494665 Fri Feb 29 23:43:04 -0800 2008 63 31 Home Cooking 0 3448888 All things fishy go here. Fri Feb 29 23:43:04 -0800 2008 10245 oakjoan 1 3473362 Fragrant-and-Hot Tiger Prawns (RCC p. 175) Some friends were stopping by for drinks and I had bought a pound of medium shrimp to make a go-with nibble, but then my copy of RCC came in and I decided to try this instead. The recipe calls for jumbo shrimp and they definitely would have been preferable. It also calls for finely chopped red pepper, but I didn’t have any so skipped it. Also used sherry instead of Shaoxing and sambal oelek instead of salted chiles. She says to leave the shell on the shrimp and I did; but I slit it down the back to the first joint to remove the vein also thinking it might make it easier to eat. I have no qualms about peeling cooked shrimp and I knew my guests wouldn’t either, but next time I make it I think I’ll remove the shell down to the first joint. I know the shells makes for a tastier dish, but I can’t imagine it would suffer too much without them. This wasn’t as spicy as I expected, or would have liked, it to be. It could be that my sambal oelek has been sitting around too long. But next time I’ll up the heat factor a bit. These weren’t my favorite shrimp cocktail-time nibble, but they’re probably number two. They were fun to eat and we just kept reaching for one after another. They’d be really good served on rice as a main course as well. Sat Mar 08 14:19:52 -0800 2008 3448888 11407 JoanN 2 3473406 That looks great! The shells look crispy enough to eat, crazy as that sounds. Sat Mar 08 14:36:45 -0800 2008 3473362 166172 saltwater 3 3473434 Not crazy at all. I think we ended up eating about a quarter of the shells and none of us minded in the least. Sat Mar 08 14:45:20 -0800 2008 3473406 11407 JoanN 2 3473501 Thanks JoanN - looks wonderful, and don't know how I missed that recipe - I love shrimp and hadn't noticed this one in RCC. Sat Mar 08 15:09:26 -0800 2008 3473362 10985 MMRuth 2 3473516 May be off-topic, but what is your favorite shrimp cocktail-time nibble? Sat Mar 08 15:14:00 -0800 2008 3473362 24075 onefineleo 3 3473576 It's a recipe for Cilantro Lime Shrimp from the big yellow Gourmet. I've made it at least a dozen times, both at my home and at friends' homes, and it's always very, very! well received. Here's an online recipe that's not quite exactly the same as the one in the book, but close enough so I doubt even I would notice the difference. http://www.cooksrecipes.com/appetizer/cilantro-lime-shrimp-recipe.html Sat Mar 08 15:47:49 -0800 2008 3473516 11407 JoanN 4 3473604 Thank you! I've just added it to my word doc and promise to make and report back. Looks so delicious. Sat Mar 08 15:59:04 -0800 2008 3473576 24075 onefineleo 5 3484219 "promise to make and report back" Me too! Thanks for the reports Joan and LulusMom, and the recipe for your favorite JoanN. Hey onefineleo, how are you? Miss you and your cooking! Tue Mar 11 22:15:52 -0700 2008 3473604 10271 Rubee 2 3474579 I also made the Fragrant and Hot Tiger Prawns, although I made it from the link given, since I don't have RCC. I thought this was an absolutely lovely dish, although like JoanN I was surprised that it wasn't spicier. Still, very tasty. I also used (deep breaths aelph) sherry and sambal olek instead of the shaoxing and salted chilies. And, thanks to earlier posts suggesting it, I made it my dutch oven - what a great idea! Kept the splatter to a minimum. I used jumbo shrimp and did go ahead and take the shells off. One thing - if you use the link instead of the book to make this, note that somehow the instructions on when to add the wine/salt have been left out - I just added them along with the ginger/garlic/bean paste. If you assemble everything in advance, this is incredibly easy to make, and we loved it. Sun Mar 09 06:45:57 -0700 2008 3473362 56762 LulusMom 3 3474665 Fyi, in the book the wine and salt are tossed with the raw shrimp to marinate for a bit before draining them (that's the instruction in the second paragraph of the link that says to shake the shrimp dry) and tossing the shrimp into the hot oil. I can't imaging that adding those ingredients to the sauce instead made a significan difference. Sun Mar 09 07:31:06 -0700 2008 3474579 11407 JoanN 4 3474872 Aha! Thanks for the info. I can't really imagine it made much difference either, but I'll try it that way next time. And really, it was so easy that there will definitely be a next time. The link I had also said nothing about whether or not to peel the shrimp, which is why I went ahead and did so. That (shopping aside) was the most time consuming part of making this dish. Sun Mar 09 09:16:38 -0700 2008 3474665 56762 LulusMom 2 4889959 I made this last night and we both loved it. I made it as written, using the