[Sca-cooks] OOP - 1917 Chinese Cookbook E-text

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 27, 2009, at 2:17 PM, rattkitten at bellsouth.net wrote:

> And it causes me to wonder, (Please don't shudder Master A) but are  
> dumplings as we know them (wontons egg rolls and the like) a Chinese  
> American invention or does he simply not cover them...

I think he's simply not covering them. It's kind of like having an  
American cookbook without having a recipe for oatmeal or bacon and  
eggs; it's not that we don't eat those things but a lot of cookbooks  
might be said to focus on dinner-type items (although there _are_  
sweet and pastry-type dishes provided, so it's an interesting question).

Also, a minor point, but if, as I suspect is the case, he's a  
Southerner, he might have been more familiar with wonton recipes from  
Kwangtong, Shanghai, places like that, whereas what most Americans are  
familiar with as "dumplings" are more Northern and Western-style (West  
of China, that is, not Texas) incarnations.
>
> I mean with the "Soup Buns" I would think that they are Chinese but  
> then I have never been o China.
> Educate us Admantius...

What I know as soup buns are largely a Shanghai thing; generally a  
steamed bun made with a yeast-leavened dough, but rolled out somewhat  
thin like the more standard pasta-dough-type wrapper. The filling is  
either cooked or raw meat with extra jellied stock mixed in, so  
they're extremely juicy when cooked, and ideally are eaten rather  
defensively with a Chinese porcelain soup spoon under the chin. (In  
Taiwan they're flat and fried on both sides on a griddle and called  
pancakes, but they have the juicy filling like a soup bun).

I don't see anything like that in there, but Master Shiu does provide  
us with some sort of steamed roast pork bun or Big Bun type of recipe  
under the heading, Chinese Meat Biscuit (he appears to use Biscuit  
instead of Bun across the board). My wife was ogling the dough portion  
of that recipe (it's a yeasted wheat-flour dough with a little sugar,  
lard and a healthy dollop of mashed potato) with appreciatively raised  
eyebrows and saying, "Hmmmmmmmm...."

> Oh yeah Thanks Like A Gazillion times for that link!!!!!!!!!!
> I know what I am making tomorrow night.... Well ok not really but I  
> know where the recipe is coming from... LOL

My pleasure, really. I actually found it necessary to locate a paper  
copy of this book myself, because I think I'll be referring to it  
often...

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter