Chinese New Year Banquet Menu

[Gastro888]

It's that time of year again! I'm organizing a CNY banquet for my friends and I at a local restaurant. We have some adventerous eaters and some not so much. It's going to be a Cantonese style menu and I wanted to try pick y'all's brains to see if there were other dishes besides your "typical" banquet menu dishes. For example:

*Traditional Cold Cut Starter Platter (jellyfish, cuttlefish, pig's feet, cold braised beef)

*Fried shrimp ball wrapped around a crab leg (and covered with broken rice noodle bits)

*Shark fin's soup or golden mushroom soup

*Abalone with vegetable

*Cantonese fried chicken w/ shrimp chips

*Lobster w/ ginger and scallions

*Steamed/fried flounder

*Noodles (in various forms)

*Yangchow fried rice

*Dessert

The only things I could think of (and unfortunately I can't read or write Chinese so I'm at a loss for getting the authentic menu...bah!) as alternate dishes were:

*Fried quail

*Roasted suckling pig

*Shrimp and fried walnuts in mayonaise sauce (Yes...Chinese American but I thought this would be good to cater to the less adventerous folks)

*Kingdom pork chops (see above reasoning)

*Salt and pepper fried shrimp (with the head on)

*Sea cucumber (is it even worth getting if some ppl are sqeamish?)

*Seafood combo in bird's nest dish

I guess I'm at a loss 'cause I usually eat the homestyle stuff and not the fancy banquet stuff when I go out. Gimme a bowl of congee with 1000 year old eggs and pork or a rice bowl with some BBQ meat and I'm happy.

Any assistance is appreciated! *bows to elders*

[Susan G]

Everything sounds delicious!

But what about the last course: soup?

Some sort of pickles?

Are you sticking to strictly Catonese dishes, or are other areas to be represented too?

[origamicrane]

how about Yu Sheng?

its fun and tasty and very symbolic

also very good fun for the uninitiated.

http://www.sojourn.com.my/contents/2003/01...1_cnyfoods.html

[Gastro888]

I've never heard of Yu Sheng before, that's neat! Thanks for the link.

As for other areas of China, the restaurant we're going to serves mainly Cantonese food. I wouldn't know how to hold a northern Chinese CNY banquet, unfortunately. (I'm Toisanese)

For the dessert course I'm going to ask for mini pineapple buns or mini egg tarts. If we get enough people, I'll get longevity buns instead. They're so cute.

I don't know if they'd make pickles or anything. I'd like to have sea cucumber but if most of the ppl are squeamish, I'd be mad to see a good dish go to waste.

[aprilmei]

Is this a banquet that happens to be at CNY or is this a CNY banquet? If it's the latter, there are certain dishes that are traditionally eaten: faat choi jai (the vegetarian dish that contains among other things, faat choi - or "hairy moss" seaweed, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, etc), fresh clams in the shell (supposed to bring wealth), saang choi (lettuce, again, it's supposed to bring wealth), whole fish and chicken (you have these covered in your menu). Also, if possible, goh (CNY steamed puddings - loh bak goh, neen goh, wu tau goh, etc). Well, actually, you don't usually eat them at a CNY banquet but they are eaten at this time of the year.

[origamicrane]

I've never heard of Yu Sheng before, that's neat!  Thanks for the link. 

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Yu sheng is popular in the Singaporean or Malaysian chinese community

as i haven't seen this before at pure chinese restaurants.

but i tried it a few years ago and it was really tasty and the symbolism was appreciated by everyone at the dinner both chinese and non chinese.

naturally you can subtract, add or substitute any ingredient you want.

But the man things are something crunchy, some raw fish, some pickled veg and the sauce

[Gastro888]

Is this a banquet that happens to be at CNY or is this a CNY banquet? If it's the latter, there are certain dishes that are traditionally eaten: faat choi jai (the vegetarian dish that contains among other things, faat choi - or "hairy moss" seaweed, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, etc), fresh clams in the shell (supposed to bring wealth), saang choi (lettuce, again, it's supposed to bring wealth), whole fish and chicken (you have these covered in your menu). Also, if possible, goh (CNY steamed puddings - loh bak goh, neen goh, wu tau goh, etc). Well, actually, you don't usually eat them at a CNY banquet but they are eaten at this time of the year.

