Favourite Winter Warmers

[roddy]

It's January. We all live in the north of China (bear with me, I'm creating an atmosphere here) where the temperatures are hitting -20 and there's an arctic wind blowing through the streets. Your snot's freezing, and you're not sure if that's dust in your eye or ice. You give up on the idea of walking all the way home in one go and divert into your favourite local restaurant for a nice big plate of . . . . what? What are you stuffing your cold little face with to keep from frosting over this winter?

My current favoured warmers are:

滑蛋牛肉粥 from my local 大粥锅。 I'm not usually a big fan of 粥, being of the mind that if I want a bowl of rice I'll eat a bowl of rice and if I want hot water I'll drink hot water, and if I want wallpaper paste I'll hire a decorator. But if it's winter, and your hands are too cold to work chopsticks . . . and if there's an entire egg buried under the wallpaper paste . . . along with several slices of delicious tender meat, listed on the menu as beef . . . well then I change my mind. And I slurp it all down. I particularly savour the moment when the spoon breaks through the yolk of the egg and the yellow leaks out. I may need to go out and get myself a bowl right now.

There's a picture here which is the closest I can find to what I'm eating. But that's named 窝蛋牛肉粥, which brings me to my following question:

What, incidentally, is a 滑蛋 meant to be? At my local place it is basically poached in the 粥 (or they could be poaching it in some other liquid and putting it in there, I don't know) but image searches seem to show everything from fried to scrambled. I would have thought fried, as . . .well, it's 滑ier.

More substantial favorite - what better time of year to reacquaint yourself with an old friend in food form - it's the classic 地三鲜. Chunks of nourishing potato, scalding hot bits of aubergine (eggplant, if you will) which barely need chewed and can therefore be swallowed whole to deliver warmth immediately to your stomach, and bright green peppers to liven up a grey winter's day. All smothered in delicious sauce-stuff. Look at this beautiful picture.

What's keeping you warm this winter?

Edited January 6, 2009 at 02:19 PM by roddy

[imron]

I've got to admit, I'm a big fan of 粥 too. Never used to be until I tried the stuff that actually had flavour to it, instead of just rice and water.

[roddy]

I think I was biased against it due to too much canteen-type 粥, but if you actually pay money for the type with stuff in it (I pay 6Y for a bowl of my favourite) it's really nice. 黑米粥 can also be nice - the Guinness of the gruel world, I think we used to call it up in Harbin (where we'd order a bowl of 黑米粥 each, plates of fried eggs, glasses of boiling water, and buy 3-in-1 coffee sachets and tomato sauce from the supermarket over the road).

Anyway, I'm going out for some now. I love living near 24 hour restaurants!

Edit: Change of plan, I'm not. But I could, and I still love living near 24 hour restaurants.

Edited January 6, 2009 at 03:41 PM by roddy

[randall_flagg]

锅包肉， dripping in fat!

[heifeng]

Actually while i'm walking around in the cold i really just like a piping hot (紫米)煎饼果子 with extra red pepper. It defrosts my hands a bit and has kick.

I like 粥 but I always think it's overpriced in restaurants so I avoid ordering it since it's not enough for a meal. Plus I like the sweet varieties that are chilled...which doesn't help in cold weather, so usually I just start drinking down boiling water like no other ..or 饺子汤..that can really hit the spot too. Well, I guess, if there is 饺子汤, I might actually have to be at a 饺子饭馆..so then I would just order 猪肉茴香dumplings too. Yumm...

[Scoobyqueen]

I just spent a month in Beijing and hated the fact that my weight went up so rapidly. My body appeared to go into panick mode and just crave all sorts of delicious fatty things I would normally have enough discipline to resist. After two weeks of just eating I had to start a meal by drinking lots of hot water to fool the stomach into thinking it was full(er) and then tuck into the steamed vegetables first but avoided all the delicious stuff above. sad innit?

[skylee]

I like post #1 very much.

[lzreading]

Hotpot in Sichuan style 四川火锅 and Mutton soup 羊肉汤. Dog meat is also a good winter warmer and very popular in northeast China and Korea, but I doubt you will eat dog.

[ABCinChina]

I too have heard that eating dog meat will make you warm. Last time I went sight-seeing South Korea, the tour guide said that dog meat will keep you full for a whole day. I'm getting awfully curious but don't think I'll ever go that route.

I love eating 火鍋 in the winter. I don't particularly like the 辣四川火鍋 style, but rather the Taiwan style where you make your own bowl of dipping with 花生油 (something like that), 沙茶醬, and other yummy seasonings. Then you can dip 羊肉, 牛肉, 扇貝, 牡蠣, etc. in the 醬 and eat until you explode!

[Xiao Kui]

It seems donkey meat is also popular in the winter (at least in SW China) Is it also supposed to keep you warm? I often see dog and donkey meat dishes advertised together in winter

[akdn]

Nice post, Roddy. Even makes me consider getting into 粥. Really miss 地三鲜 which we don't get so often out west (although nothing stopping me cooking it, I suppose...)

1) 会面, which is a spicy soupy 面片 with additional 粉

2) 水煮肉片

2) Any kind of 烧锅 with 馒头

3) 泡菜汤 (Korean style)

[skylee]

1) 会面, which is a spicy soupy 面片 with additional 粉

Would it be 烩面 instead?

[muyongshi]

The list is long... 干锅，火锅，杂酱面，拉面...and a few others...oohh and a place near me has an excellent 清炖牛肉.. a soup with beef and turnips. Very good.

[akdn]

Would it be 烩面 instead?

Ah, you're quite right

[roddy]

Bump, for the fresh new winter.

I seem to be spending half my waking hours these days shoveling bowls of starch into my gob. Had two large bowls of noodles today - a 麻辣牛肉粉, and a 雪菜肉丝面。Also quite liking McDonald's hot chocolate - say what you like about the Golden Arches, their hot beverages aren't bad value.

Going to have to get back into the 粥 habit though, I think. . .

[xiaocai]

羊肉汤锅. You can find the best in 自贡 if you live in 四川.

[scottishlaura]

I just discovered this 地三鲜 recently and absolutely LOVE it. I live in Chengdu so obviously it's not the norm here but there is a really good dongbei restaurant that serves it so we go OFTEN. We liked it to chips and gravy as it is the perfect comfort food. Local food that is good in winter as all the soup noodles, esp lanzhou lamian with lots of chilli, as sitting over a bowl of that is way better than sitting over a bowl of vicks. Hotpot is pretty good too although it may make you sick in another way, oh well....

[adrianlondon]

I spent last Winter in Stuttgart, Germany. A couple of days it was -18 in the morning and pretty chilly (ie -10) in the evenings.

All the Germans tried to convince me how nice a glass of Glühwein is when it's cold. They lie. They should stick to beer and sausages. How I wished for some Chinese snacks!