494663 Fri Feb 29 23:39:24 -0800 2008 150 31 Home Cooking 0 3448884 Both books have "Meat" chapters, so both go here. Fri Feb 29 23:39:24 -0800 2008 10245 oakjoan 1 3453138 Stir Fried Smoky Bacon with Smoked Bean Curd (Hunan - p. 94) Made this tonight - I think I over cooked the bacon and the tofu a bit - both were very crisp, the tofu still a little chewy. Great flavors. I used about 8 dried chiles, since this is the first time I've cooked from the book and wanted to feel it out a bit. Plenty hot for me. Assuming you can get the smoked tofu, this is a dish that doesn't require special ingredients. An extra bonus - I steamed the bacon in a vegetable steamer in the sauce pan, and ended up with some pork flavored water underneath. Since I needed "Everyday Stock" for another dish and hadn't made any (and didn't plan to) - I added some water to the sauce pan, a little chicken Better than Bouillion, a couple of scallions and some sliced ginger and simmered for about 45 minutes while I was prepping for other dishes - delectable broth. Sun Mar 02 17:42:10 -0800 2008 3448884 10985 MMRuth 1 3453860 Beef with Cumin, RC, page 102 We liked this dish a lot, although there was a definite imbalance in the ingredients somewhere. I thought the cumin dominated and my husband thought ginger dominated. I suspect I made a measuring mistake along the lines, but, more likely is I think I used the wrong kind of fresh red chiles (Mexican ones instead of the little "Thai" ones), which I think maybe just knocked things out of whack a bit. Still, even though the recipe needs a slight tweaking, or, more accurately, maybe I just need to follow the recipe and use the right chiles, we still liked this one a lot and will try it again. edEDITED: We tweak the proportions (to be weight watchers core friendly) we used 1/2 tsp (instead of 1 tsp) of sesame oil and 2 tsp of peanut oil (instead of 1 3/4's cup of peanut oil) and we served it on a bed of wild rice instead of white rice. Very simple dish. Photo attached. That unappetizing-looking mess in the red bowl is the glorious ma po tofu that I'll talk about in the bean curd thread. EDIT: I meant to also mention that we had the ma po tofu, the beef cumin, wild rice, and a side of steamed broccoil--this was a meal for four with generous servings, I thought, or a meal for two, twice. ~TDQ Mon Mar 03 02:21:57 -0800 2008 3448884 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 3457544 Using Land of Plenty, I made Dry-Fried Beef Slivers (p 228) tonight with great success, although the beef was not exactly in "slivers"....more like chunky slices. I used a flank steak that I sliced on the bias. I realized after I'd put the meat into the pan to cook that I'd skipped the last part of the first sentence of the directions (!!??), an oversight I put down to senilty. The missed instruction was to cut the slices into "fine slivers", so instead of slivers, I had dry-fried beef slices. I got the wok really hot and put in the oil. When it smoked, I tossed in the beef slices, frying until most of the liquid from the meat had evaporated. Then I added some sherry because I hadn't any Shaoxing rice wine. I then removed the beef and dropped the chili bean paste into the wok, stir frying as directed. Added ginger and scallions (along with some leeks I had left over from my CSA box because I didn't have enough scallions - worked fine). I then noticed that I had no celery. I'd overlooked that as well in my planning. Oh well, I put it down to the fact that I screwed up my knee and have had to walk using a cane most of the time for a couple of weeks. Yes! That's it! I'm injured and shouldn't be held to the standards of others! Getting back to the recipe....I then added the soy sauce and, off heat, the sesame oil. I served this dish with a combo of Japanese soba and wheat noodles tossed with the meat, sauce and onions and added a dollop of chili oil. This was really delicious. It was also pretty easy to make, and would be even if one followed the directions. Actually, it was probably MORE difficult because I'd look at the recipe and say "Uh Oh! I have no celery!" Then I'd run around the house screaming....well, actually I'd hobble around the house with my cane, screaming. It all turned out for the best and, as I said, my husband and I both loved it. We watched Notes From A Scandal while eating, perhaps a mistake as it's not exactly frothy comedy. In any case, the Dry-Fried Beef Slivers held its own through the hystrionics. This dish is going into regular rotation. Now I remember that I also failed to photograph my handiwork. Duh. Mon Mar 03 23:23:01 -0800 2008 3453860 10245 oakjoan 3 3457563 Forgot to attach my poorly lit photo. The dish looks more greasy than it was. I hope the slices of flank steak are visible. Mon Mar 03 23:53:14 -0800 2008 3457544 10245 oakjoan 4 3457617 I'm almost vowing to make every Dunlop recipe that I try at least twice. There's so much involved in these recipes between technique and unfamiliar ingredients that it's really hard to get it 100% right the first time through. I've got at least four of the 7 I've tried so far that really want to try again, but correct a mistake I made along the way the first time around. I'm glad your beef slivers (or chunks, if you prefer) worked out! ~TDQ Tue Mar 04 03:30:56 -0800 2008 3457563 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3458097 I shouldn't be laughing so hard at your post, but I feel like you've entered my world...except, in my world, when I forget a step, it's often when I post about the recipe. Or, if I forgot to cut up an ingredient, it's running around and then crashing into a chair. I think the beauty of these recipes is that even if you make substitutions and/or mistakes, it will still taste pretty good. Different than the author's intent, but it will still tasty. Tue Mar 04 07:45:06 -0800 2008 3457544 10214 beetlebug 4 3459695 I totally agree about flubs. The thing was that this dish (beef slivers), even with the mistakes/subs, was really great. I just had some leftovers and they hold up served cold next day. Often, for some reason, when I make stir-fry it comes out with muddied flavors. I think my problem is that I add every flavoring hoping to achieve some amazing combo. I do this without really thinking (or knowing in some cases) what each ingred. is. The beef slivers dish was perfectly seasoned. It may have mostly been that I didn't put in loads of each sauce or paste. Tue Mar 04 13:37:40 -0800 2008 3458097 10245 oakjoan 3 3488946 Dry Fried Beef Slivers (LOP, pg. 228) When I first tasted this, I thought, ugh, way too salty. I added too much chili bean paste (recipes calls for 2-3T and I added 3 heaping T). But, as dinner went on, this really grew on me and I ended up really liking it. It went really well with the white rice. I had some leftover, so today, I mixed this with fresh Chinese noodles and this was absolutely delicious. It’s a Chinese version of pasta and sauce. Lastly, this called for 1/3 cup of peanut oil. I used less than that and still thought it was too much. I suspect that 1/6 cups would probably be adequate. Thu Mar 13 10:00:08 -0700 2008 3457544 10214 beetlebug 4 3493933 Your photo shows you have mastered the art of "slivering". Your beef "slivers" are like thread as opposed to mine, which were rope. Dish was great anyway, though. Fri Mar 14 15:32:14 -0700 2008 3488946 10245 oakjoan 2 3462774 I'm thinking about making this tonight, but am unlikely to find red chilis of any kind - wonder what I should try to substitute it with. Also - another recipe (maybe a pork one?) that looked interesting called for "Italian Frying Peppers" - are those Cubanelles - or something else? Wed Mar 05 11:35:33 -0800 2008 3453860 10985 MMRuth 3 3462886 Which recipe, MMRuth? The Beef with Cumin? Actually, if I recall correctly (don't have my cookbook with me today) the recipe didn't actually call for fresh chiles, but for some kind of dried chile powder or something and said something along the lines of "for chile fiends only"--so, I got the impression you could even omit them. I had read somewhere else that substituting the fresh chiles would give you a milder result, which is why I tried that. (I guess I'm not a chile fiend...) Surely one of your many chile products would do! Even just regular red chile flakes might do... ~TDQ Wed Mar 05 12:00:58 -0800 2008 3462774 12005 The Dairy Queen 4 3462904 Yes - the beef w/ cumin. It calls for both fresh and dried red chilis. Just liked the idea of throwing in some fresh ones, but local availability for now is probably jalapenos! Local being defined as the two markets within a one block radius! Wed Mar 05 12:04:11 -0800 2008 3462886 10985 MMRuth 5 3462949 Hmmm..excellent question. This is when we need our experienced Sichuan and Hunanese cooking 'hounds to share their knowledge of chile substitution. It's hard to say which is better--dried or preserved of the right kind of chile vs. fresh of the wrong kind of chile. I used the big fresh kind, maybe 3-4 inches long and the diameter of a nickle at its widest point--probably jalapenos, too? And I thought the dish didn't come out quite right, so I hesitate to recommend that. But, maybe it's just something weird I did with measuring or one of my other substitutions that caused it to go awry. On the other hand, you could just experiment and see what you think. Maybe it will teach you something about the properties of the various chiles... Have you re-read the pantry section at the front of the book to see what it says about the nature of chiles? Maybe it will have something useful in there? Dang! I wish I had my cookbooks with me today (no car, so, I'm traveling light...) ~TDQ Wed Mar 05 12:11:37 -0800 2008 3462904 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3462917 I, too, was interested in that recipe (Farmhouse Stir-Fried Pork with Green Peppers, pg 85) but have never heard of Italian Frying Peppers. I looked up the frying peppers and the were described as very sweet and crunchy but Dunlop describes them as mildly hot. She also says you can sub sweet bell peppers but then would you add a bit of heat another way? I was thinking of making it tonight because I have everything, well, except for the Ital peppers. Lots of red & green bell peppers though. Oh, wait, I don't have light soy. Do I need that or can I sub dark? Darn, I still need so many things. Wed Mar 05 12:06:27 -0800 2008 3462774 127625 fern 4 3462929 The sweet and crunchy is why I thought of the cubanelles. And I no longer have light soy sauce since it leaked all over my bag of supplies - I'll probably just sub in some more dark soy sauce until I can replenish. Wed Mar 05 12:08:21 -0800 2008 3462917 10985 MMRuth 5 3462966 Oh, no! Sorry about your spill. Alright, I'll just use all dark and not worry about it. Purists, forgive me. What about some pepper heat, will you add something if you use bell peppers? Wed Mar 05 12:13:52 -0800 2008 3462929 127625 fern 6 3462979 I'm thinking I'll try to find those cubanelles -- they are lighter green that green bell peppers, and seem to match the color in the photo. Not sure about the heat - don't have the book in front of me! Wed Mar 05 12:16:12 -0800 2008 3462966 10985 MMRuth 7 3463015 http://www.chileplants.com/search.asp?SearchMode=advanced&CategoryID=1&TypeID=43&SearchButton=Pressed This is useful in the Italian Frying Pepper category - I think the cubanelle might work. Wed Mar 05 12:22:13 -0800 2008 3462979 10985 MMRuth 5 3476131 I won't say I know about Chinese cooking, but in Korean cooking we often "lighten" soy sauce by cutting it with water. Depending on how light we cut it any where from 1:4 (water/soy sauce) to a straight 1:1 ratio. Sun Mar 09 17:55:11 -0700 2008 3462929 