Anyone know where to find hong zao jiang 紅糟醬 (red wine lees / red wine dregs)?

[Lau]

I'm trying to make a dish for this saturday and i unsuccessfully tried finding it today in chinatown at:
- hong kong super market
- New York Supermarket East Broadway (the one under the manhattan bridge): the guy here that i asked was pretty curt and told me he didn't know what i was talking about or what that was
- New York Mart (the new market on mott): i asked a woman here and she thought i was talking about dates even after i showed her the characters
- deluxe market (the big meat market on elizabeth)
- couple of random meat markets on grand

If anyone knows where to find it (even if it's in flushing) please let me know. Thanks!

[K K]

Excellent, this threads clarifies something very special I had in Taipei during my last night in Dec 2008 at a street food vendor called 高家莊米苔目. One of their signature dishes is called hung shao rou 紅燒肉, but it has nothing to do with braised soy sauce pork...but rather a dark red fried piece of pork (chop?). The thing is that once they slice it cross section, it looks remarkably like a battered fried version of Cantonese cha siu (bbq pork).

http://beefnoguy.blogspot.com/2010/01...

6th and 14th picture.

I was told that pork was marinated in red vinegar, but red wine/red yeast lees seems to be the more logical answer.

So I guess I had a version of the pork chop discussed here, but in Taipei.

[Zabar]

Although there is no mention of the now infamous "Fujianese Pork Chops", I hope that this wiki page proves to be interesting or informative to those CHers who are really conversant with the extraordinary cuisine of this province. Zabar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_c...

[Lau]

K K - i made them and they sorta looked like these, but they weren't that red. Btw that place looks awesome and is exactly the type of place that I want to go to, but i usually end being the only one b/c everyone thinks the menu looks weird haha (and then they usually go and are like its good! haha). Btw zhongsan is by shilin right? Even though I've been to taipei many times, for some reason i never know where i'm going unless I'm in the actual area.

Great blog btw, i've seen it before, but forgot about it. I just subcribed to it, some of those other blogs you've got are good too. i need to add a section like that to my blog

Zabar - they don't mention the pork chops, but they do mention the hong zao under seasoning and they mention a hong zao chicken, but i know what that is and its not fried

also, i was in chinatown again and if you walk down east broadway i actually noticed alot of the places carry the hong zao, its just not in the markets, it was those outdoor stalls under the bridge and various small restaurants

here's my attempt to make the pork chops

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7772...

[spikelam]

Hi there,
I'm from Chicago and there is no place to buy the red rice wine lees (hong zao -- not the dates) and I have been looking for blogs on where to find this paste for a long time. Before I found this chain, some of the references were years old -- I may be in New York sometime this fall and hope the restaurants/store/stalls still sell the paste. There is no place in Chicago to even get Fu Chow food at restaurants let alone the paste itself. I have cousins in Hong Kong and 2nd cousins in Taiwan, So getting Hong Zao is few and far between. Thanks for posting this info and I wish you all well in making those great dishes.

[Lau]

now that i actually looked for it, its actually very easy to find, but its just not in the super markets. If you go anywhere east of bowery or on east broadway and look at the fujian street vendors almost all of them sell it

[Zabar]

By the way "Lau"...
If you need another pair of semi-skilled hands in the kitchen when you're preparing the Fukienese Pork Chops, please, pretty please, invite me over to be your "sous chef". I'm eager to take direction and even more eager to devour those pork chops again after a 30+ year hiatus for my taste buds.
I'm not kidding - I'd love to share my enthusiasm for this dish with someone who is equally enthralled. Zabar

[Lau]

haha well let me try to experiment making this for me and my gf first, if it comes out good lets talk

[Zabar]

"Lau" - you're the "man with a plan"..
I'm waiting with bated breath to learn the outcome of your Fujianese culinary adventure. Zabar

[Lau]

yah ive generally been successful when ive tried to cook chinese food, but its like a once a year event for me b/c cooking is such a pain in the ass haha

last time i made another taiwanese dish called lu rou fan which turned out really good, i used this recipe if you ever want to try to make it, its really good
http://www.pigpigscorner.com/2008/05/...

i think i'm going to add my homecooking section to my blog and periodically try to make a chinese dish that people can make at home

[Zabar]

"Lau":
According to the original recipe that was printed in the August 3, 1972 restaurant review and recipe for the "Fukienese Pork Chops" that was published in the New York Times, the "lRED RICE WINE LEE" was described by Foo Joy's chef as being "BU ZAO".
I am certainly NOT an expert on Asian terms, I'm just trying to be helpful because I really want you to resolve this dilemma, once and for all time! Zabar

[scoopG]

You are right Zabar - the Fujianese use this term to denote rice wine lees! 卜糟 - bù zāo

[Lau]

scoopG - interesting fact i just found out today that i figured you'd be interested in. i was talking to my friend in shanghai today who is from suzhou and i told her about the whole hong zao ordeal and she told me they use it there too. she was surprised i knew what it was, she said her mom makes stuff with it, but it's totally homecooking type of stuff and in suzhou they don't call it hong zao they call it jiu zao 酒糟

[scoopG]

Thanks! I saw a four such dishes on the menu of Shanghai Night Snacks place in Flushing.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/819110

On their menu, they are just calling it zao 糟.

[scoopG]

Photos attached!

[Lau]

ahhhh i knew you'd know the answer! thanks!

[bearmi]

I am so glad that you found it. I actually have seen some in my local Kam Sen (Chinese) market in White Plains, both in plastic containers and foil pouches (can either be made in China or made in Taiwan). Here is a photo I found on-line that resembles what I saw in the market upstate:

http://f.hatena.ne.jp/godmother/20090...

I think one problem is that there maybe different translation of this ingredient in English (not always "Red Wine Lees"... sometimes called "Red Yeast" or "Anka Sauce" ) so it's hard to find.

I assume there will be similar formats sold in the refrigerated section of a grocery store in Manhattan. I will look out for it next time I am shopping in Chinatown.

[Lau]

im going to go here after work and try to buy it, ill let u guys know once i've found it for sure

[Lau]

alright scoopG came through and that restaurant sold exactly where they are in the picture.

also the stall to the left under manhattan bridge (the one that serves some cooked foods inside) also sells it

i'm basically just stupid and completely missed it yesterday as i was searching through the actual super market

the pork chops are marinating as we speak

[scoopG]

Not available in stores. This is a particular by-product only used in Fujian cuisine - the dregs of the rice wine barrel. Mr. Gao used to sell it at Eastern Noodles years ago and Best Fuzhou does as well. Try 95 East Broadway.

-----
95 Hok Zhou
95 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

[jonkyo]

Not familiar with this, but here:

http://www.savesafe.com.tw/ProdImg/1080/406/00/1080406_00_main.jpg

That is from a Taiwan website.

Try Flushings or ask a Taiwan 朋友。

http://www.pcstore.com.tw/chen888/M03...

Print the image, and you should be good to go.

You might poke around this very narrow Thai shop with tons of food stuff down from Xi'an food place on Bayard (I think) on the south side. They are stocked full of jar and can products from asia, though mostly Thailand.

[Lau]

yah i was going to try that place tomorrow, i wanted to make it this saturday so i was kind of in a rush to find it, ill go search around again tomorrow