Conference turris::cooks

    Hot oil or chile oil can be used as a condiment at the table.  It only
    takes a few drops to spice up a dish.  You can find it in the oriental
    food sections of the supermarket or make your own by heating oil and
    adding dried chiles.  Cook the chiles for 5 minutes or so, then allow
    to cool and transfer to a container for storage.

Joyce Chen carries a brand of chili oil that is made with sesame oil.  It is
red, and is called SATE OIL.  It is the HOTTEST hot oil I've ever bought or
made.  It comes in a tall thin plastic bottle, and how the stuff manages not
to dissolve the plastic is beyond me...

Many specialty stores also carry a "Chile Puree with Garlic" that is
great! Looks like a course red relish. Great on chicken, seafood,
burgers, rice, veggies, etc.

Paul

    Rather than adding the sauce at the table (unless you just need to
    sprinkle on some chili oil), I would recommend removing your daughter's
    portion from the wok and then creating the sauce with the food
    remaining in the wok, for your portion.  By cooking the sauce with the
    food, the flavors blend better.  This will also let your daughter's
    portion cool a little, which she probably likes anyway, while your
    portion is cooking.
    
    You may want to make a basic, bland sauce while the whole recipe is in
    the wok, then remove her's and spice the remainder.  A basic, bland
    Chinese-style sauce would require:  In a jar shake 1/2 cup cold water
    and 1 teaspoon cornstarch, with soy sauce to taste (plus ginger and a
    dash of sherry for traditional Cantonese flavor, and green onions
    cooked in the dish).  Pour cornstarch/water/flavoring mixture over
    contents of wok, stir well, simmer to thicken.  
    
    I'm familiar with this type of problem.  My husband doesn't like
    onions.  I pre-cook the onions, remove them with a slotted spoon, cook
    the rest of the stir-fry, remove his portion, and mix the onions into
    my portion which I cook briefly before serving.
    
    It's an easy problem to solve, compared with "his" and "hers" stews or
    soups.
    
    Laura

    
    I typically use " Mongolian Fire Oil " when I stir fry. It's not as hot
    as it sounds and you can find it at Shaws.  It is best to your favorite 
    cooking oil and add the mongolian fire oil to it while cooking.
    
     Dan

    	Hi, Dan! I use this stuff from time to time too. However, note that
    it has a very strong flavor. If you use enough, it doesn't matter what
    kind of food you put it on. It all tastes the same!

    Does anyone happen to have the recipe for stir-fry sauce from the back
    of the Argo Corn Starch box?  I just finished a box and threw it away
    without thinking; the new box doesn't have the recipe, of course. 
    There's no consumer hotline 800 number available, so I can't call the
    company to get the recipe.
    
    The recipe produced a reasonably good stir-fry sauce, and didn't
    require much in the way of prep time (probably the real reason I like it).
    
    If your brand of cornstarch is Argo, could you please check the back of
    the box to see if yours has the stir fry sauce recipe on the back?
    
    Thanks in advance -- Sue

    re: .7 

    	Did you ever retrieve this recipe?  How does it compare to some of
    the stir fry sauces on the market now?

    RE: .8
    
    No, I never did find the original recipe.  I devised my own based on my
    memory of the original.  The proportions might be slightly off, but
    it's very close.
    
    How does it stack up against bottled sauces?  Well, it ends up being a
    tradeoff.  I don't use bottled sauces because they're way too salty for
    my tastes.  I can control the amount of salt better with my own recipe. 
    But it seems that when you remove most of the salt from a Chinese
    stir-fry sauce (by using low-salt tamari and low-sodium broth), you
    reduce the intensity of flavor as well.  
    
    I do use the recipe every time I stir-fry--it's a good, basic sauce.  I
    noodle around with the ingredients a bit, trying different things to
    boost the flavor without adding more tamari/soy.   F'rinstance, I've
    found that beef broth makes the sauce more flavorful than chicken
    broth.  But I haven't had that "Eureka!" moment yet, though...  :^)
    
    I'll try to remember to bring in the recipe and post it.
    
    Sue

    
    I've always had a problem creating a good chinese stir fry sauce.
    I like the hot and spicy myself but whatever I make just does not
    come out like I can get in the chinese restaurants.  Many times,
    its too hot and you can't really taste the food.  Other times, its
    too salty, or not salty enough.
    
    I really like chicken with garlic sauce but I've tried everything
    and just cannot recreate it.  I'm beginning to think part of my
    problem is that I don't use fresh garlic.  I use the stuff in a jar
    and I think it must not taste the same.
    
    Anybody have any good stir fry sauces they can post here?  Spicy,
    of course!
    
    I make a pretty good Kung Pao chicken from this notes file last
    night... I modified it so as not to deep fry the chicken and peanuts.
    Again, it was too salty, but I think it might be because I used
    salted, not unsalted peanuts and didn't reduce the salt elsewhere
    to compensate.
    
    Karen
                  

  .10 Karen, have you seen the recipe in 368.78?  I haven't tried it,
      but it sounds good.

RE: .10

Ideally, the peanuts for Kung Pao should be raw and unsalted.  It's 
hard to find raw peanuts in conventional grocery stores, but most 
oriental markets carry them.  If you have to use pre-roasted peanuts, 
I would go with unsalted, dry-roasted nuts.  Otherwise, as you 
discovered, the dish comes out too salty, and it's hard to 
compensate for that.

--PSW

    re: .11
    
    Thanks... how did you happen to find that!
    
    re: .12
    
    Yeah, I know...  I just happened to have these on hand.
    You sound like you cook a Chinese... got any good sauces
    to share?
    
