The mysteries of authenticity

"While the concept of a fried roll originates from China, the specific combination of chicken and ham is not a traditional Chinese preparation." Google AI

I'm not a fan of Chinese food, although I have eaten at many Chinese restaurants in my time, including once at Flower Drum - somebody else was paying - with varying degrees of enjoyment. I'm really not sure what it is that doesn't attract me that much. Anyway, having become a fan of Charmaine Solomon, back in the 80s when this book came out I purchased it so that I could be educated. I'm not sure I have ever made anything from it, so maybe I'll leave this one in the street library. Maybe I tried the lemon chicken, but having just flicked through the fish and meat pages I was not enthralled, and everything looked sort of shiny and gloopy. I noticed cornflour was a common ingredient. Is this why? And yes this is a first recipe post, and the last of Charmaine Solomon.

The first recipe in the book is Deep fried chicken and ham rolls - the top photo - begins the section on Appetizers and savoury snacks, which Charmainw introduces with a brief summary of the history of dim sum. She tells us that it began in the time of the Sung Dynasty for the aristocrats. Gradually the merchant classes began to indulge and eventually the working class.:

"these little mouthfuls were intended as delicacies and culinary showpieces to impress guests. Dim sum literally means 'touch the heart.' ...

Now they are so popular with all manner of people that in Chinese cities (or Chinese quarters of western cities) whole families, from grandparents to babes in arms, gather at restaurants on a Sunday morning especially, for yum cha (tea) or dim sum brunch.

The concept of a dim sum meal grew up around the Chinese tea house where people met to talk, read newspapers, or simply refuel."

I live in an area of Melbourne with a fairly high Chinese population - well the next few suburbs really - and so there are plenty of such restaurants in the vicinity and I have eaten at some. The food is good, but nevertheless not quite my first choice.

So back to this first recipe. It's the first recipe and so you would therefore think that it would be intended as something to draw you in. And maybe it would, because I have since discovered that this is a favourite of Chinese takeaways and restaurants. Whether that means that it is a traditional Chinese dish is another thing, because honestly I cannot find anything about origins or history, and no recipes where you might expect them to be - The Woks of Life, perhaps, or our own Recipe Tin Eats or even Serious Eats, The Guardian or Taste. Nothing. In fact the best explanation came from Google's AI Overview:

"While 'Chinese Chicken and Ham Fried Rolls' are inspired by Chinese spring rolls, they are more of a Westernized adaptation, often found in Chinese-American cuisine. Traditional Chinese spring rolls (or "chun juan") typically feature a thin wrapper filled with various vegetables, often including cabbage and other spring vegetables, and sometimes pork. Fried spring rolls are a common part of Chinese cuisine, but the specific combination of chicken and ham is more of a modern variation."

And I think I'm more inclined to believe AI - which probably got it from somewhere else - than anything else. Which doesn't mean of course, that this dish is not now eaten in China - people and food - travel both ways.

So how do you cook this dish? Well, according to Charmaine Solomon, you get a chicken breast and bash it flat, or slice it so that it is thin, then rub it with five spice powder, garlic and salt, place a ham slice on top, roll up, dip in egg and flour and then roll up in a spring roll wrapper before deep frying. Serve with your favourite Chinese dipping sauce - in Charmaine's case a sweet and sour sauce.

There are a few recipes out there but the best one is from a website called Feed Me Kate, who has a very useful set of photographs of the process, a brief introduction to the whole thing, and a rather lovely looking final product. She doesn't use five spice powder but marinates her chicken slices in soy and oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, chicken stock powder and spring onions, before rolling up with the ham. I think if you want to make some this one looks the best. Or maybe she's just better at taking photographs.

I guess the main thing I got out of this was that it's rather wonderful how immigrant diasporas take their food with them and adapt them very quickly to their new home, because of changing tastes, and availability of different ingredients. Maybe some time I'll look at the Australian contributions to this particular genre, which culminate in the chiko roll, which is definitely not Chinese.

And I've discarded another book which gives me the chance to buy more!

YEARS GONE BY

June 19

2024 - Itty-bitty/itsy-bitsy

2023 - Rösti - not as straightforward as you might think

2022 - Nothing

2021 - Why not apple jam rather than jelly?

2020 - Deleted

2019 - A first recipe (part one) - Thai food - coincidence - another Charmaine Solomon book, but one which I have used a lot.

2018 - Lepidum meyenii - nature's viagra?

2017 - Nothing