Wok this way. The Chinese food thread.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Wok this way. The Chinese food thread.

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Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Should sichuan peppercorns be ground up like black pepper or toasted whole in the oil or what?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 04:24

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 03:02

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Okay, one more. Is there any good rule of thumb on how much to use? I seem to either end up not being able to taste it or my entire mouth is numb, and not in the good way. And it's hard to taste and adjust in a stir fry given how fast it cooks.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 08:09

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Cripes I wish I could find cookware without teflon on it in Korea.

What is the best substitute for Shaoxing wine? The Chinese market here doesn't seem to have it but they have a variety of other things that may be similar. If you can give me the Chinese characters please do, there aren't any English labels and they didn't understand what I was talking about when I tried to explain what I wanted. And the Korean version of it is, as usual, filled with corn syrup.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 08:26

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

angerbot posted:

Sherry apparently does a good job.

Also not possible, I've looked for sherry for other things. They have a range of rice wines but I never used anything but Shaoxing when I lived in the US. I don't know what the differences are.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 09:59

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

cernunnoswired posted:

Grand Fromage, where do you live in Korea? If you're in Seoul, there's an excellent Chinese grocery store in Cheonho that has it.

I'm on the other side of the country. I'm sure one of the bottles there was some kind of hwangju, going to try that if there's no specific go-to Chinese substitute for actual Shaoxing.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2012 03:50

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

This is from Korea but I've found it virtually impossible to find anything non-teflon coated. Koreans believe that the Maillard reaction = immediate cancer and tefloning everything is one of the ways searing/crusts are avoided. I dunno if that's a Korean thing or from Chinese medicine.

However, there's usually a restaurant supply store tucked away somewhere that has real equipment. Definitely ask the chef or go to street markets, don't bother with major stores. I finally found a plain no-teflon pan--in Japan, but still, it was the same way there. Had to go to a restaurant supply area and a specialist store.

This may all be useless but from what I saw in Beijing, China and Korea have a lot of similarities in this kind of thing.

I feel your pain though. I didn't bring over tea stuff assuming it's Asia, I can get good tea and a pot easily. And the endless quest for soy sauce that isn't terrible fake poo poo.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 07:45

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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

The natural fermented stuff is a bit difficult to track down, it took me a while. Tends to be expensive. I also for a long time didn't realize Korean soy sauce is different, the flavor is a bit different and it is salty as gently caress. I eventually found a brand of natural sauce that is reduced salt and actually edible, but it was a struggle for a while.

Quality green tea is more expensive here than in the US.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 10:03

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

GrAviTy84 posted:

Not to go on a spergrant derail, but there are many levels and types of "quality" green tea, and "quality" green tea in the US means next to nothing compared to quality green tea in Asia.

Any looseleaf, I mean. 99% of Korean green tea is bagged and has burned brown rice husks in it so it tastes like poo poo. I almost never see looseleaf for sale and when I do it's pricy.

Fortunately I found a little Chinese grocery store that has cheap stuff from China that tastes great. :radcat:

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 03:17

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Please do keep postin'. I loving loved China and was packing in five meals a day there, and finding non-Koreanized Chinese food here is difficult at best. I really need to make an effort to learn to cook it better.

e: nevermind

Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Sep 13, 2012

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 07:08

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

If you have a Korean grocer instead of Chinese, that will be called tteok (떡). Make sure it's not flavored with anything, it's a dessert too and those will be full of red bean or sesame or whatever, you don't want those. Garaetteok (가래떡) are the specific kind usually used for cooking.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 14:10

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Would anyone know if there's a Korean version of angry lady sauce? I'm guessing something similar is used here but I don't know what to look for.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2012 05:05

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I always just add bok choy right at the end and barely cook it. Sometimes I throw it in after I've turned off the flame. It gets cooked enough from the remaining heat and doesn't go soggy or yellow or anything.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2012 04:04

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Yeah seriously. Make ice cubes of chicken stock, if you need more moisture toss a couple of those in. If you haven't done stock ice cubes before it is loving life changing.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2012 12:07

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

crikster posted:

You must be Sir Warren Moneybags if you're paying $8/lb for, well any cut of meat really.

Or living in Korea and you want something other than chicken. :cry:

# ¿ Sep 30, 2012 15:51

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Can gochujang be used to substitute for doubanjiang?

# ¿ Oct 9, 2012 05:14

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Peven Stan posted:

No. because most doubans aren't spicy.

Okay, I'm confused. I thought it was a red pepper/fermented bean paste. Is there a Korean equivalent of whatever doubanjiang is?

# ¿ Oct 9, 2012 05:37

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Peven Stan posted:

Some of them can be spicy but not every douban is spicy!!!!!!

Okay man calm down. I'm just trying to find something I can get in Korea. The local Chinese grocery stores don't have doubanjiang.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2012 05:46

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

What's the shelf life on flower peppers? I used some tonight and didn't get much of a numb off them, not sure if they're old or I just didn't use enough. I used maybe a teaspoon in gravity's yuxiang rousi recipe. Picked out the black seeds, toasted a bit in the pan and then crushed up with a spoon and mixed into the sauce.

It was good but a little slimy? I'm not sure how to describe it exactly. The sauce was very thick and clung to the food, no extra liquid, but it felt like something was off. My guesses were too much oil, too much cornstarch, or too much sugar. The starch and sugar were exact, oil I didn't measure but was generous. Tasted good but I think I did something wrong.

Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 13:04 on Oct 9, 2012

# ¿ Oct 9, 2012 12:49

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

They are the right ones. A few bites were numbing but it wasn't very strong or consistent. I'm suspecting too much oil too, will try again with less.

E: I'll try cutting cornstarch too. Should I take it out of the marinade or reduce what's in the sauce? I don't know what it does in the marinade.

My marinade was the suggested one for the half pound. If anything I had a bit more meat than that, it was dry to the point I was worried but seemed to be okay.

Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Oct 10, 2012

# ¿ Oct 10, 2012 03:37

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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. :china:

# ¿ Oct 28, 2012 14:50

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

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: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Mach420 posted:

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.

Hmm. I'm making it for a Cantonese person so I'm trying to go traditional, and I thought belly was the cut of choice. Now I'm conflicted.

I guess I could do both. :v:

But meat's so damned expensive here.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2012 02:48

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I made it, using the recipe I linked plus Mach's suggestions (except the fermented bean, didn't have it or want to go looking). It came out great!

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.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2012 14:48

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Magna Kaser posted:

Man I need an oven.

I picked up a toaster oven on our Taobao for the equivalent of about $30. The ghost of Pro PRC compels you to Taobao! :v:

# ¿ Nov 14, 2012 23:24

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Mach420 posted:

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.

It's just lovely phone camera/lighting/color of the marinade, it wasn't charred at all. The minute the broiler heated up the smoke started and I took it out before anything burned. Going to be hell getting that off my roasting pan though.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2012 02:59

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Arglebargle III posted:

It really is the single biggest obstacle to cooking at home in China. (I don't know about the rest of Asia.)

Ovens aren't standard in Korea either. They are sold as specialty things though. I got a toaster oven just big enough to fit a duck or a pie in, so that covers most everything I need. There are proper sized ovens too but no need to drop that much money.

First time I had duck with crispy skin and rendered fat instead of the rubbery skin poo poo Koreans like made the purchase completely worth it.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2012 14:50

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Arglebargle III posted:

Eeew, really?

Yeah, duck here is almost invariably smoked and the skin/fat are like chewing on a tire. Koreans really like chewy textured stuff, squid and octopus get overcooked to turn them chewy too.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2012 10:23

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

GrAviTy84 posted:

I only ever need a fork. I don't know where I got the technique from and I've never seen anyone else do it to my recollection (not even my parents), but I use the bottom tine like a letter opener along the leg. Crack/cut a line, pull the shell back and have a big ol chunk of crab. Other sections, use the fork kind of like a crowbar.

That's what I do. I feel it's the mark of a true professional crab eater. Much faster and less messy.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2012 23:35

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I finally got actual Shaoxing wine thanks to a lovely man named caberham. :911:

I'm only going to use it for cooking. Should I keep it in the fridge after I open or does it not matter?

# ¿ Dec 7, 2012 08:21

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I have been ordered to make dan dan mian. I've also been requested to make it in the soupier style, since this is apparently how it is done in Chengdu. I was thinking of just adding gravity's sauce to some duck stock and serving with a bit of thin sliced duck on top, is there any obvious dumb flaw in my plan?

# ¿ Dec 12, 2012 05:36

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Magna Kaser posted:

I am a blasphemer and do not really like noodles of any kind, so I've never made 担担面, but I will say it tends to be greasier/oilier rather than "soupier" in Chengdu.

Here's a recipe for sichuan style dandan mian with a picture for every step so maybe you can figure it out even lacking Chinese knowledge. That recipe calls for straight up soup stock (骨头汤) so you have the right idea, it seems.

That picture looks about like what I was expecting, and the duck stock would fill the oily component quite well. Cool. I'm going on description for the soupy part and the person in question went to college in Chengdu, so I was assuming that was the local style.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2012 10:16

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

The hull is the part you use. You sift out any of the little black seeds that got in, and remove the twigs until you get tired of it and say gently caress it. I usually toast in the pan until they're fragrant then grind them up.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2013 07:50

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

kru posted:

Hot and Sour soup - will it freeze well? I'm assuming no.

I've never tried but soups usually freeze quite well. I would go for it.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2013 11:50

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I tried Ziir's siu yuk recipe today. It was a complete failure. I had the oven on its highest setting (and a toaster oven, like his), but the pork skin would not crisp. I left it in about twenty minutes and there was no movement at all on the skin, so I switched to the broiler. It just ended up burning and never really crisping up well. I pulled it after a total of forty minutes and it was as dry and leathery as you might expect, and the skin had only partially crisped. The parts that had bubbled up were blackened from the heat.

I'm trying the other method next but what's the deal? I dried the pork in the fridge, the skin was salted and very thoroughly punctured. Fat was rendering out the holes like it was supposed to. I followed the recipe to the letter, I don't understand why it hosed up so badly.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2013 04:56

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Tupperwarez posted:

Did you brush the skin with high-proof booze (vodka works best) or alkaline water? Doing that will break down the skin a little and make it more likely to bubble.

No, that's the other recipe. I'm trying it next, but I don't want it to gently caress up too. Will some skin just not crisp up without burning?

# ¿ Apr 1, 2013 10:58

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 03:02

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I did the vodka method siu yuk.

My Chinese friend declared it identical to Hong Kong. It worked waaaaay better than the first method, this is the way I'll always be doing it.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2013 13:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Wok this way. The Chinese food thread.

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