[Sca-cooks] New Year's Prep...

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius said:
> Fried Fish -- this is one of the dishes we're supposed to have
> prepared by sundown tomorrow night. We usually do two fried fish,
> representing the yin and the yang; they keep pretty well, which is
> good because they're not supposed to actually be eaten until the next
> day.

Is this two different types of fish? Or just two seperate fish?

> Steamed Lop Cheung -- Another traditional presentation; these go with
> the fish, which represent procreation and regeneration. The lop
> cheung (a sweet, cured sausage with grain alcohol and sugar) add
> long-term prosperity to this image. These are also supposed to be
> kept until New Year's Day. We usually cook a lot (there are supposed
> to be 2, we do more like 20 the next day, steamed on top of the rice).

This sounds good. Is this something you make from scratch? or a
particular type of sausage you buy at a market?

> Ketchup Shrimp -- this is one of several rather easy sauteed dishes,
> again, this is supposed to be done in advance; in fact it's pretty
> good cold. Shrimp (in Cantonese, "har",) are considered by the
> Southern Chinese to represent laughter and, therefore, happiness.
> Besides, the sauce is reddish, and red is the big Chinese festival
> color. Made with little, peeled, deveined, frozen (raw) shrimp. I'm
> good at peeling the little buggers, don't get me wrong, but if I can
> get a decent product already peeled and deveined, I'm on it like
> stupid on a president...

How is this different from the usual cold shrimp with red cocktail
sauce? Now if I can make or buy this red sauce, *this* dish I might
be able to make.

> Soy Sauce Chicken -- Chicken braised in soy sauce, with five spice
> powder and tangerine peel. Another generic Cantonese festival food.
> This should also be done in advance, and eaten at room temperature.

This one I might be able to do as well. But I'm not sure where I'd
find the "five spice powder" or the "tangerine peel". I assume that
this five spice powder is a particular set of spices?

> Fried Pepper Salt Prawns -- We have a box of big prawns with heads
> on; these will be slit and deveined, rolled in seasoned rice flour
> with some salt and five-spice added, deep-fried in the oil from the
> Spring Rolls, briefly sauteed with chopped green chillies, garnished
> with cilantro, and served with roasted Szechuan peppercorn salt.

Is this "roasted Szechuan peppercorn salt" something you find in
the grocery similar to "Season Salt"? This dish also sounds
wonderful.

I can wait for any answers until after your holiday when you have
more time to answer, in case you see this previous to that.

Thanks,
  Stefan
--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****