cold weather cooking

[Dejah]

errr...trillium... did you say it might hit freezing temps on the Pacific coast?

Try -41 C on the Canadian prairies with 30 cms of snow Savory tang yuen sticks to your ribs and everything else...an extra layer to keep me warm...

[herbacidal]

I thought Hong Kong was subtropical like Sarasota, Florida. Just how cold does it get there? I mean, Beijing has a real winter! Does it ever freeze in Hong Kong?

-41C, dejah? jeez.

i'd freeze once i stepped outside of the heat.

i remember looking it up once.

hong kong is on the same latitude as cuba.

(latitude is east-west, right?)

of course, i don't remember if the map i was looking at has been corrected since.

anyway, i didn't think HK ever got in the 40s until wesza.

one of my favorite memories of HK is seeing teenagers walking around in September in triple goose fat down coats.

[aprilmei]

I've become such a wuss since moving to Hong Kong. It's not really cold compared to living in New York, but as Irwin says, it feels cold because it's damp and there's no central heating. But I haven't become such a wuss that I start wearing heavy coats in September - Herbacidal is right about that! It's gorgeous right now - about 77 degrees Farenheit.

But back to cold weather food. I love mutton casserole served with fermented bean curd (fu yu), all varieties of hotpot (my current favourite is the Taiwanese version which has chillies and chunks of pig's blood in the broth), snake soup (considered very warming), bo jai fan (rice cooked in sandpots - which gives it a smoky flavour - and topped with chicken and mushrooms or minced pork and salted fish), oxtail stew with mushrooms, and sticky rice with preserved meats (you can buy this as "street food" although it's getting harder to find because the government is cracking down on illegal vendors). And Shanghai hairy crabs, of course - although they're considered cooling, so they must be eaten with lots of ginger. I'm going to Shanghai soon so plan on eating lots of hairy crabs.

[jo-mel]

Does Beijing still have the 'written/unwritten rule' that buildings must not turn on the heat until sometime in November? I was attending classes (as an adult) in the 80s, and those buildings were COLD!! Broken windows in some classrooms didn't help. You could see your breath and we all wore mittens, scarfs and coats --- in the classroom!

I guess it is simply a matter of Chinese frugality, as very few Chinese grocery stores seem to have comfortable heat in the winter, here in Northern NJ AWA NYcs Chinatown. The cashiers always seem to have jackets on. Some of the 'open' stall type stores, without doors, sometime have a blast of heat at the entrance, but once you are in the store, it is cold.

[Ben Hong]

The ultimate cold weather dish is dog cooked in the style of the above mentioned mutton casserole. Way back in the mists of time when I was a child in the home village I remember missing a couple of favourite pets one winter. Now being a westernized dog lover (not to eat), I can't imagine the scenario.

Of course my favourite alltime cold weather dish in Hong Kong and other parts of Guangdong province is snake soup. YUMMMMM

[helenas]

Hmmm...My folks definitely have a cookbook that has a Chicken and Chestnuts recipe, but I guess I have the wrong cookbook in mind.

At least, according to the this (Stewed Chicken with Dried Chestnuts) you pointed to the right book.

[trillium]

Sichuan pork and cabbage soup with "dumpling knots". Essentially sliced pork stir-fried with soy and garlic and ginger, then lots of shredded green cabbage and scallions. Add water to cover along with lajiao and Sichuan peppercorns and simmer till cabbage is tender. Dumpling knots (knobs of water/flour/salt dough as big as the end of your little finger) go in last. The result should be a thick soup chock-full of tender cabbage and very chewy dumplings --- with lots of ma-la tingle.

What sort of flour do you use for the dumpling knots? Wheat, I assume, but what sort? And the lajiao we're talking about are those squarish sichuan kind, right? I have to admit I've been sort of hoarding my sichuan peppercorns because I can't imagine mapo without them, but maybe I should just use them up and head up north to Canada for a resupply.

regards,

trillium

[trillium]

Hmmm...My folks definitely have a cookbook that has a Chicken and Chestnuts recipe, but I guess I have the wrong cookbook in mind.

At least, according to the this (Stewed Chicken with Dried Chestnuts) you pointed to the right book.

Thanks for finding that, it looks good.

regards,

trillium

[trillium]

errr...trillium... did you say it might hit freezing temps on the Pacific coast?

Try -41 C on the Canadian prairies with 30 cms of snow Savory tang yuen sticks to your ribs and everything else...an extra layer to keep me warm...

Yeah, I was being funny. After 8 years in the midwest I do snicker a tiny bit when people totally freak out about a couple inches of snow and it takes up the whole news hour to report on the weather from different spots around the city. But you lose your hardiness really quickly...it was 20 F yesterday and I actually thought it was cold!