93805 hannaone 3 3463013 Italian frying peppers are definitely Cubanelles. Not within walking distance for you, but I know Fairway has them. And I'd be surprised if one of your local markets didn't have light soy sauce; most of mine do. Wed Mar 05 12:22:06 -0800 2008 3462774 11407 JoanN 4 3463024 Thanks - I'll check. I'd bought the Pearl River brand for the first time and really liked it. I do think my local market has Cubanelles, and thanks for the confirmation. Wed Mar 05 12:24:04 -0800 2008 3463013 10985 MMRuth 5 3464779 I really like the Pearl River brand as well. I just bought it by grabbing one of the containers. Re: jalapenos: At this time of the year, they're very bland. They have hardly any flavor at all. That's been my experience anyway. My Spanish teacher said he always asked if the jalapenos were picante o blando. Of course, if there's nobody to ask you can't exactly take a bite of one to check it out. Wed Mar 05 21:46:06 -0800 2008 3463024 10245 oakjoan 6 3464988 P.S., probably too late for MMRuth, but the fresh red peppers I used that I don't think worked super well in the Beef with Cumin dish were habaneros. ~TDQ Thu Mar 06 03:30:02 -0800 2008 3464779 12005 The Dairy Queen 7 3464991 Oh dear - no wonder!! Thu Mar 06 03:37:36 -0800 2008 3464988 10985 MMRuth 7 3476040 holy cow. make jerk sauce if you have any left! (I just had the best meal where the roasted jerk lamb was simmered in jerk gravy with a couple slices of raw tomato and a whole sliced up hab. deee.vine.) I also use habs in a shiso miso chile stirfry, but I wouldn't use it in Chinese cooking. Sun Mar 09 17:19:36 -0700 2008 3464988 11989 pitu 2 3475113 I made this Beef with Cumin on Friday night for dinner - loved it. The meat (sirloin) was still nice and pink inside and tender. I think, however, that I didn't slice it correctly - my slices weren't thin, but more like 1.5 by 1.25 "cubes"! Oops. Back to remedial instruction reading for me at the front of the book! It was very spicy/hot though - no red chilis, so I used a jalapeno (too strong, and some diced red pepper (for color). I also think that my ginger might be quite strong. I think I used 2 tsp of the pepper flakes. I used my dutch oven for this and had a lot less mess than I did before. Used my candy thermometer to take the temp. One of my favorites so far. Served this with white rice and the stir-fried mixed mushrooms on p. 211. PS - TDQ - did you not use the 1.75 cups of peanut oil to fry the beef - and then the 3 T of oil to stir fry? Sun Mar 09 10:57:56 -0700 2008 3453860 10985 MMRuth 3 3476083 Wow--how did I get that so incredibly wrong--I think I was trying to summarize too many recipes at one time. According to my notes, I used 1/2 tsp of sesame oil and 2 tsp of peanut oil.. I'll see if I can't have my other post edited so no one gets misled. Thank you for pointing that out! ~TDQ Sun Mar 09 17:35:49 -0700 2008 3475113 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 4100451 I made this last night and it was super-yummy. I used cayenne chillis (the long thin ones you get in every Asian grocer over here but I don't think are that common in the States) and three tsp of chilli flakes. I braved the deep-frying and found it surprisingly easy in the wok. My Chinese-Malaysian friend who came to dinner was very impressed - she said my technique was better than hers (I am so proud - she was also very complimentary about my very well-seasoned and sturdy wok)! This had a nice kick to it and was very economical as I used braising steak, like she suggested. I'd definitely make this again. Mon Oct 13 04:22:22 -0700 2008 3475113 110146 greedygirl 2 4591403 My turn on the Beef with Cumin. I'm reading Dunlop's memoirs of living in China, and was inspired to cook something from her books. I'd gotten this for Christmas and hadn't had a chance to cook from it yet, and since she said this was one of her favorites, I figured I'd go for it. We loved it. I used top sirloin (I know nothing about meat, but she said this was a fine kind to use) and I did find it a little more chewy than I'd have liked, but then again, I rarely eat red meat and tend to always find it chewier than I'd like - so the fault lies with me. The flavors were perfect. I really really loved it (chew aside). Used much, much less oil than called for, no problems. Couldn't find red chiles so used serranos. Served it with her Stir-Fried Peppers with Black Beans and Garlic - also a big hit. Mon Apr 13 09:53:31 -0700 2009 3453860 56762 LulusMom 3 4591527 ;-) I love when these old threads come up. I'm about to re-read her memoir because I will be in Chengdu for about 4 days and then over to Hangzhou. I want to see where she liked to eat when she lived in SiChuan Province. Mon Apr 13 10:29:15 -0700 2009 4591403 10214 beetlebug 4 4593947 Haven't been to Chengdu but you will love Hangzhou, what a wonderful city. The food is f abulous (and will make a nice contrast to Chengdu Sichuan food). Nothing quite like eating Xihu cuyu (West Lake vinegar fish) with a view of the lake! Tue Apr 14 06:43:10 -0700 2009 4591527 13709 buttertart 3 4592310 @ LulusMom: That photo is making this carnivore drool on my keyboard. I had a lamb with cumin at a Manchurian restaurant in Flushing a couple of weeks ago that I'm still dreaming about. That dish had toasted, whole cumin seeds in it. But I think I'd better try this as written first before I start playing with it. @ beetlebug: Sounds like a wonderful trip. You'll tell us about it, won't you, so we can do the vicarious thing? Mon Apr 13 13:56:13 -0700 2009 4591403 11407 JoanN 4 4594192 @ JoanN - reports will start appearing on the China board in about three- four weeks. In about four -five weeks look for reports on the Greater Asia board (will be biking and eating through Cambodia.) @buttertart - Really looking forward to Hangzhou, esp after Dunlop's description of the food in her memoir and the New Yorker article. I really want the pork belly as well. Tue Apr 14 07:55:27 -0700 2009 4592310 10214 beetlebug 1 3460786 LOP pg 105, Beef Slivers with "water bamboo" We liked this recipe a lot, although, as usual, I made a few modifications. I used regular chicken stock (instead of Dunlop's everyday stock) and only 1 tsp of peanut oil (instead of the 1 cup the recipe called for.) Also, instead of learning from oakjoan's "beef sliver" experience, I think I more or less repeated her mistake. (Let's just say it was a very stressful evening and I was afraid to slice the beef any smaller because I was so distracted --not by the cooking of course, other things going on in life--that I was worried I might slice a finger off if I messed around with the knife a lot more.) I wish there were a photo in LOP somewhere of one of the beef sliver dishes so we could get a perspective on how thin these slivers really are supposed to be. I will also say that when I cut the peanut oil way way back as I have been doing with these stir fries, things definitely do stick to my pan, which I just deal with. I guess it kind of deglazed when I added the chicken stock--I'm not sure if that changes the flavors from what Dunlop intended, but, the food still tastes great. Oh, and I wasn't sure I was supposed to, but I noticed the bamboo shoots I bought were brined, so, learning from my way-too-salty dan dan noodle and green bean disasters (where I neglected to rinse the pickled vegetable) I went ahead and rinsed them. Just to be safe. We liked this recipe, too, though I'm still uncertain as to sure how slivery the beef slivers should be. Not as much as we loved the ma po tofu, still our favorite, but a nice balance of flavors. We served it over buckwheat noodles and with a side dish of "red bell pepper with sesame oil" from page 157 of LOP, which I posted about in the vegetable thread. Photos: #1 Ingredients [edited to remove text describing the photos that didn't post] ~TDQ Tue Mar 04 19:27:18 -0800 2008 3448884 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 3460803 Hmmm...only the first photo posted...Trying again. #1 The final product (still steaming, ever so slightly) #2 With the red bell peppers (oh, it's sideways, sorry) ~TDQ Tue Mar 04 19:31:49 -0800 2008 3460786 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3462154 I urge everyone to try Pork in Lychee Suace with Crispy Rice, page 198, Land of Plenty. It was terrific! We followed the instructions, using Thai pickled chiles (my new favorite ingredient), fresh bamboo shoots, which are so very different than canned ones, and cornstarch rather than potato starch. I want to acquire some potato starch to see if there is much difference. The dish had a complexity in flavors and textures we weren't expecting. We had some simple dumplings to start, fried green beans with preserved vegetables and stir fried water spinach with chile and sichuan pepper. It was a great meal. Wed Mar 05 09:21:04 -0800 2008 3460803 12658 zataar 4 3466938 Wow, does sound like a great meal. I may have to copy you. Thu Mar 06 13:22:26 -0800 2008 3462154 10271 Rubee 5 3467409 We also had lots of rice The dumplings weren't from Land of Plenty, but from a dim sum book. We made a bunch and put them in freezer. Quite convenient. The rest of the meal was LOP. Water spinach cooks down like any other green. Buy twice as much as you think you need! Thu Mar 06 15:17:38 -0800 2008 3466938 12658 zataar 6 3467444 Thanks for the tips! Thu Mar 06 15:27:41 -0800 2008 3467409 10271 Rubee 4 3553193 Pork in Lychee Sauce with Crispy Rice (p. 198, LOP) Thanks to zataar's rec, I made this dish last night. I had planned a similar menu to zataar's - potsticker dumplings to start, and to serve with dry-fried green beans and stir-fried water spinach but ran out of time. The dish itself, however, served over the crispy rice cakes was filling. I'd love to make this with fresh bamboo shoots but used canned (which I blanched and rinsed as she suggests). The combination of flavors was very unique and I loved the texture of the crispy/chewy rice cakes as they soaked up the thick and flavorful sauce. Pork is marinated briefly in rice wine, soy and salt. Other ingredients were bamboo shoots, scallions, garlic, ginger, pickled chili, baby bok choy, and reconstituted dried Chinese mushrooms (I used sliced Shitakes). For the sauce - chicken stock, sugar, light soy, salt, potato flour and water, black vinegar, and sesame oil. Lots of ingredients, which was why the flavor profile was so complex. There were many steps too, so try to do as many ahead as you can. For example, I cooked the rice, let it cool, and dried it in the oven a day ahead, and then broke it into chunks and fried it for the recipe. Wed Apr 02 10:13:41 -0700 2008 3462154 10271 Rubee 5 3553471 Rubee, how did you like those sliced shitakes? I've looked at them in the store and wondered. I've only ever used the kind that are whole and then you soak them and slice them up. That usually makes matchstick-like slices, but your photo looks like they are tall slices. Your final dish photo looks yummy, with so much texture and contrast! That's part of what I love about Chinese food, how there is color, crunch, size of pieces, texture, flavor balance, silkiness. Wed Apr 02 11:16:05 -0700 2008 3553193 166172 saltwater 6 3553516 I actually really liked the sliced shitakes - my first time using these too. This particular package was very high quality and had no broken pieces because they were packed on a plastic tray within the bag. I'm glad I took the pic so I can remember to buy this brand again. Wed Apr 02 11:24:15 -0700 2008 3553471 10271 Rubee 5 3553799 Rubee: I don't think I've seen a better photo of a finished dish! Looks fantastic. Will try. Wed Apr 02 12:23:21 -0700 2008 3553193 10245 oakjoan 6 3554094 Thanks