|
Bro Enlai posted:Definitely something fatty. Most people I know make it with pork shoulder, because without marbling the meat will dry out before you can get a nice caramelized exterior. That happened to me the first time I made char siu, when I used some lean cut that was on sale, I don't know, pork sirloins or something. I was thinking that for sure, but by the same token, I don't want the connective tissue like chuck/brisket (the most common Butt analogue), because it would turn into a rubber band under the broiler.
|
#
?
Oct 23, 2012 18:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 15:17 |
|
|
toplitzin posted:I have issues with pork, what cut of beef/chicken would you recommend for subbing in Char Siu. How about beef short ribs (like in the Korean style)? Nice balance of fat and meat.
|
|
#
?
Oct 23, 2012 20:06
|
|
|
Hey guys, I bought this at the farmer's market this weekend. Can anyone tell me what it is and what I supposed to do with it?  At the stall it was located in between the choy sum and the bok choy. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 01:50
|
|
|
Kai lan if I'm not mistaken. Classic prep is to steam it and serve with oyster sauce, or stir fry. I am also insanely jealous you can get it because it's awesome.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 01:55
|
|
|
That looks like Chinese mustard (Gai Choy). You can either stir fry or braise it in dishes with meat. The stem needs some extra time to cook compared to the leaves, so keep that in mind. The stem has a funny mustard-dy flavor that some people do not like. In order to mask that, you can cook it into some sort of spicy sour compilation.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 01:55
|
|
|
It looks like a Chinese mustard to me as well. My family doesn't buy vegetables with strong flavours though, so I have no idea as of how to cook it.  On another note, I finally get to watch A Bite of China on TV. It truly is the best food documentary ever. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 07:33
|
|
|
I think I saw that once and it was pretty awesome. Is it then one where they show where the food comes from and the communities that produce it? I had no idea lotus root was such an incredible pain in the rear end to farm.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 12:59
|
|
|
I'll agree that it looks like Chinese mustard. Most restaurants around here blanch or steam if until it's cooked and then briefly toss it in hot oil with garlic, sometimes ginger. It's pretty delicious.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 19:57
|
|
|
When I moved out on my own my parents got me a wok that is suitable for 1 person or smaller portions of 2 people. However now that I live with my girlfriend and have learned "if I make a ton of stuff she eats the leftovers and saves me $$$$$," I need a bigger wok. Does anyone have any suggestions? The one I have was apparently hand forged in SF's Chinatown so getting a second one from the same place isn't going to be as easy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 20:04
|
|
|
Saint Darwin posted:When I moved out on my own my parents got me a wok that is suitable for 1 person or smaller portions of 2 people. However now that I live with my girlfriend and have learned "if I make a ton of stuff she eats the leftovers and saves me $$$$$," I need a bigger wok. Does anyone have any suggestions? The one I have was apparently hand forged in SF's Chinatown so getting a second one from the same place isn't going to be as easy. Why not? The Wok Shop is happy to ship your order just about anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 06:14
|
|
|
Is this the right chili sauce for mapo tofu? I know the Korean says it's pepper garlic sauce and it looks right to me.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 13:35
|
|
|
Probably could use that, but you're going to have to find some bean paste （豆豉） or dou ban (豆瓣) as well. That looks to be just be garlic chili sauce （no bean component), which is not a substitute for the black bean stuff you'd normally use in mapo doufu. I use that stuff when I make dumpling dipping sauce! e:  Stole that pic from an earlier recipe for mapo doufu recipe in this thread. Look for those two characters in the middle 豆瓣, that's the integral part. I think 99.9% of 豆瓣 sauces have chilies in them... I've never seen any without... so that's not quite as important. Varieties usually differ by just how spicy they are and any other extras. I'm currently using an awesome kind that has has a beefy flavor added in through pieces of jerky that are in it. Ailumao fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Oct 25, 2012 |
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 17:13
|
|
|
