A pictorial guide to Chinese cooking ingredients

[Soup]

Having the picture is fantastic.

I have however, not been able to located feremented chili bean sauce. I've found chili bean sauce. Are they one in the same?

BTW, Which oyster sauce is the best. I've tried a lot (most are horrible) of varieties. I've currently settled on that's actually shown on this post because it was recommended by Ming Tsai on one of his shows. Pretty good but would love to hear from others.

[hzrt8w]

I have however, not been able to located feremented chili bean sauce.  I've found chili bean sauce.  Are they one in the same?

BTW, Which oyster sauce is the best.  I've tried a lot (most are horrible) of varieties.  I've currently settled on that's actually shown on this post because it was recommended by Ming Tsai on one of his shows.  Pretty good but would love to hear from others.

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I think Chili bean sauce is same as Fermented chili bean sauce. Bear in mind that many of these English translations of Chinese products are very loose.

As for oyster sauce: Get the Lee Kum Kee Premium Brand Oyster Sauce. This is priced twice higher than regular LKK Oyster Sauce but absolutely worths it. I have eaten oyster sauce for over 40 years and have tried many different brands. This is my conclusion.

[Cookwithlove]

Noisiest birdie gets the worms...        I will move up the publishing schedule of ingredients questioned in this thread.  

Are these fermented black beans you were referring to?

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Well, my teachers always did say I talked too much! Actually, they worded it in a much kinder way--I was actually a pretty nice kid!

Someone wrote that you could use black beans instead of brown bean sauce in mabodofu, so when I was in Singapore, I bought some black beans. Except I think I bought the wrong kind. Someone told me to buy the kind in a bag, so I did, but they're just plain old black beans--rather hard, actually. I might break my tooth on one if I put it in mabodofu! The fermented black beans were in a jar, and there were some salted black beans (I think) in a bag, too. But I didn't buy those.

Now I'm wondering what to do with these black beans!

I also bought some chicken rice mix, chicken rice sauce, chili bean sauce (for the mabodofu), salted threadfin (two jars!), and I'm sure there was something else, I just can't remember now.

And yesterday I saw some mabodofu-specific tofu at my favourite grocery store!

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Prasanthrin,

Next time when u r in Singapore go to Kwong Cheong Tye retail shop at 61-63, Lorong 27 Geyland. They carried all kinds of chinese ingredient from A- Z. Which dish u like to cook and type of ingredent and brand will be recommended. Tel 67480128. Web site :http://home.pacific.net.sg/~kctsoya

Edited February 11, 2007 by Cookwithlove (log)

[johnder]

So I picked up a cookbook over the weekend and one of the dishes in it calls for "salted peppers". They give a recipe in the back of the book to make this which is basically red, ripe peppers and salt. Stick in a jar for a few weeks and thats it.

I have been trying to find this in the local Chinese market with no luck. I do see a lot of bottles and brands called "pickled peppers", which look like red peppers, is this the same thing?

John

[yunnermeier]

I made Ah Leung's butter chicken stir fry (very good. Thanks for the recipe!) yesterday and bought my first bottle of Shao Hsing wine. There were 2 bottles to pick from- both from the same brand (this is also what Ah Leung uses) . One is Taiwanese Shao Hsing wine and cost 2.5 times more than the normal one. Does anyone know what the difference is? Thanks.

Edited November 2, 2007 by yunnermeier (log)

[dmreed]

I am looking for a source of Anhui (Hui Cai) soy sauce???

Also does anyone know what "preserved egg juice" might be? Apparently it is used in Sichuan cooking.

[BonVivant]

a very good thread. thanks! i have some [photographic] questions but let's start with this peculiar thing. it's one of many little bits in Kunming 'cross-the-bridge' noodle soup. then i had the same soup someplace else the next time everything was slightly different again.

and this one i call 'jellied eggs'. i think it's a waste of time/calories but still am curious... what exactly is it and how to eat it?

[hzrt8w]

a very good thread.  thanks!  i have some [photographic] questions but let's start with this peculiar thing.  it's one of many little bits in Kunming 'cross-the-bridge' noodle soup.  then i had the same soup someplace else the next time everything was slightly different again.

and this one i call 'jellied eggs'.  i think it's a waste of time/calories but still am curious... what exactly is it and how to eat it?

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The "peculiar thing" is "牛干菌" in Chinese. A kind of mushroom. What is your question?

