What's that you're eating?

Quick meal prep for days the wife is on-call. Nice to sit down and have a meal together even if she’s called back right away.

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My new and already ex GF (ex by my choice) bought me some Chinese "tamales" (aka "doong" or "joong," depending on your dialect).

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In case you're not familiar w/them, they are trapezoidal packages of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuffed with various things (depending on who makes them) that generally include a piece of Chinese sausage (lop cheurng), a piece of fatty pork and/or ground pork, and some raw peanuts (or other nuts) and, if the maker is generous, some dried shrimp and/or scallops. Some also include a salted duck egg yolk which I dislike because, besides being salty, it tastes very "chalky" when included.

I had some for lunch & breakfast in the past week and I've still got a couple left. All you have to do to cook them is steam them for about 30 min, cut off the string and open it up.

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My mother "taught" me to sprinkle sugar (I pour it) over the tamale as a condiment. It tastes WAY better w/the sugar on it. Others use soy sauce but it's already salty enough and I never use it on my "doong."

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In the "old days," unless you made them yourself which is a huge PITA, you could only buy these during the fall during the Autum Harvest Festival (which is going on right now) but now you can buy them in Chinese markets and delis all year round.
 
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sgt1372 said:
My new and already ex GF bought me some Chinese "tamales" (aka "doong" or "joong," depending on your dialect).

ZuNN8Ms.jpg


In case you're not familiar w/them, they are trapezoidal packages of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuffed with various things (depending on who makes them) that generally include a piece of Chinese sausage (lop cheurng), a piece of fatty pork and/or ground pork, and some raw peanuts (or other nuts) and, if the maker is generous, some dried shrimp and/or scallops. Some also include a salted duck egg yolk which I dislike because, besides being salty, it tastes very "chalky" when included.

I had some for lunch & breakfast in the past week and I've still got a couple left. All you have to do to cook them is steam them for about 30 min, cut off the string and open it up.

NQNxIle.jpg


My mother "taught" me to sprinkle sugar (I pour it) over the tamale as a condiment. It tastes WAY better w/the sugar on it. Others use soy sauce but it's already salty enough and I never use it on my "doong."

o9FBl1f.jpg


In the "old days," unless you made them yourself which is a huge PITA, you could only buy these during the fall during the Autum Harvest Festival (which is going on right now) but now you can buy them in Chinese markets and delis all year round.
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I found that they made pretty good hiking food. Lots of calories. No utensils required (and the glutinous rice seems to stave off hunger for quite a while).

When I opened the first one (I stuffed a few in a ziploc bag, so the grease/oil which occasionally seeps through the wrapping, wouldn't get everywhere), I suddenly had lots of 'trade offers' from my buddies. Next hike we went on, the bunch of us headed to the Asian store and cleaned them out beforehand 😂
 
bluemax_1 said:
I found that they made pretty good hiking food. Lots of calories. No utensils required (and the glutinous rice seems to stave off hunger for quite a while).

When I opened the first one (I stuffed a few in a ziploc bag, so the grease/oil which occasionally seeps through the wrapping, wouldn't get everywhere), I suddenly had lots of 'trade offers' from my buddies. Next hike we went on, the bunch of us headed to the Asian store and cleaned them out beforehand 😂
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Never tried eating one "uncooked" but it should be ok if you've been hiking awhile in hot weather. Otherwise, I don't think it would be all that appetizing.

Reminds me of an event about 60 years ago when a buddy and I saw a non-Asian guy buy some "lop cheurng" (Chinese sausage) at a Chinese meat market who immediately pulled one off the string and ate it on the spot.

We were shocked and amused by the sight of this because it was so unexpected and contrary to the common (Chinese) practice of cutting and reheating the lop cheurng (either by steaming or sauteeing) before eating.

Heating renders some of the fat and makes the sausage more tender. Eating a "raw" one is probably like eating a "Slim Jim" but a lop cheurng has a lot more fat content than does a "Slim Jim" which could make it unappealing.
 
sgt1372 said:
Never tried eating one "uncooked" but it should be ok if you've been hiking awhile in hot weather. Otherwise, I don't think it would be all that appetizing.

