Please Translate This! Help with Foreign Language Recipes, Culinary Terms, Labels

[Maureen B. Fant]

I believe it is lambs ear lettuce and says to cut off the roots!

It is usually sold with it's tiny roots attached.

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That's correct. When you buy it, songino is sometimes used as synonimous with 'valeriana', but I'm not sure about the botanical correctness of the usage. And to complicate things there's also 'valerianella'...

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It's also corn salad in English. In Italian we juggle soncino, songino, gallinella (same as the fish), valeriana, and valerianella. There are probably others. As far as I can tell they are all the same, except that sometimes the leaf is a bit more succulent, other times thinner. I have unfortunately not observed scientifically whether this difference is associated with some of these terms more than others. The leaf shape is the same or nearly. I don't know the botanical taxonomy and would be obliged for any enlightenment.

[GlorifiedRice]

http://i27.tinypic.com/wa1teq.jpg

Does that say anything about "KEEPING REFRIGERATED" ?

Or is it more along the line of "CHILL BEFORE SERVING"?

TYIA

[Hiroyuki]

No such statements.

It does say:

Notes on storage: Avoid direct sunlight and keep in a cool, dark place.

[GlorifiedRice]

No such statements.

It does say:

Notes on storage:  Avoid direct sunlight and keep in a cool, dark place.

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TY TY TY!!!

The English label said to KEEP REFRIGERATED, so I was worried it may have spoiled!

YAY, my son will be happy!

[tino27]

This problem seems to plague me the most when I dine at a Chinese restaurant. I have found a little Chinese place (serving mostly American tastes, I'm sure). The food is pretty darn good, but no matter how many "very"'s I put in front of the word "spicy", the food almost always comes out with little to no heat.

As in most family run establishments (another reason to frequent their restaurant), the wife is in front taking the orders and calling them to the husband in the kitchen. The one time the husband took my order, he understood what I wanted and it came out better (although still not great), but I think the wife has basically enough knowledge of English to know what is on the menu.

Is there a phrase or word that I could use to indicate to the wife that I truly want it very, very, very spicy and not "American spicy"? I know that not all Chinese restaurants are run by Chinese people and I know there are various dialects even within China, but I was hoping there would be some way of communicating what I am shooting for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Beebs]

Ask for extra chilli sauce/paste on the side, then you can spice it up as hot as you want.

[Batard]

This problem seems to plague me the most when I dine at a Chinese restaurant. I have found a little Chinese place (serving mostly American tastes, I'm sure). The food is pretty darn good, but no matter how many "very"'s I put in front of the word "spicy", the food almost always comes out with little to no heat.

As in most family run establishments (another reason to frequent their restaurant), the wife is in front taking the orders and calling them to the husband in the kitchen. The one time the husband took my order, he understood what I wanted and it came out better (although still not great), but I think the wife has basically enough knowledge of English to know what is on the menu.

Is there a phrase or word that I could use to indicate to the wife that I truly want it very, very, very spicy and not "American spicy"? I know that not all Chinese restaurants are run by Chinese people and I know there are various dialects even within China, but I was hoping there would be some way of communicating what I am shooting for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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The restaurant is probably run by Cantonese, most Chinese in the US are from that region of China, Shandong. So you may have two problems: 1.) You are an American and they are going to style the food for what they think American's want, and 2.) Cantonese in general do not make or eat hot and spicy food.

You need to ask for 我要辣椒, which literally means "I want the hot pepper" in Mandarin. Mandarin is the Chinese lingua franca, so they will understand what you mean regardless of their native dialect. It is pronounced ""wǒ yāo là jiāo" in pinyin, but if you don't get the tones right they will have no idea what you are talking about (Mandarin is a tonal language). Better to write it down and show them at the restaurant, the chance of you pronouncing it correctly without having studied Chinese tone and vowels are slim.

You might be better off asking them for a side dish of Chinese hot sauce as last resort. Most Cantonese restaurants have it, but you will have to ask.

Edited December 15, 2008 by Batard (log)

[Magictofu]

Make sure you do not order something that should not be spicy in the first place.

[tino27]

Ask for extra chilli sauce/paste on the side, then you can spice it up as hot as you want.

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I went there for lunch today and asked for chilli sauce on the side ... she looked at me the same way as if I would've asked her to write a computer program to calculate Pi to the 56th digit. So, no such luck there.

Make sure you do not order something that should not be spicy in the first place.

I agree with you 100%. I'm only trying to order things that are already marked on the menu as spicy.

You need to ask for 我要辣椒, which literally means "I want the hot pepper" in Mandarin.

Thank you for this. You're right, I will probably need to write it down.

As an odd turn of events at the restaurant today, I actually ended up getting what I wanted. After having no luck getting the side of chilli sauce, I almost pleaded with her to make it very very spicy. Twice. Apparently this time I got through as it was much closer to what I was looking for. When I finished my meal I went back up to the counter, gave her a big smile and told her it was very good. When I asked her how to order it that spicy again, she smiled and said, "1/2 spoon".

