1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (196 page)

The dried mushrooms add depth to a variety of dishes.

Cooked simply, bok choy can be a disappointingly subtle vegetable—watery and largely unmemorable. But flavored with black mushrooms (which is what the Chinese call dried shiitake mushrooms), soy sauce, and garlic in the classic Chinese preparation, the cabbage is imbued with deep, foresty flavors that turn it into a succulent treat.

It’s not the only dish that owes its savory depth to the mushrooms, a woodland fungus that grows on the bark of rotting wood and has been cultivated for centuries in China and Japan. Fresh, the flat-topped mushroom is known for a meaty texture and a rich, earthy, and almost equally meaty flavor. Dried, its woodsy flavor is concentrated to a pungency that frequently finds its way into soups and sauces.

The dried mushrooms must soak in warm water to soften up before use, and during that time all of their attributes intensify—so that the mushrooms’ essential flavor becomes even stronger, and the soaking liquid becomes a wonderful side project, an especially savory addition to whatever dish the mushrooms will enhance. The advantage of all dried mushrooms, and particularly of this one, is that a little goes a long way—and buying them dried means you can use them in any season, not just in mushroom-rich autumn.

Mail order:
amazon.com (search dried sliced shiitake black mushrooms).
Further information and recipes:
My Grandmother’s Chinese Kitchen
by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo (2006);
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
The Shun Lee Cookbook
by Michael Tong (2010);
saveur.com
(search bok choy with black mushrooms);
epicurious.com
(search stir fried tofu and shiitake mushrooms).
Tip:
Dried shiitakes needn’t be limited to use in Asian dishes; they are a marvelous addition to any soup, stew, or daube that calls for mushrooms.

Pork meatballs and cabbage.

Said to have originated in the eastern Chinese city of Yangzhou, this luscious dish owes its name to its appearance. Giant golden pork meatballs (the lions’ heads) are served with frilly slices of braised, bittersweet cabbage leaves that loosely suggest a mane. Enriched with supple pork belly, the juicy, palm-size meatballs are flavored with ginger, water chestnuts, scallions, sherry, and sometimes black mushrooms or bamboo shoots, and then fried or braised in oil. When the meat is cooked through, the cabbage leaves are added to the same pot or earthenware casserole, along with a little water, soy sauce, and perhaps a dash of sherry or sugar to deepen the flavor and create a rich, meaty broth.

In some versions, the meatballs are steamed in stock along with the cabbage instead of being fried, for a more delicate, if less savory, dish. In Shanghai, whole baby bok choy take the place of larger, round cabbage leaves and form cheerful cushions for the meaty “heads,” and in still another variation, the meat and vegetables are “red-cooked,” braised in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and spices for a deep flavor and dark mahogany hue. Served in soup bowls, the lions’ heads and manes immersed in the fragrant and nourishing broth, the dish is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palate.

Where:
In New York
, Joe’s Shanghai, Chinatown location, tel 212-233-8888,
joeshanghairestaurants.com
;
in San Gabriel, CA
, Mei Long Village, tel 626-284-4769.
Further information and recipes:
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
The Chinese Cookbook
by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee (1972);
cookstr.com
(search lions head meatballs);
food52.com
(search lions head meatballs);
cookingchanneltv.com
(search lions head meatballs).

A quick dip in hot broth, with dumplings on the side.

It could be argued that all Asian hot pots are Mongolian, having been inspired by that northern country’s frigid winters and the need to heat its great big yurts, those striking round dwellings erected by nomads. But although hot pots
are served throughout China, where they’ve been popular for centuries, the best place to experience one in a classic Mongolian-style feast is in the colorful central Chinese city of Xi’an, the home of the famed terra-cotta soldiers and a large Muslim-Mongolian population.

Hot pots are almost always offered as a communal meal, even in restaurants. The group gathers at a round table and is outfitted with a single big ball of steamed, yeast-raised dough and medium-size, flared soup bowls. The central brazier is full of a heady broth generally made with lamb, and as it heats up, diners pinch off tiny rounds of the tender dough and drop them into their empty bowls. When they have pinched as much as they want, waiters carry the bowls to the kitchen, somehow remembering which belongs to whom. In the kitchen, the dough balls are dropped into boiling stock and soon swell into puffy, absorbent dumplings. They are then returned to the diners, who add hot pepper, minced garlic, a splash of vinegar and soy sauce, a little cilantro, and other seasonings to their bowls.

When the broth on their table is seethingly hot, diners wield long chopsticks to pluck thin slices of raw lamb—the much-preferred meat in this area—or beef, along with onions, cabbage, carrots, and mushrooms, from large platters and swish each morsel in the simmering broth to the desired degree of doneness. These are added to the individual bowls, alongside the delectably squishy dumplings and spicy seasonings. Once the solids have been consumed, the hot broth is ladled into the bowls as a final feast.