salted chilies and marinated the shrimp with Shaoxing wine and salt. My arm slipped when I poured the wine in, so I probably had it marinating in about 1/4 cup of wine. I used smaller shrimp that I deshelled and deveined. I used much more garlic and ginger (probably 3T of each v. 1 T of ginger.). I also used significantly less oil to cook this. After the initial stir fry, that's when the condiments get added and the shrimp gets put back into the pot. Dunlop has you boil until the liquid is gone. Since my shrimp were smaller and I was worried about overcooking, I pulled it off the stove before the liquid evaporated. Plus, I like extra sauce. Bottom line - we LOVED this dish. True, it could have used a bit more heat but the flavors were delicious. The chile bean paste mixed in with my copious amounts of ginger just brought this dish to a whole new level. We were little piggies and ate the entire pound of shrimp! (and I had three other dishes + rice, that's how much we liked this dish. This is going in the rotation and could be my favorite recipe from RCC so far. Next time I have chinese chives though, I'm making the other shrimp dish. Sat Jul 25 12:17:43 -0700 2009 3473362 10214 beetlebug 3 4890118 I love both but those chinese chive ones are the ones that have made it into serious rotation. Very very good. Sat Jul 25 13:54:16 -0700 2009 4889959 56762 LulusMom 4 4890167 It was your post about the shrimp w/chinese chives that prompted me to RCC. But, when I saw that I had all the ingredients for the fragrant and hot shrimp, well, that just pushed that in front. Sat Jul 25 14:20:17 -0700 2009 4890118 10214 beetlebug 5 4890441 Totally understand. It was finding out that I had a pot of chinese chives growing on my back porch that started me on that recipe. Sat Jul 25 17:05:46 -0700 2009 4890167 56762 LulusMom 1 3474527 Velveted Fish, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Internet Version This was one third of a three dish meal we made last night (Saturday). The recipe calls for halibut fillets or any white fish. We used cod and did not have to substitute any ingredient. As usual we had all our bowls, whisks, and mise en place arranged before starting to cook. This makes the whole process very easy. The fish is sliced into 1/2" pieces and set aside to marinate with wine, egg white, potato flour, a little water and salt. Then the vegetables are prepared, stir fried in succession...very easy to do. DH has declared that he prefers wok cooking to any other method. In fact his words were, "I love it." This from a man who only entered the kitchen to grab another cup of coffee in the morning. The dish smelled wonderful, but the taste was less than the sum of it's parts. It was good overall but not as flavorful as I thought it would be. It's certainly easy enough to make again. Perhaps I will after trying others of the same ilk. I'll have to start taking photos..... This was the last time I have to use the internet version of any recipe this month. On a whim DH yesterday took himself to our library and asked for both COTMs. The reference librarian brought out Land of Plenty and has put in a request for RCC through the library network in the surrounding area. She'll phone us when it comes in probably early next. I Love our Library!! Sun Mar 09 05:59:40 -0700 2008 3448888 75332 Gio 2 3474533 "The dish smelled wonderful, but the taste was less than the sum of it's parts." - I noticed that in another dish I made, and wondered if some more salt would have helped. Great that you are getting the books - beautiful and interesting reading in addition to the recipes. Sun Mar 09 06:02:23 -0700 2008 3474527 10985 MMRuth 3 3474562 I was thinking that before I dismiss a recipe entirely it might be a good idea to make it again and really study the taste. Cooking a recipe for the first time and wanting to eat immediately doesn't really give one the opportunity to get the full essence and nuance of each ingredient. I don't mean to say we wolfed down the food, but eating slowly may help understand how to correct the seasoning to one's individual taste. We ooohhhed and aaahhhed our way through last night's dinner, so we must have liked something about it. This morning DH declared he did enjoy each dish. So tonight, when we make our planned meal, I'll be more careful with tasting and making sure it's what I think the dish ought to taste like. Taste is so subjective..... Sun Mar 09 06:37:04 -0700 2008 3474533 75332 Gio 2 4784505 I made this last night, using Halibut. It was good, though I think I overcooked the fish a bit at the initial frying stage--Dunlop said to cook until "it changes color" but that instruction doesn't really work for halibut, which is a pale whitish-pink when raw which only slightly whitens when cooked. I love the use of a