1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (194 page)

The chewy, ear-shaped fungus.

A rare case of truth in advertising, the tree ear mushroom (
Auricularia auricula
or
Auricularia polytricha
) is just what it sounds like: a floppy, ear-shaped, wrinkly and ruffled fungus that grows wild on fallen hardwood and coniferous trees in forests around the world. Known in Mandarin Chinese as wood ear (
mu er
) or cloud ear (
yun er
) and as
wan yee
in the Cantonese dialect, they are the star ingredient in popular Chinese dishes such as hot and sour soup (see
listing
) and moo shu pork. Always sold dried, and rehydrated in warm water before being used, the mushrooms have a subtly earthy flavor, but it’s the texture, at once chewy and slippery and crunchy, that really distinguishes them. Tree ears have the distinct ability to retain their texture during long cooking, and to absorb the flavors of surrounding ingredients.

Tree ears are also believed to have medicinal properties, most especially as a palliative to problems of the heart—physical problems, that is. A groundbreaking study released by researchers at the University of Minnesota in the early 1980s showed that tree ears may slow the tendency of the blood to clot, thus combating heart disease. As for other matters of the heart, who’s to say that love couldn’t bloom over a platter of sweet-and-savory moo shu pork, studded with crunchy tree ears?

Mail order:
amazon.com (search mushroom house dried wood ear).
Further information and recipes:
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
The Shun Lee Cookbook
by Michael Tong (2010);
cookstr.com
(search fortune noodle meatball soup);
chinesefood.about.com
(search cloud ears; wood ears).
Tip:
Dried tree ears will keep indefinitely if stored in a cool, dry place in an airtight container. Before using, soak them in warm water for 20 to 30 minutes.

Cilantro adorns an earthy, meaty noodle soup.

Redolent of anise, steaming bowls of long, soft noodles topped with tidbits of tender beef in an intensely spiced gravy are a much-favored street food in Taiwan, particularly in the capital city of Taipei. Something of a regional staple, this heady soup, called
niu rou mian
, is dispensed from small stands and in noodle shops as an inexpensive and restorative one-dish meal. Part of the venerable Chinese noodle tradition, it was introduced to Taiwan by mainland Chinese soldiers in the late 1940s and immediately took hold. The original version showed fiery Sichuan influences, but in Taiwan, more temperate flavoring, such as mellow red-bean paste, ginger, and sweet spring onions, prevails.

Because beef was not a traditional or plentiful ingredient in Taiwan when the dish took hold, the vendors in the cities’ marketplaces improvised with cuts of offal, mainly stomach and heart, and, as with so many soul-food traditions, these humble parts have become beloved classic ingredients. The sweetly aromatic broth is garnished with pickled mustard greens and fresh cilantro, which are mixed into the seductively silky, piping-hot noodles for a fresh and tangy flavor contrast as they entwine in the bowl. Although they are enjoyed equally for breakfast or a midnight snack, Taiwanese beef noodles are most popular as a hearty and complete lunch. Usually purchased from street vendors, the noodles are generally negotiated in crowded spaces, requiring the eater to be quite adept at slurping, chewing, and deftly wielding chopsticks on slippery noodles—usually while standing. It’s an inelegant business, but beef noodle devotees will tell you that the messy, communal aspect of the tradition actually adds zest to the flavor.

Where:
In Taipei
, Yong Kang Beef Noodles, tel 886/2-2351-1051; Old Zhang’s Beef Noodles, tel 886/2-2396-0927;
in Queens
, Main Street Imperial Taiwanese Gourmet, tel 718-886-8788.
Further information and recipes:
Chinese Cooking: Taiwanese Style
by Lee-Hwa Lin (1991);
epicurious.com
(search taiwanese beef noodle soup);
thekitchn.com
(search taiwanese beef noodle soup);
youtube.com
(search taiwanese beef noodle soup); for an instructional video,
wokwithnana.tumblr.com
(click Archive, then Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup).

Not really spinach at all, this verdant, slender-leafed green should be cause for celebration—particularly during late spring and early summer, when it is abundant. Known in Southeast Asia as
kangkong
and botanically as
Ipomoea aquatica
, so-called water spinach has a less mineral, more peppery flavor than its namesake green, suggestive instead of watercress or young and tender dandelion greens. And it truly is more akin to watercress, in that they both grow in water. But, like spinach,
ong choy
has a high water content and cooks down very quickly, its firm stems and silky leaves creating an appealing textural contrast.

