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Welp, that explains alot. So the right stuff for the Ma Po tofu is doubanjiang? Do I need to make that myself, or is there a brand that's advisable? Just send me on my next quest already 
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Nov 12, 2013 20:38
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Egg drop soup tonight. I used store-bought chicken broth, then added garlic, green onions, wood ear mushrooms, and thai chilis. Let it cook for a while, then poured in two beaten eggs and dropped in some sliced up char siu from the batch I made Sunday. The wood ear is still a little too firm compared to the really soft stuff you get at the restaurant, but I enjoyed it.
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Nov 13, 2013 04:06
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Magna Kaser posted:Fried baozi are the best, suckers. Shengjian mantou, you mean? Made those ourself once. Totally worth it  I'm bad and wrong to like Yang's Fried Dumpling, I know, I just crave it like crazy sometimes. Bite a hole, suck out the soup and empty a tablespoon's worth of black Zhenjiang vinegar into the dumpling skin  
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Nov 13, 2013 12:36
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Sjurygg posted:Shengjian mantou, you mean? Made those ourself once. Totally worth it You suggested those to me when I asked for food recommendations in Shanghai earlier this year. Tried them one cold morning after a night of hard drinking, one of my favourite food memories. 
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Nov 13, 2013 15:17
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Sjurygg posted:Shengjian mantou, you mean? Made those ourself once. Totally worth it No lie, shengjian bao is probably one of my alltime favorite Chinese foods. I like xiaolongbao as much as the next person and get all the hype and all but I would pick shengjian bao over them any time. And they are the perfect breakfast food. Mmmm hot sticky meat gelatin juice.
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Nov 13, 2013 19:47
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Serendipitaet posted:You suggested those to me when I asked for food recommendations in Shanghai earlier this year. Tried them one cold morning after a night of hard drinking, one of my favourite food memories. That's awesome to hear. I particularly like the knotted bottoms, deliciously crunchy Personal favourite for breakfast is jianbing or danbing, a big crunchy pancake stuffed with an egg, pickled mustard greens, youtiao or deep-fried wonton skins, hoisin or bean sauce, fresh coriander and green onions, and chili paste if you ask for it. Couldn't find any selling on our block this time, unfortunately :-(
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Nov 13, 2013 20:39
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Any Shanghai goooooons here? Just wondering, I pop over from time to time,it would be nice for food meet up Chinese style. Oh and goon meet Shanghai Saturday
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Nov 13, 2013 22:37
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We're only in a few weeks every year to meet up with family. Finally found a truly good hotpot place last time.
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Nov 13, 2013 22:53
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InspectorBloor posted:Welp, that explains alot. So the right stuff for the Ma Po tofu is doubanjiang? Do I need to make that myself, or is there a brand that's advisable? Just send me on my next quest already Yes there are plenty of brands out there that you can buy. It might be more commonly called chili bean paste or some variations of that. Lee Kum Kee is an OK brand that you should be able to find just about anywhere in the world with an Asian grocer.
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Nov 14, 2013 01:02
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Quick question, when making Gravity's Red braised pork, would arbols make for an alright substitution for dried birds eyes or are they too different of a flavor?
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Nov 17, 2013 19:00
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God, I get so hungry when I look at this thread.
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Nov 18, 2013 01:49
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Typhus733 posted:Quick question, when making Gravity's Red braised pork, would arbols make for an alright substitution for dried birds eyes or are they too different of a flavor? Arbols would be fine.
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Nov 18, 2013 10:22
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Since there was a soy sauce recommendation, and I will try that fancier one if I can find it, is there a brand of seasame oil that you would recommend? Or conversely, one you would not use at all? I use Kadoya, and it smells really strong. Not sure if my current bottle is rancid, so I'm planning to dump it and get a fresh one soon.
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Nov 19, 2013 16:37
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The stuff that I stuck with is Chee Seng oil. It's one of the better brands that are available here.
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Nov 19, 2013 16:53
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Well here comes caberham the sauce snob again! Sesame oil actually comes in 3 kinds. Refined for cooking. Untoasted and toasted. The kadoya brand which you listed is a very strongly toasted seasame oil. More of a finisher and heavily used in American Chinese cooking and south east asian Chinese. If I use it for cooking, only a tea spoon or two is more than enough. Your tongue can feel really greasy when you have more. Personally I don't like kadoya, it's too smoky. But goes great with instant noodles and maggi. If you want more seasme oil as a secondary oil for cooking and stir fry I recommend untoasted. I find it lighter and crispier and easier to work with. So what brands? Hmmm I say..no go Japanese.