oakjoan! The colorful ingredients really made the dish look good. Wed Apr 02 13:17:04 -0700 2008 3553799 10271 Rubee 2 3464783 Ooh, Dairy Q, I served my beef "slivers" over buckwheat noodles as well and it was a great combo. Wed Mar 05 21:48:26 -0800 2008 3460786 10245 oakjoan 3 3464980 Yes, you inspired me~ They were lovely, indeed. Although, I'll say, I didn't think the buckwheat noodles held up well for leftovers the next day. But, first time out, they were nice. ~TDQ Thu Mar 06 03:11:43 -0800 2008 3464783 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 3466859 "I wish there were a photo in LOP somewhere of one of the beef sliver dishes so we could get a perspective on how thin these slivers really are supposed to be." No pics of beef dishes, but on page 131 in LOP is a picture of a dish with 'slivers' using pork. You guys are making me so hungry, I can't wait to hit the Asian market tomorrow and join in the fun. Actually, I didn't want to wait and last night saw that I already had some ingredients in the pantry (Sichuan peppercorns, dried chili peppers, black vinegar, chili oil, bean-thread noodles, sambal oelek). I looked through the book to see what I could make and then realized I didn't have everyday ingredients like soy sauce or ginger - feh. Thanks for all the great reports everyone, this is going to be a fun month! Here in Phoenix there is an Asian super-store called Super L Ranch Market at the Chinese Cultural Center - can't wait to check it out for the first time. Thu Mar 06 13:03:09 -0800 2008 3460786 10271 Rubee 1 3465009 Farmhouse Stir-fried Pork with Green Peppers (Hunan, p. 85) I made this with cubanelle peppers. Again, I had some difficulty with her slicing instructions, and ended up with pieces much larger than one could nicely eat with chop sticks. I did slice the peppers in half lengthwise first. Other than that - quick and easy. I did do the potato flour/everyday stock bit - and, since I needed some stock for the tofu dish, I again heated up some chicken stock, added some scallions and ginger, as well as some leftover bits of uncooked bacon, and simmered. I did think the dish could have used a little more kick to it - maybe salt, or some dried chilis. I'll probably use the leftovers on top of some Hunanese Soup Noodles tonight - maybe adding some steamed greens. Also, though some of the shine is from the potato flour, I thought this dish could actually have been made with a little less oil. I served this with brown rice, roasted peppers with preserved duck eggs, and home style bean curd. Thu Mar 06 04:10:44 -0800 2008 3448884 10985 MMRuth 1 3476126 Fish Fragrant Pork Slivers LOP p196 I decided that this dish was probably the one I've had at a Hunanese restaurant from time to time, so I wanted to try it. As you can see from the ingredients photo, I used a package of wood ears that had already been cut up. I reconstituted them in the standard way. They needed to be pulled apart a bit before use. They ended up being slightly finer than I would have liked. Their color was felt, but their texture was not quite as crunchy as when I've used them and sliced them by hand. I chickened out on the amount of pickled chiles that it called for. Two tablespoons worried me, so I used one and a half T. I should not have done this. It was not too hot. Where all the heat went, I don't know. My sambal oelek is fresh. It vaporized quite a bit when it hit the oil though, and caused some coughing. Can chile heat disappear as it goes up in smoke? I had been a bit worried about those pork chops and how tender the meat would be, but it was very tender. I had trouble keeping to the 1/8 inch that she requested. My hands got tired. Perhaps I should have started out wider so that the meat would have been even, instead of progressively widening as I got tired. I tossed the rib bones in the freezer for later use in stock. That little dish there contains an ice cube of my own chicken stock. I used that option instead of the water option. I worried about the amount of cornstarch called for by the recipe. The marinade was lighter in color than I am used to. The pork became a cohesive mass by the time I was ready to cook it. I didn't get the browning on the meat that I am used to, but I don't know if that is related. Just how separated is "separated" when she asks you to stop cooking the meat once it starts to separate? I would have cooked it a bit longer before moving it to the side. It was a very easy and quick stir fry once the ingredients were in line. In and out in a flash. We enjoyed the dish. It had less richness than the one I've had in the restaurant. It's been too long since I've eaten there to be more specific. Perhaps I under-salted the dish. I very thinly sliced those scallions as requested and so they disappeared into the dish. I had expected them to be more garnish like, but the green disappeared. I can see maybe one piece that I cut poorly in my photo. She had me add them and then toss and then turn out the dish. They would perhaps be visible if I had turned the dish out and then added them, but maybe it was just the residual heat that killed them. Sun Mar 09 17:52:55 -0700 2008 3448884 166172 saltwater 2 3476962 Dunlop doesn't mention it, as far as I know, but it might be easier to get the thin slices by popping the meat in the freezer for 15 minutes or so before slicing it. Looks great to me though. I know what you mean about "separated" - seems to me that meat separates pretty quickly, so I do cook it a little longer after that. Mon Mar 10 04:12:42 -0700 2008 3476126 10985 MMRuth 3 3478074 You are right. I've seen that advice for slicing a thin slice, but I've found that I can do that just fine without waiting for the freezer. It would have helped here, with the slivers. Mon Mar 10 10:34:19 -0700 2008 3476962 166172 saltwater 2 3480098 saltwater, I tried the fish-fragrant pork slivers from pg 197 of LOP tonight and, funnily enough, it looks quite different from yours, mostly because I used celery (Dunlops recommended substitution for bamboo shoots). Like you, I used wood ear mushrooms (which I accidentally bought instead of cloud ear, which I haven't been able to find on subsequent trips anyway). I used 2 tsp of peanut oil (instead of step 4 calls for, which is 1/4 cup). Everything turned out just fine, I thought, and it was lovely over wild rice. I served this with the green beans, which I will talk about in the bean curds and vegetables thread. In these stir fry recipes, I find the pork to fare the best when I've reduced the oil significantly as I have been doing, then beef. Chicken and noodles are the most difficult. Vegetables fare pretty well, too. MMRuth, thank you for the suggestion of popping the pork in the freezer for 15 mins before slicing it--I think it did help me to slice it thinner, though, I don't think I have achieved perfection yet in my "slivering." ~TDQ Mon Mar 10 20:00:02 -0700 2008 3476126 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3480359 Ah, wild rice. That is a good idea. I did not feel that jasmine was the ideal pairing when we ate ours. Your picture has the green that I was missing in mine. I like color in my food. Mon Mar 10 21:47:56 -0700 2008 3480098 166172 saltwater 4 3480650 Wild rice is a "core" food on Weight Watchers, which means I don't have to weigh, measure or count it to stay on plan. Whole wheat pasta and brown rice are also "core" but are limited to only one meal per day, which makes it harder to use up my leftovers. I also count 100% buckwheat soba noodles as core (I'm sure they are core, but I don't know if they are "limited" or not--I pretend they are unlimited, which has been working for me.) Yes, I thought it was funny how different our dishes looked in the photos--all because I used celery and you did not. I wished I had the bamboo shoots, though, from an authenticity perspective! P.S. My poor husband also needs a pre-dinner snack lately. He's an extraordinarily patient person, for which I am especially grateful right now. ~TDQ Tue Mar 11 04:50:37 -0700 2008 3480359 12005 The Dairy Queen 5 3483055 I see, the plan is keeping you high fiber (low glycemic index). I wonder, can you sub out farro or barley or bulgur for the rice? Barley has actual fiber in it and a low glycemic index number. I suppose you like buckwheat, though. I'm glad you found something you can eat happily. It is hard trying to eat as you need to for health and feed other people. I don't manage that at all, even though my husband is patient, like yours. Often he eats a post-dinner snack. :-) Tue Mar 11 15:01:03 -0700 2008 3480650 166172 saltwater 6 3483080 Farro and barley and bulgar would all be "on plan" for me. I have some farro in the cupboard--do you think that would fit the Dunlop recipes? (I've never made farro before! I've only had it in cheese-y dishes before!) ~TDQ Tue Mar 11 15:09:31 -0700 2008 3483055 12005 The Dairy Queen 7 3483425 I think that farro looks enough like rice in shape and size that it could work. I'm not sure how sweet tasting it is, though. Barley has the flaw of being noticeably sweet, which often doesn't work with certain things. You see, I eat wheat berries, and farro is a type of wheat. The flavor of wheat berries could plausibly coexist with certain dishes, if it were toned down by being pearled (that box of farro you have is probably pearled). I don't eat farro, though, so I can't give you a for sure answer. I'd give it a try. I mentioned it because you said you had a little trouble using up leftovers. Wheat berries, and the like can all be frozen once you cook them, so you can cook extra if you like it and then pull a serving out of the freezer for an easy meal. What a long winded way to say, I don't know, give it a try! Tue Mar 11 17:00:11 -0700 2008 3483080 166172 saltwater 8 3531176 Made this with chicken. I used half sambal oelek and half hunan salted chilis with very good results Wed Mar 26 17:22:45 -0700 2008 3483425 20276 wew 1 3479786 Twice-Cooked Pork (LOP page194) Finally. A recipe I didn’t like at all. And I can’t figure out whether it was me, the recipe, or the instructions—which I followed as written as best I could given the lack of detail—so I have no idea how to “fix” it. I even bought my pork belly in Chinatown, where I also managed to score Chinese leeks (much thinner and longer than what I’m used to). I thought both would work in my favor. Evidently not. The “twice-cooked” part is because you simmer the pork belly first, then chill, slice, and stir fry it. Dunlop has you simmer the meat for 25 to 30 minutes. (A recipe I tried a number of years ago—and recall liking—calls for simmering for 3 minutes. Go figure.) Then you stir fry the meat “until the fat is rendered out and they are toasty.” But about how long might that be? And just what does “toasty” mean? Anyway, I think I cooked it too long. The meat was beyond chewy and the bits of skin were hard instead of crisp. The finished dish was also too salty for my taste even though I added no additional salt as she suggests might be necessary. I should probably go on the record as saying I have no problem at all eating fried pork fat, or chiccarones for that matter, so that wasn’t the issue here even though I’m sure it might be for many. This just wasn’t well flavored or textured. At least, not the way I made it. A really disappointing waste of calories. Mon Mar 10 18:01:23 -0700 2008 3448884 11407 JoanN 2 3480068 JoanN, I , too sometimes find Dunlop's instructions mystifying, the most common of which is "until it smells fragrant" or, "until it smells wonderful" or, in today's recipe, until the pork "separates." Most of the time, it's worked out okay, but I can see why until "toasty" might be confusing. I wish she'd also