    Karen
    

>>      <<< Note 3256.13 by MPGS::HEALEY "Karen Healey, VIIS Group, SHR3" >>>

>>    Thanks... how did you happen to find that!

	looked up "garlic" in the directory note (5).  found it was
	note 368.  did a dir 368.*.  et voila.

The actual translation for this dish is, "Pork in the Style of Fish," which
simply means that the sauce was originally used for fish dishes.  I found 3
versions that were basically the same.  I am posting the one from, "Mrs.
Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook,"  Ellen Schrecker, Harper and Row.
 
"... Mrs. Chiang's version of this famous disk features an equally unusual
interplay of textures.  She gets it by adding fresh water chestnuts and tree
ears to the pork shreds and chopped ginger and garlic.  The combination lets you
experience crunchy, gelatinous, fibrous, and soft textures all in one mouthful.
 
Do not use canned water chestnuts in this dish.  If fresh ones are unavailable,
leave them out.  The texture me be less intriguing, but the taste will be
authentic.  It will also be hot.  Some Szechwanese dishes are more fiery than
others; this is one of them.  It can be toned down somewhat by reducing the
amount of hot pepper flakes in oil.  Don't omit them though; "yuxiang rousi"
should be hot.
 
 
 
            PREPARATION
 
3 medium pork chops	Remove all the fat and bone from the pork and slice
(for a yield of 3/4     it into very thin shreds, 2 inches long and 1/8
 pound meat, approx.)   inch thick, or about the size and shape of a wooden
		        matchstick. (It is always easier to cut meat into very
			fine slices if you first put it in the freezer for
			about 10 minutes, until it is slightly stiff, but
			not frozen.)
 
4 scallions		Clean the scallions; then cut them (both green part
			and white) into shreds about the same size as the pork.
 
(pork)			Take half of the scallion shreds and put them in a bowl
1/4 teaspoon salt	with pork shreds.  Add the salt, sesame oil, and ground
1 teaspoon sesame oil   roasted Szechwan peppercorns to the meat and scallions.
  roasted Szechwan
  peppercorns
 
1/8 cup dried tree ears Put the tree ears in a small bowl, pour boiling water
1 cup boiling water	over them, and let them soak for at least 10 minutes.
 
1-1/2 inch piece ginger Peel the ginger and the garlic and mince them together
4 cloves garlic         very fine, until they almost reach the consistency of
			farina.
 
5 water chestnuts       Cut off the dark outside part of the water chestnuts
   (optional)		and chop them into tiny pieces the size of a match
			head.  (The water chestnuts should not be minced quite
			as fine as the ginger and garlic.)
 
(tree ears)		Before you drain the tree ears, make sure that they
			have become soft and slightly gelatinous,  Then rinse
			them thoroughly and pick them over carefully to remove
			any impurities, such as little pieces of wood, that
			may still be embedded in them.  Slice the tree ears into
			shreds approximately the same size as the pork and
			scallion shreds.
 
1 teaspoon cornstarch   Combine the cornstarch and water, then add to the pork
1 teaspoon water        mixture and stir thoroughly.
 
 
		COOKING
 
3 tablespoons peanut    Heat your wok or pan over a fairly high flame for
  oil			for 15 seconds, then pour in the oil.  It will be
			hot enough to cook with when the first tiny bubbles
			form and a few small wisps of smoke appear.
 
(garlic, ginger)	When the oil is ready, quickly add the ginger, garlic,
1-1/2 teaspoons hot	hot pepper paste, hot pepper flakes in oil, tree ears,
      pepper paste      water chestnuts, scallions, sugar, and, finally the meat
1-1/2 teaspoons hot     mixture.  As you throw in the various ingredients,
  pepper flakes in oil  agitate them around in the bottom of the pan with your
 (tree ears, water      cooking shovel or spoon so that the little pieces of
  chestnuts, and        ginger, garlic, and water chestnuts cook without
  scallions)            burning.  Then stir-fry everything together, using your
1/2 teaspoon granulated shovel or spoon in a scooping motion to toss the
  sugar                 ingredients around in the pan so all are equally exposed
(pork and marinade)     to the hot oil.  If the mixture seems too dry and is
1 Tablespoon water,     is sticking to the pan, add a little water to it. 
  approximately         Continue to stir-fry the pork shreds until they are
  (optional)		thoroughly cooked; they will have stiffened and turned
			pale.  This whole process should take only about 3-1/2
			minutes.
 
1/4 teaspoon rice wine  Add the vinegar and mix thoroughly; then taste for
 vinegar.               salt and serve immediately.
Salt to taste     

  .15 um.... yeah, that's the one in 368.78.  why repost it?
      ah well - sigh.  ;>

RE: .13

Yes, I cook Chinese quite a bit.  I don't have any sauce recipes to 
share per se.  In Chinese cooking, sauces aren't really a separate 
entity.  They get created along the way as an integral part of the 
dish.

--PSW

re: .13

I also cook a lot of Chinese food and agree with Paul, sauces generally
aren't made ahead of time, but happen as part of the cooking.  I'd
recommend that you endeavor to find a good cookbook or two on the subject.
My first Chinese cookbook (and still one of my favorites) as "The Good 
Food of Szechwan" by Robert Delfs.  I highly recommend it if you can find
it (and if you like hot Chinese food, of course).  Szechwan is one of the
easier Chinese cuisines to start with, as the dishes tend to be relatively
simple.  Delf lays out his recipes in a simple uncomplicated way that 
doesn't overwhelm the beginner.  Also, I kind of liked the Brechtian pun
in the title. :-)

-Hal