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Happy Abobo posted:Ok, so I was strolling through Chinatown today, and walked by a Chinese BBQ joint just as the door opened and caught a massive whiff of char sui aroma, and just thought "Ok, this is going to happen. I just bought a 4 pound pork butt, broke it down into small-ish strips, and grabbed what seems like a million different ingredients that I've read go into char sui. Assuming that you don't have a grill or smoker, do it in the oven. After the marinade, put it on a wire rack over a pan so that it doesn't sit in the juices. You want the outsides to brown and char slightly, after all. You don't want to braise it. Broiling will give you a really nice piece with a good amount of charring. Done right, it's very tasty and gives you better char siu. It's the riskier method since you can take it too far and end up with a lump of charcoal. You'd want to keep a close eye on your meat while doing this. Baking is safer, more hands off, and will give you less charred bits. I personally baste it once with reserve marinade during the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the cook, then a final baste with honey about 10-15 minutes before it's done and I take it out. That gets you the final shiny sweet glaze that you want. Not basting it is a sin.
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Sep 18, 2011 23:04
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Happy Abobo posted:Sounds like a plan. How long and at what temperature do you usually put it in for? When I do the oven baking method, I do 325F. After 45 minutes, I use a digital thermo and check temperatures. When they hit 145F, I take them out, because I like them a bit on the medium side for more tenderness. You can take it all the way up to well done if you want. In any case, that takes approx 45-60 minutes to cook. My secret weapon is doing them on the smoker with hickory and cherrywood smoke. I love that taste, but it's not Chinatown authentic. Does anybody know if char siu was cooked over hardwood fires back in the old country, before natural gas and propane?
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Sep 19, 2011 03:24
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Happy Abobo posted:I just finished my first batch of char sui. The results seem to be a bit mixed. You may have made it out of a boston butt. Those are usually used for braising and barbecue, aka the low and slow type of cooking, which melts all of the fats and connective tissues inside of it. Otherwise, you get a ton of chewy tendons inside of it. Try going for pork loin cuts instead. I'll also ask my father whether he uses tenderizer at the restaurant. VVV I'll ask about the meat cut too. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Sep 20, 2011 |
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Sep 20, 2011 03:17
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Happy Abobo posted:Yeah, I used pork butt. A few recipes I found used tenderloin, but I wanted something like the char sui at my favourite places, which tends to be pretty fatty. Would that be a separate cut, or are the restaurants just using butt but cooking it in a different way? Ok, he said that he prefers using country style ribs, no tenderizer. He goes for cuts that are fatty but don't have much connective tissue. Depending on the store, they're cut from either the loin or the boston butt, and they are fairly fatty. There's some connective tissue on my boston butt-based CSRs but it's not as chewy as roasted full boston butt. Maybe a butcher would know? In any case, try using CSRs for your next batch. As far as how the restaurants cook it, the one that I grew up in had a big vertical natural gas oven, like the one shown here, and the strips are hung as shown. Other than that, there's nothing that special about how they roast them.
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Sep 20, 2011 04:28
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Jose posted:Since we're getting some really good, authentic recipes in here, I'd like to ask. Please don't probate me for being a loving moron but, for anyone who watched An Idiot Abroad, is that what its like in China? Stuff like fried/deep fried scorpians on a stick being standard street food fare or did they deliberately film at somewhere to get this kind of video? Well, the locals won't bat an eye at that kind of stuff. It's not like it's all deep fried bugs. There's plenty of other, more "appetizing," street food too. It's not like your state fair food consists of nothing but deep fried mars bars and twinkies. In HK, there are street-side wok carts, soup carts, and all kinds of yummy things.
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Sep 26, 2011 04:07
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Bauxite posted:So I go dig out one of the packages from the garbage. Right on the front: Those noodles typically need to be rinsed well with cold water before they're stir fried. It gets rid of the starch and it stops the noodles from cooking more while sitting there. Put the entire pot into a strainer, run cold water until the noodles are cool to the touch, then optionally oil them.
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Nov 1, 2011 07:05
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I vaguely remember tofu skins being the product of tofu production. It's actually the stuff that floats up and forms a scum at the surface of the water or something.
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Nov 12, 2011 02:36
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pisshead posted:How do you make the meat less chewy? Tenderize with 1 tsp. of Baking Soda per pound of meat and and enough water to make a watery paste. Wait 20-30 minutes and rinse VERY well. Dry it, velvet the meat, and cook as usual. That is how restaurants achieve that texture with their beef.