Lee Kum Kee is actually a Hong Kong company more famous for inventing oyster sauce. If you want to go that brand they also have a mapo tofu instant mix. http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Kee-Mapo-Sauce/dp/B0002GUK3Y Which pisses my SiChuan friends because it doesn't have that hot numbing spice but rather more hunan style with red flakes. It's like the Heinz brand, only good for ketchup (oyster sauce and a few soy sauces) For more Lo-mein chat. In Hong Kong it's assumed to mean a bigger portion of yellow egg noodles or thick egg noodles with a bowl of soup for dipping or mixing on the side. Doing it with a rice vermicilli or rice noodles just gets you a  look. Just came back from Malaysia and even though Cantonese is the lingua franca noodles can be referred as dried with no soup (乾撈麵), or the generic Canton style noodles with soup (湯撈麵). There was a big of a confusion in until I saw some pictures to clear things up and the waiter explained that the naming convention was gotten from the earlier Fujian folk. lo-mein from them is actually a type of noodle called 福州麵 which I found in the grocery stores and souvenir places. Really excellent bakeries there because they use lard to make that flakiness for pie crusts  But non local region food in China always tastes weird or made in a different way. 炸醬麵, here is a reddish tint almost like Chinese version of bolognese with a side of soup like lo mian. Which makes my Hangzhou girlfriend flip her poo poo. Don't even get her started on Shanghai friend noodles, her mom's from Shanghai and they havent heard of it until they came to HK. Or how restaurants like to lump different regions together. It's funny how in the south restaurants get lumped as Shanghai, Beijing, and Sichuan. Where as in Beijing some restaurants are Cantonese, hunan, and Shanghai. I can't wait to bring my girlfriend to the Americas to try some American Chinese stuff. She probably wouldn't be a food snob like me because everything up north is greasy, glass syrup sauce, and savoury as heck  I kid, I kid, not to start a food war I do like me lemon chicken and fortune cookies. But I do question the wisdom of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul_sandwich and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow_mein_sandwich But that's how food recipes start, reinventing here and there to borrow ingredients. Lots of Cantonese dishes actually call for lard and there is one famous ham beast restauranter actually uses it and carries a bottle of lard wherever he goes and adds it as a condiment. *slight derail* but how do islamic cusine deal with lard type of cooking? Do they use ghee instead? I was surprised that the Chinese population wouldn't use more beef substitutes like the Indians in Malaysia. Instead it's more of a vibe, "we gotta raise our pigs, screw you". caberham fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Oct 25, 2012 |
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 19:25
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:Probably could use that, but you're going to have to find some bean paste （豆豉） or dou ban (豆瓣) as well. That looks to be just be garlic chili sauce （no bean component), which is not a substitute for the black bean stuff you'd normally use in mapo doufu. I found doubanjiang too!  So the recipe says 2.5 tbsp of chili bean paste. About what proportion should I use of both these? Half and half? Or is it supposed to be just doubanjiang?
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 01:10
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:I found doubanjiang too! doubanjiang is chili bean paste.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 02:24
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:I found doubanjiang too! That is the chili bean paste. I was just saying you could add in a bit of the other stuff you bought if you want, it might add a nice kick if the flavor is good on the lajiao you bought. Just add in like a spoonful or two. Experiment! Mapo Doufu is more of a CONCEPT than a recipe. There's no real right way to make it, just ways that taste objectively better.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 04:05
|
|
|
Cool, thanks. I'm making it for a Chinese friend and have never made it before but said "oh sure I can do that" when she asked if I could. This is like taking final exams.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 04:23
|
|
|
caberham posted:*slight derail* but how do islamic cusine deal with lard type of cooking? Do they use ghee instead? I was surprised that the Chinese population wouldn't use more beef substitutes like the Indians in Malaysia. Instead it's more of a vibe, "we gotta raise our pigs, screw you". Butter, beef drippings and mutton drippings is my guess.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2012 09:19
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:Mapo Doufu is more of a CONCEPT than a recipe. There's no real right way to make it, just ways that taste objectively better. And my Asian grocery is actually adding a butcher! They've already added a bigger selection of vegetables; the Chinese eggplants I saw there today made the Chinese eggplants sold at HyVee look inadequate, and I'm really excited to see what they keep adding.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 02:10
