Chinese New Year Eve Family Dinner in Shanghai

Our good friend Arufa was in Shanghai for Chinese New Year.  He sent me pictures of his New Year Eve dinner.  It was a feast of traditional Shanghai home cooking.  All together there were twelve dishes of fish, meat, vegetables and dumplings prepared with various cooking techniques.  They were served family style, which meant all dishes, both cold and hot, were placed on the dinner table at the same time, to be eaten in no particular order, though it was usual to eat the hot dishes, especially seafood, before they got cold.

清蒸大閘蟹 Steamed hairy crabs – Hairy crabs, an expensive delicacy and a favorite of Chinese and Japanese, come from Yangcheng Lake adjacent to Suzhou, about 100 kilometers east of Shanghai.  Japanese calls them “Shanghai crabs”.

海蜇 Jellyfish – A cold dish of crunchy jellyfish with a dipping sauce of dark soy sauce and crushed garlic.

紅燒圏子 “Hong shao” rings of pig intestines – “Hong shao”, sometimes also called “red-cooked”, is braising with soy sauce and sugar.  The finished dish takes on a red-brown color.  The pig intestines are called “rings” because of the shape of the cut pieces.

老筍 Braised “old” bamboo shoot – “Old” here refers to the lower part of bamboo shoot, as opposed to the young tender tip.  

燒蝦仁冬筍 Stir-fried river shrimps and diced bamboo shoot.

紅燒鴨子 “Hong shao” whole duck.

炸鷄翅 Deep-fried chicken wing.

Three dishes clockwise from top:   

- 紅燒帶魚 “Hong shao” beltfish – Beltfish (帶魚, 牙帯), long and narrow, is cut into pieces and braised.  The fish is known to Japanese as tachiuo (太刀魚). 
- 芹菜拌腐竹 Chinese celery and dried soy sheet (yuba) – Chinese celery has very narrow stalks.  It is more intense in aroma and flavor than the western variety.  The dried yuba was rehydrated and stir-fried with celery, and cooled down to be a cold dish.  It was seasoned with light soy sauce and sesame oil.
- 芹菜炒木魚 Stir-fried Chinese celery and squid.  

油爆蝦 “You bao” river shrimps, and餃子 homemade dumplings in the back – The key is to use fresh local river shrimps which are superb in taste and texture.  The cooking technique was “Yao bao 油爆“, rapid stir-frying in a large amount of oil at very high temperature, in this case with ginger and green scallion.  The dish was served hot at this family dinner, though it could be served either hot or cold.  The dumplings were filled with pork and chopped celery.  They were cooked two ways: boiled in water and pan fried (a.k.a. pot stickers). 

Arufa and his family gathered around the table for the feast, chatting and eating, enjoying the reunion at the festive time.  After dinner, married members gave the children “red packets” which they put under their pillows for good luck.  It was a wonderful way to bid goodbye to the old year and usher in the new one.

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Shanghaiese like their river shrimps.  Besides the afore-mentioned “you bao”, two popular preparations are “plain stir-fried (清炒蝦仁)”, and “stir-fried with tips of longjing tea (龍井蝦仁)”.

龍井蝦仁 River shrimp with longjing tea leaves at Jin Xuan (金軒), The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong (courtesy of Arufa).

清炒蝦仁 “plain stir-fried” river shrimp at Yi Long Court (逸龍閣), The Peninsula Shanghai (courtesy of Arufa).

As restaurant food goes, both dishes are plain looking, but don’t be fooled by the appearance.  They are incredibly delicious.  River shrimps are small, about the same size as rock shrimps from the Gulf of Mexico when shelled, each piece just big enough for one bite or two.  The small size makes them perfect for stir-frying, resulting in a crispy firm texture.  A plain stir fry is the perfect way to bring out the umami or the “savory sweet” flavor of the shrimps.  Stir-fry with longjing tea leaves adds a delicate fragrance without distracting the natural flavor of the shrimps.  These dishes are best in the area around Shanghai and environ.  It is impossible to find river shrimps of the same quality outside that area.

Best almond croissant ever - Alsatian patisserie in Toronto

I saw the almond croissant on the table as I walked into the patisserie - I knew I have to have it.   When I sat down at my table with my croissant, the woman at the next table took a bite of hers and said, "This is the best almond croissant I have ever tasted in my life!".  I looked at her and said, "Really?"  She looked like she is thirtysomething, haven't been around for long for sure but it set the right tone for my first bite.  And what a sensation it was!  Biting through the crunchy top layers, toasted almonds breaking up in my mouth, warm almond paste spilling onto my palette, then gently (trying to act civilized) tearing through more soft and crunchy layers  - it was heavenly!  

This IS the best almond croissant I have ever tasted!  It's better than the ones I'd tried in Paris, the home of the croissant.  The layers, density and consistency of the dough were all just right, as was the filling - it literally filled the croissant from end to end.  This is one instance where it doesn't matter how the croissant was cut up if we were sharing.  And of course, in the end, after I finished my half, I had to go and get another one, my lenten resolve shredded in pieces.  

After I calmed down enough to look around me, I found myself surrounded by the most exquisite pastries and cakes.  I thought I was sitting in a Parisian cafe.  But this is the Patisserie la Cigogne on Bayview Avenue, an Alsatian patisserie in Toronto.   The photos speak for themselves.

I visited on a Sunday afternoon around 1:45 pm - in case you want to time your visit when the almond croissants are still warm...