little vinegar in this dish. Thu Jun 18 09:49:38 -0700 2009 3474527 19098 equinoise 1 3476209 Sweet-and-Sour Crispy Fish (LOP page 264) Oh, man. This recipe should come with a warning. Do not attempt without professional supervision. Where to start? Quickly, for those who don’t have the book, you marinate a sea bass, cover it with cornstarch, heat the oil in the wok to 325, cover the fish with a cornstarch paste, fry the fish for a bit, remove the fish from the oil and reheat the oil to 400, fry the fish again until brown and crispy, heave the oil, add new oil, and make the sauce. All was okay until she said to smear the cornstarch paste on the fish while you’re heating the oil. My cornstarch paste was either too thin or lumpy—both in the same bowl. I couldn’t seem to get anything smearable. And attempting this very messy maneuver while watching the oil thermometer made me wish, a rare wish in my case, that I didn’t live alone. Then you hold the fish by the tail, put the head in the hot oil, and pour the hot oil over the fish while you’re holding it somewhat upright. That was a little scary. Okay, time to lay the fish in the oil. Oops. Not enough oil. I could fry the body and the head or the body and the tail. Made do. I removed fish from the wok as directed (the tail broke off), added more oil, and started to heat the oil to 400-425F. as directed but chickened out somewhere around 385 and put the fish in. That’s what the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth must have looked like. Even more scary, but still not quite enough oil, so I just ladled boiling oil over the top of the fish. Oh yeah. You’re supposed to fry the fish until the batter is crisp and golden. But my batter was mostly splattered around the kitchen counter rather than on the fish so I just winged it. Dump oil, add new oil, and make sauce. After you add the aromatics, sauce ingredients, and everyday stock she says to boil it down until the liquid thickens. But mine wasn’t thickening. At least, not much. I gave up after about 10 minutes. I wish she’d said about how long it would take or about how thick it should get, but she didn’t. Pour sauce over fish and garnish with slivered scallions and pickled chiles. Fuggedaboutit. Even if I’d had the pickled chiles, which I didn’t, I was done. I almost hate to say this, because I doubt this recipe is going into regular rotation, but the fish was outstanding. Only parts were crispy, and those parts were a delight, but the fish was moist and not overcooked and altogether excellent. The sauce, thinnish though it was, was damned good, too. I wonder if anyone in Manhattan teaches a crispy sea bass class? Sun Mar 09 18:22:57 -0700 2008 3448888 11407 JoanN 2 3476278 Gosh JoanN, I'm just glad you had no emergencies during that cooking session. I hate - Really Hate - to deep fry in my kitchen. You get mega points for your effort. I find that some of Fuchsia's instructions and directions are vague to say the least. I'll be posting my report about tonight's dinner tomorrow morning. We're still recuperating. LOL Sun Mar 09 18:47:14 -0700 2008 3476209 75332 Gio 2 3484226 Up until the last paragraph, I was saying to myself "bless you Joan, I'm glad you took one for the team, I'm not trying that"...but then you used the words outstanding, excellent, and damned good. Troublemaker. Tue Mar 11 22:20:58 -0700 2008 3476209 10271 Rubee 2 3484243 Gee, JoanN, seems you're out of luck. There are 24 crispy sea BREAM classes and 12 crispy sea ANEMONE classes, but not a single crispy sea BASS class. I wonder if I could hire somebody to make this for me? It's either that or get a hazmat suit. Hmmm, may be worth it. PS: Is this yet another condiment we should be making? Pickled Chiles? Different from Salted Chiles? Tue Mar 11 22:30:07 -0700 2008 3476209 10245 oakjoan 2 3516720 Sweet-and-Sour-Crispy Fish, Take Two Call me stubborn, but this is a dish both my BF and I love in restaurants and I’d really like to figure out a way to do it at home without having me and the apartment covered in cornstarch paste. Having done this once, I thought I knew where the stumbling blocks were. So I bought a much smaller sea bass, one that would fit into the wok, and bought a new box of cornstarch. (I don’t know. Does cornstarch go stale? Mine had been around for a while. Thought it might make a difference. It didn’t.) A few things went more smoothly. The smaller fish certainly helped. (Although I bought the fish in Chinatown for less than a third what I’d paid for the first, larger one at Citarella, but it wasn’t as well cleaned so I’ve now got dried fish scales twinkling at me throughout the apartment). But the cornstarch paste was still a b**ch, ending up on cabinets and the floor, and didn’t really turn golden as it was supposed to. The fish looked