Comments on: Longing for Pungent Dried Fish http://www.foodgal.com/2009/05/longing-for-pungent-dried-fish/ Musings on food, wine, laughter, and life Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:03:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Jim http://www.foodgal.com/2009/05/longing-for-pungent-dried-fish/comment-page-1/#comment-10285 Jim Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:48:12 +0000 http://www.foodgal.com/?p=1251#comment-10285 Hi Carolyn, Just found this topic on your website. Funny thing.. I happened to have made a variation of this just last week! It was always one of my favorite things growing up many years ago in California. My mom used to make her own salted fish using flounder and then preserving it by packing it in vegetable oil. Of course, it attracted every cat in the neighborhood when she made a batch. [I can send you her recipe if you should want to give it a try]. Her hom yu was superior to anything I've had since, but I have been able to find jars of salted mackerel packed in oil in Chinese grocery stores on occasion and it works as a suitable substitute. The last bottle I got was packed in Malaysia. You might be able to find it on the shelves at Ranch 99. Hi Carolyn,
Just found this topic on your website. Funny thing.. I happened to have made a variation of this just last week! It was always one of my favorite things growing up many years ago in California. My mom used to make her own salted fish using flounder and then preserving it by packing it in vegetable oil. Of course, it attracted every cat in the neighborhood when she made a batch. [I can send you her recipe if you should want to give it a try]. Her hom yu was superior to anything I’ve had since, but I have been able to find jars of salted mackerel packed in oil in Chinese grocery stores on occasion and it works as a suitable substitute. The last bottle I got was packed in Malaysia. You might be able to find it on the shelves at Ranch 99.

]]> By: Suzy http://www.foodgal.com/2009/05/longing-for-pungent-dried-fish/comment-page-1/#comment-5161 Suzy Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:48:20 +0000 http://www.foodgal.com/?p=1251#comment-5161 Oh my gosh, here I was slowly working my way back through your postings when I found hom yu! Can't believe it. I, too, grew up in LA and fondly remember eating at the Far East Cafe, with those creaky old dark brown painted chairs. The hom yu was in this tiny light green melmac looking saucer---a gray cake of salty, steamed pork w/ maybe a itty bitty piece of dried fish on top, all swimming in a puddle of grease. I just loved it! Probably haven't had any for 50 years! Wow, you mean I can actually make it?? Your recipe sounds and looks so much more appetizing. Gotta give it a try for sure! Thanks for bringing back the memories. Oh my gosh, here I was slowly working my way back through your postings when I found hom yu! Can’t believe it. I, too, grew up in LA and fondly remember eating at the Far East Cafe, with those creaky old dark brown painted chairs. The hom yu was in this tiny light green melmac looking saucer—a gray cake of salty, steamed pork w/ maybe a itty bitty piece of dried fish on top, all swimming in a puddle of grease. I just loved it! Probably haven’t had any for 50 years! Wow, you mean I can actually make it?? Your recipe sounds and looks so much more appetizing. Gotta give it a try for sure! Thanks for bringing back the memories.

]]> By: dieter http://www.foodgal.com/2009/05/longing-for-pungent-dried-fish/comment-page-1/#comment-4721 dieter Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:05:17 +0000 http://www.foodgal.com/?p=1251#comment-4721 I so enjoyed this post, Synesthesia to the max! I so love all things preserved and fermented. I have been experimenting with chinese dried salt fish. My hours of internet searches yielded very little or incomplete information on using salt fish as a flavoring ingredient My aim is to make a common casserole served at many chinese restaurants, that is eggplant, chicken with salt fish. What I need to know is how to prepare the dried salt fish and if you should happen to have a recipe for such a dish I would thank you for the rest of my days. In the mean time I will try your recipe for steamed pork cake. Thank you sooooo much. Dieter I so enjoyed this post, Synesthesia to the max! I so love all things preserved and fermented.
I have been experimenting with chinese dried salt fish. My hours of internet searches yielded
very little or incomplete information on using salt fish as a flavoring ingredient My aim is to make a common casserole served at many chinese restaurants, that is eggplant, chicken with salt fish. What I need to know is how to prepare the dried salt fish and if you should happen to have a recipe for such a dish I would thank you for the rest of my days. In the mean time I will try your recipe for steamed pork cake. Thank you sooooo much. Dieter

]]> By: L.A. http://www.foodgal.com/2009/05/longing-for-pungent-dried-fish/comment-page-1/#comment-3786 L.A. Mon, 25 May 2009 20:18:19 +0000 http://www.foodgal.com/?p=1251#comment-3786 Mmm. I've made this dish many times since our field trip to Tin Tin, but definitely not as pretty and not as fancy as you've made it here. At my cousins' annual Chinese New Year potluck, we once had four dueling versions of this dish (there are eight "kids" in this one branch of the family)...Which was great for the rest of us! At New Sun Hong Kong on Columbus and Broadway in SF, there is a hom yu gai claypot, which my Mexican-born husband derided the first time with "Why do Chinese want to make fish-flavored chicken? Chicken should taste like chicken and fish should taste like fish" That stopped once he tasted it. - Lisa Mmm. I’ve made this dish many times since our field trip to Tin Tin, but definitely not as pretty and not as fancy as you’ve made it here. At my cousins’ annual Chinese New Year potluck, we once had four dueling versions of this dish (there are eight “kids” in this one branch of the family)…Which was great for the rest of us! At New Sun Hong Kong on Columbus and Broadway in SF, there is a hom yu gai claypot, which my Mexican-born husband derided the first time with “Why do Chinese want to make fish-flavored chicken? Chicken should taste like chicken and fish should taste like fish” That stopped once he tasted it.
- Lisa

]]> By: Helen F. B. http://www.foodgal.com/2009/05/longing-for-pungent-dried-fish/comment-page-1/#comment-3782 Helen F. B. Mon, 25 May 2009 07:37:34 +0000 http://www.foodgal.com/?p=1251#comment-3782 Hi Carolyn, Thanks for the travel down memory lane. I never had the chance to get the recipes from my Mom before she passed. Mom always compared her home cooking when we ate out- she would always tell us how her food was better because she used the freshest ingredients, her food had more substance (more meat and flavor) and how it was cheaper to cook at home than going out to eat! Your recipe came very close to hers...I would leave out the water w/cornstarch and just add the cornstarch dry. With a little practice, hopefully I'll get the recipe close to the way she used to cook. Yum! Hi Carolyn,

Thanks for the travel down memory lane. I never had the chance to get the recipes from my Mom before she passed. Mom always compared her home cooking when we ate out- she would always tell us how her food was better because she used the freshest ingredients, her food had more substance (more meat and flavor) and how it was cheaper to cook at home than going out to eat! Your recipe came very close to hers…I would leave out the water w/cornstarch and just add the cornstarch dry. With a little practice, hopefully I’ll get the recipe close to the way she used to cook. Yum!

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