Other varieties include brown rice, which is partially milled rice in which the brown husk is left on the kernel; red rice, grown near the Chinese-Thai border, a rice used chiefly as a colorant; and black rices, particularly a glutinous variety used to make sweets in Southeast Asia. Rices may be stored indefinitely, in covered containers, in cool, dry places.
RICE POWDER This finely ground powder of short-grain rice, is called “white rice powder,” flour or starch. It is used, often in combination with glutinous rice powder, to make savory and sweet cakes. This powder, when mixed with milk, is used often as a substitute for mother’s milk. Store as you would any flour.
ROCK SUGAR This is a compound of white sugar, raw brown sugar and honey. Also at times labeled “rock candy,” it is used in sweet soups and in teas. It comes in one-pound sacks and resembles a collection of small amber rocks. Stored in a tightly sealed jar it will keep indefinitely.
SAUSAGES, CHINESE The most popular Chinese sausages are traditionally made of diced pork and pork fat, and are called lop cheung. There is also a sausage of pork livers wrapped around pork fat called yon cheung, or liver sausage. These sausages are cured, but not cooked, and are generally sold loose, in links, by weight. But there are, as well, lop cheung of ground pork, sold in one-pound packages, which can be found in refrigerated market compartments. As noted, all of these sausages must be cooked before eating. They may be kept, refrigerated, for about a month, or frozen for three months.
SESAME OIL This most aromatic of oils is made from pressed, often toasted, sesame seeds. It has a defined nutlike aroma. I prefer to use it as an additive to sauces and marinades or as a dressing. I do not recommend cooking with it, for it tends to burn quickly. When this occurs there is no benefit to be had from its generally fine aroma and little of its taste. Adding a bit of sesame oil as a finish to an already prepared dish imparts fine flavor, to some soups and in particular to a steamed fish. In China and Japan, sesame oil is thick and brown; in the Middle East it is thinner and lighter. I recommend sesame oil from China. Stored in a tightly closed bottle at room temperature, it will keep about four months.
SESAME SEEDS, BLACK AND WHITE Black sesame seeds, either roasted or not, are used customarily as a pastry decoration, or as an ingredient in sweet pastry fillings. Roasted white sesame seeds are used generally in dumpling fillings, as garnishes, or occasionally as an ingredient in sweets.
Seeds are used mostly after being dry-roasted. To dry-roast sesame seeds: Heat wok over high heat, thirty seconds. Add seeds, stir, lower heat to medium, stir for 1 minute. Lower heat to low, cook for another minute, until seeds release their fragrance. Turn off heat. Seeds are ready for use.
I prefer keeping sesame seeds, both raw and roasted, in the freezer, since they have a tendency to become rancid. Frozen, they will keep at least 1 year.
SESAME SEED PASTE This paste is made by mixing ground white sesame seeds with soybean oil. It comes in jars and is smooth, with the consistency of peanut butter. Its sesame taste is quite pronounced. After opening, the jar should be refrigerated. It will keep six months. There is also a sesame seed paste from the Middle East known as tahini. I find it milder and less intense, than that from China.
SHAO-HSING WINE This rice-based wine is made in China and Taiwan, and comes in differing degrees of alcohol. From China, I use not only the basic Shao-Hsing with which to cook, but also its best refined grade, labeled “Hua Tiao Chiew.” From Taiwan, I cook with a brand called “Shao-Hsing V.O.” Both have distinctive sherrylike flavors, with that of the Taiwan Shao-Hsing slightly more intense. When shopping for Shao-Hsing you may simply ask for far jiu, a generic term, like asking for “burgundy.” But take care not to buy any bottle that indicates that it is a “cooking wine,” for the wine will have an inferior taste.
As you’ve seen in this book I use Shao-Hsing widely, in marinades, sauces or on its own, for it adds greatly, in whatever use. A medium-dry sherry, such as an Amontillado, will substitute nicely.
SHRIMP, DRIED These are cooked and shelled shrimp of various sizes, dried and salted for preservation. They come loose, sold by weight, or packaged. Before use, they should be soaked in warm water for at least twenty minutes. They will keep two to three months, refrigerated, in a tightly closed container. They can also be frozen for storage. They should be orange-pink in color, and a sure sign that they are aging and losing their strength and taste is a change to a grayish color.
