1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (191 page)

Serves 6 to 8, more if accompanied by other dishes

1 tablespoon peanut, corn, or canola oil

4 thin slices peeled fresh ginger

6 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed with the side of a chef’s knife

1 piece (3 pounds), 2 inches thick, boneless pork belly with skin on

1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 large piece of Chinese rock sugar (rock candy) or 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar

2 scallions, both green and white portions, cut into 2-inch lengths

Steamed white rice or store-bought Chinese steamed yeast buns, for serving

1.
Place the oil, ginger, and garlic in a heavy pot with a lid and cook over high heat until garlic begins to color, 1 to 2 minutes, watching carefully to prevent scorching.

2.
Add the pork belly, skin side down, and cook, turning frequently, until all sides are seared to a light golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the rice wine or sherry, cover the pot, and cook 1 to 2 minutes until the wine evaporates.

3.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the dark and light soy sauces along with the rock sugar and scallions. Add 1 cup of water and, when the liquid is bubbling, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Let simmer slowly until the liquid is thick and syrupy and the pork belly is a rich, bronzed brown, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. If the liquid cooks down too quickly before the pork is done, add a little more water to prevent scorching. There should be 1½ to 2 cups of sauce remaining.

4.
Cut the pork belly into 1½-to 2-inch-thick slices. Place it on a warm platter and pour the sauce, complete with the ginger, garlic, and scallions, over the meat. Serve immediately with steamed white rice or Chinese buns.

Where:
In New York
, Red Farm at two locations,
redfarmnyc.com
;
in Vancouver
, Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant, tel 604-232-0816,
seaharbour.com
.
Mail order:
For rock sugar, amazon.com (search blooming lump candy; jansal valley rock sugar).
See also:
Pork Rinds
.

A lovely and ornate showcase for the winter melon.

Despite its name and watermelon-like appearance, the winter melon is actually a gourd, coveted for its smooth texture, subtly sweet taste, and ability to absorb strong flavors when cooked. In various Eastern medicine traditions, the melon is also considered a curative, a natural cleanser for the body that invigorates all the organs, the kidneys in particular.

Native to Southeast Asia and grown throughout southern China, where it is called
dong qua
, winter melon is made into a variety of soups in Chinese regional cuisines, some simply clear broths flavored with the mild, cucumberlike pulp. The Cantonese version is the most elaborate, a soup that is mostly seen in restaurants and that few home cooks attempt, except perhaps for feast days. The melon’s flesh is scooped out of its rind, and then the rind is carved into a tureen shape, with meaningful words or symbols like dragons, fish, or cherry blossoms chiseled into its surface. The flesh is cubed and combined with strong chicken stock, mushrooms, daylily bulbs, ginger, scallions, various spices, and roast duck (although more upscale versions might include crabmeat, scallops, or shark’s fin), before being returned to the carved rind for serving, garnished with slivers of Yunnan ham (see
listing
). Distinctively aromatic and tasty, it makes for a visually stunning, exotic delight.

Where:
In Shanghai
, Jesse Restaurant, tel 86/21-62822-9260;
in New York
, Congee Village, at two locations,
congeevillagerestaurants.com
;
in Chicago
, Yan Bang Cai, tel 312-842-7818,
yanbangcaichicago.com
;
in San Francisco
, Ton Kiang Restaurant, tel 415-752-4440,
tonkiang.net
;
in Daly City, CA
, Koi Palace,
koipalace.com
;
in Vancouver
, Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant, tel 604-232-0816,
seaharbour.com
. Note that many restaurants require winter melon soup to be ordered ahead for a party of at least six.
Mail order:
Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen
by Grace Young (1999);
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
epicurious.com
(search winter melon soup).
Tip:
The season for winter melons generally runs from November to May. They are available in Chinese markets and some gourmet grocery stores. Look for melons with smooth rinds free of soft spots or mold.

Aonce common sight in China’s sprawling, noisy seaside fish markets, now sadly fading from the urban scene, are the many small, informal cookshops where diners can have their fish cooked to order and served on the spot. You can still find some in two of Hong Kong’s most visited markets, the Sai Kung Seafood Market and the Lei Yue Mun Seafood Bazaar, both in former fishing villages. How the fish is prepared is generally left up to the cook, who might opt to steam rather than fry a specimen purchased live in order to show off the satiny freshness of meat and skin. Frying—to a crisp, greaseless, and golden state—is reserved for fish that, though bright-eyed and fresh, was purchased on ice, usually because it was too big or came from too far away to be kept alive in tanks.

