web analytics

So I got to be a Chinese guy, which was cool

I just finished Sleeping Dogs, an excellent open world shoot-’em up game set in Hong Kong. Sadly, it isn’t a meticulous building-by-building recreation of the town (like some of the Grand Theft Auto game settings are supposed to be), but it’s broadly faithful to the layout and lots more fun to drive in. On the sidewalk? Be our guest.

Yeah, I know most of my readers don’t do games, but I’m clearing the deck of a backlog. May, as you might remember, is my Birthday Month and I plan to play a lot of new stuff to celebrate.

Anyway, Wei Shen — your game dude — is forever stopping at a street vendor for duck or ice cream or noodles. Or the one that always gets to me in the movies: pork buns. Makes me crazy hungry for Chinese. Has anybody had one of these pork buns? (I’m looking at you, Bob). For some reason, they look so soft and squidgy and appealing, but I didn’t have the courage to cook something I’d never seen in the flesh before. Also, I don’t have a steamer.

So I made pot-stickers, AKA Pekin ravioli, AKA Pekin dumplings. They were delicious. I think I ruined my dinner.

Comments


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: April 20, 2015, 9:34 pm

Oh, pork buns are stunning. Back when we lived in Philly, my SIL came down from NYC & dragged us around on a pork bun tour of chinatown. 100 pork buns are not enough. I mean, it’s just a dab of what tastes like pulled pork with a touch of plum sauce in a slightly sweet white bread shell, but there’s something magical about the way our maoist cousins do it that changes everything.

Pot stickers are pretty wonderful too. Make a dipping sauce from 50:50 rice wine vinegar & good Korean soy sauce & a few slices of fresh ginger.

Oh, & don’t forget to smoke some weed today if you love Hitler!


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: April 20, 2015, 9:57 pm

I don’t have any weed, but Happy Bidet, Mein Führer.


Comment from Sigivald
Time: April 20, 2015, 10:26 pm

Hum Bao are brilliant.


Comment from QuasiModo
Time: April 20, 2015, 11:09 pm

I only like plain, Americanized Chinese food like Ginger Beef or Beef in Black Bean Sauce…the more ‘authentic’ stuff looks like mouse guts or the brains that the chick on iZombie eats :O=


Comment from Scott Jacobs
Time: April 21, 2015, 3:42 am

Pork buns are the most awesome thing ever.


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: April 21, 2015, 3:59 am

Ah, Cha Shu(or Siu) Pao, steamed pork buns. Definitely addictive. When my stepmother made them, she knew that she had to start early in the afternoon to have a head start for when I got home from school. Otherwise, by the time I was done, there would be none left for anyone else [teenagers are hollow]. The addiction is genetic, as my kids have the same addiction.

When we go to our regular Dim Sum restaurant, we are known as “the family that eats a lot”.

Stark, it is not plum sauce, but hoisin sauce with additional flavorings mixed in. Plum sauce has chili’s and garlic and goes wonderfully well with Peking Duck skin inside a Mandarin pancake with a piece of scallion.


Comment from Nina
Time: April 21, 2015, 4:30 am

I like Chinese food, but not today. My daughter got hitched to her Englishman this morning, and the day’s running around has got me ready for bed. Good thing it’s 9:30 already.

Pork fried rice. Jes’ sayin’. But if you want good Chinese, go to the restaurant with a Chinese-speaking Chinese person (like my adopted son). You can trust me on this one, folks.

Zzzzzzzzz……


Comment from mojo
Time: April 21, 2015, 5:22 am

Baked are better than steamed, in this person’s lowly opinion.


Comment from GenghisJohn
Time: April 21, 2015, 11:42 am

I love you Stoaty.
But you already knew that.
Thanks for being you.

XOXOXOX,
John


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: April 21, 2015, 4:29 pm

The best thing about living in San Antonio is that there is a Mexican restaurant on every block, and a Chinese restaurant on every other block. We normally eat Chinese on Wednesday night, but after reading this post last night, I had to have Chinese for supper. 🙂 Now I shall eat the leftovers for my lunch—which are sizzling in the skillet as I speak.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: April 21, 2015, 5:18 pm

Baked are better than steamed, in this person’s lowly opinion.

Now now. That’s like arguing about whether it’s better to be orally violated by a Chinee while you’re drunk on anisette vs. jägermeister. They’re both great, but second shift starts in 5 minutes, so let’s get something in our stomachs first.


Comment from BJM
Time: April 21, 2015, 6:23 pm

Stoaty, you don’t need no stinkin’ “steamer” if you have a metal colander and a lidded pot large enough to suspend or stand the colander in; you got a steamer.

Shucks I’ve even used a pyrex pie plate sitting on eggs rings in a deep fry pan with a lid to steam fish with black bean sauce and/or, Gai Lan, siu mai, etc.


Comment from Another Bob
Time: April 22, 2015, 5:26 am

Somehow, I think you meant a different Bob, but for an instant, I thought “How did she know?”
You been playing with the Kaballah?
Pork buns and dim sum are A Very Big Deal in our house.
We live near Monterey Park, home of some of the best in the world. Chinese people from China come here to eat it.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: April 22, 2015, 4:04 pm

Hi, ‘Nother Bob. Yeah, I had Bob Mulroy in mind — his wife is Chinese. But I’m happy to hear from any old Bob who knows his pork buns.


Comment from Timothy S. Carlson
Time: April 22, 2015, 11:39 pm

Siopao – love them. You can buy them in the 7-11s here, or at stands everywhere. They have toasted versions here, too, which are pretty good. And they have put a filipino touch on them with Adobo versions.

Siomai – siopao’s small, steamed dumpling cousin – is also good.

Usually you can find both offered in the same shop.


Comment from ed
Time: April 24, 2015, 5:15 pm

11 Types of Dumplings You Need to Try
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO3wsGobCy8

Write a comment

(as if I cared)

(yeah. I'm going to write)

(oooo! you have a website?)


Beware: more than one link in a comment is apt to earn you a trip to the spam filter, where you will remain -- cold, frightened and alone -- until I remember to clean the trap. But, hey, without Akismet, we'd be up to our asses in...well, ass porn, mostly.


<< carry me back to ol' virginny