Cooking Trek

The Story of Su Dongpo

March 3rd 2010 13:26

Not sure if anyone has tried a favourite dish of mine, called Dongpo Pork, which is found in most quality Chinese Restaurants. It may put people off, especially those who are very conscious of what they eat, because of its extremely high fat content. However it's taste is so devine that I think the extra calories well and truly makes up for it.

Before I go onto the dish, I have to go with the story of Su Dongpo, although there are many variations of the story, the one I'm about to share with you about the dish he so famously invented had came from a Chef.

Su Dongpo was a Royal Minister in the Song Dynasty of China, reknowned for his poetry and calligraphy, but Dongpo was also an artist, pharmacologist and writer. However due to political power struggles between different factions, Su Dongpo was exilled from the Courts due to his prominent views and criticisms of one of the Ministers reforms.

Living in the life of exile Su Dongpo was able to enjoy his life to the fullest and came up with over 2,700 poems and 800 letters.

Now back to the dish. The story goes, that one day Su Dongpo tried his hand at making some pork belly, braising it in the pan, however an old friend came visit him for a game of Chinese Chess. As Su Dongpo was so engrossed in the game, he had forgotten all about the pork. Mean while the villagers had came along to bring presents to Su Dongpo, leaving them with his servant. The servant rushed to Su Dongpo to ask him about the wine from the gifts, as well as the pork. As Su Dongpo was mindless playing chess, he said to put it all in, put it all in, and so the servant mistakenly added the wine into the pork, allowing it to simmer. As the smell wafted towards the two men, it was so devine that they had to stop their game and see where the smell had came from. As such Su Dongpo Pork was created and spread from Huangzhou where it was first created, then to Hangzhou the Capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and flourished as its signiture dish.

Su Dongpo Pork is very greasy with the fat on the pork as well as the oil that is used to braise it. However if it's well made the pork usually melts in your mouth, with a lingering sweet taste, without feeling rich or too fat.

Well hope you enjoy reading about Su Dongpo Pork, and made you actually want to try it next time you're at a Chinese Restaurant. Happy Eating!

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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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French Toast - Hearty Quick Meal

August 13th 2008 04:37

There are times when you get home from work, all tired and the lack of motivation to cook a good proper meal. Well why not try to make some French toast. It's quick. plain and simple. You can just take a quick look in the fridge and pull out anything that you feel like throwing into your sandwich and still make it taste good. Especially if you have that hard cold bread that you've been eating for the past few days.

If you like a nice crusty toast like I do than this will be a good recipe for you.

Firstly make your sandwich as usual, putting in all those meats and vegetables you like, but most importantly you can't forget the cheese. Personally I usually like to use bacon, a few slices of tomatoes some lettuce and a large piece of mozzarella cheese.

Next beat 1 or 2 eggs depending on how many toasts you wish to make and pour it into a flat dish or pan. In two other separate dish have some flour and milk ready. To make your bread toast nice and crusty with a great taste, you'll need to first dip your sandwich onto the milk, followed by the flour and finally the beaten eggs. This will make the toast nice and crispy. However it still tastes great if you forgo the milk and flour if you wish.

Soak the both sides of the bread, before pan frying it in a splash of olive oil, or any type of oil you have around. What for it to become nice and and brown before serving and there you have a nice quick meal.

For a quick snack you might like to have some ham and cheese, or even peanut butter and jam tastes good. The only thing stopping you is your imagination.

Happy Eating

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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Man Tou Recipe

August 7th 2008 03:37

After the compelling story of how Zhuge Liang invented Man Tou, I can't leave you hanging in the lurch without knowing what it tastes like so I'm going to post up the recipe.

Firstly you would need:
4 1/2 Cups of All purpose flour
1 Table Spoon of Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Cups of Water
2 Table Spoon of Vegetable Oil (or any other cooking oil)
1/4 Cup of Sugar

Make 1 cup of lukewarm water and add to it the yeast, 1 table spoon of sugar and 1 cup of flour . Cover with cling wrap and let it sit for one hour or until it becomes all frothy. When the first batch of yeast/flour mixture is ready, boil 1/2 cup of water, adding to it the remainder of the sugar and vegetable oil then letting it sit until it becomes lukewarm.

Once the yeast mixture is ready pour into the lukewarm sugar water and add the remaining cups of flour. Mix well, then knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a large bowl cover it over in cling wrap and let it rise and double in size for about 2 hours. Covering up the dough ensures that it doesn't get dried.

Once the dough is ready you can use it to any way you like by adding fillings or shape it plaining. But for old fashion Man Tou style, roll the the dough into a cylindrical shape and cut into even pieces, taking care to turn the dough with each cut so that the shape remains the same.

Place the dough in the steamer, over boiling water and steam for 10 minutes and they are ready to be served while hot.

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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Barbarians Head: To please the Gods - A Story

August 6th 2008 02:41

The Chinese Olympic Games are just around the corner, and to celebrate as well as share the Chinese History, the Chinese Government had released a film called Red Cliff, based on the historical battles that had taken place during the Three Kingdom era. This movie is directed by John Woo, who also made such films as Broken Arrow, Face Off and M.I.2. Well personally I’ve been wanting to see this movie ever since they were planning to make it so it should be a very good movie. So what does all this have to do with food? Well we will have to meet one of the characters from the Three Kingdom period to learn more.

