Chinese food thread

[Vader]

The wok burner will only be used outside. I'll simply fix it on a metal tea-cart (IKEA) and plug it to a gas bottle. If I buy the complete set (comes with a pressure reducing valve, a nice hand hammered steel wok and some other stuff like spatulas and so on) it's about 360€ ( $470). The burner alone will be under 200€ (less then $260). I might ask Santa if he will get me one. :p

The cast iron wok is slightly larger than the steel one I used for the meat. It's 14.5 inches in diameter if my conversion is correct. It keeps the heat quite well. That was actually the first wok I got.

Preparartion is essential to woking. The Chinese knew it for thousands of years, us Westerners needed modern French cuisine to tell us what "mis en place" is. You've got to have your stuff ready before you heat up the wok because once the oil is smoking cooking already is over. With a good knife and a bit of experience cutting stuff isn't all that hard.

The egg white goes into the marinade for the meat. Together with the starch it will give the meat a velvety texture. If you don't mind the extra step you could let the meat "pass through the oil" for 20 seconds before stir frying it - which basically means you shortly deep fry it first. Most restaurants do this, at home it is seldom done because it's an extra step.

The whole egg goes into the rice.

I must admit I only like white rice. I also have a strong dislike for whole wheat pasta. As you said, the rice has to be cool and pretty dry otherwise you'll end up with a sticky mush.

Saltiness is another thing. I'm not afraid of salt, health concerns or not. In fact if I read a recipe especially from the UK I automatically double the amount of salt to make it edible for me.

[Menolly]

The egg white goes into the marinade for the meat. Together with the starch it will give the meat a velvety texture.

Ah, OK. I missed that step in the video somehow, but yes, I've done that as well.

If you don't mind the extra step you could let the meat "pass through the oil" for 20 seconds before stir frying it - which basically means you shortly deep fry it first. Most restaurants do this, at home it is seldom done because it's an extra step.

This I had not heard before. I like the idea, and 20 seconds more seems acceptable to me.

I must admit I only like white rice. I also have a strong dislike for whole wheat pasta.

Fair enough. I like the chewiness and heartiness of (short grain) brown rice in fried rice. I agree with you regarding whole wheat pastas though. I really wanted to like them, but no go. Fortunately the Dreamfield's low carb pasta is acceptable to me.

Saltiness is another thing. I'm not afraid of salt, health concerns or not. In fact if I read a recipe especially from the UK I automatically double the amount of salt to make it edible for me.

Yep. I like salt too, but I do have high blood pressure so I indulge in high salt items like belly lox as an occasional treat. In general, I season normally, I would say.

But others in this household are more concerned regarding their sodium intake, so some compromise must be made. If the dish can be seasoned further at table, without affecting overall flavor, then I'll cut back on the salt in preparation where I can.

I've tried, but just can't get my palate used to cooking/baking with unsalted butter. I honestly thought that would be an option I could implement, but everything tasted flat, even with additional seasoning at table...

[Vader]

Martin Yan always says, "Cooking is common sense and imagination."

Ken Hom pretty much says the same but adds, "Never panic!"

I absolutely agree with both of them but I might add, "Cooking also is about being prepared, get yourself organized."

Let me give you an example (and I don't want to brag). I have never been to China. I have been to "Chinese restaurants" here, mostly run by Vietnamese people selling food the German palate agrees with. I have read countless cooking books and all seemed to be "westernized".

Gong Bao Di Jing (Kung Pao Chicken) is a dish I'm absolutely obsessed with. I searched the internet and I talked to Chinese people in my neighborhood. Combined with lots of trial and error I finally came up with a recipe which I think is pretty authentic and would please a Sichuan palate.

Now I recently bought Fuschia Dunlop's highly (and rightfully) acclaimed Sichuan cooking book. She was in China and she studied at the Sichuan cooking academy. Her Gong Bao recipe is pretty much the same as mine. The difference is that she was there and tasted the real stuff. I only had the internet, COMMON SENSE and my INSPIRATION. The result was absolutely similar.

