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Posted

That  :hmmm: was actually meant to be a thoughtful  :hmmm: ...such as " wonderful idea for a cold winter's night!"

I love congee but have never made it in a sand pot.

Oh ok. I was just wondering since I remember you making congee in your blog, right?

Can't make congee here. Some don't like anything that looks like porridge. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the tip regarding the dried orange peel. I will try it next time.

Posted
Oh my BettyK, that sounds awfully close to what I used to enjoy at Dong Ting. I am marking that post as a favorite. I am doing a brain thing on that recipe and to match what I remember, I might increase the star anise. Also, the serving in the individual sand pot didn't have any of the aromatics, just the broth. I am now wondering if the broth was infused ahead of time. I don't recall any orange notes so that isn't a problem. But I am wondering, I have seen dried orange peel called for in other Chinese braises. I have toyed with the idea of stripping off some peel, without any pith to lend bitterness, and drying it in the DeLonghi. I can't seem to find it on the shelf at the Asian groceries.

Fifi, you can strain the gravy and if you like you can reduce it too. Your call.

Posted (edited)

Thanks for the link, Transparent. That is a really cool pot. The recipe looks darn good, too. The pork I had wasn't belly but looked like leaner chunks. I see those cuts in my Asian markets and appear to be hunks off a fresh ham as I noted above. I am going to speculate that the restaurant started using that due to the current (but hopefully fading) pork fat phobia. The markets have the belly also, of course. I am certainly not opposed to good pork fat. :biggrin:

Now on to some more nit-picking. Some recipes seem to call for tangerine peel and some call for orange. I think I see tangerine more often. I can certainly see that you would want to scrape off the pith from tangerine after soaking. After all, you can't really get a hunk of peel without it. But if you had a thick skinned orange, you could conceivably pare off the peel and leave the pith behind. Maybe. Since I haven't been able to find it, the DeLonghi has a dehydrator setting, and the stores have oranges and tangerines, I thought I might give it a go. My library is whoafully inadequate in the Chinese department so a-googling I will go.

edit to add: Voila! Tangerine peel here. This is a great site. I had lost my favorites link in a computer swap. It was worth this exercise just to find it again. But . . . It says to age it for six months. :sad:

Edited by fifi (log)

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

Posted

I remember a time in my childhood where there were tangerine peels hanging around the place. In fact, I think there was a tangerine peel in my backyard hanging from a string. I wonder what happened to it. I'm thinking it got lost in a snowstorm? :blink:

Posted

I have revewed several recipes for the pork and beef. I keep running into a step that I don't really understand. The common theme seems to be: boil in plain water for a really brief time, flush off the grunge, proceed with the recipe. Is this a common technique in Chinese cooking? What is this supposed to accomplish? It certainly isn't enough time to do any pre-cooking. Why not just rinse it well to remove any surface gunk?

I have also seen that in other Chinese braise recipes including a fresh ham recipe that I got from a Taiwanese friend. I finally got rid of that step because it is a real pain, dirties another big pot and you have to wrestle with a big chunk of hot meat. I can't tell any difference in the final product. The only thing I could see happening with the ham is that a little bit of grunge comes off. Now I just rinse the darn thing.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

Posted

Duh! Thanks for the reminder about the eGCI sourse. It was fun going back and re-reading it.

However, the rinsing discussion is more about rinsing salted ingredients. So, I am still puzzled.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

Posted

I think it has to do with being a holdover from classical Chinese cuisine, where purity of flavor was paramount in preparing a dish. It's akin to the French technique of straining stock to get rid of impurities and using the resulting liquid in making a sauce.

You can probably skip the step, but I wonder if something isn't lost in the final transition.

Soba

Posted
I think it has to do with being a holdover from classical Chinese cuisine, where purity of flavor was paramount in preparing a dish... 

What a dichotomy considering the Chinese tradition of "Lushui Zhi, Questions About This 'Master Sauce' ", where braising liquid is used over and over again, day after day. It's pure in the sense that it is strained and boiled so it's pure sauce, but it's such a constantly evolving melange of spices & herbs & meat juices that it could be called anything but pure ("Mutt Sauce"?).

As for all that rinsing, I'd stick with K.I.S.S. and keep it to the one pot. Who needs the extra work?

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

Posted

My parents do the whole boiling in a separate pot (in our case, a wok) for the butcher-bought pork used in soups. It does get the scum out, but I agree, it's pretty pointless.

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