VIP Class Notes (Tony) [R]

Use the words from today’s notes and write about a dish from your hometown.

For the uninitiated, poutine is a dish born out of rural Quebec that consists of three ingredients: fries, brown gravy, and cheese curds. It’s simple enough, but as with anything seemingly simple, the devil is in the details. Poutines fail because they don’t strike the right balance of textures and flavors. A good version starts with a bed of fries that have crisp exteriors and soft, pillowy interiors. On top of that should be a generous portion of bite-size soft cheese curds that have a distinct squeak to them. Smothering the fries and curds is a brown gravy that has just enough beefiness and tang to make it stand out, but not so much that it overwhelms the other two components.

Vocabulary

Is the food you like… is it like Shanghai food?   (Not a great question/sentence)

No, Shanghai food is very sweet with a lot of sugar in it. but the food in Jiangsu, especially in my town, there is not so much sugar in the dishes.

kebabs – meat or anything cooked on a stick, over a grill

eg: Chuanr is like little kebabs.

meaty – has a lot of meat

eg: Xinjiang food is meaty.

flaky – describes baked bread, especially when it can fall off in large flat pieces. called flakes.

eg: Rose pies have a soft flaky outside, and a sweet flowery inside.

biscuit – baked bread, small pieces, very flaky and soft.

gravy – meat sauce

eg: You should try biscuits and gravy.

mashed potatoes

eg: Mashed potatoes are much better than mashed peas.

Venison – deer meat

eg: I had venison in Norway.

french fries = chips (Europe)

eg: I want some fries.

curdle – when milk becomes cheese

eg: This milk is curdled. It’s too old, there are big pieces in it.

eg: Cheese curds, are when you take out some pieces of cheese, before the milk is finished becoming cheese.

tangy – a little sour/ strong , sharp taste

eg: Some Yunnan food is a little tangy.

acidic – a strong taste produced by foods with high acid

eg: Lemons are very acidic.

eg: Tomatoes can be pretty acidic.

Grammar

We were trying to deep fry fish in a pan.

We tried to deep fry fish in a pan.

Did it work?

It worked but it was dangerous for me.