China Food Myths

[liuzhou]

20. 小笼包 (xiǎo lóng bāo) contain soup.

 

Home made Xiaolongbao - no soup!

 

Google the term ‘xiao long bao’, with or without the spaces, and you will be met by hundreds of sites explaining that they are Chinese steamed buns from Shanghai which contain soup. Well, actually, the ones which contain soup, contain soup; the ones which don’t, don’t. Although, when they do contain ‘soup’, what they contain may not really be what you or I would call soup. And they aren’t even from Shanghai!

 

小笼包 (xiǎo lóng bāo) simply means, literally, ‘small basket buns’. (Not 'small dragon buns' as suggested on the Xioalongbao Cook-Off topic. That is a different character, 龙 but pronounced the same.

 

小笼 (xiǎo lóng) - small basket

 

The larger soup dumplings are more correctly called 汤包 (tāng bāo), literally ‘soup buns’ and the ‘soup’ is actually gelatin-gelled aspic. The smaller ones containing soup are 小笼汤包 (xiǎo lóng tāng bāo). Widely accepted to have originated in 常州 (Cháng zhōu), a city in Jiangsu province, although they were in turn hugely influenced by an earlier similar preparation from Henan province’s 开封 (Kāi fēng), capital of China in the Northern Song Dynasty, they became popular in Shanghai, then spread. International recognition came when the Taiwanese franchise chain, 鼎泰豐 (dǐng tài fēng) introduced them expensively across Asia, Australia, the USA and the UK.

 

Din Tai Fung, London

 

I love xiaolongbao and eat them often for breakfast or a between-meal snack. I’ve eaten them all over China, including Changzhou and Shanghai. Most did not contain ‘soup’. I lived in Xi’an in Shaanxi province for a year, in western Hunan province for two years and then for two decades plus in Guangxi. All have xiaolongbao places selling non-soup versions. Here in Guangxi, I only know one small restaurant selling 'Shanghai-style'  汤包 (tāng bāo), soup dumplings, but many selling the soup-free version.

 

The non-soup versions follow the same basic recipe, only missing out the aspic.

 

汤包 (tāng bāo) restaurant in Liuzhou, Guangxi

 

Xiaolongbao are most commonly served in small restaurants, either to be taken away or to be consumed in one of the few seats most places have. They are also sold in some supermarkets. I do also make them myself sometimes - they are easy to do, although the pleating takes practice.

 

My local xiaolongbao restaurant. Typically, only one table inside and a couple on the street outside.

 

Xiaolongbao steaming

 

The contents of the baskets above. No soup! I just noticed there are nine in the basket. The normal serving is eight, Chinese culture's luckiest number.

Another popular xiaolongbao restaurant here in town. Two tables inside. There is also one outside to the right of shot.

 

These restaurant pictures were taken between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning before the rush descended. They get very busy. I ate a soup-free xiaolongbao breakfast at the one just above. I sat outside.

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

I think that the perception of most of us in the western world is of the Chinese home cook crouched over a wok on a brazier fed with twigs and cow chips. With the advances that China has made I suppose that many home cooks have kitchens that resemble those in the West.

Just as their style of cooking has to have changed, has the type of food that they are cooking changed? With the transport and availability of food from other regions, has it caused them to be less regional in their home cooking?

Edited August 4, 2021 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

36 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I think that the perception of most of us in the western world is of the Chinese home cook crouched over a wok on a brazier fed with twigs and cow chips. With the advances that China has made I suppose that many home cooks have kitchens that resemble those in the West.

Just as their style of cooking has to have changed, has the type of food that they are cooking changed? With the transport and availability of food from other regions, has it caused them to be less regional in their home cooking?

 

Good question which merits a good answer.  It's complicated.  I'll try to answer fully in the morning.  Bedtime here in the land of the rice eaters. 

[liuzhou]

21. "the Chinese home cook crouched over a wok on a brazier fed with twigs and cow chips"

 

On 8/4/2021 at 10:37 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

I think that the perception of most of us in the western world is of the Chinese home cook crouched over a wok on a brazier fed with twigs and cow chips. With the advances that China has made I suppose that many home cooks have kitchens that resemble those in the West.

Just as their style of cooking has to have changed, has the type of food that they are cooking changed? With the transport and availability of food from other regions, has it caused them to be less regional in their home cooking?

 

When I first came to live in China in 1996, it was said that 80% of the population was rural and 20% lived in cities. Today, we are told it’s the opposite, but while certainly many people, especially the younger generations, have moved to cities, it is often only temporarily. Many have become migratory workers, travelling to wherever the work is and moving on when the work moves on. Most of these end up working in the coastal areas in the east and south-east of the country. Also, many of these, men and women, have children whom they leave behind with the grandparents while sending money back. Many of these people fully intend returning home; many already have.