Whether of the pale green variety that the Chinese prefer or the darker leaves that appeal more to the Thais and Vietnamese, the plant’s pungency lends itself to several preparations. Perhaps most delicious is a dish of ong choy quickly stir-fried with garlic and lusciously preserved bean curd, resulting in a flavor so rich it is hard to believe that no meat is involved. For a palate-tingling effect, salty shrimp paste is added in China; in Thailand and Vietnam, a similar effect comes from the fermented fish sauce
nam pla
or
nuoc mam
and flecks of pickled ginger. Either way, the plain steamed white rice served alongside provides an excellent foil for the flavor and texture of the greens.

Where:
In New York
, Congee Village at two locations,
congeevillagerestaurants.com
;
in Queens
, Main Street Imperial Taiwanese Gourmet, tel 718-886-8788.
Mail order:
For seeds, Ali Express,
aliexpress.com
(search ong choy).
Further information and recipes:
Beyond Bok Choy
by Rosa Lo San Ross (1996);
The Oxford Companion to Food
by Alan Davidson (1999);
foodnetwork.com
(search stir fried water spinach);
saveur.com
(search water spinach garlic fermented tofu).
Tip:
Like all dark-green, leafy vegetables, ong choy is high in both iron and antioxidants, nutritional benefits that are well preserved by the stir-fry method, which cooks the greens in their own healthful juices.
See also:
Watercress
.

Tea is served in Hong Kong.

An aromatic and full-bodied tea that is among the world’s best-loved varieties and a darling of connoisseurs, oolong lies between fully oxidized black teas and unoxidized green teas. Known in China as
wu long
, which translates to
“black dragon,” oolong’s leaves are picked primarily from
Camellia sinensis
bushes in the Fujian and Guangdong provinces, along China’s southeastern coast. Brewed oolong can range from pale green to deep amber-gold, and the exact character of the tea varies based on where it was grown and how it was processed. In general, though, Chinese oolongs are bold and earthy, with toasty and sometimes fruity notes that add up to an eye-opening drink. During their oxidation, which begins in sunlight and is completed in a warm room, oolong leaves curl up into small twists. This means they require multiple steepings to fully release their essence. Some varieties, such as Fujian’s coveted
tieguanyin
, require up to twelve infusions to reach peak flavor (but you can enjoy all the steepings along the way).

But there’s more to oolong than its complex taste. The inhabitants of China’s oolong-growing regions have long known of the tea’s healthful properties and, in traditional Chinese medicine, it is prescribed for spleen, stomach, and kidney disorders, among a host of other ailments. Modern science has confirmed the tea’s health-giving properties, having found that it is high in polyphenols, a compound that scientists believe helps reduce fats such as triglycerides and remove toxins such as cell-damaging free radicals in our bodies. More whimsically, in Fujian, there is a well-known legend about an official of the Ming dynasty who was deathly ill but was saved by drinking oolong. To honor the plant, he is said to have had royal red robes draped around the tea bushes to protect them. The result: a prized tea called Da Hong Pao (Royal Red Robe)—one of the most coveted varieties of oolong.

Where:
In New York
, McNulty’s Tea & Coffee, tel 800-356-5200,
mcnultys.com
;
in Northampton, MA
, Tea Trekker, tel 413-584-5116,
teatrekker.com
;
in Vancouver
, The Chinese Tea Shop, tel 604-633-1322,
thechineseteashop.com
.
Further information:
oolongteainfo.com
.
Tip:
For prime flavor, before steeping oolong, rinse the leaves in a teapot with hot water. Strain off the water and add boiling water for steeping.

An infamous Chinese delicacy.

With their creamy texture and rich, faintly earthy flavor, big, yolky duck eggs are great favorites in Chinese cuisine, whether eaten alone or incorporated into other dishes. One of the most famous—or infamous—duck egg preparations is
the so-called thousand-year-old egg, or
pidan
, a fresh duck egg nested in a mix of lime-rich clay, ashes, and salt for about three months. Dug up and served gelled, with a dip of soy sauce, rice wine, and minced ginger, or boiled and cut into quarters to show off a translucent, pearly gray exterior and a boldly jade-green yolk, the egg’s flavor suggests sulphur, smoke, and a funky ripeness that is either loved or hated. Often appearing at banquets and rarely prepared at home, thousand-year-old eggs (sometimes called Ming Dynasty eggs) are sold ready-aged in Chinese markets.