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It's a CNY banquet for CNY. It's going to be towards the end of the month due to scheduling conflicts. The restaurant will have a CNY menu - hopefully they'll have some of the dishes you mention.

Ah, yes! Clams in black bean sauce. Duh, me!

Ai ya, neen goh is sooo sweet. But it IS traditional! I prefer loh bak goh, extra crispy!

[Yuki]

Ai ya, neen goh is sooo sweet.  But it IS traditional!    I prefer loh bak goh, extra crispy! 

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hehe... maybe we should start a thread about the various types of goh and sweet/salty snacks that we eat in new years or when the craving comes. I think I am going to do that now!

I like coconut milk neen goh fried with some eggs, fried loh bak goh, and taro strips cake.

[PCL]

Hope people recognise that most of the CNY dishes are symbolic.

Neen Goh is extremely important.

I for one wouldn't be dumbing down a CNY dinner. It's like dumbing down a Thanksgiving meal for instance.

ROOTS MAN!!

[Gastro888]

Ai ya, neen goh is sooo sweet.  But it IS traditional!      I prefer loh bak goh, extra crispy!  

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hehe... maybe we should start a thread about the various types of goh and sweet/salty snacks that we eat in new years or when the craving comes. I think I am going to do that now!

I like coconut milk neen goh fried with some eggs, fried loh bak goh, and taro strips cake.

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Coconut milk need goh? Now THAT I could go for! I've only seen the red ones...I just couldn't get into it. Fried with eggs? How do you do that? Dip it in egg?

[Gastro888]

Hope people recognise that most of the CNY dishes are symbolic.

Neen Goh is extremely important.

I for one wouldn't be dumbing down a CNY dinner. It's like dumbing down a Thanksgiving meal for instance.

ROOTS MAN!!

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We've always celebrated Chinese New Year in my Toisan house and I know and understand there are meanings to the CNY dishes. Just because I don't like neen goh and may choose not to serve it (due whatever reason) does not make this less of a CNY dinner or make me less aware of my roots. Knowing your roots is more than just eating one particular dish.

A large part of the CNY dinner is to gather the family around the table for celebration.

I don't think it would be dumbing down the CNY - if I had Lean Cuisine Chicken Teriyaki special then you can call it dumbing down.

Yeah, foot binding's part of our roots as well but you don't see me doing it.

[PCL]

Chill pill dude.

By dumbing down I was referring to like, short ribs and stuff.

I don't like neen goh much either, but I still cram it down my face to please the ancestors, LOL...

Like a lot of the Chinese diaspora, I do a lot of these things as insurance... you never know if what grandma keeps telling you is true or not, so you eat the 'goodies' and hope the New Year brings luck and prosperity...

[Gastro888]

OK, didn't realize you weren't trying to be serious. I get a little hot under the collar when people give me the know your roots speech! My chopsticks get rilled up! LOL!

True, true, you don't know if all those old wives tales are true or not. I'm afraid of all the stuff they tell me I need to do after I give birth.

Ai ya!

Why would short ribs be on the menu? You mean BBQ short ribs? Ick. (Now Korean BBQ short ribs...yum...but that's a whole 'nother story)

[hzrt8w]

Chill pill dude.

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Please note that Gastro888 is a duda, not a dude!

I don't like Neen Goh at all. Since age 4. It will take someone holding a gun on my head to get me to eat one.

Having grown up in Hong Kong, I had seen most of the CNY customs and food/etiquette and symbolism. Talk about "must have a live chicken" on the first day of the year, and a vegetarian meal on the third day of the year (plus not to visit any relatives on the third day or else you will get into a quarrel), etc. etc..