 

As China’s economy has grown incredibly over the last couple of decades, its reputation as a source of cheap labour has correspondingly diminished and the large foreign companies are looking for other places to exploit instead. The Chinese government has thrown billions of hard cash into developing the interior and western regions, so reducing people’s dependence on migratory work.

 

But for sure the number of city dwellers has risen considerably and, in general, people are more affluent. This new affluence has, of course, led to a rise in living standards and a new middle class. They demand everything new. There is very little demand for second-hand cars and I have never seen the type of second-hand shops which are common elsewhere. I can only think of one second-hand store here in town and that is a second-hand cell phone outlet. And it’s the same with housing. The new middle class only want newly built homes. These they buy unfinished and then arrange to have builders in to finish the interior layout to their own specifications. Even those who do buy pre-owned homes do the same, ripping out interior walls, plumbing etc and rebuilding the interior. They call this ‘decorating’.

And of course, this extends to the kitchens. Chinese domestic kitchens tend to be on the small side and have little storage space compared to western kitchens. Most people cook on one of these. So, do I. I’ve never seen anything resembling a western stove.

They may have a microwave, but that is mostly used for heating up dishes that have cooled down a bit. A rice cooker, for sure. And often a pressure cooker. No oven.

This is my kitchen as it was on the day I moved in. There is another counter and more storage space on the other wall, too. I didn't rebuild anything.
 

 

The thing on the left of the counter near the window is an infra-red or UV steriliser for bowls and plates etc. I moved it. This is not the most luxurious, but better than many.

 

So, although the kitchens may be more modern looking, they still generally contain the same limited equipment. Not that the Chinese consider there to be any limitations. They have what they need.

Out in the countryside, in many places, the “wok on a brazier fed with twigs and cow chips” tradition lingers but is becoming rarer and rarer. Except it wouldn’t just be twigs. And no cow chips. There aren’t that many cows in China. (I had to look up ‘cow chips’; not an expression I’ve heard, though I did guess the meaning.) That said, yak dung is used for fuel in Tibetan areas. Most of these home cooks would use wood, which they gather throughout the year and store for future use.

 

Firewood stack

 

The hut is firewood too I think!

 

This old lady was cooking her lunch over a pile of firewood in a metal bucket in a sort of outhouse.

 

As to what people cook, I don't think the new-found affluence has changed much, other than people eat more of the same. More meat, for sure, but still prepared in the traditional ways. Despite the oft-repeated claims that the Chinese eat everything (another myth), I find most people to be rather on the conservative side in terms of what they will eat and, especially, cook. I’d estimate that 90% of the restaurants here in Liuzhou are serving either local cuisine or dishes which have been well-known all over China for a very long time. When I lived in Hunan, it was the same. Restaurants did Hunan food. We do have a few restaurants serving other region’s cuisines in town, but I don’t think many people would be cooking those dishes at home. I know my friends never do. Even in places like Beijing and, even more so, Shanghai, which have restaurants serving food from all over China and the world, few people will be making that at home.

 

For a general idea of what people cook at home I can recommend Fuchsia Dunlop’s Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), which covers many of the dishes cooked regularly across China. Regional cookbooks are hard to find, even in Chinese. I have a couple on Sichuan cuisine, but that’s it.

I suspect this reply to @Tropicalsenior's question may raise even more questions. If so, please fire away!

Edited April 29, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

please fire away!

Thank you. That does answer my previous question very well but I do have another. I have always heard that the reason for cutting food into bite-size pieces before cooking was because of a shortage of cooking fuel. But I have also heard that it is because it is considered discourteous to expect a guest to have to cut up anything. Is there any truth to either of these?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Thank you. That does answer my previous question very well but I do have another. I have always heard that the reason for cutting food into bite-size pieces before cooking was because of a shortage of cooking fuel. But I have also heard that it is because it is considered discourteous to expect a guest to have to cut up anything. Is there any truth to either of these?

 

I'd say both are true.

 

It is widely accepted that the fuel theory is behind the invention of stir-frying as the main cooking technique to this day. It requires that the food be cut into small pieces by the cook in order for it to cook rapidly. (It also has the side effect of being easier to eat with chopsticks.)

At the same there is also still a strong taboo about knives being brought to the table. Doing so is seen as an aggressive, potentially treacherous act. I've seen people visibly anxious in western retaurants in China.

 

[Anna N]

18 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I suspect this reply to @Tropicalsenior's question may raise even more questions. If so, please fire away!

Why do you need an infrared sterilizer?