So, 1 restaurant down, 99,999 more to go in the US.

However, the general question is still open for discussion in case anyone else wants to weigh in.

[Jaymes]

Not Chinese, but this seems to be also a problem with Mexican food for some folks. They mistake caliente to mean spicy, which it doesn't. So they'll ask whether or not something is caliente, like a cold salsa, and they'll be told 'no,' and they try it and it burns off the roof of their mouth.

The problem here is that caliente only means 'hot' in the temperature sense. So the cold salsa isn't caliente, it's picante, the true word for 'hot' in the spicy sense. Unlike English, in Spanish "hot" isn't used to mean both temperature and spicy.

But picante is easy to remember. Just think of Pace picante sauce.

[NancyH]

The shorthand Mandarin term for hot and spicy is la (like in "do re mi fa so la ti do"). And people usually understand I want chili paste when I ask for là jiāo or la jiang.

[Batard]

The shorthand Mandarin term for hot and spicy is la (like in "do re mi fa so la ti do"). And people usually understand I want chili paste when I ask for là jiāo  or la jiang.

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That would work, "là jiāo" means "hot pepper". If you say "La Gee-Ow" enough they will probably catch on. (Pronounced "La" like Nancy said; "Gee" like in "Gee whiz!", and "Ow" like in "Ow, I cut my damn finger" ...)

[Fengyi]

Just say "la" repeatedly in an disapproving tone... like you're scolding a dog or shouting 'down! down!' at it. Repetition is often used in Chinese to convey emphasis so saying it three or four times is good.

Honestly, this tone of voice exactly conveys the correct tone of 'hot' in Chinese - it doesn't sound rude.

If you work up your tones, you can make them laugh by saying:

pa4bu2la4 ('pa' in the above 'sit dog' voice, 'bu' sounds like you're asking a question, 'la' as above).

It means that you're actually frightened of eating something NOT spicy.

I use it a lot to describe my husband...

It does get him super-hot food!

[Fat Guy]

Tino, it sounds like you've resolved this situation, however had I been alert enough to advise you earlier I'd have suggested that you just go up to the pass and communicate directly with the chef. If you do this sort of thing in a jolly, positive way you can pull it off without offending anyone.

With respect to the suggestion to ask for hot chili sauce on the side, this can be a workable tactic but it's an imperfect one. There's a big difference between using hot chili sauce as a condiment on a finished dish and cooking a dish with spice as an integral part of the process. Much better to get the kitchen on board with the spicy mission. Of course you can still add hot chili sauce on top of that!

P.S. The number of Chinese restaurants in America is closer to 43,000.

[budrichard]

At the Hokkaido Fair at Mitsuwa in Chicago i purchase some excellent Ikura(salmon roe) at about twice the usual market price. I tasted some before purchase and it was very rich. The label is 'Ikura Syouyuzuke' and I can't find a translation for the 'syouyuzuke'. Can anyone help. Thanks for your reply.-Dick

[Culinista]

"Salmon Roe Soused in Soy Sauce"?

[Hiroyuki]

Yes, pickled in soy sauce.

[budrichard]

Thank you for the translations. That is what it tastes like. It is very very good.

The Hokkaido Fair at Mitsuwa is great for us in the States. Lots of food from Hokkaido and surrounding waters.-Dick

[Naftal]

I am confused about the the meaning of "oolong" . I once read that it meant "bird and dragon" but now i am told, in another source, that it means "black dragon". Is either correct? Are both wrong? Are both right? HELP!

[Wholemeal Crank]

"Oolong is sometimes written as Wulong but the meaning is the same: Oo (Wu) means Black and Long means Dragon."

That fits my recollections (vague) about it.

Quote is from this web site (found on google, not one I've done business with).

[Naftal]

"Oolong is sometimes written as Wulong but the meaning is the same: Oo (Wu) means Black and Long means Dragon."

That fits my recollections (vague) about it.

Quote is from this web site (found on google, not one I've done business with).

Thanks!

[liuzhou]

On 12/16/2008 at 1:11 AM, Batard said:

The restaurant is probably run by Cantonese, most Chinese in the US are from that region of China, Shandong.

 

I know this is 11 years old, but I just spotted it while looking for something else, so just in case anyone is misled, the Cantonese most  definitely don't come from Shandong! It's geographically similar to saying Texans are  from New York!

I think @Batardmeant Guangdong (although Cantonese speaking people are also found In Hong Kong and southern Guangxi). It was true in the past that most immigrants were Cantonese (no longer) and Cantonese cuisine is seldom spicy, though.

ETA: Never did find what I was looking for!

Edited August 31, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[weinoo]

Okay - who can help with this?

 

 

I understand they're a sort of dashi tea bag, but what do the instructions say?