WOKIPEDIA
T IS FOR… A … tiebanshao 铁板烧 The hot plate tradition that came to China from Japan in the 1980s may be best described to the uninitiated as the Eastern answer to fajitas. Tiebanshao, literally “metal plate roast,” comes to the dining table as a hot piece of iron upon which sizzles juicy pieces of meat and strips of vegetables. Sometimes fried noodles are also served this way. Culinary historians believe that this cooking method originated in Spain around the 15th and 16th centuries. The technique was spread around the world by Spanish sailors who found this the best way to cook fish, giving birth to the Mexican fajita and Japanese teppanyaki traditions. Chinese hotel restaurants picked up the tradition after the country’s opening-up and reform, and the cooking method has since become ubiquitous here. Popular renditions include tieban niuliu (hot iron beef ) and tieban youyu (hot iron squid). … tiao 条 The Chinese quantifier for anything that is long and thin naturally has its place in the kitchen. Miantiao, or noodles, literally translating to “flour strips,” is a prime example. A twist on that usage would be the long Xinjiang pullednoodles bathing in tomato sauce that are such a favorite. Those are called latiaozi. However, anything that can be cut into strips or long pieces also becomes tiao. So potato strips would be tudoutiao then? Good guess. Deep fry them and they become shutiao, or French fries. Here’s another good tip: when ordering a dozen sausages don’t ask for 12 ge xiangchang, instead ask for 12 tiao xiangchang and you’ll be complemented on your good Chinese. … tangculiji 糖醋里脊 Tangculiji, or sweet and sour pork, bears the crown in the kingdom of sweet and savory delicacies. While the dish appears in many of China’s regional cuisines, its most popular rendering is in Lucai, or Shanghai cuisine. Good Shanghai sweet and sour pork will be golden in color, crispy and the pork tenderloin fragrant. The meat is cut into strips, battered in egg, starch and flour before being deep fried in a pot of medium-hot oil. In Sichuan, the sauce recipe calls for tomato sauce or ketchup which acts as a thickening agent and tends to be tarter on the taste buds.
37
February 2014