I haven't followed any of those customs by choice since I came to the US for college >25 years ago. Not having the family around, CNY became just a regular day. The feeling of it is no longer there. No fireworks, no Kung Hei Fat Choy, no red pockets, and no abalone with black mushroom + lettuce either. Yeah, I miss it. Sometimes. Not every year. Life goes on.

CNY meals symbolism:

fish = having excess (making more money than you can consume)

live chicken = good prosperity

lettuce = (sung choy) = making money

fat choy = getting rich

dried oyster = (ho see) = it's a good market

dried lily bud = (gum jum) = "gold" (gold needle)

ginko = (bok gwo, aka "silver almond" = "silver"

etc etc etc (too many to remember)

Restaurants usually put together some dishes with these wealth/health symbolic ingredients and call them CNY specials (run for about a month after CNY). And, of course, charge extra $$$$$ for them. So the ones who got to see the luck (or $$$$$) for sure are the restaurant owners.

I was not sure whom to believe (our elders) since I was small. Everybody says something different. And the same person can say things differently at different times, picking whatever that fits the argument at the moment. That's the one part about the Eastern culture that I didn't miss much.

[aprilmei]

You also have to remember that our traditions are constantly evolving. For instance, in Hong Kong we haven't been able to eat whole chicken for the past several years at CNY because of bird flu (not this year, so far. keeping our fingers crossed). Since all the chickens were slaughtered to avoid the spread of the disease, we just haven't eaten it. Is my aunt upset? yes, but she lives with it. And with all the food that she makes, do we go hungry without the chicken? certainly not! she's a fabulous cook.

[Gastro888]

Chill pill dude.

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Please note that Gastro888 is a duda, not a dude!

.......

Restaurants usually put together some dishes with these wealth/health symbolic ingredients and call them CNY specials (run for about a month after CNY). And, of course, charge extra $$$$$ for them. So the ones who got to see the luck (or $$$$$) for sure are the restaurant owners.

I was not sure whom to believe (our elders) since I was small. Everybody says something different. And the same person can say things differently at different times, picking whatever that fits the argument at the moment. That's the one part about the Eastern culture that I didn't miss much.

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Yeap, I'm a dudette.

You know, the restaurant owner told me to call back in one week when they'll have the CNY menu. We want to do this banquet for about 30-35USD per person. Thanks for the warning about the menus, hzrt8w. If they're going to charge more for it, I'll have to decide if it's worth it or not. We'll have alot of non-Chinese people at the table so my main concern is that if we go full on traditional, people won't like it and won't eat it. And I can only speak for myself but I get annoyed when good food is wasted! (I wonder if we could get them to make that coconut neen goh...gosh, that sounds really good.)

A live chicken would be really nice to have as would fish and the lo han jai dish. Problem is alot of people won't eat black moss or gingo nuts.

Go figure that restaurant owners would profit off CNY. Typical!

[Gastro888]

You also have to remember that our traditions are constantly evolving. For instance, in Hong Kong we haven't been able to eat whole chicken for the past several years at CNY because of bird flu (not this year, so far. keeping our fingers crossed). Since all the chickens were slaughtered to avoid the spread of the disease, we just haven't eaten it. Is my aunt upset? yes, but she lives with it. And with all the food that she makes, do we go hungry without the chicken? certainly not! she's a fabulous cook. 

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We get the JadeWorld TV feed at my house and when we saw that on the HK news man, we were bummed for all the HK people for CNY. That's rough!!!

Sidebar: You're lucky you have an aunt who's a good cook. I swear, my old bf's aunt was the ONLY woman in HK who couldn't cook to save her life and could find all the BAD restaurants in HK. I mean, hello, how is it possible to find all the BAD restaurant in HK? Lord have mercy!

[hzrt8w]

..... my old bf's aunt was the ONLY woman in HK who couldn't cook to save her life and could find all the BAD restaurants in HK.  I mean, hello, how is it possible to find all the BAD restaurant in HK?  Lord have mercy!

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There are a lot of people in Hong Kong who don't know how to cook. My brothers and their wives included. Product of the environment. With food available everywhere so conveniently, there was never a need to cook at home (not serious cooking anyway).

