#EdenCooks - Chinese Steamed Fish - Mon May 21, 8pm EST

Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by RomanticGoth
I have a steamer.
Awesome
05/21/2012
Contributor: RomanticGoth RomanticGoth
I make tamales with it. Green chili and cream cheese anyone?
05/21/2012
Contributor: ScarletFox ScarletFox
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova

Do you guys already have steamers?
I used to have one of the collapsible ones, but now I use a MacGuyvered strainer.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by RomanticGoth
I make tamales with it. Green chili and cream cheese anyone?
You and Starkiller have me fantasizing about making tamales this weekend...
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova

Steaming is a very quick cooking method, so especially when I'm steaming something new (like a whole fish with its head on), I like to have everything else in place first.

Making this meal, I first set up all the individual dipping sauces, and chop the scallions so that when the fish comes out of the pan, everything is ready and waiting.

Trivia: Ginger is generally acknowledged to be a useful stomach settler to battle motion sickness. A double-blind comparison among ginger, dimenhydrinate (dramamine), and a placebo by Holtmann in 1989 shows that ginger does not have an effect on the vestibular or the oculomotor system (like dramamine does)---instead, it works directly on the gastric system.
05/21/2012
Contributor: wrmbreze wrmbreze
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
You and Starkiller have me fantasizing about making tamales this weekend...
Stop talking about food that I have never had but sounds like it would taste so good. I am drooling here.
05/21/2012
Contributor: RomanticGoth RomanticGoth
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
You and Starkiller have me fantasizing about making tamales this weekend...
Make a bunch and freeze them. They make great "take to work" lazy luches.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Sex Positivity Sex Positivity
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova

Steaming is a very quick cooking method, so especially when I'm steaming something new (like a whole fish with its head on), I like to have everything else in place first.

Making this meal, I first set up all the individual dipping ... more
What the balls is a vestibular system?!
05/21/2012
Contributor: candykiss34 candykiss34
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova

Steaming is a very quick cooking method, so especially when I'm steaming something new (like a whole fish with its head on), I like to have everything else in place first.

Making this meal, I first set up all the individual dipping ... more
Very interesting! I always wondered why people recommend drinking ginger ale when you're feeling sick..
05/21/2012
Contributor: Melan!e Melan!e
Quote:
Originally posted by wrmbreze
Stop talking about food that I have never had but sounds like it would taste so good. I am drooling here.
My mouth is starting to water too.....
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by wrmbreze
Stop talking about food that I have never had but sounds like it would taste so good. I am drooling here.
Haha, present steamed fish excepted, I hope?
05/21/2012
Contributor: Melan!e Melan!e
Quote:
Originally posted by candykiss34
Very interesting! I always wondered why people recommend drinking ginger ale when you're feeling sick..
It makes so much more sense to me now too!
05/21/2012
Contributor: wrmbreze wrmbreze
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Haha, present steamed fish excepted, I hope?
I have never had steamed fish, I normally only like perch and flounder.. I am keeping an open mind about this right now.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Sex Positivity
What the balls is a vestibular system?!
Basically, not your brain, eyes, or balancing system was what I got from it (but I was just researching using the abstract of the paper, becaue I didn't want to spend $85 to read the full thing. So I might not be 100% reliable there.)
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by wrmbreze
I have never had steamed fish, I normally only like perch and flounder.. I am keeping an open mind about this right now.
Well, if it doesn't sound tasty, just steam some chicken breasts and add scallions and oil in the same way.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by candykiss34
Very interesting! I always wondered why people recommend drinking ginger ale when you're feeling sick..
I hate ginger ale but love ginger tea! It got me through some really tough months of acid reflux and upset stomachs. I always keep it near now.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova

Perhaps the people more familiar with Chinese cooking in the crowd can teach us some things here. Irene Kuo's book introduces Chinese cuisine, saying (paraphrased) "You might be afraid of Chinese cooking, because it seems to involve lots of split-second timing, and lots of tedious, painstaking, and particular cutting methods." She goes on to say that none of this is so very difficult, and she'll explain the techniques so they make sense instead of just being esoteric dogma.

I had never really had an impression that Chinese cooking involved technical cuts---do you?

Trivia: Ginger is in the same botanical family as turmeric, cardamom, and galangal.
05/21/2012
Contributor: wrmbreze wrmbreze
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Well, if it doesn't sound tasty, just steam some chicken breasts and add scallions and oil in the same way.
Cool, you are so awesome at this.. You should teach an actual face to face class.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Sex Positivity Sex Positivity
All the talk about food made me go grab a bowl of mini wheats.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Rossie Rossie
Hi everyone! Finally made it here!
05/21/2012
Contributor: Sex Positivity Sex Positivity
Quote:
Originally posted by Rossie
Hi everyone! Finally made it here!
Hullo!
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Sex Positivity
All the talk about food made me go grab a bowl of mini wheats.
Mmmm... time tested breakfast, dinner, and midnight meal.

I would love teaching a face-to-face class---but I like having these meetings with you guys even more, I think, because I get so many extra perspectives from all of you!
05/21/2012
Contributor: candykiss34 candykiss34
Quote:
Originally posted by Rossie
Hi everyone! Finally made it here!
Hello
05/21/2012
Contributor: wrmbreze wrmbreze
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
I hate ginger ale but love ginger tea! It got me through some really tough months of acid reflux and upset stomachs. I always keep it near now.
Like ginger ale.. tasted a ginger beer...too spicy
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Rossie
Hi everyone! Finally made it here!
I was wondering when you'd pop in---welcome! I'm eager to hear what you have to say about technical cuts in Chinese cooking.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova

This recipe uses minced ginger and "shredded" ginger. Both start with slicing and peeling ginger, and both methods are easiest with a big, heavy knife like a cleaver.




After peeling the ginger, set your blade down sideways on it, press down with your fist to smash its structure, and pull the knife around a bit to loosen the fibers.




To shred the ginger, hold your cleaver at a right angle with the cutting board and work the blade over the ginger. You'll wind up with small gently-torn sender sticks.





This broken-but-cohesive ginger is what will be rubbed into the fish before steaming.

In the dipping sauce, minced ginger contributes flavor without being around to cling to your bites of fish.

Chop the ginger in both directions, scraping it into a pile and chopping again and again until all the ginger is a uniform size.

Chop up your scallions while you've got your knife handy.



Trivia: Ginger is harvested when its stalk whithers. To stop it from sprouting, it is scalded or washed and scraped.
05/21/2012
Contributor: Melan!e Melan!e
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova

Perhaps the people more familiar with Chinese cooking in the crowd can teach us some things here. Irene Kuo's book introduces Chinese cuisine, saying (paraphrased) "You might be afraid of Chinese cooking, because it seems to involve lots ... more
I never thought chinese cooking involved technical cuts... Japanese maybe but not chinese. I always mess up my sushi when I have to cut it.

What is galangal?
05/21/2012
Contributor: Sex Positivity Sex Positivity
Quote:
Originally posted by wrmbreze
Like ginger ale.. tasted a ginger beer...too spicy
I only ever have Ginger Ale on airplane trips.
05/21/2012
Contributor: candykiss34 candykiss34
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova

Perhaps the people more familiar with Chinese cooking in the crowd can teach us some things here. Irene Kuo's book introduces Chinese cuisine, saying (paraphrased) "You might be afraid of Chinese cooking, because it seems to involve lots ... more
Had no idea that specific cutting methods are used...
05/21/2012
Contributor: Melan!e Melan!e
Quote:
Originally posted by Sex Positivity
All the talk about food made me go grab a bowl of mini wheats.
Oooh Mini wheats, I may have to do the same.
05/21/2012