give an approximate time frame so that you know whether "toasty" is likely to be achieved in just a few minutes or more like ten minutes. Brava for hunting down the leeks! ~TDQ Mon Mar 10 19:49:46 -0700 2008 3479786 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3480394 I made three dishes tonight. The veg. I posted on the veg. thread. It was the Stir-Fried Peppers with Black Beans and Garlic. MMRuth already made them and discussed, so I just gave a short report. I made Yueyang BBQ Lamb Chops, although, since I had some lamb riblets, a cut that used to be really cheap and is now almost as much as regular lamb chops, I decided to marinate them using the marinade for the lamb chops. They were absolutely wonderful. The marinade is soy sauce, sweet bean sauce (I didn't have any and so added a bit of sugar to my bean sauce), Shaoxing wine, a tiny bit of 5-Spice powder. It was optional to add a bit of salt, but I didn't. I marinated them for about an hour. Instead of cooking them on top of the stove, I barbecued them outside in honor of daylight savings. It also has been quite warm (high 60's) the past couple of days and I was celebrating the approach of Spring. Furthermore, my stove was being taken up by the pepper stir fry and the noodles. I just realized that I forgot to sprinkle the ground cumin on the chops even though I ground it specially. Rats! That sounded wonderful to me. After they're cooked, she says to also sprinkle with a bit of sesame oil and scatter with coriander leaves. I did that. Both of us absolutely loved these ribs, and I'm sure the marinade would also be fantastic on lamb chops. This one is a keeper. Next I made Yueyang Hot-Dry Noodles (from the Appetizers and Street Food Section and I'll post that in the appropriate thread.) In case you didn't read my post about the stir fried peppers on the Veg thread, I'll post my full plate photo here, too. Mon Mar 10 22:16:03 -0700 2008 3480068 10245 oakjoan 4 3548473 Last night we made the Yuyang Barbecued Lamb Chops, Revolutionary Chinese, p. 109 Used shoulder chops, cooked them under the broiler and, channeling oakjoan, forgot the cumin!! Unfortunately, I left them lingering in the marinade for almost two hours (recipe asks for "at least 30 minutes") which turned out to be too long as the lamb tasted over-marinated. Despite that, though, it was easy to see how great this will be the next time. And next time will come sooner rather than later. Tue Apr 01 04:56:41 -0700 2008 3480394 10231 mirage 2 3556936 Joan, when properly prepared, this dish has a lot of unrendered fat in it. It's like eating undercooked bacon. That said, it can be really delicious. It may go against a grain for someone from our culture to eat such large pieces of unrendered fat though. I have not cooked this, but have had it several times at very good sichuan restaurants. Thu Apr 03 08:42:10 -0700 2008 3479786 18154 prunefeet 3 3557080 Thanks for your description of what this dish should be like. It's difficult to prepare something you've never tasted--or even seen--before and you're going on instructions alone. Especially when those instructions may be somewhat wanting. I've had pork belly in restaurants where I just eat around the fat, and I must say that I really don't have a problem with lots of fat in a dish--as long as it's on rare occasions. But her instructions specifically called for stir-frying “until the fat is rendered out and they are toasty,” and that was what I attempted to do. Perhaps sometime, if I have the opportunity, I'll try it in a restaurant and will have a better idea of what I should be aiming for. Thu Apr 03 09:15:47 -0700 2008 3556936 11407 JoanN 1 3480392 Boiled Beef Slices in a Fiery Sauce LOP (226-228) Here in the Boston area we have a great Sichuan restaurant called Fuloon. They call this dish simply Steamed Beef. FD quips that this seemingly innocuous sounding dish is anything but. This dish to me is like crack, I refer to it as "face melting hot" and I have been known to eat it for breakfast (OK, usually when I'm hung over because it cuts straight through the fog). What attracts me to this dish is not only the searing heat, but the incredible depth of rich flavor behind the heat. Mix that with very tender beef, and the nice cool crunch of the celery, accompanied with a nice bowl of rice, this could be my "Desert Island Dish". For my first attempt, I'd rate my success as not too shabby. This dish took a long time to prep properly. MMRuth clued me in to the trick of lining up all the ingredients in cooking order and I can't even begin to tell you how helpful that has been, so what if I have to run the dishwasher after every meal ;). As I have referenced in some other threads, I use a smaller than standard wok, and this is starting to bite me in the butt, so eventually I will have to get a standard sized wok, no idea where I'll keep it, hopefully the wife won't get too upset if I stash it in the dryer between uses. Freezing the beef (Flank steak as recommended) for about 45 minutes was helpful to slice on the bias, across the grain, in uniform thickness. This time the beef suffered due to overcrowding which caused a long cooking time and as a result it became tough, but not unbearably so. The final step of this recipe is to heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil until smoking and then pour it over the dish which causes it to sizzle as you bring it to the table. They do this at Fuloon, and it is impressive, but I didn't require the pomp and circumstance for myself. My wife's comment of "What are you eating? Ass?" was all the validation that I needed to know that I came close enough to Fuloon's Steamed Beef. So, where did I come up short between my version and Fuloon's? -Need to suck it up and get a "real" wok -Need to at least double the dried chilis (Facing Heaven) and Sichuan peppercorns -Chili oil, chili oil, chili oil. Pictures below, mine vs. Fuloon's Mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/food4thought/2322318327/in/photostream/ Fuloon's Steamed Beef: http://fuloon-restaurant.com/images/ShuiZhuNiu_big.jpg Mon Mar 10 22:12:33 -0700 2008 3448884 17937 Food4Thought 2 3480445 Wow - impressive. Looks delicious; I've had my eye on that recipe too. Haven't had Fuloon's steamed beef but the steamed beef with cabbage at Sichuan Garden is good too. Sichuan Garden (9Lives' pic): http://flickr.com/photos/61246842@N00/416048526/in/set-72157600189518085/ Mon Mar 10 22:52:54 -0700 2008 3480392 10271 Rubee 3 3480657 Indeed SG's Steamed Beef w/ Cabbage is one of my favorites as well, both are very similar in spirit. One of these days I need to do a side by side comparison (what a decadent little adventure that would be). Tue Mar 11 04:53:25 -0700 2008 3480445 17937 Food4Thought 2 3480634 That looks great - as does everyone's food from last night. My husband is travelling so I'm on cooking hiatus - plus he also said he needed a little break from Chinese food! Tue Mar 11 04:39:03 -0700 2008 3480392 10985 MMRuth 3 3480658 I agree--some really lovely dishes tonight. I've curious about the lamb dishes and that steamed beef looks quite interesting. I needed to take a break from Chinese cooking this past weekend because I had some other things I needed to focus on, so I brought home NY strip, fingerling potatoes, and some gorgeous greens from the grocery store. My husband has never been so happy to see a grocery bag in his life! And he very cheerfully cooked dinner, too. ~TDQ Tue Mar 11 04:56:10 -0700 2008 3480634 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 3528936 Boiled Beef Slices in Fiery Sauce (LOP, pg.226) Wow, was this good. It’s not even one of my favorite dishes when I go to a Sichuan restaurant. But, it is one of C’s faves, so I decided to be nice and make this for him. The recipe made this sound more labor intensive then it was. I found that if I prepped the celery and beef ahead of time, it made this dish much more manageable. The recipe called for one head of celery to be trimmed and cut into match stick sized pieces. Mine were a bit bigger since I spent more time cutting the beef into thin slices. Slice the beef into thin slices and add some shaoxing wine and salt to the mix. The dried chilis (break these in half and lose the seeds first) and whole Sichuan peppercorn are stir fried until fragrant and browned. I used a little less oil, but not much since the veggies were going in as well. The peppers are then removed and chopped. I found this step to be the most cumbersome. The dried peppers were extremely crispy and even a light touch with the knife caused the chilis to fly everywhere. Next time, I’m using the mortar and pestle. There is still oil in the wok and I stir fried the celery sticks and scallion pieces. I then poured these into the serving bowl. Next, add chili bean paste and briefly stir fry. Add stock, dark soy and bring this to a boil. Meanwhile, add a corn starch/water mixture to the sliced beef. It’s a 6T corn starch to 6T of water. I think this is a bit high, but the end result did not lead to a gloppy mess. Pour the beef/cornstarch into the broth and slowly separate the pieces. The beef cooked fairly quickly and I like mine slightly red. So, I poured it into the celery bowl and added the chopped pepper to the mix. I did heat up an additional tablespoon of oil the pour to the top and it did sizzle. Kind of neat. The beef was remarkably tender and the broth was tasty. I think napa cabbage would be better than celery but that’s a personal preference. The celery, on its own, was also delicious. The chili and peppercorns had infused the oil so the celery had a nice bit to it. The recipe is a keeper and I also think that it could taste really good with noodles. Wed Mar 26 07:20:06 -0700 2008 3480392 10214 beetlebug 3 3529762 Your post is enough to encourage me to try this one. The problem is I have to return them to the library. Boo hoo! I'm going to see what I can do... Wed Mar 26 10:44:02 -0700 2008 3528936 166172 saltwater 4 3530775 saltwater: Maybe we could interest some charitable organization to take pity on us, make us a project and buy us ALL copies of both books. I am totally in love with these books and will post a discussion of the books and experience of this month's cooking soon. Chinese food I've prepared in the past has NEVER been this good....except for my seaweed soup. Wed Mar 26 15:00:06 -0700 2008 3529762 10245 oakjoan 5 3531747 LOL! Now all we need is the right kind of name to inspire others to be charitable. Something with "impoverished" in the title would be good. I completely agree with you about finding this set of Chinese recipes to be particularly delicious. I've had authentic ingredients before, too, so that is not the whole story there. I am quite interested in our summation thread. Wed Mar 26 20:51:55 -0700 2008 3530775 166172 saltwater 4 3530814 I finally broke down and bought LOP and am typing into my database as quickly as I can before my books need to be returned all the recipes from RCC that got positive reviews. I think that for this thread, probably more than any other COTM, a summmation of what we loved and what we didn't from each book would be a terrific resourse. Wed Mar 26 15:10:56 -0700 2008 3529762 11407 JoanN 5 3531733 Be sure in the summation thread to detail why you picked to buy LOP over the other. I'd find that interesting. I've been mulling over which I prefer, and I've leaned towards LOP, but I'm not sure why. Wed Mar 26 20:46:59 -0700 2008 3530814 166172 saltwater 6 3532108 Revolutionary Chinese is an official nominee for a James Beard award. http://www.jbfawards.com/content/2008-nominees#books Thu Mar 27 04:31:07 -0700 2008 3531733 33755 NYchowcook 3 3714313 I made this last night with some changes and had some total space shot moments. It didn't turn out as well because of my fairly major mistakes but I liked my planned changes. My planned change was the veggie. I wasn't keen on the whole head of celery as the vegetable, although I could see the appeal of the crunch. I used a very small head of napa cabbage instead. This was an excellent change but C said next time, I should use part napa and part celery. I may take that into consideration. So, my mistakes. I can only use the following as excuses. I had a new friend over for dinner, I made 6 dishes from LOP and we were talking and drinking. I had prepped everything ahead of time, including cutting up the beef and napa as well as stir frying and chopping the hot peppers and sichuan peppercorns. I decided to be really on the ball and stir fry the napa and this way it would be easier to time the other courses. So, I did that and forgot to throw in the scallions. I didn't realize this until the end of the night when I found my packet of cut up scallions. Anyway, I started cooking up the other courses (dumplings, salt fried pork, cabbage, dry fried chicken, ma po tofu), saving this one to the end because it's a quick recipe. I had the recipe open and walked away. Came back and read the directions and mild panic. NOTE: Don't do this because it's a mistake but I want to share it. Recipe said to dry fry the beef and it would take 10 minutes for the water to come out. Panic ensues, timing is now off. I throw the beef on and begin to madly stir fry. Then the light bulb goes off. Why does the beef have to be dry? How could I be so off in my timing? I take another look and lo and behold, the page had turned and I was looking at a different recipe. Now, a different panic set in because I had partially cooked the beef already. Swear words come out. I try and salvage it by adding the corn starch mixture to the partially cooked beef. Adding the stock, bringing it to a boil, etc. But, it did come out gloppier than before because of my mistake and the meat was a bit overcooked. I was so mad because of all the prep work going into this dish and to have it come out the way it did. Don’t get me wrong, the flavors were still delicious. It just wasn’t as good as last time and it should have been better because of the napa cabbage substitution. Fri May 23 06:45:54 -0700 2008 3528936 10214 beetlebug 4 3714514 I'm sorry to hear about this, but at the same time, I did have a little laugh - you described what has happend to me too many times so perfectly. Fri May 23 07:57:56 -0700 2008 3714313 56762 LulusMom 5 3714541 That happened to me several times with Dunlop too, actually, if that's any consolation. One time in particular with the dan dan noodles recipe that are back to back in the book--my husband read something from the start of the second recipe whereas I had intended for him to be reading the second page of the first recipe on the facing page. The problem is, so many of Dunlop's recipes call for many of the same ingredients, just in different proportions or used in different ways, so it's very easy to confuse the recipes. If you somehow get off track, it can take awhile to get back on track. This is one of those books where I very much agree with MMRuth's approach of photocopying your recipes ahead of time (assuming you own the book.) ~TDQ Fri May 23 08:05:51 -0700 2008 3714514 12005 The Dairy Queen 6 3715349 thanks LM and TDQ. The saddest part was that I had made this before and knew it was a fast recipe to put together. it just took awhile for the light bulb to go off. It just shows when reading takes over thinking. Fri May 23 11:53:31 -0700 2008 3714541 10214 beetlebug 3 4609511 Boiled Beef Slices in Fiery Sauce (shui zhu niu rou) - LOP, p 226 Another Dunlop recipe I'll be making a lot. For the beef, I used flap steak, and it turned out nice and tender. Celery and scallions are stir-fried in oil flavored with dried chilis and Szechuan peppercorns and then put in a serving bowl. The meat is cooked in a sauce of chili bean paste, chicken stock, and dark soy, thickened with potato flour and water. The meat and sauce is poured over the vegetables, and then garnished with the chopped fried chilis and peppercorns. Served over white rice, this was delicious. I thought it was plenty spicy when I tried the meat itself, but over the rice I thought it could use more heat, so I sprinkled on some aleppo pepper and drizzled with chili oil (p. 55). Sun Apr 19 15:13:59 -0700 2009 3528936 10271 Rubee 1 3485367 Red-braised Pork LOP pp. 208-209 With apologies to TDQ, this is not, and never could be, a "core-friendly" dish... I loves me some fresh pork belly and when I saw this recipe it was straight to the butcher to get some. This is a remarkably simple dish to make and tastes great to boot. Although, if the thought of braising a skin-on pork belly for three hours will cramp your style, I'd skip it. This is a dish that needs time in the pot. At first glance at the recipe I thought the author's suggestion for cutting the belly into 2-3 inch chunks seemed a little odd. In hindsight, I see why it is she and not me who wrote the book. The belly will render maybe 50% of its original size by the time it's done braising, so starting with something too small will leave you with bits and pieces instead of nice chunks to chew on. I recommend also keeping the suggestion to blanch the meat first, but I'd suggest a good five minute blanch instead of the "couple of minutes" that are suggested. The blanching softens the skin nicely prior to braising and leads to a more tender finished product. The recipe itself couldn't be simpler, there are only three steps: 1. Blanch the pork, prepare other ingredients. 2. Briefly stir fry the pork in a very hot dutch oven (briefly meaning 2-4 minutes tops) 3. Pour all other ingredients in your dutch oven, reduce the heat, partially cover, and wait... for about three hours. Give the pot a good stir about every half hour or so. The book says two hours, but I prefer this dish with about three hours of pot time. In three hours the liquid has reduced to a light syrup, much of the fat under the skin has rendered out, and the meat itself is fully infused with the sauce's flavors. Absolutely to die for. Sorry for the lack of photo, we ate it all before the idea to post came up. Next time... HuaGung Wed Mar 12 09:53:55 -0700 2008 3448884 114006 HuaGung 2 3485476 Wow--sounds delicious and not "core-able"--that's okay, I wont' be "core" forever... ~TDQ Wed Mar 12 10:20:43 -0700 2008 3485367 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 3485526 You do make that sound good. Since I wasn't particularly please with the way my twice-cooked pork turned out, and I still have some pork belly left, I think I'll give this a try. Thanks for the additional tips. Wed Mar 12 10:31:10 -0700 2008 3485367 11407 JoanN 2 3485540 You certainly make that dish sound incredible! I looked at the recipe for a few minutes before I decided that all that pork fat would not look good on my hips, because that's exactly where it would end up. On to chicken tonight.... Wed Mar 12 10:33:52 -0700 2008 3485367 75332 Gio 2 3485549 Thanks - I bought some pork belly over the weekend - will try this. And - don't forget to keep the blanching liquid to convert into broth (grin). Wed Mar 12 10:35:23 -0700 2008 3485367 10985 MMRuth 2 3485761 uhm HuaGung, what a job! MMRuth - where did you get your pork belly and what was the size, weight etc? Schatzie (you know him!) always tells me that he can only get the whole belly which weighs 6-8 lbs. Wed Mar 12 11:28:17 -0700 2008 3485367 148845 scoopG 3 3485771 I do know Schatzie well! I have two one lb slabs - bought at the meat market in Chinatown that JoanN recommended. That place was so inexpensive, and the meat looked v. nice. Also picked up some chicken feet and ground pork. I also liked the fish market next door - these are on Bayard, at Elizabeth. Citarella didn't have pork belly, btw. Wed Mar 12 11:30:10 -0700 2008 3485761 10985 MMRuth 3 3485820 Actually - if you feel like it - email me (email in profile - put CH in the re: line) - I have great, totally off topic, Schatzie stories. Wed Mar 12 11:41:04 -0700 2008 3485761 10985 MMRuth 2 3486156 I'm glad you posted this - this is what we are having for dinner tonight. I have just finished blanching the pork (and definitely did 5-6 minutes, accidentally - hey sometimes things work out!) I was planning for the two hour braise, so I had better run and get started now!!! Wed Mar 12 13:09:46 -0700 2008 3485367 10231 mirage 3 3487388 I'm hoping to make this for dinner tomorrow night - assuming that my husband is up for Chinese food again - he was getting a little tired of it, even though he's liked pretty much everything we've cooked so far! Wed Mar 12 19:59:05 -0700 2008 3486156 10985 MMRuth 3 3487994 Wound up braising for just under 3 hours. The first 1 1/2 or so hours with the top only partially on, the remaining time uncovered, and the liquid did not evaporate as much as I had thought it would, but no mind, this was very good. Thu Mar 13 04:57:57 -0700 2008 3486156 10231 mirage 4 3488646 I just realized that the recipe I was thinking of is from RCC - Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork! Thu Mar 13 08:51:30 -0700 2008 3487994 10985 MMRuth 5 3488685 They are similar but LOP's version start's the pork in the oil, has brown sugar, uses dark soy, and cooks longer - RCC's version caramelizes the white sugar, then adds the pork, uses light soy, red chiles and cinnamon/cassia. Will have to try the RCC version next time I buy pork belly, but I think I'll still like the longer cooking time. Thu Mar 13 09:02:54 -0700 2008 3488646 10231 mirage 6 3489347 Thanks - I'll report back after I make it tonight. Thu Mar 13 11:27:05 -0700 2008 3488685 10985 MMRuth 2 3488664 Do you think this is this recipe? Or something different? http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/515562 The RCC recipe for the Mao's Red Braised Pork only calls for simmering 40 to 50 minutes. Thu Mar 13 08:56:27 -0700 2008 3485367 10985 MMRuth 1 3488815 Pork Slivers with Yellow Chives (LOP, p. 216) I was running behind for dinner, and instead of putting the pork into the freezer to firm up a bit and slicing into neat slivers as I had planned, I did a thin slices/chunks. The pork is briefly marinated in salt, rice wine (haven't got this yet so used sherry), potato flour and water. It's then stir-fried in peanut oil, the chives are added, and then the sauce (light soy, black vinegar, salt, potato flour/starch, and chicken stock). I still haven't seasoned my new wok, and so used a Creuset braiser with sloped slides. Unfortunately, I misjudged the amount of chives. It was too small and when I added the chives, everything kind of 'steamed' so I ended up with a bit of a gloppy mess and overcooked chives. Flavors were nice though, and it's a simple, non-spicy stir-fry to serve with other more fiery dishes. I served this with white rice and the spicy "Fish Fragrant Bean Curd" (p. 316) on the bean curd thread. Thu Mar 13 09:30:10 -0700 2008 3448884 10271 Rubee 2 3506759 Pork Slivers with Yellow Chives (LOP, pg. 216) I made this last week. It’s pretty basic, nothing really to add to Rubee’s report. I did substitute flowering chives for the yellow chives. What I especially liked about this recipe is the marinade for the pork. The Shaoxing rice wine flavor completely infused the pork slivers and it balanced well with the chives themselves. Wed Mar 19 06:59:39 -0700 2008 3488815 10214 beetlebug 1 3491687 Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork, p. 78, RCC In some ways, this is the most disappointing dish for me so far, with some caveats. The aroma of the liquid was wonderful - ginger, star anise, dried chilis and cassia bark. However - the pork belly. First, I think I actually don't like pork belly - just not thrilled with all the gobs of fat. I might like it better with a crispy skin, and have another 1lb of it so will try a different preparation. Second - it just had this nasty grayish hue to it. I'm wondering about the directions. After blanching and cutting up the pork, I heated the sugar and oil. She then says to add the pork and wine, then water and the aromatics. Nothing about stir frying the pork to brown it, and if I were to make it again, which I probably won't, I'd do that. It seemed to take ages to reduce the broth, so I may have given up a bit early. The broth was very good, and I'm sure will be nice leftover today with the rice and snap pea leftovers. My husband, who loves pork belly, thought it was very bland, and kept adding the sauce leftover from the noodles to it. I do think it needed more salt, though no additional sugar. Since I didn't have the "lovely reddish gloss", I threw in some dark soy sauce, as she mentions most people do at home in the notes above. Not sure it did much. Fri Mar 14 05:33:36 -0700 2008 3448884 10985 MMRuth 2 3491707 Nice rice, MM. J/K. I don't think I could eat all that fat. In fact, I know I couldn't. Even though the two pork belly recipes were on my original list to try, they have been deleted after reading the recent reports. I guess I'm more of a vegetable kind of person, with a bit of chicken or fish on the side. I must say, your plated food looks wonderful. Fri Mar 14 05:45:02 -0700 2008 3491687 75332 Gio 3 3491711 Thanks - I actually said to my husband that I think I'd like this better with beef or chicken. P.S. "J/K"? Edit - oh, "just kidding"? Yes - v. fancy ;-). Thought it looked pretty in the blue bowl so took a photo!! Fri Mar 14 05:46:41 -0700 2008 3491707 10985 MMRuth 4 3491712 J/K = just kidding. Fri Mar 14 05:48:03 -0700 2008 3491711 75332 Gio 2 3491909 Very pretty, MMRuth,--but, as you say, not that "red" and glossy looking. Sorry to hear it didn't quite work out for you. Sometimes, I find that the dishes are better the next day than they are the first. I don't know if it's because my expectations have been re-set or because the flavors have melded more or what. ~TDQ Fri Mar 14 07:09:58 -0700 2008 3491687 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3491911 My husband ate all the pork belly - so that gone ;-) Just the broth left ... Fri Mar 14 07:10:36 -0700 2008 3491909 10985 MMRuth 2 3492156 Great report MMRuth, and the pictures are great, you do an awesome job with the ingredients, and I like how you have you and the others have put so much into this book of incredible recipes. I have to comment along with you about pork belly. For me, I find it sooooo rich used as the way in Dunlops recipe. I did enjoy it very much prepared at a Filipino BBQ. Marinated with star anise, garlic, scallions, ginger root, vinegar, soy sauce overnight, and grilled. DELICIOUS! Still very rich, but it made the fat taste great! A little goes a long way. Thanks for all your effort, I'm enjoying this so much!!! Fri Mar 14 08:19:12 -0700 2008 3491687 50431 chef chicklet 2 3530476 I think the trick to this dish is to really caramelize the sugar in the oil (until just about smoking) and then toss in your meat, etc. It will be quite brown when cooked. And I use trimmed pork shoulder, not being all that keen on pork belly. Wed Mar 26 13:39:49 -0700 2008 3491687 13709 buttertart 1 3499981 Ants Climbing a Tree (LOP p. 218) This has been the only disappointment from this book for me so far. There wasn't anything really wrong with it, it was just sort of dull, and really not at all spicy. Basically it is a little ground meat, soy sauce, chili bean paste in some stock with bean noodles. Made fish-fragrant eggplants with it, which were (thank goodness) wonderful, if very oily. Mon Mar 17 06:04:05 -0700 2008 3448884 56762 LulusMom 2 3516353 My experience was different. I found this to be one of the easiest to prepare dishes that I have tackled. One I could easily whip up on a busy weeknight. To your point, I do see how this dish can pale in comparison to other of FD's other recipes from a flavor profile perspective. Many of the dishes in this book rely on "everyday stock" and "chili bean paste" the latter of which there are so many varieties of ( I think FD specifically mentions a Lee Kum Kee brand Chili Bean Sauce (Toban Jian)). I am by no means an authority on this topic , but from what I understand of Asian brands, "Lee Kum Kee" is kinda like "Kraft" or "General Foods" in a mass produced sense. I added my "secret weapon" (see link below) which I think brought it up a few notches in complexity, depth and flavor. I also used ground pork from an Asian market which has a higher fat content (Weight Watcher points be damned) than "typical" supermarket ground pork. "Secret weapon" http://flickr.com/photos/food4thought/sets/72157604196122957/ Fri Mar 21 21:13:05 -0700 2008 3499981 17937 Food4Thought 3 3516690 Did you cut back on the oil when you made this dish? I’ve used extra fatty pork from a Chinatown butcher for two dishes. The first was for the Steamed Pork and Pumpkin Dumplings and the filling was so oil-laden I had to drain it before I could fill the dumpling wrappers. For the Pock-Marked Woman’s Bean Curd from RCC, I used 1 teaspoon instead of the three tablespoons of oil the recipe called for. I concluded, rightly or wrongly, that Dunlop tested the recipes using leaner pork and that’s what I’ve used subsequently, in the Dry-Fried Green Beans, for instance, with terrific results. Sat Mar 22 05:39:30 -0700 2008 3516353 11407 JoanN 4 3516748 Great question. What I find myself doing lately is preparing the LOP recipes with the recommended amount of oil/ fat for the first time in order to establish a baseline. Like others on this board I'm trying to be mindful of my intake. I do this because I have found that the (what I sometimes consider excessive) oil contributes the "mouth-feel" or less accurate "texture" of the dish. Pock-Marked Woman’s Bean Curd is an excellent example of where I felt the oil was mandatory, based upon trying to simulate excellent versions I've enjoyed at restaurants. In this case however I will most likely cut back on the peanut oil (2 Tblsp to cook the pork in) and rely mostly on the fat from the pork itself. You bring up another great point as well. It seems that most American supermarkets grade ground beef by % lean. Not the case for pork, turkey, veal, etc, so getting the proper fat content for the ground pork becomes a kind of crap shoot. Sat Mar 22 06:28:36 -0700 2008 3516690 17937 Food4Thought 3 3518043 I have that secret weapon - that's chili oil, right? I think, in part, the liberal use of it by my husband (adding it to things) has led to our temporary moratorium on Dunlop cooking, as the chilis bother his stomache (though it is his own damn fault). Tomorrow I'm going to go through RCC to identify less chili laden recipes that he might like! Sat Mar 22 15:59:02 -0700 2008 3516353 10985 MMRuth 2 3528942 Ants Climbing a Tree (LOP, pg. 219) This was ok. I didn't use as much oil when I stir fried the pork. But, I added additional chili oil to give it a bit more depth. I think it needs some Sichuan peppercorn for a bit more flavor as well. But, I love bean thread noodles so I’ll probably play around with this a little. Wed Mar 26 07:22:06 -0700 2008 3499981 10214 beetlebug 3 3565235 Ants Climbing on a Tree I thought this made a tasty lunch yesterday. I've found that anything I make using the chili bean paste turns out to be one of my favorites. I did, however, take into account everyone's reviews, so I increased the ground beef (6 oz instead of 4) and also increased the amount of chili bean paste. Instead of using everyday stock, I used homemade roasted chicken stock for more flavor. Also, I didn't have any scallion so used thinly sliced basil instead and, surprisingly, I really liked it in this dish. I took a pic but now have the dreaded "memory card error", so will post later if I can access it. Sat Apr 05 16:23:52 -0700 2008 3528942 10271 Rubee 4 3789279 Ants Climbing a Tree - ma yi shang shu (LOP, p 219) I took a pic since I made this again for lunch this week. I really like this dish with the texture of the the bean thread noodles, and it's easy to put together too. Having read everyone's reports, I find that it's better with extra chili bean paste. BTW, last night I stir-fried up a batch of ground beef for three different recipes - this portion with soy and chili bean paste, some with soy, chili bean paste, and black beans for ma po tofu, and a quadruple batch with soy, sichuan pepper, and dried chiles for dan dan noodles. What a timesaver - I work at home and it makes it so easy now to throw a nice lunch together (or quick dinner). Today I just soaked the bean-thread noodles for 15 minutes in very warm water, reheated the meat over high heat in a wok, and then added the noodles and chicken stock and let it absorb. Pic: Tue Jun 17 18:17:00 -0700 2008 3565235 10271 Rubee 5 3789884 Rubee what a fantastic idea--how many pounds of ground beef did you start with to end up with those proportions? Did you freeze the ground beef or do you just keep it in the fridge or what? We have a lot of ground beef (ground buffalo, actually) in our deep-freeze (long story, we buy direct from the guy who raises it)...so, I'm always looking for ways to use it up. ~TDQ Wed Jun 18 03:51:51 -0700 2008 3789279 12005 The Dairy Queen 6 3791985 It was about 3 lbs. I haven't tried freezing it, but will try it this time. I'll be sure to report back. PS - I wanted to add that the ants on a tree didn't heat up well as the noodles got a bit gluey. Still tasted good though! Wed Jun 18 14:11:28 -0700 2008 3789884 10271 Rubee 7 3792085 Excellent, thank you so much! And yes, please do report back on how the freezing works out. ~TDQ Wed Jun 18 14:41:36 -0700 2008 3791985 12005 The Dairy Queen 8 3792705 (Oops, sorry I just figured it out and it was about 2 lbs) Wed Jun 18 18:30:39 -0700 2008 3792085 10271 Rubee 4 4726296 This is another quick and easy favorite recipe that I make often for lunches during the week. I make a double batch of the broth mixture (using homemade chicken stock and extra chili broad-bean paste). When I want to prep lunch, I soak the amount of bean thread noodles for an individual serving (or I do a larger batch ahead of time, drain, and store in the refrigerator) while I heat the broth, and then add scallions and simmer the noodles until they are cooked and have soaked up lots of flavor. Today's lunch: Fri May 29 15:31:27 -0700 2009 3565235 10271 Rubee 1 3506765 Pork Slivers with Preserved Mustard Tuber (LOP, pg. 213) Another basic stir fry recipe. I had opened the package of mustard tubers for the dun dun noodles. So, I decided to finish the package for this dish. I did rinse the tubers because I didn’t want it to interfere with the delicate marinate of the pork slivers ((corn starch, water and Shaoxing wine). But, my package of tubers were spicy flavored and it did bum me out to rinse the spice off. Nevertheless, this is a quick and easy dinner. I served this with stir fried cabbage (LOP pg. 298) and dry fried eggplant (LOP, pg. 300) I probably used less than 1T for the stir fry portion and it was fine. I did incorporate 2 teaspoons of oil in with the meat (per the directions). Wed Mar 19 07:01:05 -0700 2008 3448884 10214 beetlebug 2 3507837 I just tried this dish myself, and I don't really have much to say in addition to your report. You followed her directions better on the scallion prep, so it is interesting to see your picture. I, too, was bummed