Bess Out of Bounds: Yangshuo - Day 2 Part 1:Market Trip and Cooking School

Yesterday when I saw that there was a cooking school option I reverted to my 6 year old self and internally threw my hands in the air, shook my behind around, and gave a little shout. I. Love. To. Cook.

It is one of the things I missed most about being in Taiwan. My access to cooking facilities was limited for the majority of the time and even when I had a kitchen to use I was pretty flabbergasted by all of the foreign ingredients and the best forms of preparation.

Our cooking class would take us to the market with an English speaking local. She walked us through the massive area pointing out interesting foods. Answering our millions of questions. And generally being the most patient woman in the world. Nikki was her name. We spent about an hour at the market. She had already purchased everything we would need for class but it was really interesting and helpful to see all of the ingredients I had been eating for the last four months in their natural state.

We were instructed that we could take photos but we couldn't have any people in them. This made me very sad. People are the most interesting part. Even still, the market was very colorful and I still found things to take photos of.

Some pretty purple eggplant.

I have never been a big fan of eggplant. Nor have I ever even attempted to prepare it. The purple gourd shaped vegetable terrified me. It's spongy and seemingly fibrous raw. I disliked its lack of flavor and it isn't something you see a lot in Wisconsin. I have vague memories of finding an eggplant growing at the bottom of our yard just on the border of the farm field. Mom, could this be true? For being such an innocuous food, I had a completely irrational distaste for it. I think perhaps its shape is part of the problem. I really, really dislike squash. Of any kind. It is a texture thing.

Well, good folks of the interwebs, I was wrong.

Eggplant, how I love you! I apologize for ignoring your ability to be dense and flavorful my entire life. I am sorry I scoffed at your pretty purple color. How dare I compare you to those nasty squashes? You are far better than that!!

Keep reading to see what I made with my new friend, eggplant. :)

We were introduced to some new vegetables as well. These are horse beans. We have them in Taiwan and a favorite snack of many Taiwanese is to roast these beans until they are crunchy and then sit around chewing the fat and crunching horse beans.

This is how they look raw, they are about the size of a quarter.

I like the pretty colors.

We also saw this giant cucumber. It was probably 8-10 inches in diameter. There were quite a few of these.

These are also kind of like a cucumber. The inside is the same color as the outside. We didn't use them for the cooking class but I prepared them later with the Yangs in Haining. (Stay tuned for that cooking adventure!!)

I'm addition to vegetables and fruits this market had another whole section for eats, of all kinds. Live, cooked, raw, etc.

Perhaps if you are squimish, a member of PETA, or just generally a pet lover, you should skip this paragraph. We saw some things that might make you uncomfortable. I considered not including this but it is very much part of the culture here and since this blog is mostly about all of the things I see and my experiences, I decided I would be missing a big chunk if I didn't talk about it. In the meat section of the market there were many caged animals. Your range of fowl and poultry, rabbits, fish, some lizard type things, and cats and dogs. Our guide needed to pick up another member of our group so we had about 15 minutes to explore on our own. Before she left, she told us that we might not want to go in a certain section and pointed it out, but being the stubborn woman I am, the moment she said I didn't want to, I wanted to. Nancy and I worked our way across the market and eventually came across the section of interest. There were old, hardened women reaching into cages of chickens and choosing the unlucky one, raising a cleaver and adding a whole new meaning to a phrase I use all the time - running around like a chicken with its head cut off. None of this really bothered me, the cute fluffy bunnies seemed out of place but I'm not a fan of rabbit stew and meat has to come from somewhere. Without going into too much detail, the dogs and cats were harder to swallow. The sad eyes peering back at me from cages put a pit in my stomach. The cooked selections hanging whole from hooks in the ceiling made me cringe a little. The big vats of boiling water made me wonder if there wasn't a better process. Hearing the whimpers from across the hall almost made me run away but I think this is one of those "facts of life" I stayed the course and it was informative and an experience I'm sure not to forget... Ever. After all, that was one of my goals for this trip.

Okay squimish folks, you can join us again. We saw all kinds of prepared meats. The Chinese love to eat chicken feet. The first time I saw a Chinese teenaged girl dig into a chicken foot like she was digging into chocolate cake i was chanting "Bruce, Bruce, Bruce" in my mind and was probably staring with my mouth open. They are more tasty than most Americans would think.

I purchased some spices at the market that I don't think I can easily get n the States. I'm really hoping to recreate some of the foods I have had here back home.

After the market, we took a 15 minute mini bus ride to the kitchens. Probably one of the most beautiful settings for a kitchen I could imagine; I was so excited. We took a short break and sat outside eating Huang Pi. Say what? These little yellow skinned fruits (huang pi directly translates to "yellow skin," funny how that works) are the best!

