SC - photos of an oven

[Decker, Margaret]

"Craig Jones." wrote:
> 
> Can some one help me with the following recipe from Yun Lintang Yinshi Zhidu Ji
> (Cloud Forest Hall Collection of Rules for Drinking and Eating) by Ni Tsan.
> 
> Wonton in Broth
<snip>
> Anyone have an idea on what proportions I should use for the dough.
> 
> I was going to make an Egg pastry with:
> 
> 500g Strong Flour
> 2 Whole Eggs
> 5 Egg Yolks
> Pinch of salt
> 
> Would that work?

It should work, but I'd be concerned about it being a little tough with
all that egg. You may want to make sure the dough rests between
kneadings, rollings, etc. Florence Lin, The World's Foremost Authority,
uses approximately 3 cups (425 g?) plain or all-purpose flour, 1 large
egg, a pinch of salt, and 3/4 cup (170 g?) water.  
 
> Also, how do you fold a wonton properly.  I've seen it done, but I wasn't
> paying attention at the time.

Naughty Drake! Anything that encloses the filling is fair game, ranging
from simple triangular or semicircular turnovers (contrary to popular
belief, water is a better sealant than egg in most pastry applications).
A standard method used today produces a fat little "nurses cap" shape:
wet the edges of your pastry, place a _small_ amount  of filling in the
center (a ball perhaps the size of the end of your index finger) and
fold into a turnover shape (triangular or semicircular, depending on
whether you've got round or square wrappers), pressing the edges
together. Crimp it down so that you have one flat and one bulging side,
then bring the two opposite ends (the base of the isosceles triangle, if
you folla me) together, wrapping the flat side around the bulging side,
overlapping and sealing the ends together. Another, more common method
among hardcore Cantonese (as opposed to what the "lo fan" expect) is to
fold and seal the basic turnover, then draw up the ends, pleating them
together a little haphazardly to form a slightly flattened drawstring
bag shape, with trailing ends.

Of course, these are modern methods which may or may not bear any
resemblance to what Ni Tsan did. However, we can deduce the size of
these wonton by the fact that they are boiled, essentially, for one
walm. Many of the larger dumplings will call for boiling them in
peculiar (but workable) methods such as bringing the water back to a
boil, then adding a glass of cold water, then bringing it to a boil
again, with or without repeating the process, depending on size. My
usual method is to boil such dumplings until they float, then leaving
them to simmer for another two or three minutes until cooked through.
You'll note that Ni Tsan doesn't mention any such method, so I suspect
he is either using a meat that can be eaten rare, or that these wonton
are small. Since it is pretty standard for Cantonese wontons to be
small, versus larger Shanghainese versions, and Ni Tsan was writing down
recipes from the South, this would seem to make some sense, no?   

Adamantius

P.S.: Drake, all I really recall offhand from reading through your
adaptations of Ni Tsan is being interested in the idea of "shrimp
rolls", and thinking they may well simply be shrimp split in half along
the vein -- these have tendency to curl into a helix when cooked. I
don't recall taking any noticable issue with any of the rest of it, but
I'll have to look at it again. Sorry about the delay...
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com