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Dec 13, 2011 04:17
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Way too hot! There are a few techniques that the pros use. First, they constantly flip the food using the wok, almost as if they are sauteing. On super high heat, the food rarely ever sits there. Flipping it around with a spatula doesn't come close to the amount of food movement you'd get with a proper flipping motion. While the heat is on maximum, food is either in the air, or sliding around getting ready to fly in the air again. Second, the pool of oil itself does not catch on fire. The oil vapor does, as they flip the food in the wok for the saute action, and the spatters and vapors catch the gas burner's fire rolling over on the side of the wok facing away from you. The flaming cloud of oil vapor is only produced for a few seconds during the cooking process, and the food is flipped through this burning oil cloud to help add a superior "wok hei" flavor. The wok is never ever hot enough to make the oil catch on fire by itself, without outside flames from the burner lighting the vapor. Third, they adjust the gas flow with their knee and always have water that they can ladle into the wok to cool things down when needed, mostly after the few seconds of fire flipping, and especially if they need to steam the veggies to help them finish cooking without everything burning to a crisp. I think that the high heat came at the start, then the flame was reduced and sometimes water was ladled into the food to help it finish cooking at a lower temp. I saw all these things watching my dad and uncles working in the restaurant when I was little. I don't know any of the specifics about the techniques though. Also, never try to catch the oil vapors on fire unless you are cooking outside. or in a restaurant kitchen designed to take some 3 foot flames licking into the air ventilation system. Doing that inside a home kitchen is just asking for a fire emergency. 
Mach420 fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Dec 23, 2011 |
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Dec 23, 2011 01:27
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Wahad posted:Whuh? How does this work? Do they have a special stove or something? I've never seen one where the gas flow could be adjusted by knee. In the Chinese restaurants that I've been in, the gas valve handles were all around knee level so that the chefs could knock it with their knee while they were handling the wok and spatula with their hands. Picture a long rubber coated metal lever connected to a valve, sticking out of a hole in the front of the stove station paneling. Yes, they are special commercial-level stoves for restaurants that are very high output, on the order of 160 to 200+ thousand BTUs. I've heard of super high end stoves at 250-300k BTUs. Those things roar menacingly on high. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8FDKLYE65Q is a good example of what a trained chef cooking on a commercial strength burner is like. Watch how he gets the oil vapors on fire in the middle of the video. I would likely die from 3rd degree burns if I had to try and use one of them. Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phu7ndFNRs8 is another. They're goddamned blast furnaces and the heat output is phenomenal, but you can see how the chefs keep their wok temperature under control using the methods I outlined above. This is also why home cooked Chinese stir fries never taste quite the same as a good restaurant would give you, unless you invest in some serious propane or NG outdoor cooking stoves. The key isn't overly high heat from the wok or whatever pan or pot you're using to stir fry. It's to have enough heat where you can dump a ton of cold oil in the wok, have it heat up, then dump a large amount of cold ingredients in the wok and have it get back up to excellent searing temperatures almost immediately. You then control the temperature to stay around that point. The second key to the flavor is the oil vapor fire when it is called for. Third is the constant movement of food in the wok, and the well distributed searing at the right temperature. The fourth is possibly the seasoning of the wok, just like a nice bacon-infused cast iron pan would give a nice taste to eggs. I feel that for home cooking, the point just past the oil smoking, but well before the point where the oil catches dangerously on fire is a good start for getting at least a bit of wok hei into food. Western-style pan searing temperatures that are below the smoking point of the oil are too low to make stir fries taste good. Maintain high wok temps by not dumping too much cold food in at one time. Work in small batches if you have an underperforming stove. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 13:14 on Dec 23, 2011 |
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Dec 23, 2011 12:12
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2banks1swap.avi posted:So, pull them out, or add in something with enough moisture to keep them from burning in the oil before they burn? Thanks for the tip! I'd try to keep it right around the smoking point of the oil, so maybe a bit above 400F? Read my posts with the videos above for an idea of how to get good wok hei. I don't think you'll be able to get the oil vapors on fire via the flames coming off the charcoal, but if you can, all the better. Be careful though. It's always good to get the coals hotter, but at a certain point, you'll have to use the temperature control techniques of ladling water or having a spot to set the wok away from the heat. If you have a Weber style grill, try to think of a way to rig up a fan blowing into an aluminum air hose, blowing into the air vents in the bottom of the grill. Keep the coals a slight distance away from the sides of the grill or else the high temperatures reached by the coals could craze and crack the enamel paint on the grill bowl. Think of an expanded metal coal ring, like you'd see on a Weber Smokey Mountain or something.
