In the small city of San Francisco, Chinatown holds a valuable locations. Its next to downtown, North Beach, The Pier and its a skip and a hop away from the Mission and Castro.
There are actually two chinatowns in San Francisco, the one downtown is considered "Old Chinatown" and Clement St. is considered "New Chinatown" Generally "Old Chinatown" is an older generation, the first wave of chinese immigrants settling there. New Chinatown is a melting pot of Asian culture, not just Chinese but there's , Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Burmese. Settler were a later generation compared to the settler of Old Chinatown. They were attracted to the low rent in the Richmond district.
Dim sum is from the southern part of China, mainly the province of Canton and its neighbors. Old Chinatown is comprised of mostly Cantonese chinese which is why Dim Sum is so popular. Dim Sum means snack in chinese. According to Wikipedia it mean touch heart but that is a direct translation. Thats why the dishes are small and divided up into many pieces. Dim sum is traditionally a social event. Aunts, uncles and grandparents will all out out to eat with the whole family, have tea and talk about anything, thats why dim sum restaurants are always so loud. Tea is the main part of dim sum, the whole point is to drink tea while you ingest food. Tea help digestion and wash down the greasy food.
The way the food is priced is that all the dishes are separated into 3 categories, small, medium and large. So if you order pork dumplings thats a medium order, the woman pushing the cart will stamp your ticket with a medium stamp. When its time to pay they calculate all the stamps.
Now I know many people at my table tried new things on Saturday. I will try to explain some of the dishes.
First off the Chicken feet.
The dish is called Phoenix claw
Phoenix claw is cooked for a very long time, this is how the meat turns from skin tight to fall off the bone.
I here are the ingredients and how to make it.
Ingredients
• 1 lb chicken feet
• 2 quarts oil
• 2 quarts water
• 1 ounce fresh ginger
• 3 pieces star anise
• 2 ounces chinese parsley roots
• 2 ounces maltose sugar
MARINADE
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 1 ounce chopped chili pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon black bean sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame seed oil
Directions
1.
Wash feet, chop off toenails and cut into quarters.
2.
Heat oil to 350 degrees. Mix chicken feet with maltose and fry until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Remove and drain.
3.
Boil water and add ginger, star anise and parsley roots. Add feet. Bring to boil again, then reduce heat and simmer 90 minutes. Drain.
4.
Combine marinade ingredients. Marinate feet 24 hours. Before serving, steam feet, marinade 15 minutes. Serves 3.
Thanks to www.recipezaar.com
The cow stomach is translated as cow scraps in Chinese.
the dish consists of cow stomach, white turnip, and lung, not liver. Eating animal innards is not uncommon for Chinese cuisine.
The dish is starts with a pot of boiling water, then the stomach and the spices are added. I don't know the specific spices but i know MSG is one. Anyways It is usually served with pigs blood and a side of spicy oil.
The cow stomach is not most peoples cup of tea.
FYI there were pigs ears and jelly fish if you guys are interested in going back and trying something new
Dim sum dishes have been passed down for centuries making part that are cheap and usually throw out into tasty dishes.
I was definetly an experience going with a group that was not familiar with dim sum.
