Miscellaneous China food photos

[Ben Hong]

The "special" chicken is the common Chinese ringneck pheasant which after being transplanted to North America from their native western and north China origins multiplied in their millions, especially in the great plains of Canada and the US. We in our region of east coast Canada have our own population. It is the most hunted of upland game, and I have travelled all over the continent hunting them.

[Kent Wang]

The "special" chicken is the common Chinese ringneck pheasant which after being transplanted to North America from their native western and north China origins multiplied in their millions, especially in the great plains of Canada and the US. We in our region of east coast Canada have our own population. It is the most hunted of upland game, and I have travelled all over the continent hunting them.

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So it's a pheasant and not actually a chicken?

Kunming is known for its wild mushrooms.

Pick out a few mushrooms...

...and they'll make a big pot of soup.

Tea from undried tea leaves. It has a pleasant greener, more chlorophyll taste.

My dad being poured tea from a very long kettle.

Yunnan Flavor Restaurant, also in Kunming.

Dragon claw vegetable.

Turtle stew.

Qiguo chicken. The chicken is placed into the bowl without adding water, placed on a steamer and the steam flows in through the hole in the middle of the bowl and condenses to form the broth.

Custard with Yunnan ham and scallions.

A restaurant in Lijiang.

Fried caterpillar and dragonfly.

Fried sweet rice flour sticks.

Yunnan ham.

Fried fish.

Another restaurant in Lijiang.

Roasted Yunnan ham.

Rice flour sheets.

Fried silkworms.

[Pan]

Great photos, Kent! What kind of floor show was that in that beautiful restaurant in Kunming?

[divalasvegas]

Dragon claw vegetable.

Spectacularly gorgeous photos Kent. Thanks for your descriptions as well. BTW, what exactly is "dragon claw vegetable" and can you describe the taste? It kind of looks like the stalks from a rainbow swiss chard.

[hzrt8w]

My dad being poured tea from a very long kettle.

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How good was their aim? The water being poured was boiling hot, right? Wouldn't the water spill over the rim under high pressure?

The floor show looks like a dinner show on Yunnan's folk dances?

Also... was the Yunnan ham slices steamed? Would you characterize the taste? (My first thought was that they seemed a little dry but hopefully the taste was just right?)

Edited May 16, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[jo-mel]

[...]

As we were going down the pier, there was a fishing boat with some caught fresh fish - Li River Carp. Hugh bought some and asked the cooks on the tour boat if they would cook them for us.  They did  -- steamed with tomatoes, scallions and ginger. Couldn't be more fresh!  There was another group on the boat and they were annoyed that we had the fish.  (long story there)

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Really? Tell us the story anyway!

My wife and I joined a packaged tour visiting Guilin. We did the Li River cruise like everybody else. But the meals were pre-packaged. Just common stuff... stir-fries... little bit of meat, lots of vegetable kind of dishes. It is typical of those tour packages run by Hong Kong companies. I am trying to have one of those tours in the future where we can take advantage of the low transportation and hotel rates (collective bargaining), but we will get our meals on our own. I wonder if that would be possible...

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Well -- it's not that long of a story. There was another tour group that we kept bumping into on that trip. They were a group of professionals and their wives from Texas. They were getting tired of the food, and when they saw us getting a special dish, they said that they missed having steak and potatoes. In Yangshuo, their guide asked the Banyan Tree Hotel if they would prepare steak and potatoes for them, and the hotel cooks kindly agreed. Wellllll -- they got this large slab of beef that I guess was not aged. It was grilled and I understand, pretty tough. Their potatoes were boiled and placed in a large bowl. These were large potatoes and when you boil a large potato, by the time the center is cooked, the outside is falling apart! I don't think this is what that group expected! Lesson -- When in Rome-----------!

The dishes we had on that trip were: (aside from our steamed carp) White cooked chicken with soy dipping sauce / Braised green Chinese cabbage / Sliced roast pork with peanuts / Stif/fried cuttlefish with bean sprouts / Bean thread soup / Deep fried fish in crispy batter.

On another trip we had deep/fried whole shrimp with salt-pepper dip, which is one of the boat specialties. Among other things I have a note about leafy greens with what I detected was a butter sauce? Also deep fried breaded taro slices which I also noted as being 'hot and good!'.

I don't know if each boat has their own specialties, but on my 3 different trips, the food was all different. Some pretty mundane (scrambled eggs with tomatoes) but on the whole, I was quite surprised at what they could turn out from that small stern galley!

[Kent Wang]

BTW, what exactly is "dragon claw vegetable" and can you describe the taste?  It kind of looks like the stalks from a rainbow swiss chard.

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I'd say it's most similar to haricots verts but not as crisp or sweet, more of a savory vegetable.

      How good was their aim?  The water being poured was boiling hot, right?  Wouldn't the water spill over the rim under high pressure?

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Their aim was very good, they would even do tricks like holding the kettle upside down over their shoulders. Several other restaurants in Yunnan also employed these kettles.

The floor show looks like a dinner show on Yunnan's folk dances?

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A Naxi ethnic minority dance.

Also... was the Yunnan ham slices steamed?  Would you characterize the taste?  (My first thought was that they seemed a little dry but hopefully the taste was just right?)

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Yes, steamed. I've never found Yunnan ham too dry, only too salty. It's difficult to eat more than two pieces in a row or else the saltiness overwhelms your mouth.

[hzrt8w]

[...]

I don't think this is what that group expected!  Lesson -- When in Rome-----------!

[...]

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I know... when in Rome, eat Chinese food!!! That's safer!

Thanks for the little "long" story. Just some'm to cheer up the day.

