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Post by chefying on Nov 19, 2018 10:48:45 GMT
From my nickname, you would already know I have a passion for food. I saw this article in my local newspaper the other day. I also read that in Jin Yong's story, Legend of the Condor Heroes 射雕英雄传, Northern Beggar 洪七公 yearned for the dish A YuanYang dish of Braised Five Treasures 鸳鸯五珍烩. Inspired by this post relating to a Feast of Armed Escort Agency, I was wondering how you would prepare this dish, or at least, how you envisage this dish to look like? I suppose it should have five main ingredients, and should be rare/expensive and used/available in old China, and has to be braised. As for the word YuanYang, I know it means Mandarin Ducks, but in this context, I believe it means a contrast in taste and/or texture. So.... how would you serve 鸳鸯五珍烩?
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Post by siuyiu on Nov 20, 2018 1:00:33 GMT
So.... how would you serve 鸳鸯五珍烩? on a large plate.
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Post by siuyiu on Nov 20, 2018 1:07:13 GMT
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Post by chefying on Nov 21, 2018 15:05:34 GMT
Hmm, I don't know....
I feel that recipe has a different emphasis compared to my interpretation.
That recipe concentrated on YuanYang as a bird, hence using some sort of bird as its main theme. Not chicken, but pigeons were used instead. With the bird settled, the Five Treasures were Chinese remedies/tonics based, among them being deer antler's. I have not eaten deer antlers before, but I suspect it does not have much of a flavour.
My interpretation starts with the word YuanYang.
YuanYang as a noun, is a pair of lovebirds. But I also use YuanYang as an adjective, as in 鸳鸯色 clashing colours, 鸳鸯靴 mismatched shoes, 鸳鸯袜子 mismatched socks etc.
So, if I were to prepare this dish, I would try to have a clash of colours or flavours or of texture in my five treasure.
I have not quite decided what they should be, but when choosing them, I would need to try to incorporate contrasting textures. Perhaps sharks fin wrapped in fish maw - that would sort out two of the five treasures. I will try to incorporate abalone in that dish, and this would then leave me two more treasures to select.
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Post by siuyiu on Nov 22, 2018 0:13:55 GMT
chefying i agree with your interpretation of the name--i think it refers to colour and maybe texture, rather than the mandarin ducks. please do share what ingredients you decide on--and pics!
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Post by Admin on Nov 28, 2018 6:54:21 GMT
Hmm, I don't know.... I feel that recipe has a different emphasis compared to my interpretation. That recipe concentrated on YuanYang as a bird, hence using some sort of bird as its main theme. Not chicken, but pigeons were used instead. With the bird settled, the Five Treasures were Chinese remedies/tonics based, among them being deer antler's. I have not eaten deer antlers before, but I suspect it does not have much of a flavour. My interpretation starts with the word YuanYang. YuanYang as a noun, is a pair of lovebirds. But I also use YuanYang as an adjective, as in 鸳鸯色 clashing colours, 鸳鸯靴 mismatched shoes, 鸳鸯袜子 mismatched socks etc. So, if I were to prepare this dish, I would try to have a clash of colours or flavours or of texture in my five treasure. I have not quite decided what they should be, but when choosing them, I would need to try to incorporate contrasting textures. Perhaps sharks fin wrapped in fish maw - that would sort out two of the five treasures. I will try to incorporate abalone in that dish, and this would then leave me two more treasures to select. What about interpret yuanyang as mandarin duck or locally breed duck that is used for peking duck cuisine?
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Post by chefying on Dec 5, 2018 14:22:23 GMT
What about interpret yuanyang as mandarin duck or locally breed duck that is used for peking duck cuisine? That is a possible interpretation. It is possible to create a dish with duck as its main theme. I would then have a problem with the "five precious". If I were to serve duck (not that uncommon), how do I introduce the five precious into a not-that-rare food item? Stuffing the duck had been done, as in "babao ya" 八宝鸭 Eight Treasure Duck. The only difference would be stuffing it with five different very expensive ingredients. I shall need to give this a think.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2018 4:31:22 GMT
What about interpret yuanyang as mandarin duck or locally breed duck that is used for peking duck cuisine? That is a possible interpretation. It is possible to create a dish with duck as its main theme. I would then have a problem with the "five precious". If I were to serve duck (not that uncommon), how do I introduce the five precious into a not-that-rare food item? Stuffing the duck had been done, as in "babao ya" 八宝鸭 Eight Treasure Duck. The only difference would be stuffing it with five different very expensive ingredients. I shall need to give this a think. having the word yuanyang itself has made it more sophisticated than the word 'duck'. so 鸳鸯五珍烩 definitely more sophisticated than 八宝鸭 hahahaha Just like 凤爪 - phoenix claws sounds much better than 鸡爪 chicken feet
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Post by yenchin on Dec 6, 2018 9:33:54 GMT
Maybe, two types of water fowls? Duck and Geese.
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Post by chefying on Dec 14, 2018 7:46:27 GMT
鸳鸯五珍烩
This is my line of thought and hence my interpretation of this dish.
鸳鸯 – YuanYang represents contrast as opposed to the bird. Contrast can be in terms of colour, texture or taste. In this case, I would concentrate of the contrast of textures.
五珍 – this represents five types of rare (and therefore, expensive) ingredients. Hong QiGong waited in the Palace to eat this dish; rarities in a Palace would include items like Bear’s Paw, Camel’s Hump, Elephant Trunk etc. However, I shall be realistic and not opt for these ingredients as my Five Rarities. Instead, I will opt for 1) Fish Maw 2) Abalone 3) Sea cucumber 4) Sharks fin 5) Shitake mushroom
Not exactly environmentally or politically correct, but realistically, these would be items deemed worthy of rarities that one would expect in an imperial kitchen
烩 – this style of cooking is such that the dish would have a sauce. I would expect the base of the sauce to be of superior stock. This would require boiling Chinese Ham, pork bones and meat, chicken bones and chicken feet. As an additional ingredient, I would throw in the stalk from the shitake mushrooms (waste not, want not)
This would be how I visualize the 鸳鸯五珍烩
I would serve them in individual single serve sized tureens. Because of theis constraint, the sea cucumber I use would be the smaller type, so that I can have one whole sea cucumber in one tureen. I would not use the huge ones.
I would make prawn paste and use the prawn paste to stick together a bunch of softened sharksfin, then stuff the prawn paste sharksfin into the cavity of the sea cucumber (contrast of textures).
I would stew the shitake mushroom in superior stock, then add in abalone and fish maw. Finally, I would introduce the sharksfin stuffed sea cucumber.
In a tureen, in would place a piece of fish maw on one side, flank it with mushroom and sea cucumber (contrast of colour). The abalone will be placed in the middle. Garnish with broccoli, pour in sauce, serve hot.
I feel this dish and presentation should be worthy of the imperial dining table.
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Post by siuyiu on Dec 15, 2018 4:45:53 GMT
very interesting and complex interpretation, @chef!
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Post by chefying on Dec 19, 2018 15:59:49 GMT
very interesting and complex interpretation, @chef! I had to make it complex to befit the palate of Northern Beggar! I will think of other interpretations and post it here.
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Post by chefying on Dec 19, 2018 16:00:18 GMT
Maybe, two types of water fowls? Duck and Geese. I will try to create one on this theme.
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