FOOD & DRINK A QUESTION OF FOWL PLAY - metal serving dish at chinese restaurants

PEKING duck -
By the way, it's really Beijing roast duck.
It's a bird that's misunderstood.
There are more people ordering at Chinese restaurants in the UK than any other dish, but whether they get an authentic version is another matter.
Peking duck may not be the hardest dish to cook in the world, Ken Hom admits he led our master class this week, but it's time to do a good job --consuming.
The restaurant menu announced; Peking Duck -
Please inform this dish 24 hours in advance.
It's honest.
Ken Hom is a Chinese American whose family is rooted in Cantonese and is a leading expert in Chinese food in the UKspeaking world.
Over the past 15 years, he has grown from a passionate television presenter (on BBC)to Mandarin-suited dignity.
He now has hair on his face, creating the shocking illusion that Sir Peter Hall auditioned for Fu Manzhou.
Ken Holm crossed the UK amid a surge in events, demonstrations, television, video and restaurant consultations.
To illustrate the world.
Well-known dish. he wants to take over 300 of the kitchen.
Located in Imperial City of Imperial in the basement of Royal Exchange, it is a special place for a Chinese restaurant.
Ken Hom is explaining the difficulty of translating Chinese food into the West.
He said that China not only has ancient, noble and exquisite dishes, but also has its own unique vocabulary for food.
There is a special word to describe the texture of a piece of meat (
Chicken, duck, pork)
In the mouth, soah (ng)-
Kind of like a song with a glottal stop instead of the last nasal sound
"You can say it's silky or satiny, but it doesn't convey a unique experience.
"There are also no words in English to describe the varying degrees of heat in the pot.
"The temperature of cooking Chinese food is crucial.
We evaluate the heat of the food, observe the changes in the cooking of the food, and most importantly we listen to the changes in the food.
Only experience can tell you what is right.
Time is the essence. "And time.
Time is also the essential difference between Chinese cooking and French cooking.
French cooking is a marathon, Chinese cooking 50-yard dash.
"I will show you the roast duck after we make it.
Peking duck.
This is the least typical of all Chinese dishes, leading the way to the kitchen, he said.
We stacked plastic boxes full of vegetables, meat and fish on the table, cut into small pieces, some in spicy marinade, containers full of spices and herbs, sliced scallions, ginger, salad side dishes, soy sauce, black bean sauce, a bowl of soy sauce, salt, sugar (no MSG here)and five-
A gallon of chicken.
Ken Hom explained that the essence of Chinese cooking is organization.
At the end of the kitchen, we saw a row of eight pale white ducks hanging on wire hangers to dry between the two electric fans.
"They must dry them completely.
The skin must be tightened so we dip each duck in boiling water with vinegar to close the pores.
In most British ducks, the pores are too large;
Cherry Valley duck is a good breed in China.
Next to the duck is a bucket of soy sauce with malt syrup.
When the Ducks are dry enough, they brush with this mixture, assuming a discolored appearance with severe bruises.
Further applications bring it to the glass Brown stage suitable for oven cooking.
We walked through the kitchen to the oven, a gas.
Stainless steel oval drum for launch, 3ft high, like tandoor.
From the railing at the top, he can hang eight ducks at a time.
"We baked the duck for 45 minutes.
This is very simple.
The fat runs to the bottom and the skin is cracked like a varnish.
"He can check the progress through the metal peeps and adjust the heat if necessary.
Beijing roast duck is a very modern Chinese dish, says Ken Hom.
"It didn't show up until 1600 seconds.
Chinese cooking dates back to 5,000 years, he noted.
But even today, few of China's 1 billion residents have ovens.
"The oven exists just to serve the court, wasting fuel.
"Beijing roast duck, therefore, was a food that represented conspicuous consumption during the Ming Dynasty. "Another thing.
Only the skin is delicious and served with steamed pancakes.
The meat is chopped as a stirring.
Fry in the meal later.
The bones are chopped and soup is made at the end of the meal.
"To prepare the real Peking duck, Ken Hom said you should blow it up with air.
"You tie the skin to your neck, insert a pump at the other end, blow it up until the skin is released from the meat.
Then you dry it.
This ensures that the skin does not get wet when baked.
I saw this in Beijing.
This is a restaurant dish that has never been cooked at home.
"I don't know how the British service style of Beijing roast duck came into being.
"He means the practice of crispy duck at the top of the table, and the waiter or waitress will chop it up with two forks and remove it from the bone.
"I don't understand this.
The Chinese like to chew bones. they don't throw them away.
"No one in Britain has prepared authentic Peking duck.
Even Ken, who thought he was a purist, used shortcuts.
He baked the Ducks in advance to cool them off.
When ordering one or half, it goes deep quickly
Fry for a few minutes to make it crispy and then heat.
Ken gave us his home cooking dish of Beijing Roast Duck below, and also recommended another option-Sichuan roast duck.
Rub the inside of the bird with five birds in Chinaspice powder (
From a Chinese store)
Steam for two hours.
Leave at least two hours to cool off.
When preparing to serve, cut into two or four portions and fry for 10 minutes.
Cut it into thin slices, eat it with a salad, or chop it up, and eat it with steamed pancakes.
You can buy Chinese pancakes in a Chinese store;
Or you can even eat Chinese roast duck with hot pita bread.
Or you can make your own pancakes (see below).
If the idea of no compromise is attractive to you, invest in a bamboo steamer.
They will bring a lot of beauty to your meal.
Now Ken Ham is bored with ducks.
He is eager to show off his craft, which he thinks is real Chinese cooking.
Sprint, not marathon.
Technology of stirring
The bombing was quick, but not careless.
The preparation time is very long, some ingredients are partially cooked, and in order to speed up the cooking, all the ingredients are cut into appropriate small pieces.
