Chinese New Year - Food Made Better

The year of the Dog

Chinese New Year falls on 16th February this year and it welcome 'the year of the dog'.

Chinese New Year takes place on a different date each year because it is based on the lunar calendar and normally falls between 21st January and 20th February.

The celebrations around the world are an explosion of light and sound involving bell ringing, lighting firecrackers, and watching traditional lion dances.

Chinese families gather together for a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, and clean their houses to sweep away bad fortune on New Year's Day. Traditionally, kids would be given red envelopes stuffed with 'lucky money' and positive wishes on New Year's Day. Though these days they have apps on their phones for relatives to fill.

The Chinese zodiac moves in a 12 year cycle and those born in 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, and 2018 are also known as Dogs. This will be the first year of the earth dog since 1958. According to the Asian astrology, your year of birth - and the animal this represents - determines a lot about your personality traits.


Dim sum, duck and dips

It's a great excuse for a homely Chinese supper. Of course you can order a take away, or take a look at these simple ideas and have a go yourself.

Supermarkets usually have a lovely range of dim sum which, if they're not on the chiller shelves may be in the freezer section. If you use Ocado (who also stock a good range of Stokes products), their dim sum and Chinese starter range is very good.

DID YOU KNOW - the legendary home of dim sum is Hong Kong where we were lucky enough to take Stokes Brown Sauce on a little tour (left).


We have two special sauces in our range that specifically suit Asian food. These are of course Stokes Hoisin Sauce and Stokes Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce.

But, with a little imagination (and a bottle of soy sauce) the combination of Stokes sauces below create an array of dips, marinades, dressings and pouring sauces for your Chinese New Year feast.

 For dim sum dips

• Sweet Chilli Sauce is perfect on its own or with our Real Mayonnaise for a creamy prawn dip.
• Hoisin Sauce is absolutely gorgeous but add Chilli Jam to give it a kick.
• Brown Sauce with Sweet Chilli Sauce combines sweet chillies with rich fruity spice.
• Tomato Ketchup wins awards on its own and adds great tomato depth to Chilli Jam.

Duck, rare and tear

Duck is probably the most popular meat to combine with the flavours of Asia. For our taste buds, duck breast is best served rare to medium to keep its juices, texture and flavour. Thigh / leg joints can be slowly cooked on a trivet over water in a low heat until you can just pull it off the bone and tear it into shreds.

Rare

You need to make sure the skin is as dry as possible. Score the skin and put it skin side down in a warm (not hot) pan and bring the heat up slowly to render the fat and brown the skin.

Drain off any juices (reserving them for the sauce) and turn them skin side up before putting into a very hot oven. 6 or 8 minutes should crisp the skin and cook the breast through. Drain off any further juices and let the meat rest.

Add 3 tbsp of Stokes Hoisin Sauce to the reserved cooking liquors and 1 tbsp of Stokes Redcurrant Jelly. Stir together on a medium heat adding a generous piece of butter to thicken and glaze this simple yet delicious pouring sauce for your duck sauce.

OR: slice your duck, wrap it and serve it with hoisin or sweet chilli for a simple snack.


Tear

The whole leg joint will include the thigh. Cut off any excess fat and marinate the meat for an hour in equal measures of Soy Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce, Tomato Ketchup and Hoisin Sauce.

In a deep sided roasting tray create a trivet of thickly sliced onion, celery sticks and sweet peppers to sit the joints on, pour 1 cm of boiling water and the marinade into the tray to sit just below the duck.

Cook a very low heat for an hour to and hour and a half, until you can just pull the succulent meat off the bone and tear it into shreds.

Pour the cooking liquors into a pan with a dash of dry sherry and reduce. A knob of butter with deepen the velvety texture of the sauce, which is delicious.



More foodie thoughts for the week:

Valentine's Day. Matters of the heart - romantically, healthily and heartily here.

Learn how Rick encouraged his children to eat more vegetables here.

Tasty uses for Stokes sauces. Discover more than just a dollop on the side of a plate here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150