|
|
|
Ghost of Reagan Past posted:And my Asian grocery is actually adding a butcher! They've already added a bigger selection of vegetables; the Chinese eggplants I saw there today made the Chinese eggplants sold at HyVee look inadequate, and I'm really excited to see what they keep adding. I want to know where in the Midwest hyvee sells chinese eggplant 
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 02:17
|
|
|
Peven Stan posted:I want to know where in the Midwest hyvee sells chinese eggplant Last time I was there they had Thai eggplant, too. And dragonfruit. Ghost of Reagan Past fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Oct 28, 2012 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 02:21
|
|
|
Ghost of Reagan Past posted:Lincoln, Nebraska. Dragonfruit is actually indigenous to Mexico and South America and was brought to Asia by Europeans, which is why I've always wondered why it's so common in SE Asia and not the US. I love it, though, and miss it when I'm in the States. When I make Mapo Doufu I like a really thick spicy and meaty sauce. I tend to add a lot of extra douban and meat, and then add a bit of potato starch at the end. I also seem to be an weirdo cause I use firmer tofu when making it instead of silken. Quick question: Is Japanese Tofu 日本豆腐 actually a Japanese dish? It's pretty ubiquitous here in China at every little restaurant you can find, and I'm making it tonight, so if it's kosher I'll post the recipe.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 02:36
|
|
|
I mapo'd some tofu with gravity's recipe. It was really good! And is officially Chinese Approved, the person I cooked for said it tasted exactly like what she got when she lived in Sichuan. She was a little weirded out about how similar it was. The other thing is an egg dish she made, really simple but good. Beat two eggs, then put some canola oil in a pan. Pour the eggs in before the oil's heated up too much, let it sit until the oil is warm and the eggs are starting to harden up. Salt, and toss in a couple finely chopped green onions, fold it over and cook a couple minutes, then chop up and toss around in the pan until the outside is firm but the inside is still a bit runny. I also found a Chinese grocer that had light/dark soy sauces, huangjiu (not Shaoxing sadly), and angry lady sauce. I now finally have all the basics in my pantry. Gonna try every recipe in the thread.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2012 14:50
|
|
|
Someone mentioned Pancit Bihon back on page 8 and this got me thinking. I'm pretty sure that's what my step-grandmother always made for family reunions. Does anyone here have recipes for this that they recommend?
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 00:29
|
|
|
GrAviTy84 posted:Gai lan and preserved ham I made this tonight -- big bags of gai lan for cheap at the grocery are really appealing. It's really tasty, but the gai lan is just a little too bitter IMO. Would parboiling help?
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 01:09
|
|
|
Canadian Bakin posted:Someone mentioned Pancit Bihon back on page 8 and this got me thinking. I'm pretty sure that's what my step-grandmother always made for family reunions. Does anyone here have recipes for this that they recommend? I had one on my old filipino food thread. You can get it in archives or on the wiki. I've been meaning I reboot that thread for a while now.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 01:10
|
|
|
ashgromnies posted:I made this tonight -- big bags of gai lan for cheap at the grocery are really appealing. In my experience, yes, parboiling in salted wated removes some of the bitterness. I don't like oyster sauce, but that flavor pairs pretty well with bitter greens and it's standard to serve blanched gai lan with a side of oyster sauce at dim sum places.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 02:33
|
|
|
GrAviTy84 posted:I had one on my old filipino food thread. You can get it in archives or on the wiki. Perfect, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 04:20
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:Probably could use that, but you're going to have to find some bean paste （豆豉） or dou ban (豆瓣) as well. That looks to be just be garlic chili sauce （no bean component), which is not a substitute for the black bean stuff you'd normally use in mapo doufu. I use that stuff when I make dumpling dipping sauce! How long does that stuff keep for? I made Ma Po Dofu a few months ago(it was awesome -- I did gravity's variation with ground pork) and I still have those jars, of that and a big one of fermented black beans. They were pretty cheap but I'd prefer to keep them and use them if they're still good, you know? What else can you use those two ingredients in?
