Dumpling bowls and Chinese Liquor

These are a unique item. I only saw it once in all of my time in China, These are mantou dough which is a yeast dough that has been steamed. I believe they used some molasses and whole wheat to give these little bread bowls their distinctive color and sweetness.

Each person took a bread bowl and used a spoon to add some of the dark mixture in the middle. As far as I could tell there was ground pork, chilies, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and some very interesting spices in that mixture. Very strong flavored and a perfect accompaniment to the bread bowls

It might have been a ravenous desire for a carbohydrate other then rice, but I remember eating about 4 of those in a dinner with 75 other dishes.

Chinese Liquor:

One of the main reasons Chinese meals tend to get a little fuzzy is because of Chinese Liquor. Chinese liquor is a sorghum based liquor, although smaller amounts of wheat barley and millet can be substituted for the sorghum.

Chinese liquor is anywhere between 40% - 75% Alcohol, compared to vodka's in the US which are usually 40%.

Szechuan Frog Legs

Szechuan Frog Legs are actually a very popular and common dish in Shanghai

This, along with all great Szechuan food starts with Szechuan peppercorns.

The only way to eat seafood.

Move over peasants! I'm here to eat all of your live seafood. This is the only way to really eat seafood. Us of the nobility know of no other way!

The ability to point out the exact fish that you want to eat, to pick out the oysters, shrimp, razor clams, pinkish blobs, edible-looking stones. Now that is something for only us of the 1%. Now move aside you plebian pests! I must poke a well heeled finger at the food to let the chefy know how he may please me today.

This is the most luxurious way to eat seafood. I found this on the street in China. Welcome to the lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

Snips?

Snails?

Puppy dog tails.

Restaurant Review: VIP Asian Cuisine

This is a relatively new establishment on Odana road. They specialize in Chinese and Japanese food with two separate menu's.

Since this was a work meal and the restaurant was dark, I didn't take pictures of the food. I know, "excuses excuses," I'll just have to be extra descriptive! Everything was eaten family style.

We started out with appetizers:

Chef's Roll:
(rock shrimp tempura and crab, rolled in bean paper wrappers with brown rice)
This was a weekly special. The flavors were well balanced and the sushi rice was well made. I wasn't left missing the more traditional seaweed wrapping, the alternative wrapping did a good job of highlighting the flavors of the rice and tempura.

Veggie tempura:
Fried broccoli, carrot, asparagus, etc. This restaurant is a fine purveyor of the fry-o-later arts. Everything was very lightly battered and fried tender but not overdone.

Pork dumplings in sweet Szechuan chili sauce:
Yowza! This one was good. The sweet chili sauce almost reminded me of a Thai chili sauce that I get at Suwanasak. Great pork dumplings come swimming in that spicy sauce. Szechuan food is characterized by the interesting peppers that are used.

Szechuan peppercorns. Photo by Nocas on flickr.com

These are highly aromatic peppers which are not very spicy, however they to have the odd effect of numbing your tongue when you bite into them. This can be helpful because they are usually paired with huge amounts of other extremely spicy peppers.

Workplace Cafeterias: China

Would you like to see a workplace cafeteria in Shanghai?

This costs less then $5 at a Cafeteria in the heart of Shanghai's industrial district. A whole steamed fish, soup, a plate of steamed greens, a plate of noodles and of course rice.

Ancient Chinese Secret

What is the ancient Chinese secret?

Garlic.

Grilled Oyster with Garlic.

Start with a live oyster, scallop, etc. Open and insert cellophane(bean thread) noodles, and cover in a pureed Garlic sauce. Grill over charcoal.

Wow. just just... wow. The garlic caramelizes in it's own juices turning this glorious golden color and becomes sweet and smokey. No one would tell me what was in the sauce other then garlic. I guess thats why it's an ancient Chinese secret. I think it must be minced garlic and ginger with some oil. Fear not, I will be doing some experimenting and perfecting this, anyone want to come over?

Best Grocery Store in Shanghai

My hotel ended up being about one block away from one of my co-workers, so he was able to show me a lot of local spots for dumplings or laundry. But none of it compares to the day he showed me the "best grocery store in Shanghai" it was "very famous". He was sure that I would like it. He said this chain was all over China and every major Chinese city had several. This grocery nervana was just 3 blocks away from my hotel. He walked me over to show me this gem.

Pronounced Waal-Martu

Beijing is famous for a cheap quick lunch of noodles called Zhajiangmian "Fried Sauce Noodles"

After touring around the forbidden city all morning we were looking for a quick lunch. We took a cab who told us he would take us to a great place for Beijing noodles. After I got done talking about how cabbies always know the best places for food and I had never been steered wrong.

Shanghai Soup Grenades

Shanghai is famous for their soup dumplings. They are really quite amazing, steamed and/or fried dumplings that are filled with napalm, pork too usually.

Don't get me wrong these are some of the most amazing dumplings in the world, and the idea of living life with a cheek that was melted away in a freak meat pocket accident has always been a dream of mine. It's all of the danger of eating Fugu (poisonous Japanese fish) without the... well without the poisonous Japanese fish.

These Shanghai Soup Dumplings were professionally diffused

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I am a professional and have years of experience with soup grenades. The key before making the first true bite is to pierce the skin of the dumpling thus releasing the pressurized steam inside. If you do NOT do this, the dumpling will explode and spray it's thick soup everywhere. Including your face, your eyes, a little in your nose, somehow on your left freaking ear. all over your raincoat (thank god I was wearing a raincoat) Your glasses will remain smeary, oily, and disgusting until you can properly clean them with soap several hours later. 

Basically I got frosted like a Krispy Kreme.

I'm thinking about buying one of these for home use.

Chinese are GIANTS

I spent the majority of my time in Shanghai, where they keep all of the Giant Chinese People (GCP).

In 2 weeks I saw more then a dozen women (17.2 metric women) who were all over 6 foot (183 metric inches.) I also learned how to speak metric in China!

The fact is that younger people in China are growing at an alarming rate, statistics I just made up project them to be averaging well over 8 feet in just 2 decades (242.8 Metric inches in 27.9 metric years). Some people think this is due to the richer diet provided by China's growing economy.

With dishes like this they might just be right. This is famous Chairman Mao's favorite dish (He's famous for being on all the money in China.)

Chairman Mao's favorite dish!

Basically this is 1.5" (3.8 Metric inches) thick pieces of bacon simmered in sugar, ginger, and soy sauce until it's succulent and just dissolves in your mouth. It doesn't just look like it's 80% fat... it is 80% fat (96 metric percent(out of 120). With this kind of culinary atomic power, how can we Americans compete? I'll tell you how... 

The Colonel Sanders of the late Qing dynasty

I have taken a new job which is sending me to Exotic China! The Pearl of the Orient! The Red Dragon! The Middle Kingdom! The place with the chopsticks! It's also where my mom grew up.

After a long trip out there I have decided that our General Tso's chicken is much better then theirs.

Me: I WANT A GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN!(It helps to yell when people speak another language)

Them: Oh yes great General Tso, very famous warrior.

Me: YEAH GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN PLEASE.

Them: He had a chicken?

The Colonel Sanders of the late Qing dynasty