[phatch]

Is this the same as a picked radish or am I looking for something different. In All Under Heaven for Dalu Noodle soup she calls for the pickled tuber. I've seen pickled radish, mustard, mustard stems, and I've read of a mustard root but I don't think I've seen that one.

Anyone have a better idea what she means or what I should look for at the market?

 

[brianshaw]

I may be wrong, but consider pickled radish a pickled tuber. But for Szechwan cookery I also consider any pickled plant matter to be good enough.

 

[phatch]

I confess to having used them more or less interchangeably on occasion

 

[butzy]

Could it be daikon?
I've seen it used in a number of chinese recipes (just not sure if it was szechuan)

 

[brianshaw]

Most likely the radish is daikon. Around here pickled radish or pickled daikonnis yellow, wet, and cellophane/plastic packed. It's tangy.

Schezwan "pickled" vegetable (all sorts of leaves, stems, and roots) seem to be more fermented than pickled. We mostly see them canned. They tend to be more funk tasting than tangy. Umami, I suppose.

 

[brianshaw]

I have a question, phatch. That's a rather voluminous book from the description. Doesn't it have an "ingredients " section?

 

[phatch]

That's one of the disadvantages of the ebook. It can be harder to find those sections. She does have one buried in the back as a glossary in the "Fundamentals" section. Nothing labeled ingredient description. She does say it's the mustard root.

That's one of the problems of ebooks is it can be harder to find sections like that. The whole book on the other hand struggles with organization, theme and chattiness. It needed a stronger editor especially for the ebook conversion.

Plenty of dishes I've not seen before though.

 

[brianshaw]

eBooks... that's one of the reasons why I still buy paper books...

Looking in a book from my "Asian" shelf called "The Asian Grocery Store Demystified" (summarized):

- Pickled radish = tang chi and tang choy. A large white root pickled to light ochre or tan color. Slightly sweet, salty-sour, and crispy. [in other words, daikon. I think what we often see may be artificially colored to make it more yellowish orange.]

- Szechwan preserved vegetable = jah choy. Pickled radish or kohlrabi, or other vegetable like mustard or napa cabbage. Dark olive green color and salty-spicy.

I'm not too familiar with that specific soup but looking in my collection of books it more often than not is rather plain and attributed to Northern China - Peking cuisine. Mu shu pork made into a noodle soup, it seems to me. The only dried/preserved is dried lily blossom, if any.

Your recipe may be a Szechwan version and I like the thought of the preserved vegetable taste.