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 07:01
|
|
|
A couple of nights ago I made red braised pork again, last time posted in the What did you cook last night thread. This time cooked with all the major ingredients and extra goodies too: Extra goodies added at the last stage of cooking:roasted garlic cloves, roasted chunks of eggplant, lotus root (in lieu of water chestnut), fried tofu, cutesy pie Japanese mushrooms. So drat good. It all melded together into a big red mess of delicious. I also made this for lunch yesterday:  I don't know what it's called, but we had something similar in a Chinese restaurant in Yoyogi. It's basically this: a whole bunch of vegies cooked with chicken, oyster sauce, chilli, garlic, ginger, shaoxing wine (though I used mirin), stock and cornflour slurry. After that's mostly cooked, in a separate pot you stir fry some noodles and get them coated lightly in oil. Once the noodles are all set, line the pot (I had an earthernware pot) fairly evenly, dump in the chicken and vegie mix, which shouldn't be too wet. Cover and leave cook for 5ish minutes. Loosen the bottom of the noodles from the pot with a spatula, flip over onto a plate.  It was awesome, and really not very photogenic, plus I didn't clear stuff from around the serving plate because I was in such a hurry to eat it. The noodles crisped up well, but I'm going to have to play with the heat and the timing of the last stage of cooking to perfect the noodles. Anyway, now that I've cooked it, what is this called? So far, I'm going with "big pile of upside down noodles thing" femcastra fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Nov 5, 2012 |
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2012 11:00
|
|
|
ashgromnies posted:I made this tonight -- big bags of gai lan for cheap at the grocery are really appealing. Besides parboiling, you can also add more cooking wine to it when the wok is covered. Or more brown sugar (cheating). What's bitter is usually in the leaves so a good way is to separate the stalks and leaves and cook the leaves longer than usual. Or just buy better gailan, big giant stalks of them to make a pork rib stew with mushrooms.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2012 11:28
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Kai lan if I'm not mistaken. Classic prep is to steam it and serve with oyster sauce, or stir fry. I am also insanely jealous you can get it because it's awesome. Gai lan is a darker green, and the branching of the vegetable doesn't start low on the stem. The stem is also very solid. If you ever see something that looks like it might be gai lan but the vegetable branches at the base, it's probably yu choi. Yu choi is more fibrous than gai lan and isn't as solid when you bite into it. Also, gai lan is a winter veggie, so now is a great time to buy it. Mustard greens are bitter, which is fine if you like bitter greens. If you don't like them very bitter, bring water to a boil, dump the greens in, bring to boil again, drain the greens. Bring a fresh pot of water to a boil and do it again. The double boil will remove some of the bitterness, but will also soften the veggie. I don't like my mustard greens soft and I like bitter, so I only boil once. You can eat them with just some oyster sauce, which is nice. I make a chicken broth sauce to pour over mine. Mince garlic and ginger and sautee them in a bit of vegetable oil until it smells good. Pour on a can of chicken broth and a bit of corn starch slurry. Cook til thickened. Bring it to a boil and remove from heat. Stir 2 beaten eggs into the sauce. Salt and pepper it a bit if you want. If I have a can of crab meat, I drain toss it in, bring it to a boil, then add the egg.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2012 21:03
|
|
|
OnceIWasAnOstrich posted:I live 35-40 minutes from the Wheaton H-Mart and and 40 minutes from the Merrifield and Annandale H-marts. Where downtown? I have to say I have no special love of Asian-vended pork belly but the meat market in Eastern Market was who wanted $8/lb for it. I know this is way late and stalker-ish, but if you go over to Langley park (College park), it has a huge international community with alot of markets, south american/carribean/asian that you can get meat for a bit cheaper. Almost positive they sell pork belly (they sell every other drat part of the animal), not sure of the cost.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2012 21:55
|
|
|
With all the different names of all the vegetables I never know what anyone is talkin’ about!!!! Oh well cooking time: Spicy Rabbit, 辣子兔丁  Made this last night, but was not thinking of you goons so no pictures were taken, photo not mine. Though, the site it's from: https://www.meishi.cc is very good for recipes, if you are Chinese-enabled. This is ANOTHER (surprise surprise) Sichuan dish. Rabbit is a very, very popular kind of meat through Chengdu and Chongqing and also very cheap! What you need:
