Meet the meat!

[johnraff]

The last 10 or 15 years there has been a bit of an influx of Chinese from the mainland, and quite a few somewhat authentic Chinese restaurants appeared in Nagoya. Even so, they tended to adjust their food to appeal to Japanese tastes. The other day we heard of a place just a short bike-ride from where we live called 延辺館 (En Pen Kan) which was a bit different. Behind the bright neon sign a really scruffy door opens on an equally scruffy interior where Chinese workers and students seem to make up 90% of the customers, the menu is mostly in Chinese and the staff only speak a few words of Japanese, let alone English.

The food, though, was great. Except for the somewhat greasy fried rice, everything we tried was delicious:
lamb kebabs, crispy outside and tender inside,
"dried tofu" salad with chilli and lots of garlic,
steamed dumplings containing... chopped cucumber and shrimp! Brilliant!
spicy french beans in which each bean had been individually battered and crispy fried, then quickly stir-fried with chillies...
Really good and not expensive either.

Unfortunately the web page linked above is only in Japanese, no Chinese or English, or I'd ask Jules to recommend something from the menu for next time we go.

[ivanovnegro]

Sounds delicious and looks good John.

[machinebacon]

That's really great stuff then :) Most interesting is that exactly the Chinese, who eat kilograms of rice a year, don't really prepare it in a tasty way (compared to Risotto it just fades away without taste, color, fragrance and texture) Maybe the guys are from the north, there they are more specialized in wheat products.

Rule of thumb: whenever you see "四川" you can take it. The "鴛鴦火鍋" is the hot pot, also as lovers version with a soup side and a chili side, as shown on the photo. Get some slices of beef, lamb, spongy toufu (they look like tofu cubes that can nicely suck up the juice), some lettuce, silver needle mushrooms (I guess that's the name); this is really nice now in winter.

The cold dish in the first picture seems to be "Old Tiger Vegetable", which is mainly leek, coriander, onions, green peppers and a Chinese dressing (old vinegar, soybean sauce, dried chili)

I'll send the page through a translator later and check what else is on the menu :)

[machinebacon]

[yt]MU8nqH8Jb_8[/yt]

Back on the track :D

[MrPink]

I think this program is in the spirit of this thread: http://www.dr.dk/tv/program/nak-aed/
It's called Nak og Æd, which is Danish for Kill and Eat. A hunter and a chef travels all over Scandinavia to kill an animal and eat it. If they don't get it, they cook a really nasty one, like a crow or a mole or something like that.
All recipes are simple enough for a camp fire, but it works in a kitchen too - and they usually involve beer: http://www.dr.dk/mad/opskrifter/nak_og_ ... og-aed.htm

Google Translate is your friend :)

[johnraff]

@Her Pink - Jeg var i Danmark 2~3 måneder (Sønderborg i Als), 1973(?) but that doesn't mean I understood a word of that TV programme. The guy with white hair had a face that reminded me of Denmark though. Swedish Elk looked pretty tasty!
@baconslicer and that pork belly looked deleriously good, right up to the point where the guy started tearing it apart with his bare hands. I think I might have preferred it cut into succulent chunks with a cooking knife.

btw we went back to Empenkan last week and it was good again, though just four menu items had us stuffed so we couldn't move - their portions are big. The menu is much more extensive than what they put up on the website, and mostly in Chinese with Japanese subtitles so to speak, but to get an expert's opinion on it I'd have to take a portable scanner in... I think the guys might be from the north - a big wheat-based "steamed bun" type section, but there are also a lot of "四川" type things, which as you suggest seem usually OK to try.

Rice, the Japanese will tell you, is delicious just completely plain, cooked without even any salt. You just have a few pickles or other salty dishes to go with it. If the rice is good quality I'd agree with this - the smell that comes from the rice cooker... :) Lesser varieties might be better used for fried rice or rice porridge or something.

[machinebacon]

http://www.recipesource.com/misc/copycat/

for those who want to DIY their BigMac etc

[johnraff]

^there are such people?

[wuxmedia]

I do want to try out the 'colonels chicken' recipe.
turns out the big mac recipe is for the sauce.
was nearly expecting;
200g of finest slash and burn rainforest cleared hormone growth injected beef bits
10g onions
20g refined sugar.
1g MSG

and so on...

[wuxmedia]

going to try and make this;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bosto ... eans_10471
after watching 'the departed' (not that the recipe is at all featured in the film, just it's set in Bwostahn)
and I do like beans

[ivanovnegro]

Wow, an American dish that piques my interest.

[machinebacon]

nice, I might do this today! Though I always end up making a 'bableves csulokkel'
(Garbanzos con Paticas de Cerdo)

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/misce ... -csulokkel (minus sour cream for me)

[johnraff]

Pork and beans is a great combination!
Interesting that black-eyed beans are called "garbanzos" in Hungary. I thought that was for chick peas.

[machinebacon]

This was a link for David (ivanovnegro), who speaks good Spanish with emphasis on the smoked knuckle (see Eisbein, front leg, whatever it is called in English), and not on the pork belly as wux stated before. I didn't check the name for "garbanzos" or chick peas, blame my google skills - I just entered "beans pork foot" and it showed up first with an image, so I copied it because it was Spanish and maybe ivanov knows it.

In Hungary we use any kind of dry bean that you can get hold of or that you like, sometimes also mixed. Of course no chick peas, that's not a standard there. The important part is the 'csulok' ;)

[ivanovnegro]

Garbanzos is Kichererbsen in German Bacon, now you know. I was lost anyways in all the languages I spoke yesterday. :D So I was not sure what John meant because I never heard garbanzos in English and just now realized that it is also used in English, the speller does not complain. :)

Edit: Just call it Hachse. :D

[machinebacon]

Yeah I had the same problem too about the English word for it. Anyway if I knew it is Kichererbse I wouldn't have brought it up anyway :D

Gegrillte Schweinshaxe, that's some great stuff, much better than the bland Eisbein. I often make a Porkolt (reduced goulash if you wish, with less water/stock initially) from pork feet and belly, and two kinds of paprika powder, accompanied with Galuska (or Spaetzle) or potatoes. Shapes a beautiful body.

[ivanovnegro]

Mmmm und der Schwabe kommt durch. :) Yes, me wishes you cook that for me. :D

[machinebacon]

"Du kenndsch' ebbes mehr uff'd Rippa verdroga, nemm no' en Leffel" :D

[wuxmedia]

yumm, more things to try out, seem to have a bunch of paprika powder, great stuff.
I think I might reduce the sugar content a bit.
Cassoulet is too much of a fiddle, to make 'right'.

Side note, on translations, for meat the cuts can be totally different as well as the name.

[machinebacon]

Exactly, wux. I noticed this when I came to China, but also when my grandma in Hungary sent me to the butcher. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork#Cuts
I know John is always questioning my knowledge if I type something the non-British way, that's why i refine my answers recently ;) Actually should simply use the local name of the part, and not a transcription.