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Jan 4, 2012 11:29
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Sjurygg posted:Treating the meat slices with a little corn or potato starch. It's a quite common way to treat meat in China. Right. Think of plain sliced homemade oven roasted turkey breast, how rough it can be, then think how much better the mouthfeel would be with a bit of gravy on it. That's what will improve by mixing a bit of cornstarch slurry into the meat slices before you stir fry it. It smooths out the mouthfeel of the meat, and also helps contribute to the natural gravy or sauce that coats everything in the stir fry.
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Jan 9, 2012 11:28
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squigadoo posted:What kind of fish filet is used in dishes like fish pieces in chili sauce with dofu, preserved egg fish filet soup, fish with spicy bean sauce? Please don't make me try and romanize or pinyin. I will fail. Also, the egg white should be a nice and deep dark brown, almost black color. Once it starts turning greenish, like the yolk, it's getting old.
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Jan 19, 2012 00:34
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Thoht posted:Be sure to remove any of the black seeds inside the shells before you grind them. They have a really unpleasant gritty texture to them when ground. Is there a fast way to do this or do I have to go over a pile with some tweezers? PorkFat posted:So these eggs taste like ammonia? Why the hell would I want to eat that? I tried Scandinavian licorice and couldn't stand those. I have a feeling if I buy or make century eggs I'll just be throwing them out. If I remove the yolk, does the white still taste of ammonia? They taste more like lye, but its definitely an acquired taste. Like Norwegian lutefisk but not nearly as strong. Great in congee, as others have said.
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Jan 20, 2012 08:05
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stop, or my mom will post posted:Does anyone have a good recipe for the below. It may not look amazing but it's delicious. Sweet and sour sauce with honey, hoisin sauce, and ginger, pork spare ribs chopped up with a Chinese cleaver. Are they fried?
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Jan 20, 2012 14:50
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gret posted:I dunno... western pasta just tastes weird in Chinese noodle dishes. Maybe it's because I'm used to cooking them al dente, which makes for a weird texture in a Chinese dish. It's a difference of taste. All of the older people from China in my life that I've served proper al dente Italian pasta to have mentioned that they felt it was undercooked and too hard. They mostly seem to like super soft noodles vs al dente. There's definitely a different texture preference between the east and west. VVV I can attest to that. The closer to super soft, almost like Wonder bread, the better for them. A nice sourdough with chewy crispy crust? Not gonna fly. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Feb 4, 2012 |
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Feb 4, 2012 01:16
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Kenning posted:Buy a chimney starter and cook on that instead. Certainly is a great idea if you want to get a good amount of heat but don't want the expense of a full on propane burner setup. The charcoal will work better than an electric glasstop. Might I suggest a Weber chimney since they are built quite well compared to cheaper chimneys. If you can do metal work or know someone who can, even better to make something out of even thicker gauge steel to have it last longer.
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Feb 24, 2012 17:37
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RHIN0002 posted:Is this actually a thing? Conceptually, it makes sense; I've just never seen it done before. It makes sense. A chimney half full of charcoal creates a hell of a lot of heat. You just need to figure out a way to make it be able to escape out the top and maintain circulation for the coals. I'd think that a big decent chimney starter and maybe a charcoal grate put on top to rest the wok on to let the airflow through will be a good start. Finding a place to rest the chimney as you cook, where it won't catch things on fire, and while having the wok be around waist level may be a challenge, as well as being careful to not tip it over and spill the entire load of coals onto your feet. Fuel may be a bit more expensive over the long run, but the simplicity of the setup is nice. It will work well enough to get your feet wet with real wok cooking without a hundred bucks worth of gear to start out.
