5@5 ? Make the most of your dim sum experience ? Eatocracy ...

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Instead of your typical weekend plate of scrambled eggs, head out for some dim sum - a Cantonese tradition of communal small plates.

Feeling hesitant? Chinese culinary authority Ed Schoenfeld from the newly opened dim sum-inspired restaurant, Red Farm, is here to cart you toward success.

Five Ways to Up Your Dim Sum IQ: Ed Schoenfeld

1. Go early
"Most large Cantonese restaurants that feature dim sum have two teams of chefs: the ?cooking? chefs who work the woks, and whose day starts at 10 to 11 a.m., and the dim sum chefs, who arrive at sunrise and finish up by mid-afternoon. In cities like Hong Kong and Guangchou, where dim sum reigns, the locals think of dim sum as an early-in-the-day meal and many diners are enjoying ?yum cha? (literally ?drink tea?) by 10 a.m.

In the United States, the busy period for dim sum usually starts at 11 a.m. and begins to slow by 1? p.m. By 2 p.m., the chefs are packing up and getting ready to leave. So suggestion number one is this: dine on the early side. It should be less hectic, easier to get a table and the food will be at its freshest.

And rule number one is this: if it?s close to 2 p.m., eat something other than dim sum; you don?t have to leave the restaurant, just order from the regular menu - say some barbecue or a noodle or rice dish."

2. Look for the fresh stuff
"One of the biggest dim sum dining challenges is determining which items are freshest. In particular, hot carts containing steamed items may keep your food warm and immediately available, but also continue to cook it. Dough and fillings can easily be past their prime after just a few minutes of dining room circulation. So here are a few tricks:

  • Look for kitchen runners (servers whose job it is to transport freshly made food from the kitchen to the dining room) carrying trays stacked high with steam baskets. Chances are they?ve been sent out to replenish diminishing supplies of whatever that particular cart is hawking. Feel free to take your check and walk over to the newly stocked cart to score a freshly cooked item.
  • A related strategy is to pay attention to how many orders of a particular item are available on passing carts. If there is only one of something, chances are excellent that it is the last of a batch and therefore less fresh than one would like. Conversely, if there are many orders of something, chances are that it?s fresh.
  • Look closely at the food. If it looks like the seams of a dumpling are detaching from one another or the item is broken in any way, it?s likely to be past its prime."

3. Choose your beverage
"When you sit down at your table, your server will plop down a pot of tea. There are a few things you should know about this. First of all, it?s not free. All dim sum restaurants charge for tea on a per-person basis. Basically, it?s a cover charge that everyone pays whether they drink tea or not. Certain customers who are known to the house may have their checks stamped with a red ink message that says, 'free tea,' a mark of a true VIP in that restaurant?s universe.

Second, most restaurants have different kinds of tea, and if you?re a known regular they may (should) ask you what kind of tea you would like. (My tea of choice? is made from dried white chrysanthemum flowers. I prefer it briefly steeped for just a minute with a small amount of sugar added to the pot.)

Another thing to know is that many dim sum restaurants make delicious coffee that you can request instead of tea. It costs more than the tea, is often served in a paper cup, and if you don?t drink it black, you should direct the server to put in milk and sugar - and say how much of each. Dim sum restaurants with creamers are rare."

4. Holidays and weekends have more variety
"There are traditional but unwritten rules about when the freshest and greatest variety of dim sum are available. It?s pretty straightforward.

The best variety is on weekends and holidays when there are frequently many more preparations available than at any other time - in some restaurants this may mean 100 percent more things. And between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. most dim sum restaurants produce the largest volume of food and the greatest variety of items.

Go early and you get the standards: shrimp dumplings, filled rice noodle cr?pe, shu mai (steamed dumplings) and rice porridge. By 11 a.m. the number of offerings is likely to double. The more uncommon dim sum are made in smaller quantities and when they run out, the kitchen reverts back to the basics - and a smaller number of items."

5. Don?t be afraid to order from a menu
"Should you be lucky enough to be enjoying dim sum in a high-end Hong Kong hotel, don?t be upset when you can?t find a rolling cart. In the best venues, where the chefs take great pride in their craft, all the dim sum is ordered off a menu, not chosen from a cart. Some of the fun and immediacy of a rolling cart is sacrificed, but the trade-off is that your food is cooked to order and should arrive in perfectly a point condition."

Previously - Sundays are for Dim Sum

Is there someone you'd like to see in the hot seat? Let us know in the comments below and if we agree, we'll do our best to chase 'em down.

Source: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/09/15/55-make-the-most-of-your-dim-sum-experience/

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