But the latter case is hard to do indeed.

[aprilmei]

Yes, not everybody here can cook. It's partly because so many people have full-time "domestic helpers" (maids). The employers can tell the maids HOW to cook but if they had to do it themselves - fergedaboudit.

Edited February 3, 2005 by aprilmei (log)

[Gastro888]

OK, now I understand. True, if I was living in HK with all that wonderful food I guess I wouldn't have incentive to learn how to cook either. But it still boggles my mind to this day (and this was 4 years ago...) that his aunt didn't know how to find any good food in HK. Every single place she took us was CRAP. I mean, worse than what you find in the US. Seafood place, dim sum, bakery - crap, crap, crap. On our own, we found wonderful places. (To top it off, she was mean to me! She called me fat at the dinner table! This could explain why she didn't know good food...)

So back on topic...should I go traditional CNY or traditional banquet style? Maybe a certain mix?

[spaghetttti]

Hey, dudette888!

If you go traditional CNY, it might be a very enjoyable, educational dining experience for your non-Chinese dinner guests, yes? At which restaurant will this spectacular banquet be held?

Just nosy

[aprilmei]

OK, now I understand.  True, if I was living in HK with all that wonderful food I guess I wouldn't have incentive to learn how to cook either.  But it still boggles my mind to this day (and this was 4 years ago...) that his aunt didn't know how to find any good food in HK.  Every single place she took us was CRAP.  I mean, worse than what you find in the US.  Seafood place, dim sum, bakery - crap, crap, crap.  On our own, we found wonderful places.  (To top it off, she was mean to me!  She called me fat at the dinner table!  This could explain why she didn't know good food...)

So back on topic...should I go traditional CNY or traditional banquet style?  Maybe a certain mix?

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She called you fei mui? LOL. Sorry, but that's how people in Hong Kong are - very blunt (to put it mildly). It surprised me when I first moved here. I was in a restaurant where there was a rather chubby waiter (not American-size chubby, though, Chinese-size chubby). A customer yelled out "fei jai!" and the waiter immediately turned to him. He didn't look at all offended.

[PCL]

Righto duda/dudette...

My 0.02 worth is the following:

Go traditional, don't say nuthin' and surprise them. It will be fine, unless you got some really difficult types.

Provide a flowing glowing narrative as the dishes are presented, telling their story, and hopefully, inspiration to be adventurous should follow closely behind...

I know I"m conservative, and perhaps may come across as a tyrant, but as we all know, Caesar didn't conquer Gaul with a pen.

Kung-Hei Fatt Choy.

[PCL]

While I am now buff and dashingly debonair, I still answer to fei-jai.

[Gastro888]

(To top it off, she was mean to me!  She called me fat at the dinner table!  This could explain why she didn't know good food...)

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She called you fei mui? LOL. Sorry, but that's how people in Hong Kong are - very blunt (to put it mildly). It surprised me when I first moved here. I was in a restaurant where there was a rather chubby waiter (not American-size chubby, though, Chinese-size chubby). A customer yelled out "fei jai!" and the waiter immediately turned to him. He didn't look at all offended.

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Oh, I know Chinese people are blunt as heck and lack a social fliter. I'm guilty of that but some of our people need to be schooled!

It was worse than that...we were eating at her house (it was the one of the worst meals I ever had in anyone's house. She is a horrible cook...nothing was edible. (She made this curry taro root dish and didn't cut up the taro root. It as a big circle of taro root sitting in bitter curry...about 6 inches across) and I was eating my bowl of rice and some mushrooms (the only edible thing on the table) and she commented that I was eating so little. Everyone else knew it was b/c the food was horrible and my former bf told his aunt that oh, she just eats small meals throughout the day that's all. Her response?

"Well, no wonder she's so fat."

It took all my hometraining not to fling my ricebowl at her face. (And I was a US size 8 then) Everyone was shocked at what she said. Don't get me started on how the rest of that trip went...

Sorry!! Tangent, tangent, tangent.

Edited February 3, 2005 by Gastro888 (log)