You might be noticing a trend here in that Sichuan food tends to be like 2 things with 8000 spices. How to make it: How you prepare/dress the rabbit is up to you. The Chinese way is just to indiscriminately chop the poo poo out of it so you end up with a bunch of pieces that are mainly bone. I am not a fan of this way so I always debone my meat, your choice really! Anyway, fry up the rabbit meat first. I've had it a few different ways, some times the meat is just stir fried, some times it's deep fried. I prefer the latter method because the rabbit gets a bit of a satisfying crunch to it if you fry it in a bit more oil. Stir fried is probably healthier, though! Remove the rabbit and if you deep fried it get rid of the excess oil, but we want to use the used oil/rabbit juices for the next step. Heat up the wok again, possibly adding more oil, add in a couple star anises... some star anise... some of that stuff, garlic, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Once it smells nice add in your chilies and carrots. Fry it up nice and good. Once your carrots start to change color and chilies get cooked, add in just a bit of cooking wine, dark/light soy, salt and a pinch of sugar. Be conservative on your use of these, this dish is not meant to be very saucy. I added maybe a couple teaspoons of each the soy and wine. Re-add the rabbit and just plain-add the garlic shoots (or other green, if you want) and fry for a bit until the greens are cooked. If you're using dried chilies instead of fresh, add them in when you add in the rest of the spices and stuff. This one is REAL quick to make. Once you start cooking it's probably less than 5 minutes or so from beginning to end.  Fun fact(?): In Chinese, unlike English, it's really easy to say and figure out what to call different kinds of meat. You just combine animal and the word for meat （肉）: 猪肉、牛肉、鸡肉、羊肉、香肉, etc. Pig meat, cow meat, chicken meat, lamb meat and fragrant meat (the last one is commonly used in southern China to mean "dog meat" since Chinese dogs are really taking off as pets here and they probably don't want to offend!)A Chinese person could probably quash this theory of mine, but I have never heard rabbit referred to as "Rabbit meat" (兔肉) in the name of a dish. Dishes are usually named Something Something Rabbit (兔子） or describing the cut of meat, like in this one (兔丁). I THINK this is cause the word for rabbit is an exact homonym for the word for vomit (吐) and no one wants to say they are serving or eating vomit meat.  e: some typos and added some stuff Ailumao fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Nov 8, 2012 |
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2012 00:46
|
|
|
I'm looking for a cha siu recipe. I found this which looks reasonable but I don't know. Anyone made it before?
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2012 15:00
|
|
|
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 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2012 15:22
|
|
|
If I had an oven I'd make the crap out of that. What's weird is whenever I've had it (lamentably never in Guangdong itself) they've used tenderloin instead of belly. I made chashao baozi once, but I cheated and used chashao sauce which is really easy to get over here. Some day I'll make a megapost about baozi, some day.... e: I checked out that sites huiguo rou recipie since I make it a lot and like to compare. It seems fine, but I don't get why he wastes all that time boiling the meat for an hour. Every Chinese person I know, every person who I've seen make it, and every recipe I just found online has the boiling go for 10-15min max. You cut it thin, then stir fry at super high heat afterwards where it cooks up in a minute or two, so I wouldn't think actually cooking the meat through would be a concern. Has anyone used that method before? Does it make the meat extra tasty or tender or something? Ailumao fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Nov 12, 2012 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2012 15:34
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2012 15:39
|
|
|
Oh cool, this thread is still going. I was wondering if any of you guys have a recipe for youtiao (油条) dough? When I was a kid in Malaysia, we had the long, plain ones, but there were also short Y-shaped ones that were slightly sweet. I've only seen the regular kind here in Dongguan, and I figure if I can sort the dough out, I can make the sweet ones myself. Is it a yeasted dough, or chemically leavened? I have bread flour (it says 高筋面粉 so I'll take their word for it), yeast, baking powder, etc. The Carrefour nearby has pastry flour (I'm assuming that's what 低筋面粉 is) if needed.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2012 17:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 15:17 |
|
|
There are a lot of different recipes for it. The most simple I've seen is how my ex used to make it: which was just flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and milk. A quick baidu search brought up recipes that used yeast, some that used baking powder, some that use baking soda, some that use self-rising flour... So I guess use whatever you feel like! Chinese cuisine! I think normal 'ol 高筋面粉 is fine.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2012 18:31
|
|