It took me 24 hours to track down the name for you though because the little buggers are elusive. Apparently they are grown all over, even in Florida, but search all you might and the information available is incredibly limited. I actually had to email the owner of the cooking school to find the name.

About the size and shaped of red grapes, they have kind a fuzzy skin that you can eat if you are a fan of bitter things. If not, just peel back the skin and pop the insides in your mouth but you might want to watch out for a couple of seeds. Another option is to pierce the skin with a finger nail and just suck the insides out, it is a nice way to avoid the seeds and the awkward business of pulling seeds out of your mouth and then what do you do with them? The texture is similar to lychee if you've ever had it, slightly denser than a grape. The best part? They are like mini balls of the best lemonade ever!! So refreshing! Apparently the Chinese use them for a variety of medicinal purposes which is awesome. They make the best tasting medicine I've ever had!

After indulging in far too many huang pi and washing the correlating stickiness from my hands, it was time to cook!

This was our kitchen. The entire left wall was big doors with glass panes. The view was spectacular. The woman with the cleaver was Nikki, our teacher for the day. She was great.

There were five students: myself, Nancy, two Irish girls (Edel and Carmel), and Courtney from Portland.

We each had an apron and a station with everything we would need.

Yes, they gave me a cleaver. They clearly don't know me. :-p. I am proud to say that I wielded that thing like a professional and left with all digits attached.

The first dish we prepared was a variety plate of pork stuffed items. Nikki showed us how to do everything and then we had time to do it on our own. Here was her example:

We stuffed the pork mixture into a shiitake mushroom, a tofu ball, and a pumpkin flower. Here is my plate:

The mushroom is pretty straight forward. As is the tofu ball (hint: it is a ball of fried tofu and that is hollow inside). Let me explain the pumpkin flower. You can see it a couple photos up in my station. It is a light orange flower with a deep throat. We stuffed the pork mixture in the throat of the flower. Then we folded the petals over and broke the stem off. We shoved the stem through the folded over petals to hold it all in place.

Once everyone had completed our tasks we stacked the steamers on top of each other and Nikki placed them on an upside down bowl in a wok with water. This is a way of steaming the food. She explained that because of the convection process of steam the food on the top layer would cook at the same rate as that on the bottom layer.

The final product was delicious!

Next we prepared all of the vegetables for the other four dishes. Lots of chopping, smashing, and julienne-ing (is that a word?)

Smashing? Yup. We used the flat side of our cleavers to smash garlic cloves and fresh ginger. Nikki said that it was important to yell "yah!"as you smashed so we all had a good laugh doing that.

Once all of our preparations were done we made our first dish: stir fried eggplant with blackbean chili paste. Cooking was a pretty involved process, especially since most Chinese cooking is done in a very hot wok and goes very quickly. I apparently was so distracted by the amazing smell of the finished product that I wasn't able to focus the camera properly, but you get the gist of it. It may look like an unappetizing pile of mush but it was oh so good.

My only regret with eating it all? There were still four more dishes to come!!

Next up was a local specialty called beer fish. We each got a catfish filet and a mug of beer.

We seared the fish so it had a crispy skin, then added vegetables and seasoning. Eventually we added the beer which foamed up and immediately filled the air with a sweet smell.

We let the mixture cook until the beer reduced to a sticky sweet mess.

We were instructed to let the fish rest while we cooked the rest of our meal. Maybe this is some form of torture?

The final product delighted all senses. The aroma was sweet with a hint of spice. The added chili peppers gave the crisp vegetables just enough of a bite. The skin on the fish was crispy while the meat itself was fall apart tender without being overcooked. The whole dish was brought together with the perfect amount of oyster sauce and salt. The peppers retained their originally crispness but a absorbed the combined favors of the fish and seasonings, especially the garlic and ginger because of the rest period. I can't believe I'm saying this, but as good as this was, there is better to come!!

Next was stir fried chicken with cashews, carrots, and garlic sprouts.

This was my absolute favorite!! It was fun to make, beautiful to look at, and exceptional to eat!

The carrots were slightly caramelized. The garlic sprouts offered the perfect crunch and hint of garlic flavoring. The chicken was tender and juicy. The cashews brought the flavor of the carrots out and gave a great textural juxtaposition to the chicken. I could eat this dish every day for the rest of my life. (Maybe)

Our final dish was a version of something that is at every Chinese meal - stir fried vegetables. In this case, we had locally grown greens (you could use bok choy, romaine, or spinach, or basically anything that is green and leafy). This dish is very simple. Hot wok. Oil. Fresh greens. Minced garlic. Sliced red chili. Some salt. A little water. Stir fry. Ta da!

Those were our five dishes. Together we sat around and ate the remaining four in view of some of the most amazing mountains. We drank locally grown tea, glanced at the garden where much of our produced was grown. Sat under the shade of the Huang Pi tree.

Take me back.