L ifestyle /C ulture
San Francisco Treats
F OO D
KERI WHITE | JE FOOD COLUMNIST
I TOOK A RECENT TRIP
to San Francisco and was
eager to experience its world-
class Chinese food. It did not
disappoint. We dined at two places
in Chinatown: China Live
chinalivesf.com/ and Mr. Jiu’s
misterjius.com/. The former is a large space
with several different elements
— the ground floor houses a
casually elegant open kitchen
restaurant-cum-market where
you can buy sauces, season-
ings, kitchen gadgets and both
useful and decorative items.

The upper floor offers a formal
prix fixe, multi-course dinner.

We opted for the downstairs
dinner, and the food was truly
outstanding. We
certainly enjoy
good-quality Chinese food
in Philadelphia — those who
fondly recall Susanna Foo or
Yangming will know what I
mean — but even more casual
places like Mustard Greens
or Lee How Fook deliver
high-quality cuisine.

These two places in SF were
a cut above. The food delivered
complexity and sophistica-
tion, not to mention beautiful
presentation. China Live’s dumplings were
delicate and flavorful. The fried
scallion bread was miraculously
light. The Peking duck rolls
were melt-in-your-mouth duck
breast infused with robustly
sweet and spicy kumquat sauce
and wrapped in crispy sesame
pockets. I don’t even like duck
much, and I was enthralled.

Mr. Jiu’s is a Michelin-star
restaurant, also in Chinatown.

We struggled for a month to get
a table and in the end managed
to snag 5 p.m. walk-in seats at
the bar, where they serve the
full menu.

Everything we had was
delicious — silken mapo tofu
topped with spiced ground beef
was our bartender’s recommen-
dation with a warning that it
was spicy. We gave it a whirl,
despite my lack of enthusiasm
for tofu, and it was delicious. We
also enjoyed the beef chow fun,
rabbit with purple peppers and
shishito, and chicken dirty rice.

But the thing that stood out
to me, surprisingly, was the
Sichuan fermented cabbage. It
was sliced into thin ribbons and
Stir-fried chicken with carrots and snap peas
brought a symphony of flavors
— spicy, tangy, funky. I couldn’t
stop eating it. I was determined
to attempt a recreation at home.

Now I’m no canner, and the
idea of sterilizing jars and
avoiding botulism is scary to
me. Ditto having something
fermenting in my kitchen for
weeks on end.

But I was determined to make
a simpler, user-friendly version
of this dish, and I did — soaking
cabbage in a spicy vinegar for
a few days in the fridge did
the trick. It didn’t bring the
fermented funk or the tender-
ness of Mr. Jiu’s, but it delivered
Photos by Keri White
a spicy kimchi-esque dish that I
have eaten solo, as a side with stir
fry, tossed with tuna and heaped
on sandwiches. I also saved the
surplus vinegar brine — mixed
with jarred barbecue sauce —
as a delicious chicken marinade
and used it to flavor the stir fry
below. UNPLUG
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L ifestyle /C ulture
STIR-FRIED CHICKEN WITH
CARROTS AND SNAP PEAS
ALA CHINA MOON
Serves 4
Speaking of San Francisco, I
have a cookbook given to me
by a former colleague that was
written by the late Barbara
Tropp, chef of the acclaimed
San Francisco restaurant China
Moon Bistro, a pioneer in the
local food movement. The recipe
below uses Tropp’s technique,
which involves “velveting” the
chicken, prepping the aromatics
and sauce ahead of time, and
blanching the veggies so they
quickly cook in the wok. It is
a lot of prep ahead of time,
I’ll admit, but it makes the
assembly of the dinner quite
efficient. You can use any vegetables
you have on hand — string
beans, broccoli, zucchini,
etc. Just be sure to adjust the
blanching/cooking time;
carrots take some extra time,
while zucchini cooks very
quickly and becomes mush if
overdone. 1 pint snap peas, stems
removed 1 tablespoon canola oil
Chopped cilantro for garnish,
if desired.

Prep the chicken: Mix all
the marinade ingredients in a
sealable container, and add the
chicken pieces; stir to coat and
let it sit for 3-24 hours in the
fridge. Place the aromatics in
a sealable container and set
aside. Mix the sauce ingredi-
ents in a sealable container
and set aside. If longer than an
hour, refrigerate both of these
mixtures. Blanch the carrots and snow
peas in boiling water for 30
seconds, and then drain. Toss
with ice cubes to stop cooking,
and set it aside.

When ready to cook, heat
a medium-sized pot of water
to boil, remove the chicken
from the marinade (save the
marinade, as it will be added
to thicken the sauce later) and
submerge the chicken pieces
for about 90 seconds. Separate
them so they have space to
For the chicken and blanch, and then drain them.

marinade: The chicken pieces will be
1½ pounds boneless chicken white outside but raw in the
middle. cut in bite-size pieces
In a large skillet or wok,
1 egg white
heat the oil and, when it is hot
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
For the aromatics:
2 tablespoons grated fresh
ginger 5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, minced
½ teaspoon red pepper
flakes Copycat cabbage
enough to sizzle a bit of onion,
Top with cilantro and serve
add the aromatics and stir until over rice or noodles
fragrant and the onions are
wilting, about 4 minutes. Add COPYCAT CABBAGE
the vegetables and stir to coat Makes about 2 quarts
them with the aromatics, about
3 minutes.

1 head cabbage, sliced
Add the sauce ingredients,
¾ cup rice vinegar
and bring them to a simmer;
½ cup sugar
cover and cook 1 minute. Stir
2 tablespoons soy sauce
the cornstarch/egg marinade
2 tablespoons sesame oil
and add it to the sauce;
1 tablespoon red pepper
continue stirring to thicken
flakes the sauce. Add the chicken,
Water and toss it until it is cooked
In a small saucepan, heat
through, about 3-4 minutes.

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For the sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar brine
from Chinese pickled
cabbage (see recipe
below) or rice vinegar, or
white vinegar
For the vegetables:
4 carrots, cut in coins
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce,
sesame oil, pepper flakes and
½ cup water. Bring it to a boil,
and set it aside to cool.

Place the cut cabbage in a
large, sealable container or jar.

When the vinegar mixture cools
to room temperature, pour it
over the cabbage and add enough
water to cover. Seal the container,
and place it in the fridge.

It will have some flavor after
one day, but it is best to let it sit for
about three days for full infusion.

It will keep in the fridge, sealed,
for about two weeks. l
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