The Three Kingdom period was established around 200 A.D as a result of the decaying Han Dynasty, and the power struggles of the warlords for land, wealth and power. However three prominent warlords became successful in mustering territories, and thus created a tri-pod of power stabilising the turbulent country.
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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup - Pho

August 4th 2008 10:24

One of the most delicious dishes that I love is the Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup or known as Pho in Vietnamese. A well made bowl of hot Pho is such a blissful experience as the aroma of the Vietnamese mint floats into your nose bringing back to you memories of that very first bowl of Pho you've ever had.

For those of you who never tried Pho, I can guarantee that its one of the most delicious dishes you'll ever try. The soup is so full of flavour that as soon as you take a gentle sip, that salty soup with the taste of meat, and the lemon juice that you squeezed in there just explodes in your mouth. As you take your chopsticks and pull out the thin strands of fresh rice noodles, covered with that delicious soup and suck it up, the gentle texture of white spongy noodles is exquisite. Then you have the thin slices of beef, pork or chicken that you can use to dip in your own concoction of sauces used accompany your lovely tender meat as you savor the juices and the sauce when it slips into your mouth.
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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Friends and Food a good mix

July 30th 2008 03:28

In Australia we're on our last month of Winter, the home stretch but also the coldest month. Often on a cold and wet day, we just don't feel like going out or doing much cooking. So if that's the case, check what fresh food you have in the fridge and throw it all together to create a delicious Steam Boat meal.

It doesn't take much time to get steam boat going, even with plain boiling water the food still tastes good. But the secret to a good steam boat is the stock. To make a good stock depends on what type of meat you like, such as chicken or beef stock. For a good chicken stock, buy some chicken bones from the butchers and boil them lightly to get rid of any bad substances. With some fresh new water in the pot, put the bones in and allow it to boil. You can season the stock with salt and onions and adjust the flavour if necessary. Once you bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for a few hours. Every so often you will need to skim the top of the pot to get rid of all the fat, and scum.
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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Two Finger Tapping - A Story

July 28th 2008 05:34

Many of you may have seen a weird custom that some Chinese people do when they go to restaurants or tea houses. Have you seen Chinese people tap their index and middle finger on the table when someone was pouring them tea? Well this is an age old custom, but how did it come about?

Long long ago in Ancient China, when the country was still ruled by a Emperor. The Emperor is seen as the ultimate being chosen by the heavens to guide people of China. As such the Emperor is often given the symbol of the Dragon and has absolute power and authority. Any people who see the Emperor must kneel and bow, their heads must never by higher than the Emperors. The Emperor is always served by other people and never really have to do anything himself except rule the country.
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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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A Cafe with a View - Melbourne

July 24th 2008 04:34

In Melbourne there are a lot of clubs, cafe's and bars around. You could probably go to a new place each night for the rest of the year and still find new ones popping up. However if you want a place to chill out, relax and talk to your friends then give Atrium a go. The Atrium is on the 32nd floor of Sofitel Hotel on Burke Street, and its a nice cosy place to enjoy a coffee and a nicely presented tea package. But the price is a bit steep, and there isn't a lot of variety in terms of desserts. But with the lack of desserts they make it up in terms of the variety of beers and spirits available. The service is excellent too, at least for the night I was there.

But that's not the best feature of the bar/cafe. You can probably find many places with better desserts, drinks and food. However the best feature about this place is the toilets. Yep the toilets. Don't know about the female toilets, but the male toilets is a must visit place, especially after a few beers.
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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Ants on a hill - The Recipe

July 22nd 2008 00:24

Ants on a hill is a very simple dish. All you need is Vermicelli, Shiitake Mushrooms, some mince pork, soy sauce, onions, garlic and chili. To start off with you would need to soften the Vermicelli when you take it out of the packet. So soak it in hot water until it becomes soft and translucent. With the Shiitake Mushrooms you'll need to soak them too until they become soft. It's personal choice whether or not you want to keep the stalks of the mushroom but they are quite tough to eat.

In a wok or a pan, splash some oil and then throw in the diced onions and crushed garlic. If you don't like the strong smell of garlic then don't use too many cloves, it's only used to bring out the flavour and aroma of the meat. Next put in the meat and stir fry it so that it doesn't clump together in large pieces. When the meat has changed colour, splash on some soy sauce, sprinkle some sugar for flavour, reduce the heat and cover the wok with a lid so that the meat can simmer gently in the sauce for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, the mushrooms and the chili. Adjust the amount of chili depending on how hot you can take it or you can buy less spicy variety of chilies.
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Posted By: Michael 8 - Category: No Category

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Cheap Eats - Melbourne

July 21st 2008 09:56

Recently my friends and I headed out to the city and tried this little bistro tucked in the alleys of China Town. It is amazing what good food you can find on these small cosy little streets. The name of the bistro was Ants Bistro. You can't really miss it with a giant red ant painted on the side of their wall.
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