Now I have the whole series of Cao Chen mysteries. It is mostly about Shanghai bureaucracy and food. Now I know that he is only nominally Chief Inspector but is in charge of the Special Section of politically sensitive cases alone, and has no jurisdiction over the whole department - although the former boss has retired and the position is vacant. This ambiguous, indefined arrangements are very Chinese and sound true.
His friend and business partner Overseas Chinese Zhu present him with a Beggar's Chicken, which is a stuffed Saskia chicken in lotus leaves baked in mud. We used to eat fish like that in Argentina. Chen grows extatic sipping the hot soup in Chinese pigmeat-filled dumplings and other "delicacies", but in my opinion only one who grew up during hungry years can feel that. Quoting a poem of mine (I made it up a moment ago), "You cannot sense the true (poor) taste of dumplings/ Because you are Chinese." The Song dynasty poet Su Dongpo said it more lyrically:
"You cannot see the true face of Mount Lu,
Because you are in the mountains."
12 comments:
What's a Saskia chicken?
It's unfair for you to call the chinese pork dumplings poor - there's no accounting for taste. I'd put them way ahead of fried bean balls (felafel).
The soup dumplings (xiao long bao) are considered a great Shanghai delicacy - the soup is INSIDE the dumpling. They are the characteristic dish of Shanghai - people debate which restaurant has the best.
K
K
LOL Godel's incompleteness theorem has finally penetrated the kitchen
http://www.shanghaifinance.com/food/recipes/beggarschicken.php
Saskia chicken is apparently fed a special diet of cereals and reared free range - some kind of rural bird.
Further research indicates that this is a particular brand of chicken sold in Australia (only) and has nothing to do with China.
http://www.saskiabeer.com/products/
(Australian English is wonderfully colorful and has words that are unknown in American English - a "chook" is a chicken. A "Maryland" is a chicken leg and thigh. Etc.
The whole recipe is more Australian/British than it is authentic Chinese. Thyme, majoram, parsley, oregano and Madeira are strictly Western ingredients that are completely unknown in the Chinese kitchen. The Chinese would use soy sauce , ginger, Shaoxing rice wine, star anise, etc. Only the cooking technique (wrapping in lotus leaves and then in clay) is authentic.
K
Saskia is a Dutch female name. Rembrandt's wife was called Saskia.
Maybe the chicken is marinated in beer?
Saskia Beer is not a beverage but the name of a person:
http://www.saskiabeer.com/about/history/
I would wager that Inspector Cao was not eating one of Saskia's chicken. This is the danger of googling - you have to examine the results carefully.
Here is a more authentic recipe:
http://www.asianeasychickenrecipes.com/chinese-easy-chicken-recipes/beggar-chicken.php
A flour and water dough can be substituted for the clay.
The kei chi (goji) berries and red dates (which are actually jujubees and not dates at all) can be omitted. Jujubees are thought to be native to the Lebanon/Syria area (where they grow wild and are called ennabe) and must have been carried to China over the silk route. I wonder if you have them in Israel without even knowing? I remember that my niece once brought us a special herbal tea from Chile - it turned out to be a weed (plantain - no relation to the banana of the same name) that grows in profusion in my lawn. I would give the Chileans my whole crop if they would come and dig it out my lawn.
K
Plantain used to be the green banana eaten fried. In the eighties, half of Republica Dominicana survived on fried plantain. But is it medical tea?
The question remains what is a Saskia chicken?
This was the "other" plantain, more properly called "plantago" (though no one calls it by that name).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago
A Saskia chicken is a chicken that was produced by Ms. Saskia Beer's company in Australia. Generically it would be a "free range" chicken.
When it comes to chicken (or most other foods) every additional adjective (kosher, free range, organic, etc.) doubles the price.
K
You may have discovered the secret environmentalist side of the Comrade Chief Detective. More probably in his heqart he is a capitalist running dog, blindly following decadent Western fashion under the cover of savouring a traditional Chinese plate. His poems are also very suspect of Western influences. Add that to the fact that he is from a "black" family, he may soon be sent to be re-educated by poor peasants in Yunnan.
Does it actually say Saskia in the book?
K
I don't usually read detective novels (the truth is strange enough) but inspired by you, I have acquired "Death of a Red Heroine".
K
It is Saskia chicken.
We are reading the same novel. We'll meet in Shanghai!
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