The "cross-the-bridge" rice noodle ("Guo Kwiu Mai Fun" in Cantonese) is similar to Vietnamese pho I believe. It makes sense because it is popular in southern China provinces - geographically close to Vietnam and Laos, etc..

The "jellied eggs": I have no idea about its Chinese name. But it looks like a kind of salted eggs.

[BonVivant]

mushroom?! i would never have thought! it tastes well...peculiar. perhaps it has been steeped in something.

yeah the soup is really good. the broth is everything here. if i come across the jellied eggs again this time i will buy one and try for sure. i must know what exactly it is. many thanks, Ah Leung!

[dmreed]

I have come across an interesting recipe for Dried Lotus Root and Sparerib Soup in "Madame Chu's Chinese Cooking School" by Grace Zia Chu published in 1975. I mentions 2 ingredients whith which I am unfamiliar:

4 slices of Wei-san spice

20 seeds chi-tzu spice

I have not been able to find any references online. Can someone here provide me with alternative names and/or appropriate online links?

why is "Wei" capitalized?

[CFT]

I have come across an interesting recipe for Dried Lotus Root and Sparerib Soup in "Madame Chu's Chinese Cooking School" by Grace Zia Chu published in 1975. I mentions 2 ingredients with which I am unfamiliar:

4 slices of Wei-san spice

20 seeds chi-tzu spice

I have not been able to find any references online. Can someone here provide me with alternative names and/or appropriate online links?

why is "Wei" capitalized?

Should that be wai-san (huai shan) - 淮山? I wouldn't call it a spice, it is a tuber.

Not sure what "chi-tzu" might be - maybe gei zi (goji berries).

[dmreed]

I have come across an interesting recipe for Dried Lotus Root and Sparerib Soup in "Madame Chu's Chinese Cooking School" by Grace Zia Chu published in 1975. I mentions 2 ingredients with which I am unfamiliar:

4 slices of Wei-san spice

20 seeds chi-tzu spice

I have not been able to find any references online. Can someone here provide me with alternative names and/or appropriate online links?

why is "Wei" capitalized?

Should that be wai-san (huai shan) - 淮山? I wouldn't call it a spice, it is a tuber.

Not sure what "chi-tzu" might be - maybe gei zi (goji berries).

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your response is greatly appreciated...it verifies what I finally was able to connect online last night...again many thanks

[dmreed]

new topic! in The Mandarin Way by Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang there is a recipe for Beggar's Chicken which calls for "yellow rice". I have not been able to find a reference for "yellow rice". can someone tell me what it is?

[BonVivant]

i was wandering around a market in Chengdu and saw this thing... does anyone know what this is? is it bamboo that's been salted? or has been roasted? or is it not bamboo at all?

[XiaoLing]

Looks like something wrapped in seaweed to me.

[jo-mel]

new topic! in The Mandarin Way by Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang there is a recipe for Beggar's Chicken which calls for "yellow rice". I have not been able to find a reference for "yellow rice". can someone tell me what it is?

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That's a hard one! I looked in my different Chinese ingredient books, and one book devoted just to rice, and the only reference in one of them was a recipe where turmeric was added to give the rice the yellow color. On line, there was one about using saffron to give the color.

But that isn't what Madam Chiang would be using.

I did find this google link:

http://www.angelfire.com/empire/g_stand/rice_variety

Oh -- I just reread the recipe in her book and I think I found the answer. In the ingredient list, it asks for 1 Tbsp yellow rice in the left column. In the right column, it asks for wine or sherry -- but no amount. Sooooo I think it was just a funny misprint of the ingredients, and what you want is 1 Tbsp yellow rive wine or sherry. In the preparation of the dish, and in the actual stuffing mix, there is no mention of using rice.

Could that be the answer? That is is just yellow wine?

BTW -- I just love reading that book! I've reread it a couple of times, just soaking up her life. I had a chance to meet her in 1985 and she signed the book for me. a lovely and gracious woman!

[dmreed]

OK, here I go again! Reading a recipe in "The Chinese Festive Board" by Corrine Lamb originally published in 1935 and republished in 1985, I came across an ingredient called "chiang" which was described as "a particularly aromatic condiment which is made from red kidney beans. It is made best in the Province of Kuangtung, where Canton is located. It is not subject to decomposition and thus lends itself to export...". Another recipe refers to "sweet chiang". A further description and other names would be greatly appreciated.

[muichoi]

Yellow bean paste and sweet bean paste is what's meant.