somewhat better than it did the first time and was every bit as good. The sauce was, again, terrific. I’m still determined, but I need to find another coating for the fish. One of my Chinese cookbooks just uses a coating of cornstarch without the paste. Another covers the fish with a cornstarch paste, but it’s a much thinner mixture that you pour over the fish, let sit for 15 minutes, and then coat in flour before frying. And an online recipe, using fillets but not whole fish, has you dip the fillets in a batter. So I’m on a quest here. I’m going to try (but not any time soon, probably; that’s enough peanut oil consumption for a while) Dunlop’s marinade and sauce, but some other method of coating the fish for frying. Sat Mar 22 06:09:19 -0700 2008 3476209 11407 JoanN 3 3516781 wow I am in AWE, JoanN and especially happy to learn from your experience although I'm sure I won't attempt it until you've made it one more time ; ) Sat Mar 22 06:50:26 -0700 2008 3516720 11989 pitu 1 3476976 Fisherman's Shrimp with Chinese Chives, p. 177 (RCC) Finally bought some chinese chives yesterday, so made this - using some wonderful shrimp that I also bought in Chinatown. No fresh red peppers so, again, I used a combination of one jalapeno and some slivered red pepper for color. While the jalapeno I used in a dish on Friday was very strong, this one was very mild, so the dish wasn't particularly spicy, but condiments helped that. I used a combination of 2/3 a T salted chiles, and 1/3 tsp dried chili flakes. I'd made spring rolls as well, and (hope this isn't terrible) just fried the shrimp the oil that was already in the wok. Though we really liked this dish - I love shrimp - next time I'd use less than the 3 T of peanut oil - it seemed a bit greasy to us. Will make again. I served this with brown rice and Stir-fried peppers with Black Beans and Garlic (p. 201). Next time I think I'll serve it with some kind of steamed greens instead - it was a bit rich with the shrimp I thought, and I need to stop doing all stir fried dishes for each meal! Mon Mar 10 04:31:30 -0700 2008 3448888 10985 MMRuth 2 3484250 I agree about the Stir-Fried Peppers. They were perfect with the bbq lamb I made last night, but I think they'd overwhelm a dish with sauce. I am addicted to them, though. Tue Mar 11 22:33:26 -0700 2008 3476976 10245 oakjoan 2 4610696 Last night I made the Fisherman's Shrimp with Chinese Chives (RCC p. 177). We loved this - huge, huge fans of it. I used much less oil than called for, and maybe that is why I feel like I like it more than previous posters. I had to use a serrano instead of a red pepper (none at the market) and realized at the last minute that I didn't have black rice vinegar (so used the other dark asian vinegar I had). Amazing, so full of flavor, nicely spicy. Served with rice and roasted eggplant that had been marinated in asian vinaigrette. This is going to go into heavy rotation around here. Mon Apr 20 05:58:32 -0700 2009 3476976 56762 LulusMom 3 4875429 Made this again tonight and again, totally fantastic. A huge hit with all. Very simple and even with some meds in my system (not martinis this time around, alas) I was able to do this kind of toss together at the last moment thing easily with it still tasting great. Side again was the coriander salad, and we couldnt' have been happier with the whole meal. Mon Jul 20 16:23:25 -0700 2009 4610696 56762 LulusMom 3 5002098 I made the Fisherman's Shrimp with Chinese Chives (RCC p. 177) last night and we LOVED it. I used significantly less oil and it wasn't enough. To do the initial stir fry of the shrimp, I used less than a tablespoon, which just wasn't enough. The marinade kind of stuck to the bottom of the pan, which I attempted to scrape up. Also, I did the variation of garlic chives and ginger. Unfortunately, I didn't cut enough chives and many of my chives stuck to the other stuff that was already on the bottom of the pan (again, not enough oil). Despite all these oil issues, this was delicious. The marinade seemed to give the shrimp extra tenderness and flavor. And, the ginger, chives and salted chilies just kicked it up a notch. I honestly don't know if I like this shrimp dish or the fragrant shrimp dish better. They are both delicious and both going into the regular rotation. I still want to try this dish with the chinese chives though. Next time... Thu Sep 03 09:23:30 -0700 2009 4610696 10214 beetlebug 4 5002526 So glad you tried and loved it. My husband has decided this is his favorite shrimp dish - period, not just chinese. Thu Sep 03 11:20:02 -0700 2009 5002098 56762 LulusMom 1 3477076 Fishernan's Shrimp with Chinese Chives....Like minds MM! We used half the oil called for and still found the finished dish too oily. A jalepeno pepper was used instead of the fresh red chili and a half of a red bell pepper to compensate for the color, just as MM did, only our jalepeno was hot. ( Did you know that you can freeze fresh peppers? They don't seem to lose any flavor or texture. A quick swipe under running hot water refreshes them) The other substitution I made was red pepper flakes for the salted chilis... 