Month: September 2018

When my best friend in high school finally landed at the Los Angeles airport this afternoon, I could feel that we are finally growing up in these years. I can’t say that how much I want to get back to before, but the homesick just like a wave that pushes your heart to the destination called home again and again. The last thing we did before the graduation ceremony was the graduation trip I planned for the whole class with 33 students to travel to three big provinces in China. And one of them, called Chongqing, which is the “mater city” of Kung-Pal chicken. But today I want to write is the local culture and the diverse food in this city, and mostly is what I missed — Hot Pot.

We love to put the meat, vegetables, or any other food into a hot pot which contains a whole pot of spicy condiments and special spices. Especially in winter, sitting with a bunch of friends to talk from class to society, having a bite of the beef dip in sesame paste, there is no way to express the love and satisfaction feeling just like in divine. Even in summer, like this billing summer, sitting with all of the besties and having the beer in the AC room with hot pot, it is a new taste with a stronger taste.

The spices could be the spirit of the hot pot, and the different brands are famous for their own receipt. The first step of making the spices is putting the beef oil into the iron pot until all of them get into the water. Next, use the fresh chili pepper with the portion of 8:1 to the water and put them together in the water and stir all the time. The third, use the fermented bean sauce to a portion of 50:3 with the base spices, and add the old ginger, pickled pepper, and over 12 condiments like fennel, aniseed, etc to boil until all the oil and water vaporized. That is the whole steps of getting very basic spices. However, the steps in a “specialist restaurant” could be so different from the normal ones.

And the other crucial things in the hot pot should definitely be the fresh and first-serving materials for eating, like meats and vegetable. For example, the picture we had in Chongqing is the buffalo’s tripe, which is really rare thus tasted so great. And the vegetable should definitely go over all the meat thing in the spice flavor, or it will gonna be so spicy and greasy.

Except for the hot pot, Chongqing is famous for the noodle and also called “Dandan Mian” in Chinese. This noodle is not that spicy but with the special flavor that combines the local element. And when it comes to the U.S’s every restaurant, we couldn’t get the original one, but it still feels good when you have the gourmet in hometown.

With the experience in Chongqing, the food really could connect different people and make you have the commonplace. So that’s maybe the reason why the spicy food in over thousands of dishes in China, but the only two survived in the trend of American Chinese food that keeps the most home taste.

The era is pursuing smart things in everyday life, but there are always some people be deeply in love with the old tasting because it is the most familiar and best tasting in the time.

“Wing Look Yuen,” a restaurant changed from Western dishes to cha chain teng (means tea restaurant) since last 70s, has witnessed the transformed of the society of Hong Kong. The old cha chain teng’s booming and declining also twisted and turned with the economic conditions in Hong Kong.

 

Over 40 year, Wing Look Yuen has hidden in a desolate lane in the city, and there could be no way of discovering it if you do not find it on purpose.

The restaurant’s decoration and design are so impressive: there are upper and lower area of the shop. The upper especially selling as a delivery zone, provides beverage and sell the most famous Hong Kong hot dog.

Moreover, the garage lower zone is the eating area, which can only contain 10 or more people. The whole embellishment still has the style of last century’s 70s or 80s mood, and the setting of chairs and desks are in this way as well. In the Hong Kong society, this could be rare of having this old style cha chain teng. 

With the past half century, Wing Look Yuen has more sentiment of the old Hong Kong feel, which is much deeper in style but reacts in their food. The traditional cha chain teng has required having all kinds of noodles and chow mien, french toast, piggy bun, Retro style steak bundles, hot milk tea carrying in the brand of Black & White’s cup, Lipton cold red tea in a mottled glass… these keep the most sense and taste of an old cha chain teng’s feel. 

Except for all kinds of genuine Hong Kong food, Wing Look Yuen’s top dish should be the only double hot dogs in the shop. Every day could sell only 2000 in the number, which could be claimed as the best in Hong Kong area. I could still remember the time when I got there, the line was so long, and everyone still waits with passion no matter the sweat has soaked in the shirt. 

The spirit of the hot dog should be the sauce. The traditional using of the baking machine could heat the hot dog bread in a soft and just right temperature. With the sausage from Holland and every day making the sauce, the easy collection could achieve the trump of Hong Kong hot dog. Moreover, the chief who concoct this sauce is Zhang Zhaowne who worked in Wing Look Yuen in the last 35 years for doing the same job. 

Wing Look Yuen lets people have a taste of the last century cha chain teng restaurants’ texture, the original Hong Kong people’s simple and unadorned looking, and also embrued an unknown flavor. It represents the millennium time of Hong Kong beauty and also keeps the pleasant sweet memory in the specific time.

When the nostalgia and food’s taste loading in human feeling, the reflection that we could get is much more than the gourmet on the taste bud. 

When we first mention the City of Beijing, everyone could say that the Beijing roast duck and The Great Wall should be the symbol of the city. Scallion, cucumber, lotus leaf pancake, sweet sauce made of fermented flour, oil-bright duck slice… With a slice of duck and pancake, we could live in the divine. 

1. The footprint of Peking 

In the record of the history of Beijing, the restaurant called “Pian Yi Fang” was the first roast duck restaurant opened in the year 1416. From being the snack of the traditional dishes to the loyal dish on state banquet, and to the great dining for the whole world, Beijing roast duck passes the way of success. In 1368, Emperor Zhu stayed in Nan Jing, and the Nan Jing duck first appeared in the world. In 1416, the senator of Emperor moved the capital to Beijing. The cooking style of roast duck thus was brought with the Empire, and the first restaurant “Pian Yi Fang” was opened. In 1864, “Quan Ju De” restaurant started up at the Qianmen Street, and the method of making roast duck could be on the table of normal people. A plethora of famous people in China get into “Quan Ju De” to taste the duck, and since then, the smell of Beijing roast duck appears on every state banquet for China. For now, no whether in New York or Beijing, even in State College, it is so normal to meet a foreigner to eat roast duck with lotus-leaf pancake just as their dish. 

2. How to make a good Beijing Roast Duck?

At first, we should know that the Beijing Roast Duck’s materials are not coming from Beijing. However, it combines four provinces in China for getting a duck and the condiments. For example, the sweet sauce made of fermented flour came from He Bei; the technique for barbecue came from Nanjing; the scallion came from Shandong, etc. Moreover, there is no coincident for Beijing, and Roast duck meets together. Because of the mixing and combination, Beijing Roast duck could survive with the durable life power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

credit to: Lisi Ai

 

The best season to eat a roast duck is in Fall, because the weather in fall could be utilized to feed the duck with a thick fat layer. The steps to make a roast duck is divided into four phases: Open(开), Hang(挂), grill(烤), Cut(片). Also, if a duck is purplish red after grilled, the duck could not be stinky smell and be ready to eat. The best duck should be cut immediately after getting grilled. To be surprised, a 2kg duck could be split into over 100 slides, and there are strict ways of plate presentation of each part of the duck.