to rinse off the seasonings from the mustard tuber. I found the dish a delicate counterpoint to some of the other dishes that I have been making from Dunlop. It would be easier to serve this dish to some of my friends who don't like so much heat. I also incorporated the 2 t of oil, and I felt it was probably helping to separate the pork slivers. I'd definitely make it again, but I would also like to try a dish that has non-rinsed zha cai. Wed Mar 19 11:31:13 -0700 2008 3506765 166172 saltwater 3 3529781 I tried this dish again without rinsing off the mustard. It didn't make much difference, but then, I messed up a different part of the recipe. I was reading along and my eyes skipped to the next page and I put sugar in the sauce, from the next recipe. I didn't figure it out until I had made the dish. So, I'm not sure what would have happened if I had done it correctly all round. Anyway, I am sure the type of zha cai I bought can be used without rinsing. But as you can see from my photos above, I got mine in a package and already slivered. Wed Mar 26 10:48:25 -0700 2008 3507837 166172 saltwater 2 3533278 Pork Slivers with Preserved Mustard Tuber (LOP, p. 213) I know I didn't use the right preserved mustard tuber since she mentions that it's fermented with ground chiles and Sichuan peppers, but the only similar mustard I could find was a package of pickled mustard . Either way, I liked the flavor and texture of the pickled mustard with the pork - sour with a slightly crisp bite to it. Thu Mar 27 10:23:19 -0700 2008 3506765 10271 Rubee 3 3541396 I got that pickled mustard as well and used it in the steamed eggplant recipe. I also liked the flavor and texture, but am curious about what the "real" item would taste like. Sat Mar 29 16:23:36 -0700 2008 3533278 10245 oakjoan 4 3556996 The real item is almost like preserved kohlrabi, not leafy or stalky at all. I love it. It's soft but has a bit of a crunch, and is salty and a bit chili hot. Entirely different from what you used, which is also really good, and goes very well with pork. Thu Apr 03 08:56:05 -0700 2008 3541396 18154 prunefeet 2 4507399 So today I made the Pork Slivers with Preserve Mustard Tuber, which was what I had intended to make instead of http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/494663#4499506 . I, too, was looking to use up the mustard tuber after making Dan Dan noodles and was also a very unhappy puppy at having to wash off the spice to get rid of the excess salt. I liked it, but I would have liked it a lot better with a bit more heat. I forgot to add oil to the pork before stir-frying. Not sure it made much of a difference. Sun Mar 15 15:11:11 -0700 2009 3506765 11407 JoanN 1 3510114 Shredded Beef w/Sweet Peppers - Land of Plenty, p. 234 I made this because my daughter does not like any heat. She loved this. I used 3/4 lb of meat instead of 1/2 lb and a whole red pepper, instead of half red, half green. It was a little sweet, but it had a very pleasant flavor which I enjoyed. A nice, quick, mild weeknight dinner choice. On another note - my salted chiles will be ready on Monday - maybe next week I can get my daughter to go out to dinner some night :-) Thu Mar 20 05:22:11 -0700 2008 3448884 10231 mirage 2 3510300 Woohoo! Can't wait to read your salted chiles report! ~TDQ Thu Mar 20 06:41:19 -0700 2008 3510114 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 3512223 ROTFL, mirage! I have now made the peppers with black beans and garlic twice. I just adore the flavor the wok gives to those seared pepper chunks. Thu Mar 20 14:27:16 -0700 2008 3510114 10245 oakjoan 1 3538509 Spicy Steamed Beef with Rice Meal (LOP, p. 230) This is a great dish, packing a one-two punch of rich, succulent beef and a unique, toothy/spongy “rice meal” (an inadequate term, but I can’t think of a better one) coating whose texture falls somewhere between soft polenta and moist turkey stuffing, and which manages to become so rich and savory in and of itself that even on its own it needs to be accompanied by plain steamed rice. The recipe involves toasting long-grain white rice in a dry pan until the rice brittles and yellows, which I’ve found takes a bit longer than the 10-15 minutes Dunlop estimates. Begin this step first thing, immediately, even before you start cutting the beef or rounding up marinade ingredients, because after the rice is toasted you have to wait for it to cool, which is a big hidden speed bump in the recipe. While you’re cutting the meat, keep an eye on the pan and give it a little shake now and then until the rice is toasted, then spread the hot rice out on a flat plate to speed cooling. My food processor takes a (very noisy) minute or two to reduce the rice to the proper coarse consistency. Ingredients: I generally use just what this recipe calls for. I’ve used both everyday stock and chicken stock, and found little difference. Haven’t tried the fermented rice wine or sherry; I’ve only used Shaoxing. Peanut and vegetable oils yielded similar results. I use a little more Sichuanese chili bean paste than the 2 tbsp called for, only because I like it so much. As for the cut of beef, I’ve used flank, ranchera, and (in the present example) boneless short rib, which last I’ve found to be superior. The ranchera comes in second, a little tougher, and the flank was all right but kind of fragmented to bits upon steaming (maybe I overcooked it, though), while the short rib pleasingly held its shape yet still steamed up nice and tender. The recipe instructs you to cook the prepared dish in a steamer. I haven’t got one, which is dumb considering how many times I’ve made this and other steamed things by now. Instead I put the bowl on a small circular rack in a large dutch oven with a little water in the bottom, cover and go (photo attached). This has worked well every time, although extricating the hot bowl from the pot with two pairs of tongs took some getting used to. I added all the final garnishes as listed with one exception: In the past, I’ve found the garlic/water puree to be unnecessarily strong and harsh tasting, and also difficult to spread evenly among the finished product, resulting in the diner occasionally receiving an unexpected blast of raw garlic. This time I simply crushed a couple cloves of garlic at the beginning, covered them with a little cold water, and let them sit on the counter until the steaming was done. Drizzling on the resulting garlic water (cloves discarded) evenly gave the dish just the right touch of garlicky brightness. Other garnish notes: I use about double the amound of ground roasted Sichuan pepper. If you like cilantro at all, be sure not to eliminate or substitute for it. The way that fresh, herbal zing counterpoints the salty, chili-beany, fragrant rice meal coating…oh man. Fuchsia Dunlop, I love you. Please make this dish. It’s unconventional, and easy to overlook in favor of Boiled Beef Slices in a Fiery Sauce (an absolute classic), but I think you’ll be glad you gave it a chance. Added bonus: although there’s a lot of prep early on, once this is in the steamer and your garnishes are measured out, this becomes one of the very few truly make-ahead dishes in the book, making it a convenient centerpiece for a multiple-dish meal. And the leftovers are fantastic cold. Okay, I’ll give it a rest. Fri Mar 28 15:06:36 -0700 2008 3448884 48555 roundfigure 2 3540679 Great report! You've sold me - I'm adding it to the list of dishes I still plan on making. Sat Mar 29 11:38:25 -0700 2008 3538509 10271 Rubee 3 3540701 I made this dish when I first got the book a few years ago - roundfigure is not exaggerating - it was excellent. Sat Mar 29 11:52:48 -0700 2008 3540679 10231 mirage 4 3541411 Roundfigure: I just loved reading your commentary about the Spicy Steamed Beef with Rice Meal! Sat Mar 29 16:28:02 -0700 2008 3540701 10245 oakjoan 1 3562611 Sweet-and-Sour Pork (LOP, p. 210) This was delicious, although a lot of work with double-frying the pork and adding the strips one by one so they don't stick. I'm glad I made it, though, and it's one of E's favorites from this book. The pork is marinated for about half an hour in salt and rice wine. I used pork tenderloin and it turned out really tender. The batter is made with potato flour and egg. This was my only disappointment as I think I added too much egg (directions say to add enough egg "to make a thick batter"). As a result, the pork wasn't as crispy as it should have been with the double fry - first at 300, and then finished at 375 - and I used a thermometer to be accurate. The wonderful slightly sweet and tangy sauce is made with chopped garlic and ginger, salt, sugar, black vinegar, light soy, chicken stock, and potato flour to thicken. It's finished with sliced scallions and sesame oil, and poured over the fried pork. I served this tasty dish with white rice and Spicy Cucumber Salad (p. 185). Fri Apr 04 14:41:53 -0700 2008 3448884 10271 Rubee 1 3590872 Salt Fried Pork (LOP, pg. 212) Wow, was this good. I saw already sliced pork belly in the grocery store so I snatched it up. It was the exact same cut as required in the recipe (thin slices about 3 x 2). When I began to cook this, I was a bit skeptical. Although the recipe called for 3T of peanut oil, I used less since I was cooking fatty pork. And, the meat threw off a lot of fat. I kept thinking that this was going to be really greasy. But, once the pork is cooked, you push it to the side and add chili bean paste, and fermented black beans until everything smells great. Continue to stir fry and add soy sauce, sugar and lots of scallions. All these additions made a huge difference. The scallions had a great flavor, still slightly crunchy with soaked in pork fat. Plus the soy bean paste and black beans added this complex flavor once it mixed in with the pork. This is a keeper. Sun Apr 13 18:08:12 -0700 2008 3448884 10214 beetlebug 2 3892399 Thanks for saying this was a keeper. It sure was! "The meat was the best part, and that isn't true for most dishes." - that from my bacon disliking husband. The meat was really yummy. I followed your lead and used less oil. This worked out fairly well, but I ended up adding a little back in when I added the bean paste. The pan had looked a little dry to just dump that in. I used slightly shorter times than Dunlop specified for the cooking, based upon my previous experience with dry-fried beef. Also, I moderated the heat a little from my usual stir-fry. I used regular leeks in this, so I pre-stir-fried them before I did anything else, so that I could add them at the time she called for them and have them come out right. This "sent the rice down" very well. Don't be afraid of the fatty cut of meat (though I picked a fairly unfatty slab). It doesn't taste like a big glob of fat at all. Oh, I cut the skin off the fresh bacon, because I thought that might not taste good cooked this way. Did anyone else do that differently with the skin? Tue Jul 22 15:52:13 -0700 2008 3590872 166172 saltwater 1 3590875 Beef with Cilantro (RCC pg. 104) Most of these meat recipes call for 1+ cups of oil for a deep stir fry of the meat. I used only about 1T and it isn’t the same. The problem is that the potato starch on the meat begins to congeal on the bottom of the pan. The meat also has to be stir fried longer than the 1 minute the recipe called for. Overall, though, it was still tasty, although I think it would be better if the full amount of oil was used. The meat is first marinated with shaoxing wine, soy sauce (light and dark), and potato flour. After the meat is cooked, remove the meat and stir fry garlic with a sliced red chili. Add the meat back and chopped cilantro. After the cilantro is barely cooked, add sesame oil and serve. Sun