Need good sauce recipes for chinese stir frying (wok dishes)

Wow. What an aggressive response. I first learned about Barbara Tropp from a Chinese chef & food writer who spent a few months in the US every year. I had the great privilege of attending a dinner party he hosted and it was some of the most delicious food I've ever eaten. There must have been a dozen dishes, yet I had never seen any of them in a Chinese restaurant. He clearly respected the traditions of his cuisine but he wasn't imprisoned by them. He said he adores Thai fish sauce. He also said he always has a litre of chicken stock on hand. He uses a recipe he "stole" from guess who? Barbara Tropp! Maybe he didn't know she was a Jew! And now I must go burn "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

NYdiva in Home Cooking

Need good sauce recipes for chinese stir frying (wok dishes)

Here's an old article about Barbara Tropp from SFGate.com. It has several of her recipes at the end, including roasted sichuan salt & pepper and her citrus oil. I love what she says about making chicken soup. She uses the chinese ingredients like ginger & scallions, but she couldn't bear abandoning her jewish roots, so she uses those ingredients too, making a super rich, flavorful stock.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/01/20/FD36414.DTL&ao=all
I made the citrus oil with orange because it sounded so good in that piece in the NYTimes. I used organic peanut oil which added a wonderful flavor.

NYdiva in Home Cooking

Need good sauce recipes for chinese stir frying (wok dishes)

You might be interested in the article from the NYTimes about Barbara Tropp's "orange goop." I've made it and added it to stir fries, noodles and fried rice. It's wonderful. Barbara Tropp did an amazing job of teaching western cooks to get great Chinese flavors. http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/chinese-cooking-from-cookbooks/
You should also visit SheSimmers.com for her special stir fry sauce, which she calls "Bruno." You'll find it in the entry about Thai soy sauces. Scroll down towards the end of that page. You can make a batch of Bruno and keep it in a jar, using it whenever you like. There are lots of other useful sauces on She Simmers. I don't make Thai food but have learned so much from the site that I'm now able to incorporate some of the flavors into my own style of cooking.

NYdiva in Home Cooking

Best and Worst Recipes You Made From a Cooking Show

Nigella's Pavlova! I can't believe I'd never had Pavlova. I don't eat chocolate but always envy the decadent delight my friends get from it. Pavlova was the perfect alternative for me: meringue and whipped cream... Heaven. Oh, and just to be healthy, a raspberry sauce to top it off. Nigella just scoops out a passion fruit for the topping. It's not as pretty as raspberry, but the tartness is just right. I can't always get it in my neck of the woods, though.

Ina's linguine with caviar and lemon. This was some years ago and at the time I'd never had lemon with pasta. Couldn't imagine it, in fact. What a delightful surprise. Now I love any pasta dish that includes lemon. Another confession.... I'm not a caviar lover. But on this dish it's absolutely perfect.

Giada's little filet mignon with balsamic reduction and goat cheese. A quick easy way to tart up a weeknight meal. After sauteing the filet, put a disk of goat cheese on top and run it under the broiler, then drizzle with a simple balsamic reduction.

Beer can chicken. The first recipe I used was Guy Fieri's. Then found a great basic one online... just chicken, salt and pepper (and the beer steamer of course). Have been working off of that one ever since, with occasional variation. Lately I've been putting a big bouquet of thyme into the beer, rubbing the chicken inside and out with lemon, salt & pepper.... and it's perfect. Crispy, juicy, yummy.

NYdiva in Home Cooking

Seeking recipe for whole garlic in balsamic condiment

Years ago I had a condiment that consisted of whole cloves of garlic in some kind of balsamic sauce. The garlic was soft and sweet, the balsamic kind of syrupy. They were served in a small bowl on a buffet table, next to the chutneys and mustards. People speared them with toothpicks and ate them with baked ham, cold meats, etc. They didn't taste like pickled garlic at all. These were more like roasted garlic, though not as mushy. They had taken on a beautiful reddish purple hue from the balsamic and were absolutely delicious.

Does anyone have this recipe? I'd love to serve it with cheese and a crusty bread.

NYdiva in Home Cooking