Tang yuen are rice flour dumplings right? I don't know many Mandarin words at all, just Cantonese and Hokkien. Are they made with glutinous rice or regular rice flour?

regards,

trillium

[Mayhaw Man]

Trillium,

Do you have an opinion on Craig Claiborne's Chinese Cooking? I have always enjoyed it and found both the recipes and the instruction on technique to be helpful (I am admittedly a novice at Chines cooking but I do enjoy stumbling around with it).

[Dejah]

[

Tang yuen are rice flour dumplings right? I don't know many Mandarin words at all, just Cantonese and Hokkien. Are they made with glutinous rice or regular rice flour?

regards,

trillium

Trillium,

I thought tang yuen was Cantonese...maybe better pronunciation would be tong yuen?

Yup, these are made with glutinous flour.

[browniebaker]

Tang yuen is the correct Mandarin-dialect pronunciation of the term for the dumplings. The dumplings are not just Cantonese; the various Chinese provinces each have their versions of sweet or savory tang yuen.

[mudbug]

Steamed sticky/glutinous rice with fillings wrapped in lotus/bamboo/banana leaves is always a good winter meal contribution.

[mudbug]

There are actually some great suggestions at this thread as well.

[trillium]

Trillium,

Do you have an opinion on Craig Claiborne's Chinese Cooking? I have always enjoyed it and found both the recipes and the instruction on technique to be helpful (I am admittedly a novice at Chines cooking but I do enjoy stumbling around with it).

I don't have an opinion on it, sorry. Maybe other people here do?

regards,

trillium

[trillium]

Tang yuen is the correct Mandarin-dialect pronunciation of the term for the dumplings. The dumplings are not just Cantonese; the various Chinese provinces each have their versions of sweet or savory tang yuen.

Right, right, tong yuen. I've just had factory made sweet ones, which were not big favorites. Do you guys make these at home or buy them pre-formed? The savory ones sound like something I'd like.

regards,

trillium

[Dejah]

Right, right, tong yuen.  I've just had factory made sweet ones, which were not big favorites.  Do you guys make these at home or buy them pre-formed?  The savory ones sound like something I'd like.

regards,

trillium

trillium:

I make mine at home. Living on the prairies, I didn't even know you can buy them factory made!

I add approx. 2 cups of cold water and 1/2 tsp. salt to 1 package (16 oz) of glutinous rice flour. Mix and knead a couple minutes to the consitency of "playdough".

Pinch off pieces of "dumplings" and drop into boiling water (or stock). When the dumplings float, add the rest of the ingredients: fresh sliced pork, lap cheung, pre-soaked dried shrimp and/or scallops. I julienne the lo bak, and cook it separately...adding it when the rest is cooked. The lo bak is actually my favorite part, with big piles of cilantro.

[aprilmei]

Tong yuen are easy to make - just glutinous rice flour mixed with enough hot water to make a dough. It should be only slightly sticky but not annoyingly so. The sweet ones have the same type of dough but are just filled with sweetened sesame seed paste or whatever (crushed peanut brittle is fantastic if you're making your own). You just shape them into small balls and boil them. My favourite savoury tong yuen soup is similar to Dejahs - low bak and dried shrimp, but instead of lap cheung we used ground pork meatballs flavoured with preserved vegetable (ong choi). We always had it around the Winter Stolstice.

[Pan]

Hmmm...My folks definitely have a cookbook that has a Chicken and Chestnuts recipe, but I guess I have the wrong cookbook in mind.

At least, according to the this (Stewed Chicken with Dried Chestnuts) you pointed to the right book.

Thanks, helenas. That looks like the recipe I was remembering.

The cookbook has a blue hardcover and my mother's copy is in beat-up condition.

[Dejah]

How about sliced pork belly or riblets steamed with plums in brine and brown bean sauce?

[aprilmei]

How about sliced pork belly or riblets steamed with plums in brine and brown bean sauce?

That's how my mother makes pig's feet; well, sort of. She braises the pig's feet, doesn't steam them. Yum.

[chengb02]

The ultimate cold weather dish is dog cooked in the style of the above mentioned mutton casserole. Way back in the mists of time when I was a child in the home village

do we have a fellow Northeasterner here, Ben? Well as for me, the classic winter food is hotpot, but good dongbei food is perfect for the season. Dumplings are a winter dish to me because of their connection to Spring Festival. I don't think its necessarily a winter dish, but I would also say hong shao qie zi, a favorite of mine...

[Ben Hong]

Not a Northeasterner, Southeasterner. Toyshaan to be precise.

[Gary Soup]

Not a Northeasterner, Southeasterner. Toyshaan to be precise.

Ah, but you are now a dongbeiren (from Northeast North America).

[Mabelline]

The claypot chicken with lily buds sounded scrumptious to me-for I am just home from radical hospital time and any kind of Asian cold weather eats is sounding good. I am also a complete sucker for anything lily buds, velvet chicken, or heroically hot thick and pork. And I am now starting to sound fanatical.Sorry...