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Nov 20, 2013 03:06
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I keep a giant canister of kadoya around but when I want a little sesame oil flavor in a pan without overwhelming, I have to admit I put about a 1 to 4 ratio of sesame and regular cooking oil in instead of buying some other type.
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Nov 20, 2013 03:50
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caberham posted:Well here comes caberham the sauce snob again! That's very helpful. I had moved and am still having problems finding everything in the brands I was used to, and then I could only find really smoky tasting seasame oils. Would I not use the lighter oils for flavoring things like meat or noodles? Should I not? I am finding that the smoky oil is too strong and I have to use more of it than I'd like to make my noodles not stick. (Okay, these are really sticky noodles (potato starch) and it's not for Chinese food, but still) On thick egg noodles, the Kadoya is so strong. And some times, I think the amount of sesame seed oil makes me a bit ill. :| hallo spacedog posted:I keep a giant canister of kadoya around but when I want a little sesame oil flavor in a pan without overwhelming, I have to admit I put about a 1 to 4 ratio of sesame and regular cooking oil in instead of buying some other type. That is great. I should do that, thank you.
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Nov 20, 2013 23:07
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Yeah, don't use a toasted sesame oil like Kadoya as an actual oil. Think of it like Sichuan peppers or ginger or garlic or other flavoring ingredients. So to keep your noodles from sticking, use a canola, peanut, untoasted sesame, very mild olive oil, or I suppose butter (depending on availability and preference). But add a touch of the sesame because it's so delicious.
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Nov 21, 2013 00:48
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Peanut is the best cooking oil for most Chinese food, I think. The little bit of peanuty flavor goes well with everything.
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Nov 21, 2013 02:48
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Where do you guys get peanut oil? I either see 24oz bottles at the grocery for $10 or Costco's 35lb jug for $45
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Nov 21, 2013 03:16
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Steve Yun posted:Where do you guys get peanut oil? I either see 24oz bottles at the grocery for $10 or Costco's 35lb jug for $45 I normally get it at the grocery store but yeah it's expensive, at least compared to other oils. I don't know if peanuts are expensive or there just aren't subsidies, but I never understood why it cost so much. It's also one of the reasons I stopped deep frying turkeys because I would spend more on the oil than I would on the turkey and that's hosed up.
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Nov 21, 2013 03:25
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At least you can get it. Doesn't exist in Korea. 
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Nov 21, 2013 03:27
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Grand Fromage posted:At least you can get it. Doesn't exist in Korea. Man Grand Fromage, you paint Korean life as hardcore as the peace corps What other random food do I have to bring you next time? Don't Koreans also use seasame oil? I'm sure they do for some of their vegetable appetizers.There's a Japanese dish called Gomae, which is spinach in seasame paste/sauce; I'm sure there's a bit of untoasted seasame oil added in for that extra finish.
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Nov 21, 2013 03:38
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Yeah sesame oil is common. Peanut oil is the only one I can think of that I used to use that isn't available anywhere. gently caress I found avocado oil once but peanut? Nooooope. I asked about it at a few different stores and got the standard response to unfamiliar questions, stare in silence like I just asked to gently caress your dog, every time. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Nov 21, 2013 |
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Nov 21, 2013 03:40
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porkypocky posted:I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to bring any animal products back to the States (at least not going through LAX). My family used to bring back all sorts of stuff on that list, but customs is getting tougher. In the last few years my mom has had her bags searched every time she's flown back. I think my dad got away with dried scallops once saying they were mushroom stems Beef and Pork are the main things not allowed. You can bring in overly salted processed-to-death beef and pork in a can, but I don't understand why anyone would. Poultry and their eggs are currently okay as long as they're "sufficiently cooked". That is not elaborated on very well (so YMMV) in the regs. Sausage is mostly not allowed, no matter the filling, if the casing is natural. Extracts of chicken or chicken flavoring, or products with them are not allowed. Birds nest isn't allowed without an expensive commercial permit (similar to Spanish ham and Italian salumi, gotta protect the commercial import business). Seafood is allowed, unless it's an endangered species, like whale. Same thing with more exotic stuff, like snakes or lizards; if it's dead and for eating, allowed unless an endangered species. This assume inspector and organizational competence. Let's just say that it is not consistent and varies from port to port, even if it shouldn't.
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Nov 21, 2013 03:44
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I've also suggested throwing that stuff in my luggage (what 20-something is going to be carrying tree bark??) but they're too afraid to try anymore.