SICHUAN PEPPERCORNS These are quite different from the peppercorns with which most people are familiar. They are reddish, not solid, opened like tiny buds. Often called “flower peppercorns” because of their appearance, they are neither hot, nor peppery. Instead, they’re rather mild. Store them in a tightly closed jar as you would ordinary peppercorns. Several recipes call for ground peppercorns. You must pulverize them yourself. Store ground peppercorns in a closed jar as well. They will keep for about six months.
SILK SQUASH A thin, cucumber-shaped gourd, with pronounced ridges running along its length. It is deep green, but its flesh is white, with a faint sweetness, and a soft texture. It is excellent in soups. Use it quickly, at its freshest, within two days.
SNOW PEAS These are the tender, and distinctively sweet, pods of the snow pea vine. They are used in stir-fries and soups, but both ends must be snapped off, their strings removed, before cooking. Their vine leaves, or shoots, called dau miu, are quite sweet on their own, when sauteed. The snow peas will keep no more than three to four days, and should be eaten quickly to enjoy their taste.
SOUR MUSTARD PICKLE This leafy cabbagelike vegetable, with large, round, green-tinged, bulbous stalks, is also known as “mustard greens,” and by the Chinese as kai choi, or “leaf-mustard cabbage.” Its taste is strong, and it is used fresh in soups or stir-fried with meats, but is more commonly used in its preserved form. Water-blanched, and cured with salt, sugar and vinegar, it is used as well in stir-fries and soups. Its heart is often a garnish. It can be bought, already cured, in large crocks, loose, by weight, or in cans labeled “sour mustard pickle,” or “sour mustard greens,” or “mustard greens.” If you buy the greens loose, place them in a tightly closed plastic container, refrigerated. They will keep three months. Once cans are opened, greens should be stored in the same manner, and will have the same storage life.
SOY SAUCE This sauce, a tradition of Chinese cooking for 3,000 years, is the product of the fermentation of soybeans, mixed with wheat flour, water and salt. It comes in light and dark varieties. The light soys are taken from the tops of batches being prepared, usually in earthenware crocks, the dark soys from the bottoms. The best soy sauces are fermented naturally in the sun, not indoors in factories. I prefer the soy sauces from Hong Kong and China to all others, including those produced in the United States and Japan, which I find a bit thin and too salty.
Dark Soys, which include such label distinctions as “dark” “double dark,” and a quite thick and dark “pearl” sauce, are best for imparting a rich color to a prepared dish. Some dark soys even have molasses added. I prefer dark soys with meats. The sauces I regard as superior are made in Hong Kong’s Koon Chun Sauce Factory. Its double-dark soy is labeled “Koon Chun Double Black Soy Sauce.”
There is another dark soy I prefer, one to which mushrooms have been added, for additional sweetness. It comes from China and is labeled “Pearl River Bridge Mushroom Soy.”
Light Soys are noted for their somewhat sweeter taste and marry well with chicken, fish and other seafood. The Koon Chun Sauce Factory’s light soy, also superior, and my most recommended light soy sauce, is labeled “Koon Chun Thin Soy Sauce.”
Most soys come in bottles and, tightly capped, will keep for six months at room temperature. Not only is soy sauce an additive, it is often used as a dip. In general the Chinese use soy sauce more sparingly than do Westerners.
SPIRITS In China both spirits and traditional wines share the generic name chiew, so long as the product contains alcohol. Thus wines, fermented spirits, even beers, are chi
ew. Even the Shao-Hsing wine discussed earlier is a chiew. I have given Shao-Hsing its own place in this ingredients list because of its prominence and the considerable use I make of it.
I also use “Chinese white rice wine” variously. There are four grades of this crystal-clear very white wine. The first is soi chiew, a somewhat humorous name that translates as “water wine.” It is weak and its main use is as a disposable temple offering. Second is mai chiew, or simply “rice wine,” a bit stronger, but without character. The third, which I recommend for the recipes in this book, is labeled “Pearl River Bridge, Kiu Kuang Shuang Jin Chiew,” in which the words shuang jin translate as “double-steamed,” to indicate a superior grade. Fourth is san cheng chiew, or triple-steamed, and very strong, which I do not recommend for cooking.