[Vader]

There are two kinds of regret you may feel after trying a new dish. The first kind is the regret to have cooked the meal in the first place because you are disappointed with the result. The more experienced I get, the less I get disappointed. Most of the time I can tell if I will like something or not just by looking at the recipe. Or I know what to change in order to make me like it and avoid disappointment.

The other regret is far more pleasant. It's the regret to have wasted your life so far without even knowing that there was THIS dish. This also occurs seldom, yet every once in a while magic happens.

I just watched the documentary "A bite of China". They showed one of the great capitals of old, Xi'an (Shaanxi province) which used to be called Chang'an and has a history that dates back about 3,500 years. A popular street food there is boiled meat in a bun. Since I'm a firm believer in stuffing meat into bread, I thought I'd give it a go.

I basically followed this recipe here: www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/xi%E2%80%99-burgers just with a few modifications - some out of necessity, some out of experience.

First I didn't use lamb, simply because I couldn't get any. I had some pork shoulder on the bone in my fridge that had to go, so I took that. No regrets. Then I didn't have dried tangerine peel, but a bit of fresh orange peel worked fine as well.

I also added more of the light soy because with no additional salt the broth was lacking flavor. I also exceeded the second cooking time (in the aromatic broth) by length. I don't think that street vendors in China will say "Hey, 35 minutes are over, let's take out the meat". From what I know about Chinese cuisine the meat will rather simmer all day or longer. So I cut the pork in fairly larger chunks as suggested in the recipe and cooked it for at least 2 hours in the aromatic broth, letting it cool in the liquid overnight and reheated it the next day again to cook it for another hour. That was today. Now the meat was so tender, it fell apart just from looking at it. And the taste! THE TASTE!

The funny thing is it somehow tasted familiar. The crispy bun, the tender meat and the taste of cinnamon - if I hadn't known, I'd have said it's a Greek or such pita sandwich.

Without further ado, here it is: Xi'an Rou Jia Mo, the Chinese burger.


It took some time to prepare but actually it was quite easy to do. And I say it again: THE TASTE! Unbelievable. Not haute cuisine, not exactly eye candy (unless you can see flavors) but a dish so savory that it's impossible to resist it.

I consider using these buns for burgers, maybe adding a bit sugar to the dough and sesame seeds.


An acceptable go at Jian Bing, the Chinese crêpe. Filled with spring onions, lettuce and oyster sauce. Next time I'll wrap in some crispy fried Wonton wrappers. I also need a real crêpe maker.


Dim sum time. Baozi - steamed dumplings filled with savory ground pork (back) and sweet bean paste (front).


Jiaozi - fried and then cooked dumplings with a savory pork filling.

[Vader]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0hoo_ZOS4c

A quick beef stir fry I prepared today. Read the description.

[Menolly]

[peter]

Vader - your chinese food looks awesome! I'm an absolute chinese addict - certainly my favorite cuisine! [No wait - I love french, and itallian, and morrocan......Oh hell, you get my drift.]

I've got my 'special fried rice' tecnique down [at last!] - not from scratch alas - but with stuff I can reasonably reliably secure from UK stores when I need it, but ribs are my next thing.

There are two kinds [probably loads more, but two basic]; those that come with the meat litterally falling off the bone in an aniseed or otherwise, but always really rich chinese sauce [no BBQ for this boy!] OR the type that are deeply infused with chinese flavour - but not in a sauce. Well done, this type has almost crunchy meat, but not tough or difficult to bite from the bone [do they call this type 'szechuan'?].

I have had the first type where the ribs are sooo well marinated [or whatever] that the bones themselves where soft and edible along with the meat and sauce anf the effect was stunning! [Alas the old chinese guy that used to cook them like this moved on and I never found anyone who could pull off the same trick.

Anyway - as a guy that has clearly taken his chinese cooking to the 'next level' any rib tips you have would be much appreciated. Mine when I used to try them, always came out tough and tasteless!

[RahulR564]

Cashew adds a great sweet and creamy taste to food.

[Menolly]

Be Welcome to the Watch, Rahul.
Be Well Come and True.

[Cord Hurn]

I love eating crab puffs topped with some hot mustard!