2 teaspoons. The finished dish was very tasty but the next time we make this even less oil will be used. We served this with Dan Dan Noodles....report on the appropriate thread coming up. We're finding that the amount of a serving is just enough for two people with no leftovers. Much to DH's chagrin. Mon Mar 10 05:54:55 -0700 2008 3448888 75332 Gio 2 3523688 Fisherman's Shrimp w/Chinese Chives - Revolutionary Chinese, p. 177 Unlike Gio and MMRuth, we did not think this was too oily and I'm pretty sure I left about 3 Tbsp of oil in the wok, after frying the shrimp. It did sort of have a glisten about it, but certainly didn't taste oily. We really liked this dish. It was my Salted Chiles' debut (they were made with red chiles labeled "hot chinese chile" at Super 88) and a very successful one at that. The chiles were zippy without overwhelming the delicate flavor of the shrimp and I used a hefty Tbsp. This dish was a teensy bit salty, I thought, but that was one of the things my husband liked about it. Mon Mar 24 16:16:52 -0700 2008 3477076 10231 mirage 1 3520463 Hot-and-Numbing Crispy Shrimp (LOP page 280) I combined two recipes to make an accompaniment for cocktails. The master recipe is Hot-and-Numbing Tiny Fish and is made with frozen whitebait or frozen tiny shrimp. The variation is Crispy Shrimp with Salt and Sichuan Pepper. She doesn’t say what size shrimp to use for the variation, but I used jumbos. For both recipes, you marinate the shrimp with ginger and scallions for a short bit, toss the shrimp in unseasoned AP flour, and deep fry. Instead of just sprinkling them with salt and Sichuan pepper, which is what the variation called for, I decided to make the seasoning from the master recipe since I thought I’d prefer it spicy. The seasoning is ground chilis and ground, roasted Sichuan pepper heated up in oil into which you toss the fried shrimp and stir quickly to distribute the spices. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of oil and I used 1 teaspoon instead, which was probably a mistake. There really wasn’t enough “sauce” to coat the shrimp. These looked great and my friends gobbled them up. They *are* fried shrimp, after all. But they didn’t have much additional flavor, just the taste of the shrimp and the numbness from the Sichuan pepper. And I really don’t think they’d have been much improved by following either recipe as written. No need to revisit this one, either the master or the variation. Sun Mar 23 17:58:13 -0700 2008 3448888 11407 JoanN 2 3520510 You're right, though, they sure do look stunning! Sun Mar 23 18:19:06 -0700 2008 3520463 10074 Caitlin McGrath 2 3621179 Hot-and-Numbing Crispy Shrimp Well, even though Joan N didn't love this, her picture looked so good that I had to add it to the list! Since there were comments on flavor, I marinated the shrimp longer (I used shelled medium shrimp), for about an hour, and really smashed the garlic and green scallions for the rice wine marinade. Still, I agree with Joan - this didn't seem to contribute much flavor so I might skip that if I was making this again. As Joan says, it's really just fried shrimp with some spice from the Sichuan pepper and chilis. However, since we love fried shrimp, I can see why these were so popular at a party. It was a nice variation, and I would make it again. E would have eaten it all if he could, and I liked the technique of frying first, and then stir-frying them in spicy flavored oil (I also used the main recipe with fresh-ground dried chilis and Sichuan pepper). The spices really coated the shrimp, yet they stayed nice and crispy. I did end up sprinkling more of the ground chilis and pepper on the shrimp, along with some sea salt, though, so would use more to flavor the oil next time. I served them with a flavorful and spicy salad - Daikon Slivers in a Spicy Dressing (p. 158). Tue Apr 22 21:55:23 -0700 2008 3520463 10271 Rubee 1 4207918 Fish Soup with Pickled Greens (LOP pg. 263) Wow, wow, wow. This soup is a keeper and unbelievably filled with umami goodness. Incredibly easy, especially with my shortcuts and so satisfying. I didn't use a whole fish, I used a 1 lb cod fillet instead. I also used boxed chicken stock, the whole packet of pickled mustard greens (10.5 oz) and I added rice vermicelli. The fish is sliced to about 1/4 inch thick and marinated with Shaoxing rice wine and salt. Then, stir fry garlic, ginger, sliced pickled thai peppers, and the pickled mustard greens. Add boiling