Which local cuisine do 地三鲜 and 红烧日本豆腐 belong to? I ♥ These!

[greenarcher]

These are the 2 dishes I loved so much back in Beijing but I couldn't find them in Chinese restaurants back home, I don't think even HK has these dishes.

Does anyone have any idea which Chinese cuisine/province they belong to or originally came from?

[anonymoose]

I think 地三鲜 is 东北菜. As for the other, I haven't heard of it, but it doesn't sound like a traditional dish. In Shanghai, though, 红烧 this and that is quite common.

[roddy]

The 红烧日本豆腐 I associate with the north-east, but that might just be because I used to eat a lot of it in Harbin. Didn't see it on menus anywhere near as often in Beijing.

[WestTexas]

红烧 is common everywhere. It is a particular cooking method that is very common. I've had 红烧排骨，红烧土豆，红烧鱼，and many others. I think you can buy any of those pretty much anywhere in China, though of course they might be a little different from city to city. 红烧日本豆腐 doesn't sound like it belongs to any special local cuisine to me.

地三鲜 is a northeast dish. I'm not surprised you can't find it in the US. They cook this dish extremely well in my town, but in other cities it's not as good. It's difficult to find well-prepared 地三鲜 even in China, in my experience.

[大肚男]

After my first visit to China, I spent weeks visiting Chinese restaurants looking for 地三鲜， and 红烧茄子 without any success.

me and my girlfriend ended up doing our own, there are a.bunch of good recipes online. just make sure to use Chinese eggplants.

[Kenny同志]

I was wondering in what way the tofu is Japanese.

[wushijiao]

I don't think even HK has these dishes.

HK doesn't have 地三鲜 or many other dishes that are common in the north. They don't even usually have 土豆丝.

But I guess that's mainly due to the fast that most people here are from the Pearl River Delta. As HK becomes increasingly mainlandized (at least to some extent), however, I'm sure it'll change.

[xiaoxiaocao]

They cook this dish extremely well in my town, but in other cities it's not as good. It's difficult to find well-prepared 地三鲜 even in China, in my experience.

A good 地三鲜 is definitely one of my favorite Chinese foods but is indeed hard to find. The variation in flavor between the same dishes (not just 地三鲜) in different restaurants, cities, regions of China etc is crazy but makes it fun when you do get something done really well.

[roddy]

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but some friends of mine used to have a local restaurant do a 地三鲜 without the peppers or aubergine. They called it 'chips and gravy'.

[大肚男]

kenny2006woo，I asked my girlfriend the same question, and she told me that it is because it is round in shape, but I'm not sure if she was serious or not.

Also, she told me that 地三鲜 is a 山东菜, again maybe it is because she is a 山东人。

[Kenny同志]

The so-called “Japanese tofu” has nothing to do with Japan-it is different from ordinary tofu because it is made from chicken eggs rather than soy beans. Therefore in actuality, it is not tofu.

I simply think it's ridiculous to call the dish "Japanese tofu" given the fact that it was invented by Chinese.

[skylee]

You mean 玉子豆腐, right? Was it really invented in China? You are sure that webpage's info is right? I suppose you are not saying that because tofu was invented in China, no matter how it was improved by other countries, or even if there are other varieties, the credit must always go to China?

[Kenny同志]

Skylee, I have no interest in a debate, nor do I care what people call it.

Anyone can call it whatever they like, but I have the right to like the name or otherwise.

[greenarcher]

I also do not know why it is called 日本豆腐 but it is definitely made of eggs and not soy.

This is a photo of the dish: http://pic3.nipic.co...153154079_2.jpg

Typical Menu: http://wenku.baidu.com/view/6e43fc697e21af45b307a803.html

I'm not sure whether 家常采 serves it (I avoid these kinds of restaurants) but the school (BLCU) canteen restaurants do it very well. They serve it alongside other more popular dishes (specially for foreign students but I personally do not like) such as 鱼香肉丝，麻婆豆腐，西红炒鸡蛋，etc.

Most of the Chinese cuisine here in our country are Southern-style cooking so I guess that's the reason why I do not appreciate a lot of Dongbei dishes. Eastern/Shanghainese dishes are OK though.

[greenarcher]

I think this is how the "tofu" is cooked: http://i7.meishichina.com/Eat/UploadFiles1017/200909/2009092210461633.jpg

[roddy]

It's made of eggs? That's hilarious, all the times I've wittered on about how tofu gets a bad rep in the west and China make you realize how tasty it can be - usually while waving a piece of 日本豆腐 about between my chopsticks. Man, that's a kick in the teeth for the vegans.

Who knows why it's called 日本豆腐, but 玉子 means eggs in Japanese.

[imron]

Perhaps we could just rename it 'Freedom Tofu' and be done with it.

[Guest realmayo]

Good yolk!

[paperbagprince23]

I love tofu, but the two forms I cannot stand are 麻婆豆腐 and 日本豆腐。 Really, 麻婆豆腐 is alright, but I have had it too much, but 日本豆腐 is so gross! I mean, I eat anything, but 日本豆腐 has that kind of "slimy" feel to it, which I can't really stand. But, now that I know it is not really Japanese, maybe I will have to get it another shot.

Still, there are SO many bettter ways to prepare 豆腐。 I think it is something like 娃菜豆腐 like I liked a lot, a lot of the 粥 shops have it. Of course there is the wonderful 臭豆腐, which either fried or not is delicious. Not to mention 家常豆腐。 I am so missing Beijing right about now.