Comments on: Twice Cooked Pork and Garlic Shoots

By: Maarit

Maarit — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:01:21 +0000

I love suan miao! Always looking for recipes to cook with – i only get to eat it in chao la mian these days – pork belly is another love of mine so thank you for sharing this recipe, we look forward to filling ourselves with it!

By: Tom Aarons

Tom Aarons — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:39:16 +0000

This looks both delicious and wonderfully simple. I’ll be giving it a go!

By: BigBoysOven

BigBoysOven — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:15:47 +0000

OH this is a lovely dish, now I need to buy some of the ingrediants and have them this come week for dinner! love it!

By: Kian

Kian — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:36:55 +0000

Zen, Yes, I’ve been to Amazing 66. The food is excellent. They really do Cantonese food very well. The steamed pork meatloaf with salted fish is just out of this world!

By: zenchef

zenchef — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:11:30 +0000

I read the melissa clark’s article. It’s great i agree.
I had the same question about garlic scapes, i’m glad you clarified it. That dish looks absolutely terrific!

btw: have you tried that new chinese restaurant on Mott street? It’s called Amazing 66, not a great name but the food is really amazing. Highly recommended from a gwai lo. hehe.

By: AppetiteforChina

AppetiteforChina — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:53:59 +0000

I love 回锅肉！Thanks for sharing your personal recipe.

By: Kian

Kian — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:48:45 +0000

A friend of mine, Melissa Clark, wrote a great article about garlic in the New York Times today. She talked about green garlic, which is similar to the garlic shoots I discussed here, among different forms of garlic. Garlic shoots, however, are much younger and more tender than green garlic. It’s a really fun article, so read it!

New York Times – A Garlic Festival Without a Single Clove

By: Kian

Kian — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:18:18 +0000

Minka,

I’m glad to hear you can get garlic shoots at your New England coop. Use them in Chinese stir-fries!

Joanna,

Garlic scapes are the flower buds of garlic. They are not exactly the same as garlic shoots, which is the very young shoots even before the plant begins to bloom. I have seen garlic scapes in green markets but have never used them. I suspect their taste is similar to the young shoots. It would be interesting to try using them in Chinese cooking.

Sweet wheaten sauce is made from wheat flour. The flour is first made into cakes with water plus other seasonings and steamed, then fermented. After fermentation the cakes are mashed into sauce and allowed to age in clay urns. (At least this is the traditional method.) The result is a very fragrant sweet tasting sauce. This sauce is often used as a condiment, especially for accompanying Peking Duck. Hoisin sauce is made from both soy and wheat flour, and has very similar taste. You can use hoisin sauce as a substitute.

Happy cooking!

By: Joanna

Joanna — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:11:07 +0000

Hi Kian – I’ve been reading your website avidly for a while now, but I don’t think I’ve ever commented. I haven’t really attempted to cook much Chinese food at home but my first dish will probably be one from your site! Anyway, 2 questions:

– At the Greenmarket last weekend, I saw garlic scapes, which looked similar to the shoots you have pictured above. Do you know if they’re the same thing?
– What is sweet wheaten sauce? What does it look like, and how else is it used?

By: Minka

Minka — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:13:37 +0000

I think my coop (here in New England) sells garlic shoots. I remember buying them last year and making up a recipe to use them. I’ll have to check to see if they have them again this spring!