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ookuwagata posted:This assume inspector and organizational competence. Let's just say that it is not consistent and varies from port to port, even if it shouldn't. This. Customs is hit and miss. I usually don't give a drat and bring whatever, but I'm not die hard crazy enough to purely stuff my suit case with noodles or what not.
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Nov 21, 2013 04:07
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caberham posted:This. Customs is hit and miss. I usually don't give a drat and bring whatever, but I'm not die hard crazy enough to purely stuff my suit case with noodles or what not. Unlike your colleagues 
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Nov 21, 2013 10:18
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Grand Fromage posted:Yeah sesame oil is common. Peanut oil is the only one I can think of that I used to use that isn't available anywhere. gently caress I found avocado oil once but peanut? Nooooope. Is the cheese situation as horribad as Japan?
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Nov 21, 2013 13:56
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Korean cheese is inedibly awful and is the most common "cheese". It's processed stuff that makes Kraft Singles seem like something an old French man's family has been making in caves for 500 years in comparison. You have to stick to imports. There's decent everyday cheese at Costco and the big grocery stores, though it's expensive at the Korean stores. And there are a few real cheese stores scattered around that are also expensive as gently caress. $50+ a pound for good cheese at those. And there's the internet.
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Nov 21, 2013 14:02
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About the same then.
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Nov 21, 2013 14:08
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I haven't lived in Japan but I'd imagine so. Cheese is in the category where if you really want it you can get it, but if you want something fancier than the big cheddar bricks at Costco you're going to pay through the nose. Peanut oil/Shaoxing wine are in the category of just doesn't exist, or if it does it's so rare I've never found it or met anyone who has found it.
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Nov 21, 2013 14:14
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When I brought cheese to Korea for the goons, one of them told me my life was in grave danger for possessing such quantities of fine Gouda cheese. (if you're in Asia and you really need some cheese, get me a plane ticket and I'll get it sorted  )
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Nov 21, 2013 14:19
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Cheese courier sounds like an awesome job.
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Nov 22, 2013 17:08
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anakha posted:Cheese courier sounds like an awesome job. "I hope you appreciate the... extreme lengths I went to in order to guarantee the delivery of this brie, Mr. Smith."
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Nov 23, 2013 02:34
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So, I just brewed some soy sauce and . . . it is really good. So good I'm thinking of selling it on Etsy or something similar. But I have a few questions: 1) What would you be willing to pay for premium soy sauce? Particularly things like first pressing? 2) Does sea salt vs. table salt make a difference to you? 3) Would using sodium metabisulfite as a stabilizer be a deal killer for you? I could do heat pasteurization but my one trial run of it did drive off a lot of delicate flavors. I don't have the set-up for the kind of flash pasteurization that wouldn't drive off those flavors. I'm thinking about making a "raw, gluten-free, sea salt" soy sauce and marketing it to the Whole Foods crowd at a premium. I'll want to tweak the recipe, but does that sound viable?
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Nov 24, 2013 23:57
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I would probably pay somewhere between $10 and $20 for a quart of really good soy sauce, and I do draw a distinction between sea and table salt. What was the process like?
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Nov 25, 2013 00:09
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I brew a lot, so it was pretty easy to modify this recipe: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Soy-Sauce Because some members of the aspergillus family produce some super nasty poo poo (aflatoxin. It is not your friend), I used a storebought koji (mixed with some lambic dregs for extra fun) to get it started. Edit: Two things, a) I did a fairly short ferment, obviously I'll want to age it more properly. b) Sake koji will result in a very pale looking soy sauce. That's because the fungus doesn't produce all the pretty colors that other members of the species do. But they also don't produce alfatoxin, which is a bonus. If I scale up, I may have to add some sinamar. That would gently caress the gluten free angle, so I'll have to consider maybe allowing a lot of poison in this thing. Shbobdb fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 01:35
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Been thinking of getting a Cleaver. What are some recommendations for brands or what I should look out for in a knife? Most likely I won't be able to actually try very many out and will have to order it online.
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Nov 25, 2013 03:44
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Hey goon, can you post more pictures of your fermentation? 10 USD a bottle is a good price to start for premium first harvest. If it's really good, put it in a fancy package and sell it for 15. But taste wise, how does it compare to the regular Chinese brands? Mom swears by Zwilling Henkels. I'm pretty fond of their knives as well
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Nov 25, 2013 05:56
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caberham posted:Mom swears by Zwilling Henkels. I'm pretty fond of their knives as well I dunno about cleavers, but I have a 10" Henckles Zwilling Pro chef's knife, and it's pretty excellent. I really like Henckles handles, and the steel takes a great edge.
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Nov 25, 2013 06:08
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