I have never had a good lion’s head meatball in restaurants outside. Granted they are all lower cost restaurants, but why do you think restaurants have a harder time doing this dish (yes I am generalizing here)? Is it the broth and the meat prep?
Similar question- what Jiangnan dishes would you generally avoid in restaurants, with the knowledge that its difficult to do well there?
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Chinese restaurant menus are huge! Adding to @wynadette’s questions, I understand how it would be easy for restaurants to cook stir-fries, frozen dumplings, and noodles. What restaurant shortcuts, or deviations from what you’d present in your recipes, are common, especially for dishes requiring slow cooking or braising?
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Hi Fuchsia,
short version:
Thank you very much for your books! They have inspired my travels and I’ve learnt a lot about China.
Long version:
I don’t really have questions having read most* of your Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper book.
In late 2005 I picked up your Sichuan Cookery book and in early March the following year I visited Chengdu for the first time! Actually, China for the first time as well. I returned to China the next year and the year after that. Three consecutive trips and I saw only a little of this massive country.
I find it extraordinary that you did all of those things (adventures, collecting recipes and your study at Sichuan culinary institute) whilst living in China AND master the language. On my first visit to Chengdu I saw NO other backpackers and NO tourists on the streets. There were backpackers who stayed at the same lodging (Sim’s guesthouse) but I never saw them anywhere else. Some foreigners (bussinessmen/women) I saw were only at Starbucks. After that first trip I noticed there were a lot more tourists. I think your books brought them to Chengdu.
One of the things I enjoyed the most in China was eating dumplings. So much that I have put together some photos of dumplings to remind me I need to visit China again. Your Sichuan Cookery book first took me there and now your Shark’s Fin book is giving me new travel ideas!
*Unfortunately, I lost this book last month whilst travelling in Canada (photos below). I am still gutted as there was maybe only one chapter left. I remember the last thing I read was about you eating Yangzhou (?) fried rice. An incredible book. You have an extraordinary memory and a way with words.
Thank you, Fuchsia!
Under some Vietnamese beef jerky on the train from Montreal to Ottawa. (Next to oysters in Quebec City)
The dumplings eaten with a chili sauce were in Chengdu, of course. (Do watch in full screen)
My travels in China:
2006.03.01 - 04.15: PEK-CTU/Chengdu-LXA-[CTU]-PVG/Shanghai-Hangzhou-Suzhou-Peking
2007.03.01 - 04.17: HKG-Macau-Zhaoqing-Yangshuo-Longsheng - [Ping An-Yuanyang] - [Sanjiang] - Zhaoxing-Kaili-Kunming-Guiyang-Simao-Jinghong-[Shuangjiang] - Lancang - [Tengchong] -Baoshan-Luxi-Ruili-Dali-CAN/Guangzhou-Foshan-Hong Kong
2008.03.07 - 04.21: HKG-Huizhou-Chaozhou-Meizhou-Jongding-Hekeng-Xiamen-WUS- [Shaowu] -Nanchang-Changsa-Chengdu -JZH-Juizhaigou-Songpan-Chengdu-Emeishan- [Leshan] - Panzihua-Lugu Lake-Lijiang- [KMG-SZX] -Macau-Hongkong.
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Fuchsia, are there any ingredients that just aren’t readily available outside China or Asia and have no close substitutes? What dishes do you miss making from these ingredients?
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People analyzed xiao long bao/ tang bao to death on these forums and argued about which restaurants make the best ones- Jia Jia in Shanghai, Din Tai Fung, etc. I noticed that in your latest book you didn’t bring up XLB/ tang bao. Is it easy to make at home? Who offers, in your opinion, the tastiest rendition, anywhere in the world?
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It seems to me that Sichuan restaurants are proliferating both here in the US and in other regions China. While often these restaurants are watered down, or inexpert versions of the original cuisine, or yet another hotpot (usually of the individual sort) restaurant, I was wondering if you’ve come across any in your travels that use their new context to bring interesting innovations to Sichuan classics?
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Any funny/ amusing stories that you can share from your recent adventures in China while researching your latest cookbooks? Cultural misunderstanding/ travel mishaps/ kitchen nightmares, etc?
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I want to give a very warm welcome to author Fuchsia Dunlop, who, through her meticulous research and extensive travels, brought us a series of wonderful cookbooks that made quality Chinese cooking accessible to the non-natives. Welcome Fuchsia! And thanks for taking the time to do the Q&A with your readers tonight!