[amandasmom971]

In addition to the ones I've already posted I have a number of miscellaneous photographs that individually do not warrant a thread of their own, so I thought I would combine them together in this thread. Perhaps others can also use this thread to share their food photos from China. To facilitate organized discussion more detailed, "un-miscellaneous" photos should have a thread of their own.

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Wow, nice photos!

Thanks for sharing.

[SG-]

HOT DANG!!!!!

All those pictures, China is quickly rediscovering it's decadent past!!!!!!!

[Kent Wang]

This is the final installment!

Hangzhou

Tea crops.

Fried scorpions. Very crispy. It's nearly all exoskeleton. My tongue felt a little numb afterwards, maybe from the poison or maybe just power of suggestion.

Vegetable soup. The vegetable has a strange, not unpleasant slimy and slippery texture similar to the shiitakes but more slippery.

Honeycomb tripe.

Shanghai

Market in Shanghai.

Rambutan. They taste just like lychees after you open them.

Lunch at Aunt's.

Roasted duck head. The tongue is the best part; the rest of the head doesn't have much meat on it.

[Pan]

This is the final installment!

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Aw, too bad! Love the photos! I hope some other folks will have a chance to add their own photos to this thread.

Rambutan. They taste just like lychees after you open them.[...]

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I think lychees are a bit different and better -- more perfumy taste. But I love rambutan and would love to be having one now.

I had a great visit to Hangzhou in 1987 and ate really well there on a cheapskate student's budget, but didn't have anything like in your photos. Where are they growing tea, in relation to Xi Hu?

[hzrt8w]

Honeycomb tripe.

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It looks like the honeycomb tripe was in one piece? Was it? How does one eat the tripe with a pair of chopsticks?

Edited May 29, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[jo-mel]

Honeycomb tripe.

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It looks like the honeycomb tripe was in one piece? Was it? How does one eat the tripe with a pair of chopsticks?

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With strong chopsticks, a firm hand and little nibbles. You DID say 'one' -- you didn't mention sharing!

[jokhm]

funny seeing the comments on the candied apple/taro...

My first month in China ended me in Beijing, at a small restaurant near my hotel and with ultra-limited mandarin skills. I was able to ask for a simple meal of a bowl of rice accompanied by something that they could recommend.

They got excited and pointed to one random thing on the menu and so that was that. A few minutes later I got candied sweet potato exactly as you guys described... and with no clue what to do. They motioned to me how to pull it apart and dip in the cold water, but that's about it. Not too sure what I was supposed to do with the rice. Bizarre. Of course I took a friend there a few days later and got stuck ordering some simple fried green, two bowls of rice and .... candied apples. Not the smartest staff out there.

So yes... I bet you had to show people in the US how to eat that stuff... but at least they ordered other dishes for the meal! hah

[Kent Wang]

I had a great visit to Hangzhou in 1987 and ate really well there on a cheapskate student's budget, but didn't have anything like in your photos. Where are they growing tea, in relation to Xi Hu?

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Not sure, but it seemed to be growing everywhere in the city. They would have it along the roads, next to the park, lots of places you wouldn't expect to see crops at all. I suppose that's indication of the ease of cultivating tea.

It looks like the honeycomb tripe was in one piece?  Was it?  How does one eat the tripe with a pair of chopsticks? 

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It looked like one piece to me as well but it's actually sliced into bit-size portions.

[Kent Wang]

Oops, one more.

We had this at a wedding banquet. It's called tí páng which I believe is either the pork butt or ham hock. Does anyone know?

[hzrt8w]

It looked like one piece to me as well but it's actually sliced into bit-size portions.

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This is fantastic! They sure had gone through the trouble of keeping the different pieces together to look like one.

[jo-mel]

Oops, one more.

We had this at a wedding banquet. It's called tí páng which I believe is either the pork butt or ham hock. Does anyone know?

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Kent -- the pork looks like a dish at China 46, a restaurant that specializes in Shanghainese food. They call it Ruby Pork, but these are the characters.

醬汁圓 蹄 jiang zhi yuan ti.

[liuzhou]

It's called tí páng which I believe is either the pork butt or ham hock.

The only ti pang I know means "obesity"!

But seriously, tí would refer to the leg of the aniimal, páng could be many things (probably large).

I'm guessing ham hock. No reference to "pork butt" there.

Edited May 30, 2006 by liuzhou (log)

[hzrt8w]

Oops, one more.

We had this at a wedding banquet. It's called tí páng which I believe is either the pork butt or ham hock. Does anyone know?

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Kent -- the pork looks like a dish at China 46, a restaurant that specializes in Shanghainese food. They call it Ruby Pork, but these are the characters.

醬汁圓 蹄 jiang zhi yuan ti.

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I think tí páng is:

紅燒蹄膀 (Hung Shao Ti Pang [Mandarin])

Tí páng just means pork legs.

[nakji]

I'm going to add these here as a code for those looking for more photos after basquecook's great topic.

 

My husband and I went to Yunnan two summers ago, starting in Kunming, then going on to Zhongdian (Shangri-la, as it styles itself these days), before finishing in Dali. 

 

I snapped just a few pictures along the way, and was saddened to hear recently that much of the reconstructed "old town" in Zhong Dian burnt down.

 

In Kunming, we went to a restaurant called 1910 La Gare du Sud.

 

Dry-fried green beans

 

 

Yunnan mushrooms

 

 

Pork meatballs

 

 

Chili-fried Beef

 

 

It was admittedly an odd assortment of dishes to order - note they all sort of look the same, which we could have avoided if we'd paid closer attention to the menu and chosen a different vegetable; a soup; a fish, etc. but we were tired from walking in the heat, and it was what we wanted to eat. It was all great, but the green beans were the best I've had in that style before or since. 

[liuzhou]

There are nearly 1000 photos of the food I eat here in Guangxi at this link. Dishes, ingredients snacks etc.