[dmreed]

Yellow bean paste and sweet bean paste is what's meant.

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thanks

except that it is supposedly made with red kidney beans?

maybe it is Tian mian jiang paste/sauce?

20090419@2240 update: the original recipe was called Cha Chiang Mien (pronounced ja jeong mien). Doing a Google search on "cha chiang mien" I found this on Wikipedia (which I think is OK to quote):

"Zha jiang mian (lit. "fried sauce noodles") is a northern Chinese dish consisting of thick wheat noodles topped with a mixture of ground pork stir-fried with fermented soybean paste."

with the following additional information:

"In Beijing cuisine, yellow soybean paste (黄酱; pinyin: huáng jiàng) is used, while in Tianjin and other parts of China sweet noodle sauce (甜面酱; pinyin: tián miàn jiàng), hoisin sauce (海鲜酱; pinyin: hǎi xiān jiàng), or dou ban jiang (豆瓣酱; pinyin: dòu bàn jiàng) may be used in place of the yellow soybean paste."

Most of these are already in my pantry ready to try the recipe.

So the author (it was published in 1935!) simply got it wrong regarding red kidney beans! But the recipes in the book look interesting and pretty decent for the year of publication.

thanks to an answer by hzrt8w to another of my questions, I now try to find alternative phonetic spellings!

Edited April 20, 2009 by dmreed (log)

[dmreed]

another ingredient question:

In Jacqueline M. Newman's "Cooking From China's Fujian Province", there is a recipe which calls for "swallow-skin wrapper" (made from meat and flour). I cannot find any recipe for such a wrapper?

Can someone provide me with such a recipe or a reference to such a recipe or maybe another name for the wrapper?

20090512@0127

I just found by a quite circuitous route another name for the skin "yanpi" made with mashed pork and flour...but I still cannot find instructions or a source for the skins

Edited May 12, 2009 by dmreed (log)

[Craig Bayliss]

another ingredient question:

In Jacqueline M. Newman's "Cooking From China's Fujian Province", there is a recipe which calls for "swallow-skin wrapper" (made from meat and flour). I cannot find any recipe for such a wrapper?

Can someone provide me with such a recipe or a reference to such a recipe or maybe another name for the wrapper?

20090512@0127

I just found by a quite circuitous route another name for the skin "yanpi" made with mashed pork and flour...but I still cannot find instructions or a source for the skins 

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Strangely I was viewing this page earlier tonigt on a completely different mission. I was looking up transglutiminase or 'meat glue' -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surimi. Anyway, there might be info here that helps...

"Pork surimi also is mixed with flour and water to make a type of dumpling wrapper called "yèn pí" (燕皮 or 肉燕皮) that has the similar firm and bouncy texture of cooked surimi"

Edited May 18, 2009 by Craig Bayliss (log)

[dmreed]

another ingredient question:

In Jacqueline M. Newman's "Cooking From China's Fujian Province", there is a recipe which calls for "swallow-skin wrapper" (made from meat and flour). I cannot find any recipe for such a wrapper?

Can someone provide me with such a recipe or a reference to such a recipe or maybe another name for the wrapper?

20090512@0127

I just found by a quite circuitous route another name for the skin "yanpi" made with mashed pork and flour...but I still cannot find instructions or a source for the skins 

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Strangely I was viewing this page earlier tonigt on a completely different mission. I was looking up transglutiminase or 'meat glue' -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surimi. Anyway, there might be info here that helps...

"Pork surimi also is mixed with flour and water to make a type of dumpling wrapper called "yèn pí" (燕皮 or 肉燕皮) that has the similar firm and bouncy texture of cooked surimi"

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thanks...that is definitely what I am looking for but there were no links to instructions for making it

but maybe I can find something with more searchs!

[dmreed]

Chinese Fish Sauce?

Does anyone here have a source for Chiu Chow (other names: Sitchow, Teochow) fish sauce?

How does it differ from Thai and other Asian fish sauces?

[jo-mel]

Chinese Fish Sauce?

Does anyone here have a source for Chiu Chow (other names: Sitchow, Teochow) fish sauce?

How does it differ from Thai and other Asian fish sauces?

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The "Ma Family Cookbook" (Swatow food) said it is probably difficult to obtain. The ingredient list doesn't give a brand name, or explain if it is different from other fish sauces..

[dmreed]

I just ran across another Chinese ingredient of which I have no idea what it is and I cannot find anything online???

What is "starched shrimp meat"?