Tag: chinese

BBQ Pork Spareribs with Blackberry Hoisin Sauce

Shawn Leave a comment

BBQRib1This BBQ Sauce is as close to an original recipe as I’ve ever come up with. I know, nothing is new and every recipe has already been thought of by someone, but I take some pride piecing this frankensauce concept together. It’s a traditional American backyard BBQ sauce at heart (with a built-in balance of sweet, sour, spicy and salty that I learned from Nick at Memphis Blues BBQ House) with summer blackberry sweet-tartness as it’s body and the brain of a Chinese fire-roasted duck. It’s just thing to slather all over fatty pork ribs. Read More

Stir-Fried Pea Shoots

Shawn Leave a comment

Peashoot4Out in the garden my snap peas have exploded into four feet tall bushes packed with little bundles of yum. The local deer have really taken a liking to them, so I’ve had to fence off that part of the garden again and again as the kraken-like tendrils reach up ever-higher. The delicate, curly little tentacles can be snipped off 2-3 inches from the top of the plant and cooked or even eaten raw. These are sometimes confused with “pea shoots”, of which I also happen to have quite a harvest of. Read More

Beijing House (Campbell River, BC)

Shawn 3 Comments

Beijing1My wife and I have spent much of our twelve years together moving from place to place. As nomads, who frequently spend little actual time together (due to me being a cook and her being a normal person, or “normie” as us cooks call ‘em) our most cherished moments are those weekly rituals designed to bring families together. Things like shopping, dog-walking, Netflicks binging, and dining. Of special importance are the evenings we dedicate to “eating out”. We jump in the car, speed off and spend a couple hours eating at “our place”.

At every way-station we have called home, “our place” has been a Chinese restaurant. If you’ve read my love letter to My Chinatown you probably know that the breakthrough food moment of my life was eating Chinese food with Crystal soon after we met. In Toronto we had the House of Gourmet, in Van. we had the (now sadly defunct) Wonton House, and in Campbell River we now spend countless evenings fighting chopstick duels for the last dumpling at Beijing House. Read More

Year Of The Snake

Shawn Leave a comment

Chinese New Year 2013Gong Xi Fa Cai ! May the year of the snake be happy and prosperous for you and your family!

Time to get everyone around the table to laugh, drink and feast their faces off… And later on, bottle rockets! Take that evil spirits!

Remember to show some love (and a generous kickback) to the Kitchen God, Yu Huang.

 

Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings

Shawn 2 Comments

Pan-Fried Pork DumplingsTomorrow marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, a festival celebrated in China, Japan, Vietnam, heck, all over Asia and in North America. It’s a time for cleaning house, settling debts, lighting crazy chains of firecrackers and spending time with family and friends eating good food.

If the clan’s coming and bringing their appetites, the perfect food to serve as a starter, side dish or snack with tea are dumplings. Known as jiaozi in Chinese, gyoza in Japanese and pot stickers by people walking around Wallmart, these little pockets of perfect are traditionally eaten at New Years celebrations to bring future wealth (their shape resembles Chinese gold ingots). Read More