[liuzhou]

 

On 8/6/2021 at 7:27 AM, Anna N said:

Why do you need an infrared sterilizer?

 

I don't. It's not mine. The apartment is rented and it was there when I arrived.

 

That said, many people here have them. I think they are a  hangover from a time when few kitchens had a hot water supply. Many still don't. People washed dishes in cold water, then sterilized them in these.

I have hot water. Most restaurants still have  these.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

That said, many people here have them. I think they are a  hangover from a t ime when few kitchens had a hot water supply. Many still don't. People washed dishes in cold water, then sterilized them in these.

Thanks. Very interesting. I did try to find the answer myself but I was not really satisfied with what was showing up. 
edited to add :

Must be quite a challenge to get greasy/oily dishes clean for those who only have cold water!

Edited August 6, 2021 by Anna N (log)

[liuzhou]

22 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Must be quite a challenge to get greasy/oily dishes clean for those who only have cold water!

 

8 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

The dishwashing soap here is formulated for cold water.

 

Yes. Same here. The washing up liquid is soapier. Detergent for clothes washing is also a different formulation. Washing machines are all cold water.

Automatic dishwashers are very rare. I only know one person who has one and she is a returnee from America with new American husband in tow.

Most dishwashers, including mine, look like this.

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

21 hours ago, liuzhou said:

(It also has the side effect of being easier to eat with chopsticks.)

Speaking of chopsticks, did they originate in China or other parts of the East. Although they make perfect sense it's strange that no type of Western cutlery has ever become popular. Is there any reason for the different shapes of chopsticks? For example some are square and some are round. How far back into history can they trace the chopstick?

[liuzhou]

On 8/6/2021 at 6:34 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

Speaking of chopsticks, did they originate in China or other parts of the East. Although they make perfect sense it's strange that no type of Western cutlery has ever become popular. Is there any reason for the different shapes of chopsticks? For example some are square and some are round. How far back into history can they trace the chopstick?

 

The earliest archaeological evidence dates to around 1200 BCE, yes in China. They were originally longer and used in cooking rather than for eating. Spoons were used for eating. Eating chopsticks seem to have come in during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 AD). They quickly spread throughout eastern and south-eastern Asia, where they are used to this day. It is worth noticing that most, if not all, of those cultures favour family style eating, in which chopsticks are much more practical.

 

Spoons are still used for some dishes in China (see fried rice above). In Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore and some other countries most dishes are eaten with a fork and spoon, except noodles for which chopsticks are used. Forks are rarely used in China.

Cooking chopsticks are also still used. I use mine almost every day – at least once.

Square or round? Just style. No functional difference. Just like there are many variations in western cutlery. One real difference is that Chinese chopsticks are nearly always blunt ended; whereas Japanese and Korean tend to be pointed. I have both.

Top left to bottom right: Japanese eating chopsticks; Chinese cooking chopsticks; Chinese eating chopsticks. The cooking chopsticks are 42 cm / 16½ inches long; the Japanese 23 cm / 9 inches; and the Chinese 25 cm / 9¾ inches.

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

Can you address the myths, superstitions and etiquette surrounding chopsticks, please. 
 

[liuzhou]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:05 PM, Anna N said:

Can you address the myths, superstitions and etiquette surrounding chopsticks, please. 
 

 

Sure, although I can only think of one myth that may not be a myth at all. I'll deal with that first.

 

Most etymologies will tell you that the 'chop' in 'chopsticks' means 'quick', as in the expression 'chop-chop' and came into being through a Pidgin English spoken in China in colonial times.

 

I'm not so sure. 快 (kuài) means quick and 筷子 (kuài zi) means 'chopsticks'. The kuài  pronunciation in both are the same but not the characters. They are homophones, but have different meanings as well as being written differently, a common feature of Chinese. There are thousands of such examples.

 

Also, I can't find any evidence of any Chinese dialect or other source pronouncing kuài anything like 'chop'. Nor can I think of any reason why the pronunciation would have changed so dramatically

It may be possible that the 筷 character used in chopsticks was introduced later, but again I can find no evidence of that in any of my Chinese sources.

I'll leave that one open until I can delve further, but even my favourite source, the OED, gets in a complete tangle with this.

Note: this meaning of chop is unrelated to that in 'chop-suey'.

As to superstitions and etiquette, I'd say they overlap.

 

The most serious chopstick faux pas is to plant your chopsticks upright in your rice bowl and leave them there. This is a symbol of death as it resembles incense being burned in honour of the departed.

If you need to put your chopsticks down, use the chopstick rests supplied, if any. If not, lay them flat across the rim of your bowl, but not pointing at anyone (see below).

Dropping a chopstick is also considered unlucky, but happens all the time. Not serious at all.