Where:
In Xi’an
, Tong Sheng Xiang, tel 86/29-8721-8711;
in Arcadia, CA
, Hai Di Lao Hot Pot, tel 626-455-7232;
in the U.S., China, Japan, and Canada
, Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot at multiple locations,
littlesheephotpot.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco
by Cecilia Chang (2007);
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
chinesefood.about.com
(search mongolian lamb).

Gently salty and silky eggplant prepared in the Sichuan style is justifiably one of the region’s most famous dishes. Following the main principles of Sichuan cuisine, the preparation is distinguished by a generous dose of mouth-tingling, addictive Sichuan pepper (see
listing
), a “warming” ingredient that contrasts—in the yin-yang tradition of Chinese cooking—with the mild, thin, purple or white Asian eggplants,
which are cooling, or
yin.
The eggplants are diced or slivered and then quickly stir-fried over blazingly high heat with a small amount of ground pork, plus the pepper, garlic, chiles, sesame oil, and ginger, all “hot” ingredients. The result is an especially fragrant, satiny concoction of contrasting flavors, balanced further by its traditional accompaniment of steamed rice (another “cool” food), and substantial enough to serve as a main course.

The Asian eggplant is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and has beneficial digestive properties, making Sichuan eggplant surprisingly healthful, given its richness and depth of flavor. The dish is a masterpiece easily realized at home, requiring only skills at wok cooking and knife use—and the patience to do a lot of chopping.

Where:
In Shanghai
, Fortune Palace, Jin Jiang Hotel, tel 86/21-3218-9888,
jinjianghotels.com
;
in New York
, Wu Liang Ye, tel 212-398-2308,
wuliangyenyc.com
;
in Washington, DC
, New Big Wong, tel 202-628-0491;
in Richmond, VA
, Peter Chang’s China Café, tel 804-364-1680,
peterchangrva.com
;
in Atlanta
, Little Szechuan, tel 770-451-0192,
littleszechuanatlanta.com
;
in Chicago
, Yan Bang Cai, tel 312-842-7818,
yanbangcaichicago.com
;
in Toronto
, Crown Princess Fine Dining, tel 416-923-8784,
crownprincess.ca
.
Mail order:
For Asian eggplant, Specialty Produce, tel 619-295-3172,
specialtyproduce.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Sichuan Cooking
by Fuchsia Dunlop (2003);
Mrs. Chiang’s Szechuan Cookbook
by Jung-Feng Chiang with Ellen Schrecker and John Schrecker (1987);
Henry Chung’s Hunan Style Chinese Cookbook
by Henry Chung (1978);
saveur.com
(search sichuanese fried eggplant; sichuan eggplant essentials).
Tip:
Grown in California and in some southern U.S. states, Asian eggplants are readily found in specialty supermarkets and farmers’ markets. When selecting your eggplants, look for fruits that feel heavy for their size, and are shiny purple or creamy white. Dull spots or brown stains indicate overripeness.
See also:
Aubergine en Caton
;
Nasu
.

You cannot claim to really appreciate green beans until you have tried the Chinese long bean (
Vigna unguiculata
subspecies
sesquipedalis
), also called a snake bean or yard-long bean and known in Chinese as
bak dau gok
or
tseng dau gak
. With skin that appears tougher than it turns out to be, its long, slender pods (ranging from 18 to 30 inches in length), bulging slightly with seeds, become miraculously tender and flavorful when cooked in the Sichuan style. The mild beans are a perfect foil for Sichuan’s traditional pungent spices, and the flavorful dish that pairs them with pork is a favorite in Chinese restaurants the world over. The beans are wok-fried until they’re smoky and blistered, then flavored with zaps of garlic and ginger, soy sauce, and, for extra sustenance, ground pork. Like so many Sichuan specialties, it strikes many contrasting notes at once: tender and crunchy, sweet and tangy, robust and light.

Where:
In Shanghai
, Fortune Palace, Jin Jiang Hotel, tel 86/21-3218-9888,
jinjianghotels.com
;
in New York
, Wu Liang Ye, tel 212-398-2308,
wuliangyenyc.com
;
in Atlanta
, Little Szechuan, tel 770-451-0192,
littleszechuanatlanta.com
;
in Chicago
, Yan Bang Cai, tel 312-842-7818,
yanbangcaichicago.com
;
in San Francisco
, Betelnut Pejiu Wu, tel 415-929-8855,
betelnutrestaurant.com
;
in Vancouver
, Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant, tel 604-432-6002,
granddynasty.ca
.
Further information and recipes:
The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco
by Cecilia Chang (2007);
Beyond Bok Choy
by Rosa Lo San Ross (1996);
foodandwine.com
(search sichuan long beans).
Tip:
Long beans, sold in most Asian groceries, are characteristically bent, and should be somewhat flexible and free of dark spots.