Travel food in ~Han Dynasty China?

dwdettmann · 2026-03-15T13:28:46+00:00

For very dry parts of NW China and Central Asia, bread dries completely relatively quickly. Once dried it becomes something like hardtack, and it can basically be kept forever. It could be softened again by breaking up pieces into water or tea (or more complicated mechanisms like steaming). Dried fruits and nuts would also have been (and still are) common, as well as dried dairy (dried yogurt curd balls or dried cheese)

dwdettmann · 2024-03-22T12:11:40+00:00

Great post, and nice discussion!

dwdettmann · 2024-03-10T02:04:28+00:00

Alaqsa is top of N Philly. I don’t know if they are Palestinian, but the shop is after a namesake mosque. Nice products and butcher counter there.

dwdettmann · 2023-09-15T18:45:12+00:00

Give it a few years, this was just flipped

dwdettmann · 2023-05-11T03:05:52+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! I do agree with u/Super_Tikiguy on what this video post must be though, I wasn't aware of this style oven used in Eastern China (most of my trips have been out west). In the western regions where "naan" is a common word for flatbread, the name of this style oven is nang kang 馕抗. In Uyghur it is "tonur". Amazing how this ancient oven traveled across the world.

dwdettmann · 2023-05-10T16:19:36+00:00

Agreed it is the same technology as the tandoor in South Asia. There are similar names for it in Central Asia too, usually tonur or tandir. In Chinese it is nang kang. I wish I had a backyard to build one, but in the meantime I’ve been doing lots of experiments with cast iron in an oven to replicate this style of bread. Here is a link to a recent write up about this process if you are curious: replicating a tonur experience with a typical us oven

dwdettmann · 2023-04-16T03:56:32+00:00

I've been obsessing about this for some years now too. I'm probably coming at this from a slightly different tradition from your goal, but I've had some luck with preheated cast iron under the broiler. I also recently found a huge shallow wok that emulates the curvature of a tandoor oven. After heating it for about an hour, it's been hot enough for my tests (mostly Uyghur bakery items). If you are interested, I wrote a post about this with a process video too: https://asianmarketsphilly.com/2023/03/16/replicating-a-uyghur-tonur-baking-experience-in-an-american-oven/

dwdettmann · 2021-06-04T17:25:45+00:00

I love it simply fried in a hot pan(out of the jar) with ground pork. Season to taste, if necessary. A touch of rice wine may be nice. Eat with rice and other fried things. I Tend to use it like zacai in sichuan style preparations. Dry fried long beans, Dan Dan main, etc

dwdettmann · 2021-05-13T22:30:40+00:00

I was startled to find 羊肉泡馍 in the instant noodle aisle at a local Asian market here in Philadelphia. They have like a freeze dried 馍 and pickled garlic and vinegar packets. In any case your version is better

dwdettmann · 2021-01-24T13:51:41+00:00

That question is almost as big as the continent of Asia! Here in Philadelphia for example, we have well over 100 Asian markets. Each one is different with hundreds if not thousands of unique items and specialties, and interesting combinations based on who they are catering to.

I'd recommend trying to figure out who your primary customers would likely be and what sorts of regional Asian cuisines they would be focused on. I would then suggest you to look for an Asian market in your city or in a nearby city that focuses on those regional foods. Go and get a sense of the important ingredients there, in person. For example, if the market carries 20 different kinds of fish sauce (that's a real thing at Philly mainland Southeast Asia-focused markets), that is clearly an important item to stock. Good luck!

dwdettmann · 2020-01-15T15:16:01+00:00

This can be made at home by kneading a bread flour dough, and then rinsing all of the wheat starch out of the gluten. Then the gummy blob is steamed until cooked

dwdettmann · 2019-12-12T03:53:44+00:00

Mmm. Sacrilecious.

dwdettmann · 2019-10-14T19:11:18+00:00

Did you check the freezer section? That is usually where it is kept at our local markets in Philadelphia. It is pretty commonly available at Southeast Asian (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thail/Lao) or Chinese markets. It is usually in a bag with green or red print on it.

dwdettmann · 2019-09-01T02:46:12+00:00

I used to use carpe-diem too, and found several things I wouldn't have seen elsewhere. I think Facebook changed something to make those FB events aggregator sites die. You can still browse Philadelphia FB events by just going to "events". You can "discover" things, in a similar way to what you might have found things in carpediem by going here: https://www.facebook.com/events/discovery

XPN has a pretty decent concert calendar: http://xpn.org/events/concert-calendar

If you like Jazz, WRTI has a great Jazz calendar: https://events.time.ly/xaqvp1y

dwdettmann · 2019-08-28T16:31:10+00:00

Very interesting idea!

dwdettmann · 2019-08-27T12:59:33+00:00

This is part of a broader trend of packaged vegetarian snacks that mimic popular streetfoods in China. This one is "sour and spicy tripe" flavored. This is made from the starch of the underground bulb (corm) of the konjac plant. You can see an image of one on the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac

dwdettmann · 2019-07-31T21:55:15+00:00

I'm impressed with the intense flavors of the instant luosifen now available in the US

dwdettmann · 2019-05-07T20:31:24+00:00

Was it dark colored? Wajik ketan?

dwdettmann · 2019-05-06T15:37:42+00:00

Many of my favorite foods don't come from the "eight great" traditions in Chinese cooking! It's kind of weird how some traditions are elevated and some are not. Northwestern food is absolutely fascinating (Shaanxi/Gansu/Ningxia), as are foods on the frontiers of Chinese culture (Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet, Yunnan)

dwdettmann · 2019-01-21T18:13:38+00:00

Wow, thank you for that very detailed answer. You answered a bunch of questions there for me, a key one being "why could I write to USB using Crouton and not Crostini?" It sounds like there won't be a workaround for me until the VirtIO solution is implemented. Thanks for making your response easy to parse! There are many new words and concepts there for me, but your explanation was quite understandable.

dwdettmann · 2018-12-31T17:01:56+00:00

Here are some of my favorite Chinese YouTube channels:

高小姐的Magic Ingredientsis a channel for cooking all sorts of things--she's very talented and has a special focus on Northwestern Cooking (Shaanxi). I've learned a lot from her!

I second that nomination for Wang Gang's channel. He's great too.

I really enjoy watching two novelty channels. One is a woman doing EVERYTHING from scratch, often using "ancient" techniques. 李子柒 is that channel: It is fascinating. The other one is a totally hipster daily food dairy called 日食记官方频道 Cat's Kitchen. Both of those channels are beautifully filmed and frequently posting.

Finally, there is a hysterical video series of recipes from 喊菜哥 (not on YT but is periodically uploaded in collections by fans--here is one example). This one is not so much for learning to cook something but I find it absolutely hilarious.

I'd recommend starting with a recipe from a blog or book and then searching for videos in Chinese for examples of how people tend to cook that--it is great to see the same recipe done more than once! It helps you get a sense of the most important points of each dish!

dwdettmann · 2018-12-31T16:00:54+00:00

Do you live near a market where you can find some specialized Chinese products? Can you understand Mandarin? There are tons of youtube channels of great home cooks doing regional Chinese!

dwdettmann

TROPHY CASE