Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

I once had someone that had taught English in China tell me that Sweet and Sour Chicken was one of the more authentic foods that people in America consider Chinese. Who knew, right? Whether this is true or not, I know that I find it delicious. So how do you get it other than takeout? Very differently than I would have thought. I originally found the recipe here , but now I notice it points back to another site with different proportions. I think I'll be using the original next time, and you'll see why! The sauce is made by whisking apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, and garlic powder. My initial credulity was ketchup. Really? But ketchup originated in Asia. This is one reason why you can find it spelled differently different places, since it was being translated from a different alphabet. So I call possibly legit. With the sauce ready, I took cut-up chicken and seasoned them then stirred them around with some cornstarch. The original recipe says that they ...

Yes, it has been a really long time.  I'm not going to go into why - that is for next post.  I can tell you that I am back to cooking.  Two more countries checked off and I've already got a few recipe ideas for the countries after that.  No, I have not given up. Please assume I had witty and hilarious things planned for this post.  I just forgot them all. So, China.  I already made duck and vegetable stir fry, pot stickers and kung pao chicken.  I really wanted to make quail for the third day.  Kevin however, had other ideas.  And I obliged him.  Partially because he is cute and partially because it seemed like a good idea. For him I would make Char Siu, or Cantonese Roast Pork.  The best part of that is Char Siu was one of the ingredients in Yangchow Fried Rice.  He could get a lot of his favorite things all in one meal.  It also seemed like a good way to round out our Chinese experience. "Lean pork butt" was the ...

Whew!  Day one is under out belts, so we should get to take a breather now, right?  Not-so-much.  I wanted to get more done the next day because it was Sunday and there would be some time. Clearly I do not write these things as quickly as I cook them... And no, Ryan, today's meat is not Panda. It is, in fact, duck!  As soon as I saw this recipe I wanted to try it.  Something new and exciting, and yet not so new that I was scared of it.  A great combination.  Additionally, I wasn't going to let the Buddah's Delight get the best of me forever.  So I was off on a cooking journey for fewer people, but no less grand, let me promise. Red-cooked duck is listed as being from Eastern China, which I hadn't hit yet.  The first thing I had to do was deal with the thing.  The directions on the duck told me to remove the neck and giblets - not my favorite activity.  Then I realized they were in a bag stuffed within the duck.  Woo!...