My Chinese Cooking Experience

This Month's Film: Farewell My Concubine
Cuisine: Chinese

In the almost four years that I have been creating menus for Chopstick Cinema, I have featured four Chinese meals.

In February 2005, I featured the romantic classic, The Road Home, with a Dim Sum menu that included Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts, Siu Mai Dumplings, Shrimp Toast, Fried Wontons, Foil-Wrapped Chicken, Spring Rolls, Barbequed Pork Spare Ribs, Pork-Filled Buns, and Crispy Duck with Orange Sauce.

In May 2005, I featured one of my all-time favorites, Raise the Red Lantern, with a menu of Provinical Dishes that included Petit Crepes with Mandarin Mu Shu Pork & Tiny Spring Rolls, Velvety Hot & Sour Egg Flower Soup, Sesame Chicken Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Crispy Noodles, Szechuan Kung Pao Shrimp, Mandarin Orange Chicken, Hunan Beef, and Lychee Fruit with Almond Cookies and Plum Wine.

In June 2006, I featured Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress with a menu of Szechuan dishes, including Szechuan Dumplings, Szechuan Noodles, Szechuan Beef, Szechuan Orange Chicken, Szechuan Green Beans, Szechuan Eggplant, and Shaved Ice with Fresh Seasonal Fruits.

And in February 2007, for Valentine's Day, I featured Eat a Bowl of Tea, with a menu of tiny Dim Sum dishes that I called Love Bites, including Shrimp Summer Rolls, Velvet Crab in Crispy Wontons, Shrimp Toast, Mushu Spring Rolls, Crispy Duck, and Orange Chicken.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

04:11 PM PDT Permalink |

Stocking a Chinese Pantry

This Month's Film: Farewell My Concubine
Cuisine: Chinese

Awhile back, I wrote a comprehensive article on Chinese ingredients for ThingsAsian. So, rather than reiterating the entire contents of the article here, click on this link to read the article on ThingsAsian, Stocking a Chinese Pantry.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

12:01 AM PST Permalink |

About Chinese Cuisine

This Month's Film: Farewell My Concubine
Cuisine: Chinese

Although China is a huge country with many regional cuisines and cultural influences, Chinese food falls into four basic provincial categories: Cantonese, Mandarin, Szechuan, and Hunan. Here is an overview of regional Chinese cuisine:

Cantonese Cuisine

The term Cantonese cuisine actually refers to the food of the Guangdong Province surrounding the old port of Canton, now known as Guangzhou, which also includes Hong Kong. Guangdong province is surrounded by a mountain range that separates it from the rest of China, and therefore, much of its culture is influenced by international maritime trade. A large number of Chinese immigrants in countries around the world are descended from Guangzhou families whose native dialect is Cantonese.

The sea has also influenced the cuisine, which is rich with a seemingly endless variety of fish and shellfish dishes. The flavors of Cantonese food tend to be mild and subtle, compared to that of their spicy neighbors to the west. Perhaps the most widely recognized type of Cantonese cuisine is dim sum, which literally means 'to touch the heart'. A typical dim sum repertoire usually consists of but is not limited to an array of steamed and deep fried dishes, including dumplings, croquettes, spring rolls, and meat filled buns, as well as more exotic items like savory sausages, delicate seafood creations, and even chicken feet, a common dim sum standard. Each type of dim sum is prepared in large batches in the kitchen, and then loaded onto rolling carts in stacked bamboo baskets. The dim sum waiter then rolls the cart into the dining room past all the tables, lifting the lids of the steamer baskets for the customers to get a peek to see if it looks appetizing enough to partake.

Mandarin Cuisine

The term 'mandarin' refers not to a province, but to the capital itself, Beijing, formerly known as Peking, where the mandarin officials of the Chinese Empire once resided. The metropolis of Bejing, a name that means 'Northern Capital', is located in the northeast region, near the Great Wall of China, and is the site of Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Ming Tombs.

The surrounding area is rich with agricultural products, mainly wheat. Mandarin cuisine can be quite elaborate, and the most popular dishes include Mu-Shu Pork, Peking Duck, and Mongolian-influenced items such as pot stickers, garlic-scallion beef, and cook-it-yourself hot pots.

Szechuan Cuisine

The province of Szechuan (Sichuan) is named for the four tributaries of the Yangtze River (Min, Tuo, Fou, and Jailing), which flow through a large basin formed by the surrounding mountain ranges. The terrain is well irrigated and therefore perfect for the cultivation of rice.

The flavors of Szechuan are rich and spicy with chilis and peppercorns. The cuisine is also marked by the taste of the vinegar used to preserve meats and vegetables for the winter. The most common favorites are Szechuan Beef, Ma-Po Tofu, and Green Bean Stir Fry.

Hunan Cuisine

The province of Hunan is located in the south central region, famed as the birthplace of Chairman Mao. Much like that of its neighbor, Hunan cuisine is as spicy if not moreso than Szechuan cuisine, and the common methods of preserving are garlic laced oils and hot chili pastes. Preparation techniques include seared and stir-fried dishes such as Orange Chicken, Crispy Spicy Fish, Garlic Eggplant.
12:28 PM PST Permalink |

China on ThingsAsian

This Month's Film: Farewell My Concubine
Cuisine: Chinese

The ThingsAsian website currently features 432 articles on China, searchable according to region or topic. The list includes travel stories, photo essays, recipes, and film and book reviews. Click Here for a complete list.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

11:59 AM PST Permalink |

Looking Ahead to This Month's Food and Film

This Month's Film:
Cuisine:

After all the years of wondering about but not watching Farewell My Concubine, I must say that I'm looking forward to the prospect. And having included so many of the more common Chinese classic dishes on prior menus, I'm also looking forward to trying things I've never tasted, or even heard of. High on my list are Forbidden Rice, and MaPo Tofu. I've already begun browsing through my Chinese cookbooks for inspiration.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

05:07 PM PST Permalink |

Farewell My Concubine

This Month's Film: Farewell My Concubine
Cuisine: Chinese

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I've been curious about this film for years. Here's the NetFlix synopsis:

"A seemingly unshakable friendship gets put to the test by war, a communist takeover, the Cultural Revolution and especially by the intrusion of a woman into the lives of two Chinese opera stars. Inseparable since childhood, Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) and Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) find themselves increasingly at odds after Xiaolou weds a lovely courtesan (Gong Li). The film captures 50 years of Chinese history as it spins around the characters."

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

12:54 PM PST Permalink |

Welcome to Chopstick Cinema for the Month of April

This Month's Film: Farewell My Concubine
Cuisine: Chinese

This month I will be featuring Farewell My Concubine, a film I have seen on the video store shelves a thousand times but never got around to watching. To go with it, a menu of Chinese dishes I've never tried. I've made Chinese food four times in the history of Chopstick Cinema, and this time I want to go for the exotic.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

12:21 AM PST Permalink |

'Magnifico' Photos & Recipes

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

As my third Philippine menu, this collection of recipes are the best yet. Some of them are variations on earlier dishes, others are new to me. The menu includes Salmon Kinnilaw with mango and avocado, Deep-Fried Lumpia (one of the most tasty appetizers I've ever made), Pancit noodles with shrimp and spicy linguica, a piquant Shrimp Escabeche, a rich and hearty Pork Adobo, and a silky Crème Caramel.

Here is a link to the Recipes & Photos.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

12:25 AM PST Permalink |

Magnifico

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

In a Philippine village outside the city of Luzon, one special boy changes the lives of everyone he meets. Known to all as Magnifico, his name is Pikoy, a child of an impoversihed family. His father works odd jobs, his elder brother has lost his academic scholarship, and his mother spends her days caring for both Helen, a young daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsey, and for her husband's aging mother, who lives upstairs in the family home. Magnifico is a sweet and well-intentioned boy, who is often berated by his father for his stupidity, an unkind assessment for a child who is considerably more clever than anyone gives him credit for.

Here is a link to the Film Review.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

04:15 PM PST Permalink |

My Extracurricular Films for the Month of March

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

Throughout each month, in addition to my Chopstick Cinema selection, I watch lots of other films. This month:

Silk - I had high hopes for this film, the tale of Huerve Joncour, a married French silk merchant who goes on an arduous trek to Japan seeking silkworm eggs for Baron Baldabiou, the silk mill owner. While there, he is entranced by the mistress of a powerful samurai. Upon his return to France, he attempts to resume his daily life on a country estate where he and his wife Helene try in vain to conceive a child. While the silk mill prospers, Huerve is haunted by the memory of the woman he left behind in Japan. Based on a novel by Alessandro Barrico, Silk stars Michael Pitt, Alfred Molina and Keira Knightly. And while cinematography is spectacular, it's not enough to sustain a lackluster story. The film had such potential, yet so many elements were missing. Narration by Michael Pitt is flat and dispassionate; not a single bolt of the silk produced by the French mill is shown; Huerve made the daunting 6,000 mile journey from France to Japan not once but three times, without incident or injury; and not one but two grand love affairs are carried out without a spark of passion. In what seems to be an attempt at the restraint and subtlety of Japanese literature and cinema, Silk falls far short of the mark.

Seven Girlfriends - After his ex dies in a car accident on her way to her wedding, Tim Daly goes on a pilgrimage that traverses the entire western U.S. in search of all his old girlfriends in an attempt to find out what went wrong and why he can't make relationships work. The female cast features some of the most classy and beautiful actresses in Holywood, and Tim Daly gives a sincere performance as a man who truly wants to change. A nice light little romantic comedy.

Absolute Power - I don’t know how this film got past my radar, but I managed to catch it on a Saturday afternoon and had it on in the background while I was doing publication layout. Clint Eastwood plays an aging jewel thief who witnesses a high-profile murder while committing a burglary. The compromising nature of the crime sets a pack of Secret Service agents on his tail, forcing him to resort to some very clever tactics to save his own hide. Excellent suspense and clever plotting.

Sueno - This low-budget indie film features John Leguazamo as a Mexican immigrant seeking fame and fortune as a musician in Los Angeles. With the help of a few angels along the way, he puts together a band to compete in a big Latino music competition with a $10,000 payoff. Not the best work Leguazamo's ever done, but a nice little story nonetheless.