The other spirit mentioned in this book is “Mei Kuei Lu Chiew,” a very special liquor from Tianjin. Its name, translated as “rose dew chiew,” is based upon sorghum, with the addition of a liquor made from soaked rose petals, soaked, the Chinese say, only in dew. It is quite like a smooth eau-de-vie.
As a substitute in recipes for both the rice wine and this rose petal chiew, I specify gin—one gin in particular. It is “No. 209,” to denote the number of its registered San Francisco distillery, and made by the Napa Valley winemaker Leslie Rudd. It is a soft and elegant gin, fragrant with such botanicals as juniper berries from Tuscany, Chinese cassia bark, cardamom from Guatemala, bergamot orange from Calabria and coriander seeds from central Europe. This little United Nations of flavors produces a truly lovely gin with which to cook.
SPRING ROLL SKINS These thin, cooked skins are white in color and contain no eggs. Once square, now they are usually round, about six to seven inches in diameter, depending upon the brand. They are found in refrigerated compartments of markets. Usually freshly made, they will keep no more than two to three days, refrigerated. They may be frozen, wrapped first in plastic, then foil and finally in a plastic sack. They will keep frozen two to three months.
SUGARCANE SUGAR These are firm, layered, caramel-colored blocks made from sugarcane. They come usually wrapped in plastic packages and occasionally loose, in crocks. They are sold by weight. Stored in a tightly closed jar, at room temperature, these blocks will keep six months. The blocks will darken as they age.
TANGERINE PEEL, DRIED This dried, wrinkled, hard brown skin of the tangerine is used to flavor. The darker the peel, the older and the older the better. The oldest dried tangerine peels are also the most expensive. They are sold in packages and wrapped. Stored in a cool place, they will keep indefinitely. You can also dry your own. Place peel on a cookie sheet and allow to sit under the sun until hard and dry, two to three days.
TAPIOCA STARCH Also called “tapioca flour,” or “tapioca powder,” this is made from the starch of the cassava root. Much of it comes packaged from Thailand, and is used as a basic ingredient in dumpling doughs. It is used for dusting or coating foods and occasionally as a sauce thickener in place of cornstarch. Once opened, the starch should be kept in a closed container at room temperature. It will keep six to nine months.
TARO ROOT The starchy root of the taro plant. Taro is somewhat like a potato but is more fibrous and is tinged throughout by tiny purple threads. It must be eaten cooked and is usually steamed or boiled. As it steams it emits a chestnutlike aroma. After cooking it can be mashed. It can be stir-fried in its raw state. Refrigerated, it will keep no more than two to three days.
TIANJIN BOK CHOY This is often called “Tianjin cabbage,” or “Tientsin bok choy,” for the present and past spellings of its native city, or “celery cabbage,” or “Napa cabbage.” There are two varieties, one with a long stalk, another round and leafy. The latter is the sweeter of the two and my preference. It may be kept refrigerated in a plastic bag for about four days. After that it loses its sweetness, so it should be eaten early.
TIGER LILY BUDS These are elongated, reddish brown lily buds that have been dried. They are also known to the Chinese as “golden needles.” The best are pliable. When dry and brittle, they are too old. Sold in packages, they will keep at least three months in a tightly covered jar in a cool place.
VINEGARS Several Chinese vinegars are used in this book, the most distinctive of which is Chinkiang vinegar. It is reddish-black, very strong, made from glutinous rice. It has a distinct, direct taste and an aroma faintly reminiscent of a commercial balsamic. There are many brands, generally equal in quality.
There is also a distinctive black, sweet rice vinegar with sugar, ginger and cloves added. It’s a special vinegar used for the pigs’ feet and boiled egg dish traditionally eaten by Chinese women after giving birth. I prefer the Koon Chun Sauce Company’s variety from Hong Kong. This vinegar can also be combined with Chinkiang to create a more potent vinegar.
