better half eat the "oily, cholestrol-ladened carb" with the lapgnap/lap cheung fan? I am teasing. Of course she did! How can anyone refuse?!

Edited February 24, 2007 by Dejah (log)

[Dejah]

Finally had time to process and post some of the dishes we've been eating at home:

Mui choi jing gnow yook( beef and "fermented/preserved guy choi)with fresh mint cooked in the dish and extras on top. First had this in Durham, England - with the mint and hot chili peppers, that is.

Dow see fu gwa gnow yook (fermented black soy beans/bitter melon/beef)and Shanghai noodles with chili peppers:

Curry chicken stew - Chinese style. Yeah, yeah, I know. There are those red chili peppers AGAIN! We love heat.

[Dejah]

[...]Curry chicken stew - Chinese style. Yeah, yeah, I know. There are those red chili peppers AGAIN! We love heat.

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Yum! Just what the doctor ordered for this weather. How cold was it in Brandon today?

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It was actually balmy today: -25F.

This curry wasn't nearly as hot as the Fiery Lamb Curry - East Indian recipe we had last night. Whew!

[Dejah]

I'm double posting the following images - in the chat siu bao cook-off and here. I made 5 dozen last week, for the grandson, and for my international students as a snack after their first skating adventure. I saved and dried the tangerine peels for later use.

And now, who will get the other half?

[C. sapidus]

And now, who will get the other half? 

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Man, I'd be fighting the dog for that.

Tonight we made Sichuan dry-fried chicken (gan ban ji); boiled salted cabbage with ginger-lime dipping sauce; cukes; and basmati rice. Younger son had a friend visiting, so we also made frozen pizza. Younger son and his friend topped the pizza with Sichuan chicken.

The friend ate dried chilies without complaint, so he is welcome back any time.

[hzrt8w]

[...]

Younger son and his friend topped the pizza with Sichuan chicken.

[...]

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Perhaps the founders of California Pizza Kitchen got the ideas the same way!