chicken stock, and if you have fish parts, add them now. The broth is rapidly boiled for 10 minutes. Even though I didn't have fish parts, I still boiled rapidly to get all the flavors to come together. I probably did it for longer than 10 minutes because I was steaming buns, which took considerably longer than expected. Right before service, add corn starch and a bit of egg white to the fish pieces. Then add them to the stock and boil briefly until finished. At this point, I also added pre soaked rice vermicelli noodles. There are also variations to make it spicier but I saw no need. Right now, this soup has the perfect balance of sour, spice and salt. Plus, the contrast between the crunch of the veggies and the softness of the fish makes my mouth sing. I'm so happy I finally tried this recipe. It had been on my to try list but my usual chinese store (Super 88, Allston), didn't have the right kind of pickled mustard cabbage. This is one of my favorite soups when I go to a Sichuan restaurant and I'm thrilled that I can easily make it at home. Sat Nov 29 06:51:49 -0800 2008 3448888 10214 beetlebug 2 4716389 Quick question for beetlebug or anyone else with an informed opinion. I don't have the pickled mustard greens, but do see a small can of pickled cabbage in my pantry from a previous trip to the local asian store. Would that be an ok sub? And does adding the rice vermicelli make this enough for a main course for 2 and a half? Any thoughts? Thanks very much in advance. Tue May 26 14:13:51 -0700 2009 4207918 56762 LulusMom 3 4716464 I'm not sure what the pickled cabbage is but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's the crunchy pickly flavor that makes this stand out. If the package is small, maybe throw in a bit of the pickly juice if there is any in the package as well as some other greens. For us, adding the rice vermicelli made it a nice light meal. It should work for 2.5 people. But, if you want to be on the safe side, you can always serve with white rice as well. Tue May 26 14:36:27 -0700 2009 4716389 10214 beetlebug 4 4717858 Wow, thanks beetlebug ... I sort of thought this one would get lost in with all the other posts. My pickled cabbage is in a can, not a plastic package. Maybe I'll swing by the asian store again in the next week and see if I can find the other stuff, but if not, I'll give it a try with what I have. And a big salad on the side might fill this out a bit more. My husband has been complaining about an extra 20 pounds the scale found, so he can't complain too much. thanks again for your input. Appreciate it! Wed May 27 04:03:00 -0700 2009 4716464 56762 LulusMom 2 4719077 Crazily enough, I did find a plastic container of pickled mustard (I assume this is the greens?) in my cabinet. And rice noodles too! Thanks again beetlebug, I plan on making this next week, and will let you know how it goes. Wed May 27 11:07:10 -0700 2009 4207918 56762 LulusMom 2 4729790 OK, as the time grows nearer, I'm getting nervous about my pickled mustard. In looking through her pantry section, it seems that this is different from pickled mustard greens and is more like a turnip. Am I crazy to be subbing it? Should I go with the picked cabbage in a can instead? Should I, come hell or high water, make sure that I get to the asian store tomorrow (I"ve got a pretty full-looking day) and try to find what is called for? My gut tells me it won't be a huge difference, but I still get nervous. Any advice? Sun May 31 08:36:14 -0700 2009 4207918 56762 LulusMom 3 4729826 I'm not at home right now so I can't check anything--book, notes, pantry--but I recall that when I first started shopping for Dunlop ingredients I had a helluva time finding pickled mustard greens and ended up buying picked cabbage instead. I know I used it for at least one recipe, probably two, and was perfectly happy with the results. Again relying on what may be less than perfect memory, I believe the pickled cabbage was less salty than the mustard greens (which I did find eventually). But then, I suspect there's a good deal of variation in the saltiness of all preserved vegetables as you go from vegetable to vegetable and brand to brand. I'd use the cabbage, tasting it first to see whether or not you think it needs to be rinsed and if so how much, and then use it with full confidence. Sun May 31 08:53:26 -0700 2009 4729790 11407 JoanN 4 4729846 You're a life saver yet again JoanN. I was frantically trying to get Lulu to rush through lunch on the hope the Asian store might be open, but this saves us a bit of a fluster. Thanks so much. Was your pickled cabbaged canned, like mine is? That part strikes me as fairly different from the plastic package. Sun May 31 09:01:27 -0700 2009 4729826 56762 LulusMom 5 4729896 Yes, the pickled cabbage was in a can. But the