Bresse Hen at Le Bristol

My heart pounded with excitement when a waiter walked toward our table carrying in his hands a balloon in a copper pan.  But my excitement was dashed quickly.  He walked past us to the two men at the table next to ours.  They had ordered the same meat course – a young Bresse hen cooked in a pig’s bladder. 

Poularde de Bresse cuite en vessie (Le Bristol)

We had been in the restaurant for an hour and half and had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Each of us had a glass from the Champagne cart for aperitif, and ate through two amuse-bouches and an entrée.  The wine (a 2000 Corton Charlemagne from Antonin Guyon) and the incredibly tasty bread and butter would sustain us while we waited for our hen.    

First amuse-bouche – foie gras custard with green herb gelee (right),

white fish in foam (center), oyster cucumber gelatin ball (left)

Second amuse-bouche – seafood mousse

Monsieur A’s entrée: Encornet et caviar imperial (stuffed squid with caviar)

Madame A’s entrée: Noix de coquilles (scallops)

Our waiter presented the copper pan to us before proceeding with the tableside service.  He cut open the balloon of a pig’s bladder and extracted from it a whole young Bresse hen.  He carved the bird and served the skinless half breasts with crayfish, black truffle, chanterelle, green asparagus and a cream sauce of vin jaune, foie gras and hen liver.  The tender and flavourful breast meat was enhanced by the traditional rich sauce.

Carving the Bresse hen tableside

Poularde de Bresse, supreme au vin jaune, royale d’abats,

ecrevisses, girolle, asperges vertes et truffe noire

The rest of the hen was taken back to the kitchen for the second part of the dish – a delicious bouillon de poule enriched with foie gras and truffle, and adorned with juliennes of thigh meat.  It was velvety with an intense aroma and flavor.  Given its richness, the small portion size was perfect.   

We were too full for the glorious cheese cart.  Nevertheless Madame A ordered a Campari and grapefruit sorbet.  The kitchen sent out a complimentary sorbet for me so that Madame did not have to eat alone.  We ended the lunch with a soothing tisane and ignored the petits fours that came with the tea service.

Dessert: Pamplemousse et Campari en sorbet (Campari and grapefruit sorbet)

Our three-course lunch lasted over three and half hours.  It was a wonderful meal.   We loved every minute of it, having a great time with the excellent food and the flawless professional service.  The luxurious winter dinner room with 18^th century wood panels, mirrors, tapestries, paintings and Baccarat chandeliers was beautiful.  It was also a good place for people watching but not eavesdropping as the tables were set far apart. 

The Winter Dining Room (Le Bristol)

In summer, the restaurant moves to another dining room that overlooks the largest hotel garden in Paris.  As far as I know, it is the only Parisian restaurant that changes its venue with seasons.  

Restaurant: Hotel Le Bristol, Paris

Chef: Eric Frechon

Pork aspic (肉凍) and the best puffs ever (高力豆沙 or高力芝麻)

One of my favourite foods when it was Chinese New Year at home was the pork or chicken aspic my parents used to make (and I mean both my mom and my dad).  They would boil a whole chicken or pork trotters, remove the meat from the bones, add gelatine to the soup (in the case of pork trotters, they need only to add very little gelatine because of the natural gel from the trotters), put the meat back in with a touch of fish sauce and put the whole thing in the fridge.  When it's unmolded, it was one of the best  cold appetizer ever, which made it handy for serving to the non-stop stream of visitors on the first couple of days of the lunar New Year.  Those were the days!  Today, in a fit of nostalgia, I went to a Shanghai style restaurant that serves something very similar.  It's not as good as what my parents made, but good enough - now if only there were more jello and less meat!

This restaurant with the odd name, Skyland de Shanghai, serves one of the best desserts ever.  This is deep-fried egg whites with bean paste inside (高力豆沙).  This is a dessert which originated from Beijing and is called 高力 (high power) because the egg whites have to be beaten with very high power until they are stiff, flour and corn starch are then folded in to make it into a paste, bean paste or other sweet paste added in the centre, then deep fried.  Whipping the egg whites is the tricky part, as in all puff pastries, the egg whites have to be at room temperature and the beater clean, the flour folded in gently without overstirring, making sure not to let the air out of the egg whites.  Other than the traditional bean paste, I noticed a version with black sesame paste today and promptly ordered it as I've never tried it.  Obviously the black sesame has a more intense flavour but I prefer the texture of the bean paste - that didn't stop me from eating three of these, in lieu of noodles or other starch...

Squirrel fish?

One of the most important "symbolism" in a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is the presence of a food with "head and tail" to denote a good beginning and end and also the pun on the sound of the Chinese  word "fish"魚 which also sounds like 餘"leftover".  Half of this character 餘 is made up of the Chinese character 食 (eat), yet another indication of how important food is in Chinese culture.

So for a very good reason, we ordered the traditional "head and tail" dish when we had our Chinese New Year's Eve dinner at Delicious Restaurant last night.  We had all the regular goodies - their famous Hainan chicken and braised pork trotters, both perfectly done.  The grand finale was the very delicious "Squirrel fish", so called because in the traditional dish, the fish would curl up when deep-fried and with the head and tail arranged so that it looks like a squirrel.  I have had this dish at several restaurants in Canada but have only seen one that actually looked like a squirrel when I was in China.  But this one tastes terrific (and looks good) with a sweet and sour sauce and because it was the last dish in the dinner, it's almost like dessert.  The way it was served, with the fish almost standing, was both for looks and for practical reasons - the crispy fish and meat didn't get soaked in the sauce and so stayed crisp. The meat was detached from the bone when it was fried so that even the bones were crispy. The tail and fins were all crunchy, and more importantly for the symbolism, in tact.  Perfect!