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Feb 24, 2012 18:12
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hallo spacedog posted:There's a local Sichuan place near my house that is decent but the thing they make there that I find really outstanding is their bitter melon stir fry. The only dish I know how to make with bitter melon is Okinawan Goya Champuru and I can't seem to find any decent recipes for Chinese style bitter melon stir fry on the internet. Bitter melon sliced into thin-ish strips (melon halved the long way, pith taken out, slices about 1/2 cm in width), thin sliced tenderized beef, soy sauce, sugar, black bean paste made from whole fermented black beans. Stir fried, and good. My Cantonese mom makes this. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Mar 26, 2012 |
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Mar 26, 2012 02:54
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Those black beans complement the bitter melon very well. The tastes combine to form a delicious and unique savoriness with some bitterness. Yin and yang. Oh, if the sauce is a bit thin, feel free to do your thing with water and corn starch. The bitter melon takes longer to cook than the meat, so add it earlier and cook until it's tendercrisp before adding the meat. Finish up with the black bean sauce and the soy sauce. Of course, you want the standard flavor enhancers of some ginger and garlic in the oil at the start. Chunks of onions are great with this dish. Throw them in a couple minutes after the bitter melon.
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Mar 26, 2012 07:07
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GrAviTy84 posted:I think people hate on flat bottom woks too much. They're fine for home cooking and unless you plan on buying a crazy burner rig, they won't make too much of a difference from a round bottom (and actually should be easier to use with most ranges.) Teflon and plastic handles should be avoided at all costs though. The problem with flat bottom woks is that it's somewhat harder to stir fry. You have both a flat surface and a rounded surface to scrape with the spatula, so a traditional rounded spatula, or chan, sucks a bit on the flat, while a traditional square spatula doesn't work well on the curved sides. I agree that it doesn't make a huge difference at home. Round bottom woks do help save some time and allows you to stir fry and clean the wok better and faster in a professional environment though.
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Jun 15, 2012 20:42
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EVG posted:I picked up a packet of these at the asian grocer on a whim and have been a little confused on how to consume them. Any advice other than the above? I've always believed that they came uncooked, but I can't read Chinese either. That's what my folks always say though. In any case, Devil's right. It's often used as a topping or garnish for other dishes to add flavor. It matches well with stir fries, as a topping for noodles, a filling in joong (those things that look like tamales), etc. The best ones are flavored with various Chinese wines and stuff like rose water.
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Sep 3, 2012 04:21
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GrAviTy84 posted:They, like italian salumi, are dry cured with a nitrate and therefore technically raw, but you can eat them as is if you so desire. That's good to know. I was always afraid I'd get sick if they weren't fully heated.
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Sep 3, 2012 11:56
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squigadoo posted:Ditto, on the fried rice. I also use them in sticky rice balls to freeze for lunch, sauteeing them to get rid of some fat so my rice isn't a grease ball. Mostly, I think they are an accent or a "god I am so lazy, start the rice cooker and throw a lapcheong on it." Oh yes, the liver ones. I've never liked those because their mealy texture grossed me out as a kid. The regular lap cheong? Firmer and meatier.
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Sep 5, 2012 01:35
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pork never goes bad posted:The previous post was much more explicit - you clearly did not read it in your haste to post something silly that ignores a very simple fact about the way that jargon and natural language interact, well, naturally all the time. Talk to some restaurant owners or chefs. They'll know what you need - the range of actual practical woks between the cheap teflon crap and hand hammered keepsake woks for the new money.
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Sep 12, 2012 01:11
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Scott Bakula posted:You can't even get real soy? Like, the teflon coating I can sort of understand due to culture changes and such but struggling to find soy seems so strange Maybe he means naturally fermented? There is a lot of soy sauce made with some sort of protein, not always soy, and a chemically based hydrolyzing process with coloring added to make it dark brown. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_sauce#Acid-hydrolyzed_vegetable_protein
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Sep 12, 2012 09:08
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Magna Kaser posted:Shizi Tou recipe... Oh wow, very good post. My old boss made these once, but wouldn't disclose his recipe. These things are tender and tasty.