Apr 13 18:09:16 -0700 2008 3448884 10214 beetlebug 2 3591695 It's really hard to do with less oil, isn't it? That's one reason I had to bail out of Dunlop about half-way through the month. The only other suggestion I have along those lines is make sure you use a non-stick pan... Have you found an optimal amount of oil that is "less" than the 1+cups of oil the recipe calls for. 1TBSP is too little, obviously...but have you found that, for instance, 3TBSP might work okay? Just curious! Thanks for all these reports (and photos)! ~TDQ Mon Apr 14 04:01:12 -0700 2008 3590875 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3591983 I haven't found an optimal amount of oil that is less than the 1+ cups of oil. I've had more success with LOP (which generally calls for 3T of oil in the recipe). With LOP, in the meats and veggies, I can use less than 1T with no adverse effect. This includes the recipes that call for potato flour to be marinated on the meat. I think there are constant additions to the recipes which prevents the potato start from clumping to the bottom of the pan. But with RCC, most of the meat recipes call for 1+ cups with potato flour on the meat. The fry times are supposed to be a lot shorter but with less oil, that isn't going to be the case. Also, it seems like the sauces are also heavier which just leads to a less optimal result. I'm on the fence about purchasing RCC. I've made a couple of things that I've really liked but the meat recipes are troublesome to me. I don't like using and then re-using all that oil. I'm going to try a few more meat recipes and then make a decision. Mon Apr 14 06:55:55 -0700 2008 3591695 10214 beetlebug 4 3592144 Interesting. Thanks for your thoughts on that! ~TDQ Mon Apr 14 07:49:47 -0700 2008 3591983 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 3714512 I think it would be hard to do with 1 TBSP but I've cut back a LOT on the oil in her recipes and haven't had problems. A cup of oil is just kind of icky on my palette (sp?). Fri May 23 07:57:04 -0700 2008 3591695 56762 LulusMom 1 3606621 Recently made the Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs, Revolutionary Chinese, p. 47. I used about half the sugar, since I just couldn't bring myself to dump in as much as she called for. I'm glad I did. We thought they were sweet enough. Used country ribs (w/bone) and enjoyed this messy finger-food. Another delicious, easy dish. Fri Apr 18 06:39:51 -0700 2008 3448884 10231 mirage 1 4083291 Farmhouse Stir Fried Pork with Green Peppers (RCC pg. 85) This was delicious. But, how could it not be with sliced pork belly, marinated lean pork, black beans and garlic. Instead of Italian frying peppers, I used Anaheim peppers. I also think longhorn peppers, green peppers or banana peppers would all be adequate substitutes. I especially think that longhorn peppers would be great with this. First dry fry the peppers, remove and then brown the sliced pork belly. As a personal preference, I would have liked it better if I had remembered to cut the skin off. Add the black beans, garlic and marinated lean pork (light and dark soy, and shaoxing wine). When the lean pork is almost cooked, add the cooked peppers and then a potato flour/water mixture. I loved the flavors of the two kinds of pork with the black beans and veggies. This is a nice home town dish. Sun Oct 05 12:11:03 -0700 2008 3448884 10214 beetlebug 2 4083363 pic Sun Oct 05 13:00:07 -0700 2008 4083291 10214 beetlebug 1 4102115 Fish-Fragrant Pork Slivers (yu xian rou si) - LOP, p. 197 The sweet/sour/spicy "fish fragrant" dishes are some of my favorites in this book. I especially love the eggplant one - it's now my go-to Asian eggplant dish. This was just as delicious. I just love these flavors. I cut the pork into strips - no patience for slivers - and marinated it in salt, light soy, potato starch, water, and Shaoxing rice wine. The sauce is made with sugar, Chinkiang vinegar, light soy, salt, potato flour, and chicken broth. Pork is stir-fried, pickled chili paste is added (I threw a couple of Tb of salted pickled chiles - RCC p 283 - into the FP and processed into a paste), ginger and garlic, and finally sliced cloud-ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots. I didn't have scallions so used some chives. I loved this, another favorite from the book that I'll make again and again. A couple of notes: I love her technique of blanching canned bamboo shoots - it really gets rid of that metallic taste. Also, now that I've finally found Chinkiang vinegar, I like the flavor much better than the regular black Chinese vinegar I had bought in the beginning (Koon Chun brand). Mon Oct 13 16:28:54 -0700 2008 3448884 10271 Rubee 1 4125723 Dry-Fried Beef Slivers (gan bian niu rou si) - LOP, p. 228 I just read through this thread and see that OakJoan and BeetleBug made this months ago, so now it's my turn. And yes, it's another delicious Dunlop recipe. I took what I thought was flank steak out of the freezer, but it was flap steak that I had bought at a local Mexican market. It was perfect for this recipe - so thin that I just cut it in slices and practically had "slivers" without a lot of work. The meat is stir-fried in oil until all the moisture is gone and they get nice and crisp (about 10 minutes), chili bean paste is added, next ginger and scallions, and then celery, light soy, and some salt, and the dish finished with a bit of sesame oil. I thought it was excellent as it was, but it was even better with the optional drizzle of chili oil (p 55) and a generous dusting of toasted ground Sichuan pepper (p 74). It made a delicious dinner tonight with steamed rice. I love this book. Fri Oct 24 00:03:14 -0700 2008 3448884 10271 Rubee 2 4558402 I make a double batch of this dish almost once a week for lunches (E loves it too - he likes to eat it wrapped up in a burrito!). Some tips I've learned: Don't skip salting the celery. I did once and didn't like the texture and the added moisture. I rushed the last time I made it and didn't allow enough time for the beef to really crisp up, and didn't like it as much. Every time I make it, I up the heat and increase the amount of chili sauce, and today I added some hot chili oil to the peanut oil. I've been using Lian How broad bean paste (pic below), and don't like as much as Lee Kum Kee or the brand above. I like a generous amount of Penzey's Schuan peppercorns but find that the flavor lessens quickly if not freshly ground and toasted, but to save time I do a big batch and store it in a tightly capped glass jar. I've been making it with thin ranchera/flap steak, which is perfect for this dish, and on sale this week at the local Mexican market for $2.88 a pound. (Lian How Broad Bean Paste): http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/lh-hot-broad-bean-sauce-8-oz Wed Apr 01 13:26:41 -0700 2009 4125723 10271 Rubee 1 4372067 Red Braised Beef with White Radish (LOP, pg. 232) Another delicious dish and another winner from LOP. This was one of my Chinese New Year dishes. And, I chose it because I had country style ribs and daikon radish from my CSAs. So, I was looking for dishes that would help clear the fridge and freezer. I'm glad I stumbled on this dish. Incredibly easy and tortuous to smell the braising beef, this turned into a beautifully red dish (perfect for a lucky new year). I made half a potion because of my limited meat. And, my big "change" was the called for beef stock. I used half box stock and half leftover short rib braising liquid. And, I think that braising liquid sent this dish over the top. Blanch the meat for a couple of minutes and then chop into 1 inch pieces. Crush a chunk of ginger a scallion. In the wok, heat oil and then add chili bean paste. Then, after the oil is red and flavorful, add beef stock, beef, shaoxing wine, ginger, scallions, sichuan pepper, star anise and cao guo (I didn't have this and omitted it). Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Close to serving time, add the daikon radish and then simmer for a few minutes until tender. I also added my bones for more flavor. And, if I only had this dish with white rice, it would have been a satisfying meal. The meat, sauce and radish were so flavorful. And, it was a fight with other dishes as to which dish would complement the white rice. The next time I make this dish, it will never taste this great again because of my special braising liquid. But, I still think this dish would be more than worthwhile if you made it as called for. Fri Jan 30 05:38:34 -0800 2009 3448884 10214 beetlebug 1 4377357 Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Beans and Chiles (RCC pg. 82) This was a loser. Flavorless and a waste of beautiful CSA spareribs. It's really surprising in the lack of flavor since the ribs were steamed in soy, shaxing wine, fresh ginger, fermented black beans, chile flakes and lard (I used leftover braised pork belly fat). I blanched the ribs, per directions and they steamed for about 40 minutes (longer than the proscribed 30 minutes). I thought the meat would fall off the bone, the way steamed ribs from dim sum tend to. But, these were tough and only tasted of meat and no sauce. Oh well. live and learn. Sun Feb 01 07:37:32 -0800 2009 3448884 10214 beetlebug 1 4499506 Stir-Fried Pork Slivers with Sweet Fermented Paste (LOP, page 215) I was going to be glued to my desk all day, so first thing in the morning I took a quick flip through “Land of Plenty” to see what I might be able to make with ingredients on hand. Found just the thing, stuck a bookmark in the page, pulled some thin-sliced, boneless pork chops out of the freezer, and sat down at my desk and got to work. About 3:30 in the afternoon I was starving, went into the kitchen, opened the book at the bookmark, put the rice on to cook, and started quickly putting together my mise en place. Hadn’t recalled seeing a couple of the ingredients when I’d looked at the recipe early in the morning, but I had them on hand so didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until I’d already taken the photo and started eating that I said to myself, where the hell are the preserved mustard tubers? Did I forget to put them in? Went to check the cookbook and saw that I’d made this recipe (on the right-hand side of the page) when I’d intended to make the Pork Slivers with Preserved Mustard Tuber (on the left). Now, that’s not just a senior moment; that’s about a senior half hour! The recipe I made, as opposed to the one I intended to make, calls for slivers of pork marinated for a bit in potato flour, salt, water, and Shaoxing and then stir-fried for just a minute or two. At this point you’re supposed to push the pork to the side of the wok, tip the wok so the oil goes to the opposite side from the pork, and in the middle between the two pour some sweet bean paste thinned with water and stir-fry that mixture for a minute or two. So I’ve got the wok at an angle with one hand and I’m pouring the bean paste mixture with the other hand. But the bean paste mixture is sticking to the bottom of the dish. Where’s my third hand? The hell with it. I set down the wok, scrape out the bean paste mixture, and am now stir-frying it in the oil instead of between the oil and the pork. I mean, really, how much difference can that make? Add a sauce of light soy, sugar, and a bit of chicken stock, stir to blend, and serve sprinkled with scallion slivers. Very good, delicately flavored, and not too sweet, but I prefer spicier dishes. It would be wonderful as one of a number of other dishes, but I won’t be repeating it as a stand-alone. I will, however, be trying Pork Slivers with Preserved Mustard Tuber sometime very soon. Thu Mar 12 16:52:11 -0700 2009 3448884 11407 JoanN