Verwandte Artikel zu Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch: A Cookbook

Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch: A Cookbook - Hardcover

Blonder, Ellen Leong

 
9780609608876: Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch: A Cookbook
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0609608878 ISBN 13: 9780609608876
Verlag: Clarkson Potter, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

In Cantonese, “dim sum” means “touch the heart,” and Ellen Blonder’s charming celebration of China’s famed tea lunch does just that. More than sixty carefully crafted, authentic recipes, each illustrated with Ellen’s exquisite watercolor paintings, put the key to re-creating these delectable morsels in every cook’s hand.
Anyone who has enjoyed the pleasures of a dim sum meal has inevitably wondered what it would be like to create these treats at home. The answer, surprisingly, is that most are quite simple to make. From dumplings to pastries, Dim Sum is filled with simple, foolproof recipes, complete with clear step-by-step illustrations to explain the art of forming, filling, and folding dumpling wrappers and more. Ellen Blonder offers her favorite versions of traditional Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Turnip Cake, and Shrimp Ha Gow, each bite vibrantly flavored, plus recipes for hearty sticky rice dishes, refreshing sautéed greens, tender baked or steamed buns, and a variety of pastries and desserts—all the ingredients required for an authentic, restaurant-style dim sum feast. Practical advice on designing a tea lunch menu and making dim sum ahead of time round out this irresistible collection.

Lovingly created from years of tasting, refining, and seeking out the best dim sum recipes from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Dim Sum is a gem that any student of Chinese cooking will treasure.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ellen Leong Blonder is a professional illustrator and designer with numerous licensed product lines. Her first cookbook, Every Grain of Rice, written with her aunt Annabel Low, won the IACP award for best cookbook in the American category. She lives with her husband, Nick, in Mill Valley, California.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

, “dim sum” means “touch the heart,” and Ellen Blonder’s charming celebration of China’s famed tea lunch does just that. More than sixty carefully crafted, authentic recipes, each illustrated with Ellen’s exquisite watercolor paintings, put the key to re-creating these delectable morsels in every cook’s hand.
Anyone who has enjoyed the pleasures of a dim sum meal has inevitably wondered what it would be like to create these treats at home. The answer, surprisingly, is that most are quite simple to make. From dumplings to pastries, Dim Sum is filled with simple, foolproof recipes, complete with clear step-by-step illustrations to explain the art of forming, filling, and folding dumpling wrappers and more. Ellen Blonder offers her favorite versions of traditional Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Turnip Cake, and Shrimp Ha Gow, each bite vibrantly flavored, plus recipes for hearty sticky rice dishes, refreshing sautéed greens, tender baked

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Role of Tea

Legend has tea being discovered accidentally around 3000 b.c., when tea leaves blew into an outdoor cooking vessel being used to boil water. It was immediately appreciated for its refreshing flavor, and the eventual discovery of its medicinal value and ability to enhance alertness led to its increased use.

Tea was brewed from fresh leaves until the third century b.c., when drying and processing tremendously widened its popularity. Tea has been cultivated commercially in China for at least 1,800 years. Through the centuries, it has served as currency, as payment of taxes to emperors, and as a key factor in the development of porcelain, world trade, and international relations.

While the earliest teahouses served nothing but tea, that gradually changed. Starting with nuts and seeds, accompaniments became more and more elaborate, until "having tea" came to connote enjoying a meal at which dim sum played the central role.

Tea has evolved, too, into countless varieties, but every tea can still be classified as belonging to one of three categories: green, semi-fermented, or black (called red in China). All come from the same shrub, Camellia sinensis. Differences arise from processing techniques. Leaves for green tea are either wilted or not, then pan-fried, steamed, or fired in an oven to prevent oxidation and enzyme action. Leaves for semi-fermented and black teas are wilted, then bruised to allow oxidation to different degrees; this triggers enzymes to create chemical changes, producing tea with more color and less astringency. A final firing stops the process and dries the leaves.

Further variations in tea result from differing soils, climates, time of year the leaves are picked, which leaves are picked, whether leaves are wilted in the sun or shade, and whether flowers or other ingredients are added to scent the tea.

Choosing a Tea

The first question you will be asked when you are seated at a dim sum restaurant is, "What tea will you have?" Here are some favorites you may want to try, either at a restaurant or at home:

Dragon Well, or lung ching, is a mellow green tea celebrated for its bright color and cooling effect. The highest grade is picked from tiny, very young buds and leaves, then dried flat, and the skill required to process them contributes to its high cost.

Gunpowder, or pingshui, is a strong green tea named for the pelletlike shape of its tightly rolled leaves. It is also known as pearl tea, or zhucha, because of its appearance.