The cookshops, which can also be found in Singapore, Taiwan, and Canton province, offer an education in Chinese fish and seafood preparation as well as an adventure that’s just plain fun. Wandering the markets, shoppers will see colorful piles of unfamiliar, exotic fishes, along with more standard types such as silvery, squirming eels; clams in several varieties; stony, sea-green crabs; purplish octopus; ivory squid; gold-scaled carp; and silvery bass and flounder. After staking out his desired cookshop, the customer flags that shop for the fishmonger while making his purchase; the assortment of fish is delivered to its destination, usually arriving shortly before the customer. Then it is best to leave the rest up to the cook, biding time by sipping tea or beer and eagerly anticipating the six-, eight-, or ten-course fish feast that awaits.

Where:
In Hong Kong
, Sai Kung Seafood Market,
discoverhongkong.com/eng
(search sai kung seafood street); Lei Yue Mun Seafood Bazaar, Kowloon, tel 86/852-2727-2830,
lei-yuemun.com/seafood-bazaar.html
.
Tip:
A less traditional but similar experience can be found in the many food malls of Singapore and Taiwan, where the big retail fish markets serve their wares in dining rooms.
See also:
Billingsgate Fish Market
;
Tsukiji Fish Market
.

“Dedicated to the art and science of Chinese cooking,” is the way this quarterly magazine’s purpose is stated, to which one can only add, “and how!” The publication is a delightful and informative must-read for all who love
the extraordinary cuisine of China, one of the world’s oldest, most expansive, and most diverse in scope, no doubt a result of the size and age of the country and the awesome ingenuity of its cooks. It is said that the Chinese eat everything that flies except an airplane and anything with four legs except a table, and that, in short, is the subject of this refreshingly artisanal and idiosyncratic magazine.

Flavor & Fortune
is scrupulously edited by Dr. Jacqueline M. Newman, a dietetics and nutrition professor emeritus at Queens College in New York. Living in Queens, with its burgeoning Chinese food scene, she became almost obsessive in an interest that prompted many visits to China and elsewhere in search of the best of the best interpretations of China’s culinary traditions. To further research, she established the Institute for the Advancement of the Science and Art of Chinese Cuisine and publishes the magazine under that banner.

With a roster of contributors that includes the celebrated chef and author Ken Hom,
Flavor & Fortune
runs well-illustrated articles that highlight obscure and common ingredients and dishes from all regions of China, including recipes; reports on restaurants, food shops, and books; and interesting food lore, customs, and holidays.

The magazine maintains an impressively huge archive on its website,
flavorandfortune.com
, with more than 1,000 recipes. Just about any Chinese ingredient or dish mentioned in this book can be found on the site, and, for good measure, so can many Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian foods.

Anyone who just can’t get enough of Chinese food will find that
Flavor & Fortune
at least in part fills in the gaps.

Further information:
Flavor & Fortune
, P.O. Box 91, Kings Park, NY, 11754,
flavorandfortune.com
.

The pungent garlic chive is favored in China.

First cousins to the tender, slim chives (
Allium schoenoprasum
) that Europeans and Americans value for their gentle oniony flavor and bright color, the pungent, hard-and flat-stemmed
gau choy
, or garlic chives (
Allium tuberosum
) are preferred in China—hence their other common name, Chinese chives. Their starry white blossoms lend fragrance and a potent garlicky taste to dishes, while the deep-green stems, which tend to be fibrous and papery, are cooked as a vegetable or a garnish to impart an onion-garlic savoriness accented by a hint of grassy freshness.

The white flower buds generally only appear on garlic chives in spring and summer, but the green stems are available all year round, sold in clipped and bundled form. In Canton, they are considered a special home-cooked treat when stir-fried with peanuts, slivers of silky white tofu, and chopped pickled vegetables, all glossed with a briny combination of soy sauce and oyster sauce. The stems are also delicious gently steamed and served as a garnish for soups or, along with vegetables, shrimp, or pork, as a filling for steamed or fried dumplings. Western cooks, too, can find ample uses for garlic chives. Minced and gently sautéed until tender in hot butter, they can be beaten into scrambled eggs or omelets, or stirred into cream sauces to top poached fish, for a touch of exotic sophistication and a boost of vitamins A and C. Although they’re usually available at farmers’ markets, they are also easy to grow from seed—well watered and given ample sunlight, they will survive temperate winters outdoors and provide tasty stalks all year.

Mail order:
For garlic chives, Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
; for seeds, Burpee, tel 800-888-1447,
burpee.com
(search garlic chives); for potted plants, The Growers Exchange, tel 888-829-6201,
thegrowers-exchange.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Beyond Bok Choy
by Rosa Lo San Ross (1996);
The Oxford Companion to Food
by Alan Davidson (1999).