(Fuchsia will join us whenever she’s ready.)
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Hello! Actually, I’ve been very lucky because I haven hardly ever encountered problems of this sort. Nothing I do would be remotely possible, anyway, without the support and encouragement of my many friends in China who have shared their recipes with me and trusted me to tell their stories. I have, of course, been aware of the lively debate on cultural appropriation during the past year or so, particularly in the United States. I was in the United States recently for a book tour, and was aware that I might face questions on this issue. So it was a wonderful surprise and complete delight to find that many of the guests at my book events were American-born Chinese and Chinese-born Chinese people, and a few even told me that my writing had helped them to connect with their own ethnic heritage and with the culture of their parents – which I found incredibly moving! From my own point of view, I hope that’s what I do is not seen as cultural appropriation: it feels more like cultural appreciation, in the sense that I try to use my fluency in English and my love of China and its food culture to encourage other outsider to love it too. And of course, when I’m in China, working with Chinese chefs and farmers, the last thing on my mind is the idea that there is some kind of big racial divide between us: I just see them as my friends and colleagues, and I see us all as people who share a passionate interest in the same wonderful thing (Chinese food).
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I’m afraid this is not an issue I have looked at in any depth!
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That’s wonderful to hear. Thanks, Fuchsia!
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In my experience, when someone gets used to using a Chinese cleaver (just to be clear, I’m referring to a Chinese slicing cleaver, which is much lighter and more dextrous than the kind of heavy meat-chopping cleaver used by butchers), they rarely want to use any other knife. That’s what happened to me! The cleaver is incredibly versatile: I use it for practically everything, from slicing a garlic clove to cutting up large chunks of meat– even for boning a duck. And one of the best things about a cleaver is that you can use it to scoop up food from your chopping board and transfer it to a cooking pot. It’s so simple, so economical and basically so lovely to use. I have other knives in my kitchen, but the only other one that I employ regularly is a medium-sized Sabatier knife with a serrated edge that I use for cutting up apples, tomatoes, that kind of thing. In China, people tend to do almost all their cutting with a cleaver, both at home and in professional kitchens.
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I’m delighted by the increasing variety in Chinese food in London. For several years now, there has been far more available than the traditional Anglo– Cantonese variety: Sichuanese, Hunanese, Dongbei, Fujianese, a little Shanghainese… it’s completely different now from the way it was when I started writing about Chinese food, about 20 years ago. Specifically, I visits the Royal China Club in Baker Street and the other Royal China restaurants for dim sum with almost embarrassing regularity! I also love Barshu and Baozi Inn (I do work for them as a consultant!), Sichuan Folk, Xi’an Impression and Phoenix Palace. In Chinatown, I sometimes go to Four Seasons for roast duck and rice, some nourishing soup or other simple Cantonese dishes, and Imperial China or Golden Dragon for dim sum. I also like Yauatcha - the high-end restaurant run by the same people, HKK, is also superb.
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Hmm, hard to choose! Perhaps a few hairy crabs, some fresh bamboo shoots or some young rape shoots from Sichuan or Hunan.
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I certainly do not stick to “safe” options when cooking for others, as my friends will attest! I love introducing people to unfamiliar ingredients. I just try to share my own appreciation of them, and sometimes to explain how and why Chinese people enjoy them. In my experience, with a bit of explanation and encouragement, most people are very willing to try new things and often enjoy them enormously. I’m not sure if you’ve read my memoir, Sharks Fin and Sichuan Pepper, but it includes a chapter that is largely about the Chinese appreciation of texture and mouthfeel: many people have told me that reading this has helped them to experience and appreciate Chinese food in a completely new way!
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I suppose also that, as an outsider-convert myself, I’m in a good position to show that overcoming the ‘yuk factor’ and learning to adore new foods is possible!
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Thanks! To be honest, China has such an unbelievable wealth of delicious recipes that it would be totally impossible to include them all in any cookbook, so it’s always a matter of selection. I don’t notice any particular differences between, for example, the UK and the US.
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Thanks! To be honest, China has such an unbelievable wealth of delicious recipes that it would be totally impossible to include them all in any cookbook, so it’s always a matter of selection. I don’t notice any particular differences between, for example, the UK and the US.
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I don’t think this applies to only outsiders. Adjusting to another cuisine and its unfamiliar ingredients within China takes some getting used to even for Chinese!
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