preserved mustard greens that I found eventually came in sort of a squat crock jar rather than in a plastic package. Sun May 31 09:31:14 -0700 2009 4729846 11407 JoanN 3 4729927 I think either pickled ____ will be fine. What wouldn't work are the preserved greens. To me, the beauty of the Dunlop recipes, is that substitutions and additions always seems to work. Hope you enjoy the soup. Sun May 31 09:48:33 -0700 2009 4729790 10214 beetlebug 4 4729961 Thanks to you both. Without the help of valium or booze, I came to the realization that I was being overly nervous. I've only had one Dunlop recipe that didn't work out for me, and I have a strong feeling this will be just great. Certainly I doubt the difference in pickled stuff will make the difference. Anyway, thanks so much. Sun May 31 10:00:42 -0700 2009 4729927 56762 LulusMom 5 4730022 Actually, thank you as well. You reminded me about this recipe and it's going on the list for later this week. Sun May 31 10:34:26 -0700 2009 4729961 10214 beetlebug 2 4735021 Fish Soup with Pickled Greens Thanks to beetlebug's report, I made this. Like bb, I just used cod fillets - about a pound, and I also bit her style by adding rice noodles. I liked this very much. My husband, however, was a bit turned off by the pickled cabbage (which I subbed for the mustard). I dont' think it was the cabbagey-ness of it so much as the pickled-ness. That said, he went back for a second Big bowlfull. Even with him having seconds we did have a little leftover (I served salad on the side) so this was just the right size meal for us. This was good and easy, and I'd make it again if he wasn't going to be around. Thanks bb for your post (I think I would have passed this recipe right by if I hadn't read it) and your advice. Tue Jun 02 06:08:53 -0700 2009 4207918 56762 LulusMom 3 4735040 I think there is something addicting to the taste of the soup. To me, it's the pickledness, while first a shock, brings me to eagerly spoon more into my mouth. I'm making this for dinner tonight... Tue Jun 02 06:17:34 -0700 2009 4735021 10214 beetlebug 4 4735093 Very much so. I'd never had this before, and I really liked it. And it is so easy! And so low-cal! I also liked the sour pickley flavor - as the Brits say "very more-ish." Enjoy tonight. Tue Jun 02 06:32:27 -0700 2009 4735040 56762 LulusMom 1 4287415 Fish Braised with Bean Curd in Spicy Sauce (dou fu shao yu), LOP, page 269 So, for New Year's Eve, we decided to recreate at home this braised fish dish, which is one of our favorites from a local restaurant. Dunlop calls for carp or seabass--we used whole trout (one of her suggested substitutions) instead. Basically, she has you slash the outside of the fish with a knife, then soak the fish in a marinade of Shaoxing wine and salt. Then, whip up a sauce of chili bean paste, ginger, garlic, scallion whites, stock, dark soy sauce, sweet bean paste, Shaoxing wine... Separately, you slice and simmer the tofu (we used "lite" silken tofu) in salted water. Then, fry the fish, set aside. Discard oil, wipe out wok, and start frying up the ingredients for your sauce, in various stages. Eventually, you add in the fish and simmer in the sauce for about 10 minutes, then add in the bean curd and simmer a little more. At the end, you're supposed to add in some corn starch (which we forgot to do--I had potato starch measured out and ready to go) and scallion greens and serve. We loved this. It was perfect for New Year's Eve--had a bit of yin and yang look to it in the cast iron skillet (I don't have a wok), which was kind of neat. I'm sure we could have presented that way at the table, too, but I was too tired for that. I'm not really sure it needed the potato starch as the consistency of the "sauce" seemed about right compared to how we normally experience it at "Little Szechuan". For an "every day" meal, we'd probably fillet the fish. Less dramatic a presentation, and probably a little less flavorful, but a heck of a lot easier to eat. The silken tofu was probably a little too delicate for this dish, but I liked it anyway. It did break up at the end, but, frankly I think it's because our cast iron skillet was too small and we didn't have enough room to fish it out (no pun intended) carefully. We served this over a little bit of steamed brown rice (thank heaven for my trusty rice cooker--as there were no burners free on my stove), and with a side of traditional dan dan noodles (LOP, page 87), and dry-fried green beans I (LOP, page 289). And with champagne! It took me about 3 hours to prepare these 3 dishes, including having help when it came to the final cooking step. I am amazed at how much more comfortable I am cooking from Dunlop than when I first started. I seem to be able to stage everything better, and since I'm more familiar with the