 

Stabbing or piercing food to pick it up is a no-no. If it's difficult to catch hold something, use your chopsticks to slide the food into a spoon, then convey that to your bowl.

Using your chopsticks as drum sticks is very rude, as is pointing at anyone with them. Playing with them is strongly discouraged in children; unthinkable for adults.

Don't dig around in a plate of food to find the choice bits. This is referred to as 'grave digging' and again bad luck (as well as bad manners).

Don't lick your chopsticks.

I'm sure there are more, but those are what come to mind immediately.

 

Neither taboo or superstition, but the mistake most chopstick neophytes make is to hold the chopsticks too near the points. They should be held near the top. It seems counter-intuitive to many people, but they are much easier to control that way.

 

You will see guides on how to hold chopsticks 'correctly'. Ignore most of them. I've seen Chinese people hold them in many different ways. The trick is to hold to hold one steady and move the other one. If you try to move both, you will go hungry!

Edited September 29, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[heidih]

Thanks. In my Western experience the kids pick it up right away because they do not overthink chopstick technique.  When I lost the use of my dominant hand for months my goal was to pick up something small with chopsticks. Doctor laughed but I got there  

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Stabbing or piercing food to pick it up is a no-no. If it's difficult to catch hold something, use a your chopsticks to slide the food into a spoon, then convey that to your bowl.

This is very helpful, however, at least in the restaurants over here (Canada), one is provided either  chopsticks  or western cutlery. I cannot recall ever being offered chopsticks and a spoon except in Korean restaurants.

So, on a properly set table at home or at a restaurant, does a placesetting include chopsticks and a spoon? Or is the spoon automatic since soup seems to be a component of most meals?

[liuzhou]

7 minutes ago, Anna N said:

So, on a properly set table at home or at a restaurant, does a placesetting include chopsticks and a spoon? Or is the spoon automatic since soup seems to be a component of most meals?

 

Spoons are nearly always supplied automatically; if not it's perfectly acceptable to request one.

[Tropicalsenior]

Another of the myths that I wish that you would address for us is the idea of many in the West that China and the Chinese people are primitive, dirty, and unsanitary. Your home style infrared sanitizer is just one example that proves the contrary. I've never even heard of one in the West.

Our Chinese supermarket, 100 meters from my house, is probably the cleanest supermarket in Costa Rica

Edited August 6, 2021 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

@TropicalseniorI'll address that by Private Message rather than here.

[liuzhou]

22. Meat, Rice, then Soup

 

This morning, I had the misfortune to read this appallingly error-ridden article from Atlas Obscura on the interwebs. Among the many downright errors is this.
 

Quote

In China, explains Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, rice is served after the main and before the soup, making the American-Chinese tradition of serving white rice alongside the main seem as odd to Chinese diners as an English-speaker hearing a foreigner say “old silly fool” instead of “silly old fool.”

 

In China, ... rice is served after meat and before the soup? In her deluded dreams. (Who has '8' for a name?)

 

Rice and main dishes are nearly always served together, so no one would find it in the slightest bit odd. The only time food is served the way she describes is at highly formal banquets, but most often not even then. I have been to uncountable banquets in China and never once has soup been served last. Nearly always first, just as in western cuisines. Always early in the parade of dishes.  The habit of serving the soup last is traditionally Cantonese, but that only applies to less than 4% of the population and is not universally applied.

 

I won't get into all the other errors here.

 

Grrr!

[FlashJack]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Who has '8' for a name?

I think, Liuzhou, we are able to call ourselves whatever we want without ridicule. A point off there for uncharacteristic playing-the-man crankiness.

 

I read the Fortune Cookie Chronicles. It was OK. Lightweight and eminently forgettable. I expect that the idiocy ascribed to Jennifer 8 in that article is not her's but the author's. It is an extended tortuous attempt to take the metaphor of grammar into realms in which it does not belong. The writer who can't write is quite capable of making others look like fools.

 

as odd to Chinese diners as an English-speaker hearing a foreigner say “old silly fool” instead of “silly old fool" is just a crap simile by an author out of depth.

 

Relax. I've been much enjoying your series.

 

Best regards,

 

Jack

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

37 minutes ago, FlashJack said:

I think, Liuzhou, we are able to call ourselves whatever we want without ridicule.

 

I totally agree. It was not my intention to ridicule. I just thought that it was unusual. My real name is 🥢.

Edited September 17, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[FlashJack]

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

My real name is 🥢.

Snap. Mine too!

 

[FlashJack]

Very off topic, Liuzhou, I had a number plate on my car that ended in 888. Just luck. I was offered non-trivial money for it.

[Duvel]

Well … my father is called Otto 😉