Sauce and Ingredient Finds

[liuzhou]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

Obviously it should be drained before use, but should I also rinse it or even soak it to remove some of the pickling liquid?

 

ps - why would any company use green writing on a clear package that has green just behind it?  Are they trying to make it hard to read?

 

Is it Sichuan style?  I know it is an American version.  鹹酸菜 (xián suān cài) is traditional Chinese, and means salty pickled vegetable and the "salty" is not usually stated. Taste it first.

As to draining or not, to you, really. Certainly drained.

 

Whether or not to rinse it depends on personal taste and intended usage. Normally it is not rinsed, but if you find it overpowering that way, go ahead.

 

What dish are you planning on making? 90% of the time it is used for Sichuan 酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú), pickled vegetable fish where the pickle flavour is wanted (but not excess saltiness.

 

 

 

 

[KennethT]

7 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Is it Sichuan style?  I know it is an American version.  鹹酸菜 (xián suān cài) is traditional Chinese, and means salty pickled vegetable and the "salty" is not usually stated. Taste it first.

As to draining or not, to you, really. Certainly drained.

 

Whether or not to rinse it depends on personal taste and intended usage. Normally it is not rinsed, but if you find it overpowering that way, go ahead.

 

What dish are you planning on making? 90% of the time it is used for Sichuan 酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú), pickled vegetable fish where the pickle flavour is wanted (but not excess saltiness.

 

 

 

 

Thanks.  I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it.  I was debating between some Thai Khao Soi (I assume the Thai pickled mustard green would be similar enough -  and the ones I've gotten before from the Thai store were NEON yellow, unrefrigerated and really unpleasant) of maybe making some Hunan stir fry - my local Hunan place puts pickled mustard greens in everything.  I'm also open to suggestions.

[liuzhou]

11 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Thanks.  I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it.  I was debating between some Thai Khao Soi (I assume the Thai pickled mustard green would be similar enough -  and the ones I've gotten before from the Thai store were NEON yellow, unrefrigerated and really unpleasant) of maybe making some Hunan stir fry - my local Hunan place puts pickled mustard greens in everything.  I'm also open to suggestions.

 

I thinkn they go well with any fatty meat, where the pickle cuts through the fattiness. It's strange, I never associate them particularly with Hunan, a place I lived for two years, although I guess they would go well with Hunan red-cooked pork, Mao's alleged favourite.

My introduction was in Sichuan, although they are also popular here in Guangxi. Used extensively with fish, especially the aformentioned 酸菜鱼.

 

Re the green on green wrapping, I see things like that all the time. Really annoying. My eyesight is not great a the best of times and low contrasts just screw with me.

 

[liuzhou]

On looking again, I've realised what you have is the salted Cantonese version. I've never had that, so use your taste to decide.

Edited February 12, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

7 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

On looking again, I've realised what you have is the salted Cantonese version. I've never had that, so use your taste to decide.

That wouldn't surprise me - the Cantonese were the original Chinese settlers in NY a long time ago - up until recently, anywhere you went in Chinatown, the defacto language was Cantonese but that's changing now, especially rapidly in the outer borough Chinatowns like Flushing, Queens and in Brooklyn.

[liuzhou]

7 minutes ago, KennethT said:

That wouldn't surprise me - the Cantonese were the original Chinese settlers in NY a long time ago - up until recently, anywhere you went in Chinatown, the defacto language was Cantonese but that's changing now, especially rapidly in the outer borough Chinatowns like Flushing, Queens and in Brooklyn.

Yes. I should have realised.

Yes, Cantonese is being pushed aside, not only in NY. London's Chinatown was Cantonese, but when I visited in 2019, I heard putonghua (Mandarin) everywhere.

My strangest encounter was in Bangkok when I went iinto a small mom 'n pop store to buy something and the elderly couple were chatting in the Liuzhou dialect (a heavily 'corrupted' version of Mandarin). The only people more surprised than me were them, when this crazy westerner joined their conversation in their language!

Edited February 12, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

If it helps, this is the back side of the package:

 

 

Also, I was to understand that Hunan food uses tons of pickled vegetables.  I had read that it was the pickled vegetable capital of China.

 

This is the webpage menu of my local Hunan place - they basically do most things over rice noodles (either dry or in soup) or rice if requested.  Practically everything has a small heap of pickled mustard green tucked into a corner and you can ask for more for an extra $1 or so... https://silkykitchen.com/menu/

[liuzhou]

14 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I was to understand that Hunan food uses tons of pickled vegetables.  I had read that it was the pickled vegetable capital of China.

 

Hunan certainly does. But it's different from the Sichuan variety - which my brain automatically switches to when I read 酸菜.  I should have been clearer but it was 5 am.

The menu doesn't mention 酸菜， but does mention (item 58) 榨菜 (zhà cài), which is different.

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Here is Sichaun style 酸菜 (suān cài)). This is made by fermenting 芥菜 (jìe cai), a  type of leaf mustard, in large pots with salt and leaving it for around 30 days while being pressed by heavy weights. This is usually sold with some of the juices drawn from the mustard during processing.

 

Suancai

 

Here is 榨菜 (zhà cài), also from Sichuan (specifically from Chongqing which until 1997 was part of Sichaun, but now ruled directly from Beijing).

 

It uses a different type of mustard and is made by salting and pressing as above, but it is then dried and covered in a chilli paste then left a bit longer.

 

Zha cai

 

Sometimes, but not often, the chilli paste is removed before consumption.

 

Cleaned zha cai.

 

Both suancai and zha cai are often sliced and sold bagged in supermarkets. This below is zha cai from Fuling, a town in Sichuan, famous for its quality zha cai.

 

 

Both are also made in other nearby provinces.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[barista]

On 2/13/2022 at 1:04 AM, KennethT said:

I bought this package of pickled mustard greens the other day and had questions of usage:

 

 

Obviously it should be drained before use, but should I also rinse it or even soak it to remove some of the pickling liquid?

 

ps - why would any company use green writing on a clear package that has green just behind it?  Are they trying to make it hard to read?

We usually give it a 10-15min soak after rinsing and cutting. Then break off a tiny piece to taste at the end to see if it's still too salty. Also depends on what you're cooking. When it's used to make a soup with duck, then it's not normally soaked.