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Sep 12, 2012 18:23
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Rurutia posted:Lo mein means 'stirred noodles' in Chinese whereas Chow Mein means 'fried noodles'. In America, lo mein noodles are soft, stir fried noodles. They may be browned and a bit crispy on the outside, but are still kind of soft. Chow mein are generally accepted to be a bed of hard, crunchy, pretty much deep fried noodles with stuff poured on top of it. It's almost like the difference between fresh toast and a crouton in texture with lo mein and chow mein, respectively. Some people use the words interchangeably, and it may be different regionally or with different restaurants. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Oct 14, 2012 |
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Oct 14, 2012 21:44
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Grand Fromage posted:I'm looking for a cha siu recipe. I found this which looks reasonable but I don't know. Anyone made it before? That looks like a good base to start off with. Use pork shoulder (Boston Butt) instead of pork belly. I will suggest substituting some shao xing wine or a dry sherry for the rice wine, add about a teaspoon of fresh, finely diced or pureed ginger, 1/4 tsp of sesame oil, and if you are looking for that last 5% and happen to have some, about a teaspoon worth of fermented red bean curd. The red bean curd is by no means necessary, however. If you don't have any of that stuff, the recipe will still be very tasty. Do an overnight marinade if you can spare the time. If it doesn't get any blackened bits of char from the oven, the next time you make it, try out the broiler for 3 or 4 minutes at the end of the roast, or use a grill for it. I love char siu from the grill. Grill on medium indirect heat. The copious amount of honey glaze should do the trick though, as far as getting some caramelization and char. Personally, I'm a fan of Amazing Ribs' char siu recipe, minus the food coloring, and adding some of that fermented red soy bean curd. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Nov 12, 2012 |
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Nov 12, 2012 15:22
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Magna Kaser posted:If I had an oven I'd make the crap out of that. My pops from Canton says that they usually use shoulder, since tenderloin doesn't have enough fat in it. Tenderloin will be less chewy due to not being tendony, but there's no delicious pig grease for the mouthfeel.
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Nov 12, 2012 15:39
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Grand Fromage posted:It didn't crust as much as I would've liked, I started to broil but the sauce was burning with all the sugar. But it was still really drat good. I want to try with shoulder too. That looks fantastic, but maybe a little too much char on it. I think that you can also try using the broiler before you do the honey glaze. The crust will be good but with more, and tastier, charred meat instead of burning sugar.
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Nov 15, 2012 02:23
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All I know is that Cantonese Style Lobster is one of the most decadent and tasty flavor profiles for bugs I've ever had. Beats the hell out of just grilled and butter in my opinion.
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Dec 4, 2012 03:03
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I've kept some opened Shaoxing for up to 5 months on the shelf. It'll be fine. It doesn't lose its taste or turn into vinegar nearly as fast as red or white wines do, in my experience.
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Dec 8, 2012 01:36
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Shnooks posted:Ohhhhh man that sounds amazing. Salted duck egg (yolks only), good quality (important) lap cheung sausage, and what I think is salted pork, which is honestly a lot more fat than meat, is my granny's recipe. It's not hard to make at all, really. You just need to get the glutinous rice cooked properly with the right amount of water and you're good to go.
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Jan 10, 2013 16:22
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Some have been deseeded for you. If it looks like a whole bottle of little wrinkly pacmans, and you can see the white pith of the fruit inside instead of a black seed, get those and save yourself a lot of time.
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Jan 11, 2013 11:53
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Sounds like Peking spareribs, which could be either breaded or dry-fried without breading.
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Jun 1, 2013 01:05
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squigadoo posted:Could someone please break down how to handle fresh rice noodles for soup and for frying? My family tells me conflicting information on how to separate the noodles and not make them stick. I also remember that none of them are capable of making chow fun without breaking the noodles. Pull them apart while they're hot. The restaurant sized packs come pre-oiled, I think, but I immerse the pack, still wrapped in plastic, into very hot (170F+) water for a 3 or 4 minutes, take them out, and let them rest until they're still very warm, about 125-135F. The plastic is then cut open and we spend a few minutes separating them by hand. No need for additional oil or taking them apart in water. And yea, stir frying that stuff is a huge PITA unless you are pro at wokking.
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Jun 18, 2013 04:51
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Bro Enlai posted:Huh. Is that safe? I'd be concerned about plasticizers partying in and out of my noodles. That's a good point. You could transfer the noodles to a boil safe bag like a Foodsaver or something. Just as long as the noodles neither absorb water or dry out while heating.
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Jun 18, 2013 16:06
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My dad said it is some kind of whisk or beater.
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Jul 21, 2013 00:09
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Well, my dad also has a habit of not admitting when he doesn't know something... yea. VVV Well, I guess the old guy was right. How about that. That thing is way down the list of accesories I would want with a wok. Mach420 fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 04:51
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