_lotus Seeds To Blanch Recipes

_GINKGO NUTS: TO BLANCH

Steps:

• Shell with a nutcracker. Pour boiling water over nutmeats. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Drain. Remove and discard pinkish inner skin.The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

_LOTUS SEEDS: TO BLANCH

Steps:

• Soak the seeds 5 minutes in hot water. Rub off the husks. Insert a toothpick in one end of each seed. Push out and discard the bitter-tasting green heart. Rinse. Boil 10 to 15 minutes. Drain.The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

_VEGETABLES: TO BLANCH

Steps:

• Wash, peel and cut up vegetable. Then pour boiling water over, stir once or twice, and drain at once in a colander or sieve. Rinse the vegetable immediately with cold running water. (This will stop the cooking action.) Drain again.Or: Bring the water to a boil in a large pot and add the cut-up vegetable. Turn off the heat at once and let the vegetable stand a minute or two. Then drain rinse immediately with cold running water and drain again. NOTE: These techniques of blanching and parboiling are sometimes also used with meat, poultry and seafood as specified in certain recipes.The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

_ALMONDS: TO BLANCH

Steps:

• Shell the almonds. Soak 5 minutes in hot water. Rinse in cold water. Drain. Slip off skins.The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

_DUCK: TO BONE

Steps:

• Chop off the lower wings. Cut carefully downward along the spine, working close to the bone. Separate meat from bone without tearing either meat or skin. Lift one leg of duck and move it in all directions to loosen the thigh joint. Insert the knife point, hitting thigh joint lightly but firmly until joint and pelvis separate. Repeat with the other leg and with both shoulder joints to loosen. In the fleshier portions, such as breast and thighs, alternately cut and pull the meat away from the bones, to separate the flesh from the carcass. When meat and bones are completely separated, draw the bony neck out as far as possible through the skin. Chop neck off. Draw out the windpipe and esophagus. Remove as much tail bone as possible, but do not chop off tail. Carefully remove oil sacs near the tail. Wash duck in cold water. Hang by tail to drain thoroughly.The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.