The taste is precise and clever: sweet, sour, salt, bitter.
He took a seat in a row of bars.
Other chefs also cook on site.
The noise here is very loud, but unlike the usual clicking noise in the Western kitchen, it sounds like a fireworks show;
There is a rapid gas
The burning jet rises to the heat of the furnace;
When wet food hits bubbling hot oil, the steam explodes.
Everything is hissing, hissing, crack crackling.
The cooling flow of water rolls on the stainless steel wall behind the cooker.
Woks are rushed into the rinse water at each stage, cleaning, cleaning and putting back on the flame.
The master wants to show his speed skills.
Holding the pot in his hand, he heated it on the flamethrower jet.
A bucket of oil (
"We used a lot of oil ")
Go in, and when it happens to be the right heat (
Not much higher than boiling water)
He cooked the marinated pork slices gently until tender, because the meat was cut into slices, so it only took a minute.
This technique is called "Velvet cooking ".
"He scooped up pork with a filter.
He poured all the oil. Rinses the pan.
Put an extra drop of oil.
When the weather is hot, the seasoning will enter one after another. bang, onion, ginger and garlic.
Then there are sliced peppers and some vegetables.
"I'm listening to Pan," he said . "
There are Chili Peppers and bean paste in it, and there is volatile smoke around it, which hurts your eyes.
Now pinch the corn noodles (
"We don't use much thickening ")
There is also a large and half barrels of chicken, two kinds of soy sauce, sugar and salt.
He tasted it with his fingers. It's ready. (
"The vegetables must have been overcooked. Or raw. ")
He threw the meat back and was immediately colored with dark sauce in the pan.
Now he opened a plate of it.
The whole dish took less than two minutes.
How's the taste?
Spicy, salty and juicy.
The texture of pork is lovely-
Smooth, soft, silky, smooth.
What do you say, soah (ng).
Beijing Duck 4-61 duck, 312-4lb/1. 6-1.
8 kg, fresh or frozen, honey syrup mixture preferably Cherry Valley: 1 slice of lemon 2 pints/1.
2 liters of water 3 tablespoons honey 3 tablespoons deep bean paste fl oz/150 ml Shaoxing yellow wine or dry sherryTo service: Chinese pancakes (see below)
6 tablespoons of seafood sauce or sweet sauce, bean paste, 24 onion brushes (see below)
If the duck is frozen, it should be completely thawed.
Rinse clean and completely suck dry with kitchen paper.
Insert a meat hook near the neck.
Cut the lemon into 14 in/5mm pieces with a sharp knife to keep the crust.
Put the slices together with the rest of the honey syrup in a big pot
And boil the mixture.
Turn the heat low and simmer slowly for about 20 minutes.
Pour this mixture on the duck several times with a large spoon or spoon, as if taking a bath, until the duck's skin is completely coated with a layer.
Hang the duck on a tray or baking tray and dry it in a cool, well ventilated place, for about 4 to 5 hours if possible, longer. (
To speed up the process, put it in front of the fan. )
When the duck is done, the skin will be like parchment. Pre-
Heat the oven to 475F/242c/Gas 9.
At the same time, place the duck on the grill in the baking tray with the breast facing up.
Put 5 F1 oz/150 ml of water into the baking tray. (
This will prevent the splash of fat ,)
Now put the duck in the oven for 15 minutes.
Turn the heat down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit per hour, then continue to bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Remove the duck from the oven and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before you carve it.
Cut the skin and meat into pieces with a kitchen knife or a sharp knife and put it on a warm plate.
Use a Chinese pancake, scallion brush and a bowl of seafood sauce or sweet sauce to eat at the same time. Hoisin sauce (
Made with bean paste, sugar and pepper)
There are jars in Chinese and Asian stores.
Brush each onion to 3in and cut off the root on the bulb.
Cut 1 in vertically at the Green End, roll 90 degrees, and then do a second cut.
Soak the onions in ice water and they curl into flower brushes. Pat dry.
Chinese steamed pan Kip make 18 Pan Kip 10 oz/275g plain flour 8 oz/250 ml very hot water 2 tbsp sesame oil put the flour into a large bowl.
Gradually stir the hot water into the flour and stir with chopsticks or forks until the water is fully added.
Add more water if the mixture looks dry.
Then remove the mixture from the bowl and knead it with your hands until smooth.
It takes about 8 minutes.
Put the dough back into the bowl, cover the dough with a clean and damp towel and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
After the break, remove the dough from the bowl and knead again for about 5 minutes, if the dough is sticky, wipe it with a little flour.
After the dough is smooth, make it into a roll of about 46 cm (18in)
Cut the roller into 18 equal segments.
Roll each one into a ball.
Take two balls of dough.
Dip one side of a ball into sesame oil and place one side of the oil coating on the top of the other ball.
Take a rolling pin and roll both into circles with a diameter of about 6 in/15 cm at the same time.
It is important to do so, because the resulting dough will remain moist inside, and you can grind them thin, but avoid the risk of overcooking later.
Heat a frying pan or pan with a very low flame.
Put the double layer pancake in a pan or pan and cook to one side to dry.
Flip it and cook the other side.
Take it out of the pan and peel off the two pancakes and put it aside.
Repeat it until it's all cooked.
Steam the pancakes.
Heat them, or you can wrap them tightly in a double layer foil and place them in a pan containing 1in/2.
5 cm of boiling water.
Cover the lid and turn the heat down very low and cook until re-heated.
Don't want to heat them in the oven as this will dry them.
If you want to freeze cooked pancakes, wrap them tightly with plastic wrap first.
When using already frozen pancakes, let them unfreeze in the refrigerator first before re-heating. !