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Mantou
''Mantou'' (), often referred to as Chinese steamed bun, is a white and soft type of steamed bread or bun popular in northern China. Folk etymology connects the name ''mantou'' to a tale about Zhuge Liang. Description ''Mantou'' are typically eaten as a staple food in northern parts of China where wheat, rather than rice, is grown. They are made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents. In size and texture, they range from , soft and fluffy in the most elegant restaurants, to over , firm and dense for the working man's lunch. As white flour, being more heavily processed, was once more expensive, white ''mantou'' were something of a luxury in preindustrial China. Traditionally, ''mantou'', ''bing'', and wheat noodles were the staple carbohydrates of the northern Chinese diet, analogous to rice, which forms the mainstay of the southern Chinese diet. They are also known in the south, but are often served as street food or a restaurant dish, rather than as a stapl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baozi
Baozi (), Pao-tsih or bao, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings ( meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steamed. They are a variation of ''mantou'' from Northern China. Two types are found in most parts of China and Indonesia: ''Dàbāo'' (大包, "big bun"), measuring about across, served individually, and usually purchased for take-away. The other type, ''Xiǎobāo'' (小包, "small bun"), measure approximately wide, and are most commonly eaten in restaurants, but may also be purchased for take-away. Each order consists of a steamer containing between three and ten pieces. A small ceramic dish for dipping the baozi is provided for vinegar or soy sauce, both of which are available in bottles at the table, along with various types of chili and garlic pastes, oils or infusions, fresh coriander and leeks, sesame oil, and other flavorings. They are popular throughout China and ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steamed Bread
Steamed bread is a kind of bread, typically made from wheat, that is prepared by steaming instead of baking. Steamed bread is produced and consumed all around the world. In Chinese cuisine, ''mantou'' is a staple food of northern China, where up to 70% of flour production in the region is used to make it. There are now many variations of mantou in China, for example wholemeal mantou, milk mantou, and sweet potato mantou. Wotou is another steamed bread found in northern China. In South African cuisine, a number of groups produce steamed bread, such as the Zulu ''ujeqe'' which can be eaten alone or with tomato soup. South African steamed breads are typically made at home for consumption on the same day, but research on commercial production continues to advance, aided by earlier developments in the mass production of Chinese steamed bread. In the cuisine of the United States, one example of steamed bread is Boston brown bread, a sweet food which may be eaten as a dessert. The Sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manjū
is a traditional Japanese confection. Of the many varieties of manjū, most have an outside made from flour, rice powder, kudzu, and buckwheat, and a filling of ''anko'' ( red bean paste), usually made from boiled adzuki beans and sugar. ''Manjū'' is sometimes made with other fillings such as chestnut jam. In Hawaii, one can find Okinawan ''manjū ''that are made with a filling of purple sweet potato, butter, milk, sugar, and salt, but the most common filling is bean paste, of which the several varieties include ''koshian'', ''tsubuan'', and ''tsubushian''. History Manju is a traditional Japanese flour-based pastry (instead of rice-based like mochi). It originated in China under the name ''mantou'' in Chinese, but became known as ''manjū'' when it came to Japan. In 1341, a Japanese envoy who came back from China brought back ''mantou'' with him and started to sell it as ''nara-manjū''. This was said to be the origin of Japanese ''manjū''. Since then, it has been eaten fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture. Bread may be leavened by naturally occurring microbes (e.g. sourdough), chemicals (e.g. baking soda), industrially produced yeast, or high-pressure aeration, which creates the gas bubbles that fluff up bread. In many countries, commercial bread often contains additives to improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, nutrition, and ease of production. History Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. Evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe and Australia revealed starch residue on rocks used for pounding plants. It is possible that during this time, starch extract from the roots of plants, such as c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Condensed Milk
Condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of ''sweetened condensed milk'' (SCM), to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed milk" are often used interchangeably today. Sweetened condensed milk is a very thick, sweet product, which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if not opened. The product is used in numerous dessert dishes in many countries. A related product is evaporated milk, which has undergone a lengthier preservation process because it is not sweetened. Evaporated milk is known in some countries as unsweetened condensed milk. Both products have a similar amount of water removed. History According to the writings of Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century the Tatars were able to condense milk. Marco Polo reported that of milk paste was carried by each man, who would subsequently mix the product with water. However, this probably ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiangnan Region
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. The region encompasses the city of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu Province, the southeastern part of Anhui Province, the northern part of Jiangxi Province and the northern part of Zhejiang Province. The most important cities in the area include Anqing, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Wenzhou, and Zhenjiang. Jiangnan has long been regarded as one of the most prosperous regions in China due to its wealth in trade and very high human development. Most people of the region speak Wu Chinese dialects as their native languages. Etymology The word Jiangnan is based on the Chinese name for the Yangtze, ''Cháng Jiāng'', and ''nán'' meaning "south." In the 19th century, E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microwave Oven
A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating. Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently because excitation is fairly uniform in the outer of a homogeneous, high-water-content food item. The development of the cavity magnetron in the UK made possible the production of electromagnetic waves of a small enough wavelength (microwaves). American engineer Percy Spencer is generally credited with inventing the modern microwave oven after World War II from radar technology developed during the war. Named the "Radarange", it was first sold in 1946. Raytheon later licensed its patents for a home-use microwave oven that was introduced by Tappan in 1955, but it was still too large and expensive for general home use. Sharp Corpo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steaming
Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking have been found dating back about 5,000 years. Steaming is considered a healthy cooking technique that can be used for many kinds of foods. Because steaming can be achieved by heating less water or liquid, and because of the excellent thermodynamic heat transfer properties of steam, steaming can be as fast, or faster, than cooking in boiling water, as well as being more energy efficient. History Some of the world's earliest examples of steam cooking were found in China's Yellow River Valley, early steam cookers made of stoneware have been found dating back as far as 5,000 BCE. And also in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, created during the Stone Age. Some of the second earliest examples of steam cooking have been found in Italy and Sardinia, cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asian Supermarket
In the West or non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East, Southeast and South Asia). These stores go further than a typical quintessential supermarket in that they sell general merchandise, goods, and services related to specific Asian countries of origin, immigrant communities or the ethnic enclave that the store may be located in. They would also often tend to diversify by carrying products from other fellow Asian countries; Japanese supermarkets would carry some Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Singaporean products; Korean supermarkets carry some Chinese and Japanese products; Taiwanese supermarkets carry Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese products, and so on. Overview Asian supermarkets carry items and ingredients generally well-suited for Asian cuisines and simply not found or considerably more expensive in most Weste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and a site with one of the longest histories of continuous religious worship in the world. The Buddhist temples in the mountains to the south of the provincial capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius and was later established as the center of Confucianism. Confucianism developed from what was later called the Hundred Schools of Thought from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Shandong's location at the intersection of ancient and modern n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
