GB
Chief Eating Officer
While on vacation this week we took a trip into Boston. We live about an hour outside the city and while that is not far we find we just don't get into Boston very often anymore now that we are no longer going to clubs and bars like we did when we were younger.
One of the things I wanted to do was go to Chinatown as I had not been there since I had become as interested in cooking as I now am. I wanted to find some new ingredients that I had never tried before and expand my horizons. Well I found a Chinese herb shop that was fascinating. The workers spoke next to no English so I could not ask them what anything was and nothing was written in English. Some things were easy to figure out like the mushrooms and fungi. I did not know exactly what they were, but I knew they must be some sort of fungi. Other things I had absolutely no idea what they were or how to use them.
We then found a large Chinese market. This was a blast and I could have spend hours there. Of course my wife had to find a bathroom and it was time to eat dinner so I did not get to pend a lot of time in this market, but I will be going back for sure. There were row after row of jars and cans of things that I just had no idea what they were or how I could use them. There were other things I was familiar with. I found lechee nuts (one of my favorite things) and bought some cans of those. I had ironchefs Spicy Lychee and Mango Relish in mind for those. I also bought a few other things I had heard of, but never tried. The produce section was amazing. There were all sorts of veggies that I did not know what they were, but they looks great. All the signs were in Chinese and no one I saw spoke English.
OK here is my question. How do I go about learning what these things are? I don't know what they are called or what they are used in. I don't have any Chinese friends who I could take with me to translate. I know what some things look like (some of the produce I might be able to describe), but other things like the stuff in jars might just look like a black liquid or something nondescript. I want to lean about all these interesting things, but don't know where to start.
One of the things I wanted to do was go to Chinatown as I had not been there since I had become as interested in cooking as I now am. I wanted to find some new ingredients that I had never tried before and expand my horizons. Well I found a Chinese herb shop that was fascinating. The workers spoke next to no English so I could not ask them what anything was and nothing was written in English. Some things were easy to figure out like the mushrooms and fungi. I did not know exactly what they were, but I knew they must be some sort of fungi. Other things I had absolutely no idea what they were or how to use them.
We then found a large Chinese market. This was a blast and I could have spend hours there. Of course my wife had to find a bathroom and it was time to eat dinner so I did not get to pend a lot of time in this market, but I will be going back for sure. There were row after row of jars and cans of things that I just had no idea what they were or how I could use them. There were other things I was familiar with. I found lechee nuts (one of my favorite things) and bought some cans of those. I had ironchefs Spicy Lychee and Mango Relish in mind for those. I also bought a few other things I had heard of, but never tried. The produce section was amazing. There were all sorts of veggies that I did not know what they were, but they looks great. All the signs were in Chinese and no one I saw spoke English.
OK here is my question. How do I go about learning what these things are? I don't know what they are called or what they are used in. I don't have any Chinese friends who I could take with me to translate. I know what some things look like (some of the produce I might be able to describe), but other things like the stuff in jars might just look like a black liquid or something nondescript. I want to lean about all these interesting things, but don't know where to start.