ingredients (for instance, now I know that the tian jin pickled for the beans and the dan dan noodles vegetable must be rinsed, chopped, and rinsed--then squeezed dry...) Also, when I was doing my mise en place, I ran out of little dishes, even though I was combining in the little dishes things that she has you add at the same time (for instance, if she has you had soy sauce and wine at the same stage, I combine them in one dish while doing my mise en place). Normally, I use my itty bitty juice glasses, but I ran out of those, so, had to use my little ramekins. I found some Norpro silicone flexible mini-pinch bowls on Amazon I might try to use next time. Since I've reported on dan dan noodles (EDIT: though I suppose I should mention I didn't know how to cook the fresh rice noodles I picked up at the Asian market and had to seek advice http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/584178#4286691) and dry fried green beans in the past, I won't report on them again and, it felt, very "New Years'ish" even though it's not exactly Chinese New Year... Still delicious! Now, on to Zuni and Lucques! ~TDQ Thu Jan 01 08:13:46 -0800 2009 3448888 12005 The Dairy Queen 2 4288176 Hi TDQ, not totally environmentally friendly, but saves a lot of dish-washing, which might (*might*) make up for it, but I use little torn up bits of wax paper to put different things on after chopping. A little square with the green onions, a little square with the garlic, etc. Easy to dump in when the appropriate time comes for each. Thu Jan 01 14:43:11 -0800 2009 4287415 56762 LulusMom 3 4288215 Interesting idea! ~TDQ Thu Jan 01 15:03:39 -0800 2009 4288176 12005 The Dairy Queen 3 4288347 I do the same. I find one strip of wax paper can give me 4 little squares. sometimes I use leftover foil or parchment paper as well. Thu Jan 01 16:00:33 -0800 2009 4288176 10214 beetlebug 4 4288402 Clearly this is something I need to consider. Don't you find that, in the chaos of your kitchen, the little pieces of paper get knocked or blown around? ~TDQ Thu Jan 01 16:28:43 -0800 2009 4288347 12005 The Dairy Queen 5 4288405 Another option is to use a baking sheet or cake pan, and put little piles of things in them. Thu Jan 01 16:30:45 -0800 2009 4288402 10985 MMRuth 6 4288417 Oooh! I love that idea, too. Combined, they seem like a fantastic solution. ~TDQ Thu Jan 01 16:34:25 -0800 2009 4288405 12005 The Dairy Queen 7 4289454 I use school lunch trays for this. Lighter than a baking sheet and has low sides. Fri Jan 02 07:36:16 -0800 2009 4288417 11076 AGM_Cape_Cod 5 4289703 Never happened and I'm clumsy too. Generally, the weight of the item keeps the wax paper down. Also, my counters are always slightly damp (I'm always wiping them down) it creates kind of a water glue to the wax paper. I like the foil as well, because I can make little edges around the sides. I don't know why since stuff never falls off the edges. Fri Jan 02 09:09:45 -0800 2009 4288402 10214 beetlebug 1 4676622 Steamed Fish with Purple Perilla (RCC) I made this using a Branzino, which is one of my favorite fish to cook whole. I followed the directions strictly except that: (1) I subsituted green jalepenos for fresh red chiles; and (2) after steaming for 8 minutes and plating, the fish wasn't fully cooked so I put it back in to steam for another few minutes. It was delicious, the hot oil, pungent black beans, crunchy peppers and the ginger blended into a truly addictive topping for the moist and tender fish. Easily the best Chinese finfish dish I've tried. Although the branzino was only $10/lb, the recipe calls for any "bream", so I'd try porgy or ocean perch too. Tue May 12 09:12:59 -0700 2009 3448888 19098 equinoise 2 4785649 equinoise: You don't say whether or not you used purple perilla. Since that's in the name of the dish, I'm wondering how you liked it. When I searched for it online, I found this interestingly quirky description having nothing to do with cooking: The herb is pungent in flavour, warm in the nature and acts on the lung, spleen and stomach channels. Pungent and warm for dispersion and aromatic for enlivening the spleen, it can disperse pathogenic wind-cold from the lung channel, disperse the lung to arrest cough, and promote the Qi flow in the spleen and stomach to regulate the function of the middle Jiao and arrest vomiting. It is often used to treat wind-cold type of common cold. It is particularly suitable to treat common cold accompanied by cough or stagnation of Qi. So you not only had a delicious dinner, you revved up your Qi so it wouldn't stagnate! Thu Jun 18 15:25:01 -0700 2009 4676622 10245 oakjoan 3 4788534 I definitely did use perilla. It added another sharp, pungnet dimension to the dish. Thanks for pointing that out. Fri Jun 19 14:56:06 -0700 2009 4785649 19098 equinoise