Chinese Pizza

[PengHaoShi]

liuzhou: I don't know, where Scandinavian is living in China. I can buy these things easily in Shanghai and Beijing, where I am living. When I came to China in 2001, it was quite hard. I don't know. how the situation is in other cities, what kind of stuff is offered in Carrefour or Metro market, if there is any.

I was talking about sushi roll, not sushi. The rolls sometimes contain mayonnaise, but I don't like the Chinese one, because it also contains quite some sugar. Sometimes, I make the mayonnaise by myself with a good olive or sunflower oil.

[liuzhou]

I make my own mayonnaise too. But I'm not putting it anywhere near a pizza. Or sushi, rolled or unrolled.

[Scandinavian]

Am in Zhuhai, so limited with shopping, e.g. Carrefour does not carry all the same products as they do in bigger cities. E.g. pepperoni, I have only located ONE type and only in one of the Carrefours. So things are a lot more challenging for us out in the sticks than you big city folks

Re Mayonaise. Look for Kewpie Mayonaise, it comes in a normal and a "sweet" version. The normal one is a very decent mayonaise. Seen in Vanguard, Jusco and Carrefour.

[liuzhou]

Kewpie is a fine Japanese mayo, yes. For a bottled variety. Widely available.

But what does it have to do with pizza?

[liuzhou]

Carrefour does not carry all the same products as they do in bigger cities. E.g. pepperoni

As I get tired of pointing out to naive and hopeful foreigners, outfits such as Carrefour and Walmart are not in China to supply the few passing foreigners. They are here to extract cash from the locals. So it's chickens feet and sunflower seeds all the way.

Well, there's a pizza recipe!

[Scandinavian]

As I get tired of pointing out to naive and hopeful foreigners, outfits such as Carrefour and Walmart are not in China to supply the few passing foreigners

it is worth pointing out that where Carrefour in Shanghai might have X amount of beer imported from Germany, then Carrefour in a smaller city will have X/3 amount of imported German beer.

Mushroom / Duck pizza. It could work. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

[PengHaoShi]

Scandinavian, then substitute those ingredients, which you don't get: mushrooms always go nicely with garlic, also Chinese chive, finely chopped, could be added. If you don't find a good salad, try it with some other greens: young spinach, uncooked, or the finely chopped tender parts of a Chinese cabbage. It is the contrast between the melted cheese and the fresh green what makes the difference. Or if you don't like this, blanch the spinach (leaves only, the firm parts removed) for a minute in boiling water, strain well, then put oil in a pan, add garlic and chopped onions, saute until glossy, add the spinach and let the water evaporate, season well with salt & pepper and add this to your pizza.

Another veggie variant (however, time consuming): prepare a red onion marmalade (you can find a lot of recipes on the internet, white onions also will work; if you don't have balsamico vinegar, just take red wine). Put the onion marmalade on the pizza dough instead of the tomato sauce, top with oven roasted red and yellow bell pepper and aubergines, oven dried tomatoes and oven roasted garlic. Sprinkle some coarsely grated cheese on top (goat cheese, ricotta, parmigiano-parmesan or any other cheese you like), then put your pizza into the oven.

I love cooking, so ten years ago, when I had my sourcing problems in Shanghai, I just asked the manager of a western restaurant, where I was going from time to time, and he happily sold me, what I needed, especially herbs, greens, spices. All the big hotels and western restaurants have their suppliers, a lot of these products are from China, not imported, especially from Guangdong. The only problem is, that they are not sold in supermarkets. Basil, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, dill, rucola or rocket are coming from Chinese producers, even "French" goose liver, black truffle, etc. If you know a person who is working in a hotel, you might ask them.

Now, I don't need this any longer, as I can get almost everything I want in Shanghai and to some degree in Beijing also. Recently, I was lacking some ingredients in Beijing, so I asked the German butcher there (Schindler) and they had no problem to provide these things to me although they normally don't stock this in their shop (I just called Mrs. Schindler herself - although I don't know her personally - but I also pre-ordered some meat from them at the same time). There are so many things available in China, but it's difficult to find the right person.

[liuzhou]

There are so many things available in China, but it's difficult to find the right person.

But the entire point of the thread was to suggest things which are easy to find.

[大肚男]

a lot of the sushi dishes in the states come covered with disgusting amounts of spicy mayo.

[siledouyaoai]

I used to like putting spicy beef on my pizzas. Marinade thin strips in garlic, chilli oil or 老干妈 or 辣椒酱, 花椒粉, soy sauce, 小粉 and whatever else you can find. Tasted good when I made it, and available everywhere. I like the 腊肉 idea, why I never thought of that when I lived in hunan, I don't know. I found that making pizza bases was surprisingly easy, but I had a bread maker. Another reason to buy one.

[skylee]

Is 老干妈 commonly used to refer to chili sauce in general? Similar to using 公仔麵 to mean instant noodles in HK?

[liuzhou]

Is 老干妈 commonly used to refer to chili sauce in general?

No. In my experience it always refers to the specific brand.

[Scandinavian]

status on the pizza making. Best things I have come up with so far, that is easy to get here are beef, pork and chicken. So nothing particularly local about that. We did however have pizza the other day, and the outcome due to limited time for shopping was surprisingly western (tomato, cheese and saussage)

I did however realize that e.g. some minced pork fried with some picked cabbage together with tomato sauce and some cheese would work. I want to try roast duck (just bought ready made in a supermarket, but maybe flipped around in some sauce on a pan before going on the pizza)

More input would be appreciated.

[jprater89]

I like what Steingletscher said above. And if you're in a part of China where they eat bing instead of rice, see what the locals tend to put on that for inspiration!