Reminds me of an event about 60 years ago when a buddy and I saw a non-Asian guy buy some "lop cheurng" (Chinese sausage) at a Chinese meat market who immediately pulled one off the string and ate it on the spot.

We were shocked and amused by the sight of this because it was so unexpected and contrary to the common (Chinese) practice of cutting and reheating the lop cheurng (either by steaming or sauteeing) before eating.

Heating renders some of the fat and makes the sausage more tender. Eating a "raw" one is probably like eating a "Slim Jim" but a lop cheurng has a lot more fat content than does a "Slim Jim" which could make it unappealing.
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I think all the ones sold at the store/Asian bakery were all cooked. Didn't know you could buy them uncooked.
 
bluemax_1 said:
I think all the ones sold at the store/Asian bakery were all cooked. Didn't know you could buy them uncooked.
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By "uncooked," I mean not re-heated.

I pretty sure that all of the ingredients in Chinese tamales are that are sold in stores are either pre-cooked, preserved &/or dried and probably safe to eat w/o reheating.

It's just something that I never tried before and doubt that I ever will. ;)
 
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sgt1372 said:
By "uncooked," I mean not re-heated.

I pretty sure that all of the ingredients in Chinese tamales are that are sold in stores are either pre-cooked, preserved &/or dried and probably safe to eat w/o reheating.

It's just something that I never tried before and doubt that I ever will. ;)
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Ah. Lol.

I've eaten a LOT of things without reheating them, especially in the boonies. These things weren't an issue. Judging by the fact that my buddies wound up getting their own on our next outing, none of them had any problem scarfing them down without reheating either.
 
I just can't eat a majority of foods cold. It's just not appetizing to me in the slightest. I've never actually had more than a bite of cold pizza in my life and I'd rather starve than eat cold Chinese, pasta or anything that was previously fried.
 
tokerblue said:
I just can't eat a majority of foods cold. It's just not appetizing to me in the slightest. I've never actually had more than a bite of cold pizza in my life and I'd rather starve than eat cold Chinese, pasta or anything that was previously fried.
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It gets cold in the woods, I’ve had to put food in my pocket to warm it up before eating lol
 
tokerblue said:
I just can't eat a majority of foods cold. It's just not appetizing to me in the slightest. I've never actually had more than a bite of cold pizza in my life and I'd rather starve than eat cold Chinese, pasta or anything that was previously fried.
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I'm the leftover king , don't know why but I love cold left over pizza, pretty much never warm up any leftovers I bring in for lunch

But I usually eat on the move at work and rarely sit down
 
tokerblue said:
I just can't eat a majority of foods cold. It's just not appetizing to me in the slightest. I've never actually had more than a bite of cold pizza in my life and I'd rather starve than eat cold Chinese, pasta or anything that was previously fried.
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All things considered, I'm glad temperature has never really been an issue for me.

I have a friend who's admitted that one big reason she will never go backpacking, is because she can't stand drinking anything that isn't cold. She can't drink liquids that are ambient temperature. They have to either be hot, like soup/coffee/tea, or cold liquids. Even plain water has to be from the refrigerator.

Likewise, there seem to be a lot of folks who find cold food unpalatable. I've never had a problem eating food that was ambient/room temp, or even cold leftovers straight from the fridge.

I think it's an 'experiences while growing up' thing (similar to the friends who are food adventurous, vs the ones with very limited tastes/diets, or the people I know who admit that they NEVER drink plain water. Whatever they drink HAS to be flavored). Different folks got used to different things while growing up, by which time, their preferences stuck.
 
tokerblue said:
I just can't eat a majority of foods cold. It's just not appetizing to me in the slightest. I've never actually had more than a bite of cold pizza in my life and I'd rather starve than eat cold Chinese, pasta or anything that was previously fried.
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I've eaten all kinds pretty disgusting leftovers in my life but, for some reason, it has never been a cold Chinese tamale or sausage. LOL! 🤣
 
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One of the 12 courses from the wedding I went to on Saturday. Spoiler tags for those who don't like their food to look like the animal. 🤪

Click on the picture at your own peril!!!

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