Red vinegar is made from distilled vinegar, diluted with water and with red coloring added. My preference for that is also from Koon Chun in Hong Kong, very much like a red wine vinegar, which may be used in its place.
White vinegar is distilled from a mixture of rice, sorghum and corn. I prefer two brands, “Dragon Fountain Grain Vinegar” and “Swatow Rice Vinegar,” both imported from China. If unavailable, use distilled white vinegar as a substitute.
WATER CHESTNUTS These are not nuts, despite their name. They are bulbs, purplish-brown, that grow in muddy water. The meat of the water chestnut is white, crisp and juicy, delicious even when raw. To peel fresh water chestnuts is time-consuming, but the results are its reward. I prefer that canned water chestnuts not be used, except in water chestnut cake. The best substitute is jicama, for its crispness. Water chestnuts should be eaten as quickly as possible, for they lose their firmness with age, and begin to deteriorate. They may be kept, with their skins and dirt remnants intact, in a brown paper bag, on a refrigerated shelf, for one week to ten days. If they have been washed, keep them similarly and for the same amount of time. If you have peeled them, wash and dry them, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. These will keep two to three days.
WATER CHESTNUT POWDER Like other ground and milled products, this powder is basically a flour. It is used to make cakes, or to thicken sauces. Store as you would any flour. It will keep up to one year.
WHEAT STARCH This finely ground substance is what remains of wheat flour when the wheat’s protein has been removed to make gluten. In this book it is used as an ingredient for vegetarian eggs, but it is also used in making dim sum skins and fillings. Kept in a closed container, in a cool place, this will keep three to six months.
WINTERMELON A large melon that looks quite like a watermelon from the outside. Its rind is dark green, occasionally mottled, while its interior is white with a pale green tinge and contains white seeds. The melon has no taste of its own, but absorbs the tastes of whatever it is cooked with. When it is cooked, usually in soup, or steamed, the melon flesh becomes translucent. Often, as is done in this book, the whole melon serves as a tureen, with stock, flavorings and other ingredients added after the melon has been hollowed out. Wintermelon should be used immediately, for it tends to dry out quickly, particularly when pieces are cut from it. It is sold variously as a whole melon, or in pieces, by weight.
WON TON SKINS Also labeled occasionally as “won ton wrappers,” often spelled “won tun,” these thin skins are made from wheat flour, eggs, water and baking soda. They also come without eggs. Packaged in one-pound stacks, they are square, either 3½ inches, or 3¼ inches on a side. Depending upon their thickness and size there will be sixty to eighty skins per package. They will keep refrigerated two to three days, and may be frozen for two to three months. To freeze, double-wrap them first in plastic, then with foil, then finally in a plastic bag, for better preservation.
AFTERWORD
EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN by Fred Ferretti
WHAT ENSURED—I MIGHT SAY SANCTIONED—my engagement to my future wife was my willingness to eat the bulbous eye of a fat fish, a garoupa, that had been steamed in my honor by her number-six
aunt. When I first met the woman I first knew as Yin-Fei Lo in 1958 in the fabric shop she managed, she gave me a glass of iced sour-lemon squash to counter the humid blasts of the Hong Kong summer. Our first formal date was a chaperoned restaurant lunch, during which a family friend glared at me as we ate our fried pork chops and Hong Kong’s spongy version of strawberry shortcake. Within ten days I was telling her, over cups of tepid, sweetened coffee in a teahouse, that I would soon return to marry her—a pronouncement that elicited some skepticism on her part.
In 1959, after I had been discharged from the Army, I returned to Hong Kong to do just that. The significance of our wedding reception in a waterfront hotel rested in the occasion it celebrated, but just as surely in the foods set out for our guests: crisp chicken, symbolizing the phoenix and rebirth; suckling pig, a wedding constant, for among the Chinese it signifies innocence and purity; a steamed fish, indicating that life will proceed smoothly, forever; oysters, for good fortune; shrimp, because the word for it, har, sounds like joyous laughter; and finally, tangerines and oranges, the seeds of which were assurances that children would proceed from our marriage. Everything of personal import between my wife and me, everything—from our first meeting to our current careers—has food at its core, a circumstance not only of continuing pleasure, but of constant bond.
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