Jenny Uechi of Ricepaper Magazine wrote this very interesting foodie article about turkey dinner served Chinese style for the Georgia Straight. I LOVE Chinese style bbq duck, and was intrigued with this idea.... I mentioned it to my mother, and she told me that she sometimes would take a turkey to a Chinatown butcher/meat store, and they would BBQ it on a price per pound basis.
Jim Wong-Chu is a long-time friend and Asian Canadian Arts mentor. We came up with the idea of haggis won ton, as he has helped advise me on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners over the years... Jim loves Chinese food too!
Put a little extra red in your dinner with a Chinese-style BBQ turkey
Publish Date: 15-Dec-2005
Traditionalists will tell you that Christmas dinner just doesn’t feel complete without a roasted whole turkey as its centrepiece. The more daring, however, may want to try a new spin on this holiday favourite: Chinese-style barbecue turkey. With its reddish skin and sweet-savoury flavour, it’s a dish that not only tastes (and looks) spectacular but also reflects Vancouver’s multiethnic history.
Jim Wong-Chu, Ricepaper publisher and local Asian-food guru, takes time to meet with the Straight to recount the origins of the Chinese-style turkey. “From what people tell me,” he says, “this tradition started way back in the olden days, when none of the Chinese had ovens in their homes. So on special occasions, they asked the local barbecue houses to roast the turkey for them.” Prepared much like a traditional roasted duck, the turkey had crisply seared skin, marinade sauce, and better-preserved juices than the oven-roasting birds. “Even now, when most people have their own ovens, people crave that barbecue taste,” he says.
As proof of
this, many barbecue houses in Chinatown still cater to that tradition.
At Kwong Hing Co. Ltd (228 East Pender Street, 604-681-1939) and Dollar
Meat Store (266 East Pender Street, 604-681-0536), turkey is sold at
$4.99 a pound and can be ordered in advance. As with most stores in
Chinatown, Cantonese is the lingua franca among staff: Wong-Chu advises
that non–Cantonese speakers may want to order through a translator to
avoid miscommunication.
For more of the story click here