Dreamland - Audrey and her BFF Calista (aka Cindi) are stuck in a hole-in-the-road New Mexico trailer park called Dreamland. Audrey is taking care of her down-and-out father who suffers from agoraphobia, while Calista is slowly dying of MS. One day is pretty much the same as the next until Mookie arrives with his hip-but-funky parents for a little stopover on their way to enroll Mookie in UNLV on a basketball scholarship. Both girls are drawn to Mookie, but the altruistic Audrey graciously steps aside to allow a dying girl one last fling. A chick flick to the max, but better than most.

Enchanted - This tween-age chick flick is part fairy tale, part love story. Amy Adams stars as Gizelle, a fairy tale princess who is banished to the mortal world by Susan Sarandon, her evil mother-in-law-to-be. She arrives through a manhole in New York City, where she is rescued by McDreamy Patrick Dempsy, a single father who is about to be engaged to Idina Menzel. With her unflagging belief in true love, Princess Gizelle sprinkles her saccharine fairy-dust on everyone she meets, as her prince desperately searches the city streets for his bride. Cute, predictable, and very juvenile.

Last Exit - This Canadian made-for-TV movie was surprisingly well done. One of our local stations airs a lot of Canadian programs on Saturdays, and I often keep it on in the background while I multi-task around the house. Beth and Diana, two working mothers, are both having a very bad day. In her rush to get to work for an important corporate presentation, Diana cuts Beth off in traffic, causing her to miss her exit, making her late for her job as a legal secretary. This seemingly insignificant incident sets off a chain reaction, and things go from bad to worse for both women as the day wears on.

Once - This Oscar-winning film focuses on a lovelorn Irish balladeer who aspires to a recording career in London. While busking on the streets of Dublin, he meets an attractive young Czech woman who peddles magazines and roses around the same neighborhood. As their friendship develops, they discover that they also share a certain musical harmony, he on guitar, she on piano. Before long, they've cobbled together a band of street musicians and rented a recording studio to cut a CD. This film is subtle in its humor and virtually free of drama and conflict, except for the unrequited love.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

01:27 AM PST Permalink |

Chez Celeste!

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

All this month, my kitchen has felt like a busy restaurant on a Saturday night. I'd barely get a load of dishes put away from the dishwasher before it was time to get them all out again to use on another recipe. Since the beginning of March, I have made 20 different dishes, including Deep Fried Lumpia, Salmon Kinnilaw, Pancit, Shrimp Escabeche, Pork Adobo, Crème Caramel, Spinach and Wild Mushroom Salad, Deluxe Seafood Salad, Sushi Salad, A Tortellini Salad, Golden Waldorf Salad, Salmon & Cucumber Finger Sandwiches, Bibb and Watercress Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Lobster Bisque, Crème Brulee, Chicken Vindaloo, Lamb and Couscous Pilav, Mexican Carnitas with Corn Tortillas, Italian Bruschetta with Mozzarella and Antipasto, and Taiwanese Hot & Sour Noodle Soup.

And believe it or not, I haven't gained a pound!

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

01:08 PM PST Permalink |

And One More...

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

Every month, I create several menus for a magazine in Macon, Georgia. This month, there were three: A ladies elegant lunch, an array of creative salads, and an article on stocking an impromptu pantry, which features some international dishes, including Indian Chicken Vindaloo, Middle Eastern Lamb Pilav, Mexican Carnitas, Italian Bruschetta, and Taiwanese Hot & Sour Noodle Soup.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

02:52 PM PST Permalink |

And Another...

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

Every month, I create several menus for a magazine in Macon, Georgia. This month, there were THREE separate articles. A ladies elegant lunch, an article on stocking an impromptu pantry, and an array of creative salads, which includes a variation on the wild mushroom dish I prepared for my Raffles Hotel menu, a deluxe seafood salad, a sushi salad, a tortellini salad, and a golden waldorf salad. Needless to say, I've dined quite lavishly this week.

The recipe will be posted at the end of the month along with my 'Magnifico' film review.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

10:38 AM PST Permalink |

An Extracurricular Food Project

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

Every month, I create several menus for a magazine in Macon, Georgia. It's always creative and fun, and a welcome alternative to a steady diet of Asian food. This time, it's an elegant ladies' lunch featuring Salmon & Cucumber Finger Sandwiches, a Bibb and Watercress Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Lobster Bisque, and Crème Brulee.

To subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

11:38 PM PST Permalink |

Crème Caramel

This Month's Film: Magnifico
Cuisine: Philippine

This is a variation of a dessert that I made for an earlier Philippine menu. Only last time, I made it with coconut milk, this time I made it with evaporated milk. Both were delicious.

The recipe starts with a simple sugar caramelization that becomes the golden layer on top. And the rest of the dish is a simple custard of eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. Once it's ladled into the custard cups, they go into a water bath in the oven for about 40 minutes. Easy and elegant.

The recipe will be posted at the end of the month along with my 'Magnifico' film review.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to Chopstick Cinema's monthly menu and film review, send e-mail to cheiter at thingsasian dot com

11:35 PM PST Permalink |