Jasmine, or moli huacha, is a green or semi-fermented oolong tea with jasmine flowers added. It is refreshingly astringent, with a delicate flower fragrance; the oolong variety is fuller, with a more lingering aftertaste. Jasmine is often the default tea you will be given if you don't make a choice.

Keemun, or qihong, is known as the king or champagne of black teas, for its roselike fragrance, slightly smoky taste, and deep amber color.

Lychee, or lizhi hongcha, is a black tea scented with the juice of lychee fruit, which also gives it a sweet, mellow, flowery aroma.

Oolong refers to a group of semi-fermented teas, less astringent than green teas, with a floral aftertaste. These include ti kwan yin and some jasmine teas.

Pu-erh (also pronounced po nay or bo lay), a semi-fermented tea, is a popular dim sum tea because of its reputed ability to counteract rich food and reduce cholesterol. This is the tea I order if I plan to indulge in deep-fried dim sum. It has an earthy, mellow flavor.

Ti Kwan Yin (also spelled tieguanyin), the Iron Goddess of Mercy, lends her name to this most famous oolong tea, prized for its orchidlike aroma.

Brewing Tea

There are many disagreements about how to brew perfect tea, with different opinions on correct water temperature, whether to use a tea ball or tea bags, how long to steep or infuse the tea, how much tea to use, and whether to reuse the leaves for a second pot. You will no doubt develop your own preferences, but for starters, here are some suggestions.

For the freshest-tasting tea, start with cold water in your kettle. While it is boiling, fill your teapot with hot water to warm it. Just before the water boils, empty the teapot and measure about 1 teaspoon of tea leaves into the pot for each cup of water you plan to use. If you use a perforated metal tea ball, do not overfill it, because the leaves need room to expand.

Pour the boiling water directly over the leaves and steep them for 3 to 5 minutes. (Some people first "wash" the dry tea leaves with a little boiling water, pouring it off immediately, then filling the pot with fresh boiling water.) Green teas require less steeping time than semi-fermented and black teas. Stronger tea is made by using more leaves, not more time. Longer steeping may result in bitter tea, so you may want to transfer the tea to another heated pot or, as many Chinese households do, to a heated thermos.

I don't mind a few tea leaves in the bottom of my cup, but if you're fussier, use a tea strainer when you pour your tea into the cup.

More boiling water may be added to the teapot for a second infusion. In fact, some connoisseurs insist the second infusion is best.

With a Chinese meal, whether to serve tea with or after the food is a regional preference, but tea is always served with dim sum. In any case, never add sugar, milk, or lemon to the tea.

Steamed Dumplings

When most people think of dim sum, they probably think of dumplings first. Coax a waitress to lift the lids from the stacked steamers on her cart and you'll be tantalized by translucent wheat starch dumplings with myriad fillings-delectable mouthfuls of pork, shrimp, scallops, or vegetables. Most dumplings are steamed, their wrappers cleverly twisted and pleated into fanciful shapes. The most common, ha gow, is instantly recognizable by its delicately pleated exterior. Siu mai shows off its filling above a ruffled collar. Other dumplings are folded into triangles, crescents, and twisted circles.

Setting up a Steamer

Most steamed dishes are cooked over rapidly boiling water; the plate of food is kept elevated on a stand above the water level. The pot must be large enough to allow steam to circulate around the plate, and the pot should have a tight-fitting lid. A wok with a high, domed lid or a wide pasta pot can work well as a steamer.

If you plan to steam a lot, invest in a multitiered metal or bamboo steamer from Chinatown. Aluminum or stainless steel steamers have a bottom section to hold water, two tiers with perforated bottoms for steam to circulate through, and a tight lid. Advantages of a metal steamer are that the bottom section can double as a pot, and it is the best choice for steaming buns.

Bamboo steamer baskets are meant to fit snugly over an open wok filled with boiling water. The bottom of each tier is made from bamboo slats; the sides are fashioned from several layers of split bamboo lashed together. The ingeniously woven top holds in steam remarkably well; it is used instead of a wok lid. Advantages of bamboo steamers are that they impart a wonderful, subtle scent; they work as well as metal steamers for steaming buns; and they are pretty enough to hang on the wall or double as baskets. They also seem to improve with age; mine have lasted many years.

To steam foods, add water to the pot or wok to a depth of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches. If you are using a steamer, fill the bottom section two-thirds full with water.

Bring the water to a boil. Place the pan or plate of food on the stand in a pot or wok and cover it with a lid. If using a steamer, place the plate of food on a tier and stack the steamer together. Steam the food over high heat. Replenish the pot with boiling water as necessary between batches, and check the water...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Clarkson Potter
Erscheinungsdatum
2002
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0609608878
ISBN 13 
9780609608876
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
144
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
MUSIC STORE professional GmbH
022188841282
Lars.Mueller@musicstore.de

Istanbulstr. 22-26
Köln
51103
Deutschland