SC - Cow's Milk Buns

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"Craig Jones." wrote:
> 
> Folks,
> 
> I have this recipe from YSCY and need some advice.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Cow's Milk Buns
> ---------------
> White Flour (five chin), cow's milk (two sheng), liquid butter (one chin),
> fennel (one liang. Slightly roasted).
> 
> [For] ingredients use salt and a little soda and combine with the flour. Make
> the buns.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> When soda is mentioned, I assume it's not Sodium Bicarbonate but something
> else?  Can someone advise?

Possibly it is sodium carbonate, a.k.a. washing soda, which appears to
be the soda the Romans cooked with.
 
> Also, does anyone know what the following measurements are: chin, sheng, liang?
> 
> I've been ok when all the measurements are the same (so I can do things by
> proportions) but am stumpted when the measurements are all separate.  I combed
> 'A Soup for the Qan' with no luck.

Comb to page 172 of "A Soup for the Qan", where you will see the
following translator's note:

"Note on Weights and Measures. In the translation below we have made no
attempt to translate Chinese weights and measures. The following
equivalents must be borne in mind when interpreting the recipes: a
ch'ien is today 3.12 g or .011 oz and is one-tenth of a liang. Sixteen
liang make a chin (about 500 g). A sheng is today 31.5 cu in (slightly
less in the fourteenth century), and is comprised of 10 ho (each 3.17 cu
in). Ten sheng make a tou. Units of length relevant to the translation
are the ts'un, which is 33 mm and the ch'ih, ten ts'un, or about a third
of a meter."

It looks to me that there may be a typo in ASFTQ: if "g" = grams, then a
ch'ien of 3.12 grams would be roughly 0.11 oz, not .011 oz, and a liang
would be roughly equivalent to an ounce, while a chin would equal
approximately a pound. Unless "g" is supposed to denote "grains", as
Cariadoc suggested may be the case, in which case you're on your own,
boyo. It's late here... .

As for the sheng, you could make one for dry measure out of cardboard,
and maybe waxed for wet use, essentially a box with no top, 3" x 3"
x3.5", or, let's see... 7.6 x 7.6 x 9 cm, in case it matters.

I know... I could swear... I just know, somewhere, there is, or was, on
the Web, a Table of Weights and Measures with sections on ancient
Chinese, Indian, etc., weights and measures, not to mention medieval and
early modern European ones. Of course, now I can't find it.   
 
> I showed a Taiwanese guy from the office the plates from YSCY and was quite
> surprised when he could read it very well.  I assume that Chinese really has'nt
> changed all that much in 700 years?

Why mess with perfection? At least, that would be the Chinese answer, I suppose.

Adamantius, off to bed.
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com