Cooking aboard or outdoors

Oh, forgot to post Shanghai style dumplings, both boiled and fried.

 

Back n the 50's, HoJo's (Howard Johnsons) had their own restaurants in their hotels. Same menu everywhere. My favorite was baked beans and brown bread. It was a steamed bread, very dark and almost pumpernickle in flavor, but moist like a pudding.
Ah! Those were the days!

 

Well then - - come on James baby - get with it - give us the - how to do them- in great detail & they'll be on my plate for dinner. They sure do look yuimmmmieeeee - to me. I'd rather the 'boiled' ones - just to keep the fat down - don't want to be as fat as 'Frosty' claimes he is though & I'm really worried about 'rolling-around' on the boat - as I've put on at least 10 kgs (22lbs) in the last year - I'm now 85 kgs (187 lbs) the heaviest I've ever been in my whole life & being 5' 11" still doesn't make me feel - trim-taught & terrible (ooops - terrific) - growing older - really SUCKS - - IMHO - Ciao, james

 

James
Growing old isn't fun, but we can be gratefull wrinkles don't hurt!

 

The dumplings are ridiculously easy.

About 500g of pork mince to which I add 2 grated cloves of garlic, a thumb sized piece of ginger also grated, and a handful of finely chopped green onion.

Kneed to combine and ensure an even distribution of flavourings.

To hell with making the casings from scratch (though I can tell you how), packets of dumpling cases can be had for less than a dollar here. A small pack is sufficient for 500g of mince.

Place a teaspoon of the pork filling onto the centre of a casing and wet edges with water and seal by pressing edges together. Be careful not to overstuff, as the casing will be difficult to seal.

Filling and sealing can be a real chore, especially when my in-laws pay a visit. Between the four of us, we will easily work our way though a kilogram of pork mince. They are seriously that moorish.

I tend to fill and seal at the coffee table in front of the TV, as a few hundred dumplings, in my case, can take a while.

Dipping sauce, is a few tablespoons of soy in a little water with just enough rice wine vinegar to create a salty and tart mixture. Add a finely chopped red chilli for a little zing.

Be warned, you'll be making 1kg batches before you know it.

 

Oh... forgot to mention the boiling bit.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Boil in batches without crowding the pot. They are cooked when they float to the top.

 

WOW bloke & thank you. They'll be started asap - got to get to town (2 hrs away + 2 hrs back) before I can start - BUT - just watch out then. Thanks so much. Ciao, james

 

If they(beans) float when you put them in they need to be discarded as bad.

 

I'm looking forward to a pic.

Doing a quick google search of dumpling images, you'll find the endless ways in which they can be served.

If not serving on their own with a dipping sauce as an entrée, I recommend them served in a chicken broth with vegetables.

Here for the benefit of plate presentation is a dumplings in broth recipe.

http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/food/everydayrecipes/1049200/steamed-pork-dumplings-in-chicken-broth

I think this particular recipe is a little too complex and busy with ingredients for cooking aboard, but you get the idea.

I would go with this to serve 2 very generously as a main:

1000ml chicken stock, 4 tblsp soy, 2 clove garlic crushed, a few black whole pepper corns, 1 red chilli finely chopped, 1 brown onion quartered and layers separate a handful of cut mushrooms, a handful of asian greens (stem and leaf).

Simmer the whole lot and then add the dumplings. Serve when dumplings float.

Garnish with coriander, bean shoots and finely sliced red chilli.

 

My mother used to make brown bread in one pound coffee cans. She filled them about two thirds of the way with batter, covered the tops with foil tied with a string, set the cans in a pot with a couple inches of boiling water, slapped a lid on, and let the bread steam for two or three hours.

I never got the recipe from her, but I know the batter had whole-wheat flour, rye flour, corn meal and molasses in it. And she didn't add raisins; no one in my family was fond of them.

She never made baked beans; she served the bread alongside canned pork and beans that she heated and doctored a little.

I have a permanent bean hole in my side yard, lined with a piece of 16-inch steel pipe a couple of feet long. I make a bed of coals, take out a shovelful of them, set a dutch oven of beans on the rest and add the shovelful of coals around the sides, cover everything with a wet burlap bag, fill the hole with dirt, and come back in eight or ten hours.

 

Some time ago I became interested in what can be only described as "bushmans cooking". Early colonial pioneers used a cooking method similar to what you have described. Damper is the best example I can give.

My idea was to crash-test a series of recipes cooked on coals directly or within a dutch oven.

My first attempt with a full camera crew in attendance attracted the attention of Parks Victoria, who were not so happy about what we were doing. I was not fined, which is very unusual here.

I had not considered revisiting this cooking method in my backyard. Thanks Troy, I might have another crack at this.

 

While Raven is commuting a vast distance for supplies, I have a large squid hood defrosting, more than enough for two.

Salt and pepper squid in panko, is nice, but rather common.

Something more out-there, perhaps with asian flavours and aromas I think is more desirable.

Lime, palm sugar, chilli, ginger... A pity I can't get my hands on a green papaya. I'll have to give this some more thought.

 

If you don't work for a natural gas utility, you may not have big chunks of steel pipe laying around. The traditional permanent bean hole is lined with rocks instead...

Temporary bean holes are handy, if you're staying at a primitive campsite where you can get away with digging a hole. I've been known to dig a bean hole in the evening, then get up before dawn to start beans or a chicken stew, before heading out to fish or Jeep all day without worrying about light-fingered visitors beating me to my dinner.

 

I think this is another one of "those" western influences.

In China, Taiwan and my Chinese friend always cringe when dipping sauces are served. Traditionally Chinese don't use dipping sauces for their dumplings.

Here in Japan they do...no restaurant would be seen serving dumplings without sauces. My Chinese restaurant owner fiend sadly has to comply to the 'local' tastes, but she never uses sauces when eating dumplings.

The best I've ever had were in Taiwan. Very very fresh, flavoursome, not a hint of fat/oil/grease, and bloody huge too...the fresh ginger and herbs came through wonderfully. No sauce served either

 

That squid dish I was talking about... Rather delish, even though I'm not a big seafood fan.

A simple dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, coriander root and chilli.