[Sca-cooks] Once again, Tentative New Year's Menus

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Sat Feb 9 10:31:48 PST 2008


On Feb 7, 2008, at 1:27 PM, SilverR0se at aol.com wrote:

> Thank you!
>
> Renata
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Sent: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 2:00 pm
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Once again, Tentative New Year's Menus

<snip>

> I can tell you more about this, probably on Friday;

Okay, after deciphering the various encoded Toysan dialect terms, not  
to mention the clicks, grunts and whistles we also use to communicate  
when cooking, this is as close to our recipe for shrimp with lobster  
sauce (or, with the obvious ingredient substitution, lobster, or crab,  
or crayfish Cantonese). This is the dish you could order in some  
restaurants until the 1960's or so, but first the black beans went,  
then the pork, leaving the result a dish of sauteed shrimp or lobster  
chunks in a thick, translucent goo with bits of egg in it, and more  
recently, some idiot thought if introducing peas and bits of carrot  
into it for no apparent reason... but this is the real deal:

> The use of the shallots, and browning the ingredients to flavor your  
> cooking oil is typical of the cooking of Toysan, in northern  
> Kwangtung Province, and much more piquant than the rather bland,  
> Americanized versions of this dish, which are more descended from  
> the styles of Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
>
> 1 1/2 Tbs ginger, chopped
> 3 shallots, sliced
> 3 cloves garlic, sliced
> 1 crushed dried red chili pepper, optional
> 3 Tbs salted black beans, rinsed and lightly mashed
> 1/2 pound ground pork
> 1/8 tsp white pepper
> 3 tsp cornstarch
> 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
> 2 tablespoons peanut oil
> 2 lbs large shrimp or prawns, shelled and deveined
> 1/4 tsp salt
> 1 Tbs sherry or rice wine
> 2 cup soup stock or water
> 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
> 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
> 2 eggs, lightly beaten
> 3 scallions, finely sliced
>
>
> METHOD
>
> Mix together the pork, 1 tsp of the cornstarch, the white pepper and  
> the light soy sauce, reserve.
>
> Marinate the shrimp with the salt, 2 tsp of the cornstarch, and the  
> sherry.
>
> Heat the peanut oil in a wok, add the ginger, stir-fry for 30  
> seconds, then the shallots, stir-fry for 30 seconds, and then when  
> the other ingredients begin to brown, add the garlic. Caramelize all  
> to flavor the oil. Add the black beans, stir-fry until a dry paste  
> is formed, but don't let it burn.
>
> Add the pork mixture and stir-fry until lightly browned and broken  
> into crumbs. Add the shrimp and stir-fry until they begin to turn  
> pink and are about halfway cooked through.
>
> Add the soup stock, the remaining 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with water,  
> and the oyster sauce. Continue to stir-fry until the sauce thickens  
> and the shrimp are almost cooked through.
>
> Slowly pour the beaten egg in a thin stream into the sauce, moving  
> across the surface so it is well-distributed but not completely  
> mixed in. Gently stir the sauce as the eggs cook.
>
> Add the scallions and stir. Serve.
>
> Variation: Omit the pork mixture and the eggs, and stir-fry the  
> shrimp with the black bean mixture, diced sweet peppers or mild  
> chillies and scallions, and the sauce mixture, and you've got Shrimp  
> With Black Bean Sauce.



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