If it has got four legs, two wings and it swims!
Prince Phillip is nearly Right!
If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." Prince Phillip
That most politically correct and diplomatic of Royalty, Prince Phillip, never really suffers from foot in mouth disease
.more than once a month
.is my inspirational quote for this post. The quote might have been from 1986
.but it shows how characterization can colour ones perception of things.
As an Asian, I feel compelled to right some of the inaccuracies of his quote.
- Firstly, its not a Chair! Asians use STOOLS or they squat!
- And if he had said a KITE, that would have been more appropriate than an Aeroplane.
- A Submarine? Really - youd think hed know that its JUNKS that the Chinese sail!
Lets face it
..Asians have picked up the unsavoury reputation of eating bizarre and weird foods. I guess its a case of what is someones offal, is a Chinese delicacy. From every possible animal on earth through to snakes blood and monkey brains, it would seem that the question of where to eat incorporates the question of what to eat; and more pertinently
.what am I eating?
Being of Asian descent myself, the question of what am I eating? takes on a completely different meaning when you consider that as a child, I did enjoy the occasional pigs-brain-steamed-with-egg dish, chicken feet (seems tame!) and even the odd unrecognizable animals meat.
However, I have long considered myself as a Banana (yellow on the outside, white inside); and my food boundaries as an adult are much more mainstream these days.
Given how far I could have taken this, I think my food boundaries are simple. I will NOT eat:
- Four-legged animals; domesticated nor anything I might find in a zoo! (Farmed is fine!)
- If it slithers or is 6-legged or 8-legged, not land-based and definitely not air-bourne. (Water slithering or swimming is fine!)
- Intestines or sweetmeats, feet, necks or any internal liquid is strictly prohibited. Im definitely not a nose to trotter type of pig (eater)!
Well
.that pretty much leaves a diverse range of food items that I will indulge in.
Of the phat or 8 culinary traditions of China, Hong Kong food has its roots in Yue cuisine. This regional/culinary tradition covers the provinces of Hong Kong SAR and Guandong.
We are talking Cantonese cuisine here, folks. Meats such as beef, pork and chicken are the main proteins
but Cantonese food also incorporates organ meat, chicken feet, snakes and snails. Steaming and Stir Frying are the main cooking methods of this cuisine.
For flavour enhancement, Cantonese cuisine traditionally uses scallions, soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, corn starch, vinegar, salt and sugar in their cooking. You will find the occasional use of ginger, 5-spice powder, chilli powder and star anise..but sparingly.
I expect to be enjoying a variety of deep fried dishes
.although I tend to prefer the steamed (jing) or stir-fried (chaau) stuff.
Cantonese or Chinese cuisine also includes items that have been slow cooked. This is particularly true of soups
savoury and sweet. The Chinese are not known for their desserts but I have to admit that I am incredibly partial to a spare rib soup or a sweet red bean soup (hong dau shui) or a sweet potato soup (fan shu tong shui) that has been slow cooked for a while.
Many Chinese restaurants feature live seafood tanks
.where you will be able to make your selection of the fish or shellfish of your choice
.only to have it cooked by the chef and brought to your table, within 20 minutes! My favourite way of eating seafood, particularly whole fish (yuu), is usually steamed (jing) with soy, ginger and scallions.
Noodles (mihn) will be an absolute must! Stir fried or with soup
.I enjoy it all. Above all else, I expect to be partaking noodles from the street vendors, preferably late at night!
BBQ meats (char yok), usually pork, pork and more pork, with some duck (ahp) thrown in; will all be dishes I will be expecting to eat on this trip.
Traditional dishes include:
Rice Congee (chuok) more a breakfast food for me.
Sweet and Sour DS loves this!
Stir fry vegetables
or vegetables blanched with then served up with oyster sauce.
Without a doubt, the experience most associated with Chinatowns all over the world is the Dim Sum. Dim Sum literally translates to Hearts Delight or to warm your heart. It refers to the experience you will enjoy where you watch servers push around carts of food in bamboo baskets still steaming from the cooking process. You wait until the server gets to your table and pick the baskets you want to eat.
In Australia, this experience is called Yum Cha. The literal translation of this is to drink tea. Ive never worked out why the Aussies have chosen to call the experience Yum Cha when the rest of the China-world calls it Dim Sum. I just live here
and I go with the flow.
I hadnt realized it till now
but I do NOT have many pictures of the little hearts delights in my collection of pictures. I had to swipe the above picture off the internet. This is definitely something that I will need to fix during this trip!
For those of you going and wondering what to order, here are some of my favourites (well....photos I had in my collection to date).
On this plate, youll find the prawn noodles (har cheong) and prawn dumplings (har gow).
These are usually made from rice flour, with different fillings inside e.g., beef (ngau yok) or pork (yok) or vegetables (chai).
For the noodles (har fun), there will also be the option to order the BBQ pork variety (char siu cheong).
You might also find baskets with these sorts of items
steamed buns (bao or pow)..
I like the roast pork buns (char siu bao) and my son loves the custard buns (lai wong bao)
You can also find baos that have been fried on the carts; but I usually prefer the steamed ones.
We will also be ordering the Lotus Leaf glutinous rice (lo mai gai). These parcels are usually steamed and contain glutinous rice, egg yolk, mushroom and a protein (chicken or pork).
The carts will also come round with sweet dim sums
we normally get these towards the end of our experience and always try to fit in the custard tarts (daan tart), tofu with sugar syrup (dau fu far) and the mango pudding (mong go pud-ding).
Another foodie experience that Im looking forward to will be the sumptuous multi-course Chinese dinners. I suspect that we might end up with at least one if not two of these experiences in our time there.
I certainly hope to come back with a wider selection of food porn during this trip. One this is for certain
.I think Im coming back with a phat-ter bahookie!
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