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Guest
What are some of your best fish dishes?

susanna foo
I like to make salmon, American snapper -- the meat is very white and moist. I like sea bass, for me it's the best fish in the U.S., but I like pike too, from the Midwest -- when I was in Michigan, I had it fresh. I also like big-eyed tuna and blue fish if they're fresh from the shore. I actually like a lot of fish. My parents didn't really like fish because they're from northern China, so I always ate all the fish when I was young -- my grandmother thought that I wasn't a nice girl because I always had lots of fish bones on my plate!

FrederickCooke
Do you recommend beer or wine with Chinese cuisine? If wine, do you have any recommendations?

susanna foo
I like Chardonnay and Merlot. The problem with most Chinese restaurants is msg -- it numbs your toungue, so you can't taste the wine. At my restaurant, since we don't use msg, the wine cellar is growing all the time. In particular, though, I do like Chardonnay with Chinese food. I don't like wines with perfumey flavors.

cecel7
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ruby
Florence Fabricant has commented that you use French techniques in your cooking. How do you use those techniques?

susanna foo
As for using French techniques, I use them for making sauces and stocks because they taste better. The Chinese will use a whole chicken for stock -- but that's not good for a restaurant because the cost is very high, and you can't apply it to the restaurant. I add vegetables and flavoring to the stock , which the Chinese don't do. I also use French sauces to keep the sauces standard. I don't have to do that at home, but at the restaurant it has to be consistent, and that's why I use French techniques for stocks and sauces.

cookie-cat
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cece17
What type of fillings do you use in your egg roll? Have you ever heard of Yukimondo?

Kian
cece17. Is Yukimondo a root vegetable? In the Fukian, the spring roll that is not fried is filled with a type root vegetable. Susanna, maybe you'll know the roll by the name of "Poh pia."

cece17
Yukimondo is a filled and deep fried wonton, served with soy or teriaki sauce. I have a Korean friend who makes these wonderful appetizers.(dim sum)

susanna foo
So yukimondo isn't Chinese?

ana
Have you developed desserts to serve at your restaurant? If so, what are a couple of your favorites?

susanna foo
In the beginning I tried to serve Chinese desserts like caramelized bananas and 8 treasure rice pudding, but people thought the rice pudding was too heavy. Now my desserts are very French. I have a French pastry chef -- we serve a lot of chocolate mousse, and the most popular one is a banana chocolate mousse cake. In China, often we don't have dessert, just tea and oranges or mangos and star fruit. But Chinese people like Western desserts anyway. In Taiwan there are bakeries everywhere.

Guest
I have tried to bake spring rolls instead of frying them to reduce the fat content. They tasted wonderful but they never really browned. I tried spraying them with vegetable spray and lightly brushing them with oil, but it didn't help. I used a 400 degree oven. I would appreciate any suggestions.

susanna foo
For spring rolls, the texture has to have a contrast, and if you bake them, you don't get the crunchy skin -- but you can pan sear them to reduce the fat and still have the texture of crispy outside and tender and moist inside.

Virtual Gourmet
There are so many authentic Chinese ingredients, spices and sauces now available in ethnic groceries. Do you recommend any particular products for use in American or European cuisine? Also, are there any brands or specific products that you recommend American cooks to buy?

susanna foo
As for Chinese ingredients, try star anise and szechuan pepper, a pepper corn with a different, very flavorful perfume. I usually roast the pepper and rub it on chicken -- it's much more flavorful than regular pepper. You can use star anise in chicken stock, and dumpling wrappers for Italian ravioli with cheese inside.

susanna foo
I don't like to use Chinese sauces because the flavors are too strong.

gary cheong
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cece17
Susanna, there are so many different kinds of rice, which do you like the best? I bought by mistake "sweet rice," any ideas how I use it?

susanna foo
Sweet rice is wonderful, the best way to cook it is to soak it in warm water for 4 hours, then drain it, and then steam it without water for 20 minutes -- and it's perfect. You can use it for risotto -- if you soak it and drain it, it cooks very fast, and it's wonderful. Sautee shallots, add bacon, cheese, and mushrooms, and it's really wonderful.

susanna foo
with sweet rice, though, you really do have to know how to use it.

cece17
Thanks Susanna, I appreciate the information.

Kam
Chinese people tend to enjoy luxury food, like Shark fin, bear palm, monkey brain. What is your opinion on that? Do you think they are really better food than economic food, like chicken, beef or pork?

susanna foo
Well, I've never had monkey brain. I like shark fin, though, because it has a very rich flavor -- in a soup it's very concentrated and rich, and the shark fin is really good. And bear paw, too, I've never had, so I don't know. I think the people in Canton like to try exotic animals, but in northern China people don't have as much so they don't try as much. I've never tried snake, for example, because I always think, why would I try snake when there's already so much good food to have.

fran
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FrederickCooke
You use some nontraditional ingredients in your cooking, like balsamic vinegar, vodka, olive oil, basil and coconut milk. Why?

susanna foo
I started using non-traditional ingredients like vodka and balsamic vinegar because in China we only had rice wine, and when I got here the rice wine they sold here was cheap and didn't have any flavor, and I thought that if I used rice wine it would damage the flavor of things. If you use vodka and gin, though, it'll bring flavors out -- they have a sweet, freshness to them, a natural flavor that comes out. In shrimp and fish they take out the iodine taste and brings out the freshness. As for balsamic vinegar, my father is from northern China where they all make their own vinegar -- black vinegar -- and I don't really like rice vinegar because they're sharp and without body. When I first had balsamic vinegar, it smelled like what I grew up with and I loved it -- it's mild and has body. You don't have to use traditions, you can use what's wonderful!

Virtual Gourmet
Americans are very familiar with cantonese, szechuan and hunan cuisine. Are there any other regional chinese cuisines that you think deserve more attention? What are their attributes?

susanna foo
Shanghai and northern Chinese cuisines are really good, with their flatbreads, noodles and lightness. Shanghai seafood and braising are wonderful and most Americans don't know about them.

cece17
What is the best noodle I can buy in the grocery store to make lo mein? Fettucini? luinguini?

FrederickCooke
Well, Susanna has to go now. Thanks everyone for showing up. I hope you enjoyed the chat. We'll be posting the chat transcript on the site in a few days. Thanks Susanna!

susanna
Good bye for now and thanks very much for asking me all the questions -- I hope it helped. I'm glad people came with OJ Simpson and all.

FrederickCooke
Our next chat will be on April 8th at 9 p.m. with Larry Forgione, chef at An American Place in New York. See you here!