I find it highly ironic, and somewhat scary, that of all the food fetishes to acquire this year while in Asia, I’ve chosen to become dangerously attracted to dairy products. Sure, you expect that from someone living in France, where it’s almost a religious experience to gorge on the unsalted butter, chantille-doused pastries, and cheeses of the highest order (never mediocre).
But in China? Frankly, I didn’t even know they ate dairy in China. But oh, my good friends, do they. Couldn’t have timed this revelation any better. In late September, the cancer-enducing chemical melamimne was found in milk coming from rural China (the province I’ll be visiting next week, coincidentally!). Since then, traces of that body-rotting substance have been found in everthing from baby formula to yogurt to cookies to instant coffee. What dairy-based concoction would be worth such a health risk, you might be thinking? These babies:
Like eating angels
Sunday morning special
The first yogurt, or “pudding” as our British chap Owen would call it, is literally the lightest, fluffiest, most perfectly sweet but not too sweet yogurt I’ve ever had, hidden in the depths of Beijing’s best hutong . The yogurt’s topped with sweet red beans, a favorite dessert flavor in Chinese cuisines. Those beautiful rolls to the right are swirls of red bean paste and yogurt curd, which was equally light in flavor and just dense enough to hold the shape together. Chinese tourists flock there everyday (I was the only white girl for miles), lining up well before the noon opening, and stocking up on as many cups of the stuff as they can hold until the place sells out of its ambrosia-like treats. Here’s the group of Taiwanese belly-dancers (they later took my picture and gave me their cards in return) who stuck it out in line with me to get their fair share of the yogurt. I promise you that I have dreamed about it every day since then, and will continue to dream until my inevitable return to Beijing.
The second dairy-based delight is a recent discovery – a hot, steamed egg and milk custard that I enjoyed at one of Hong Kong’s most famous cha chan tengs, or HK coffee houses, the Australia Dairy Company. (Still a secret to most foreigners I think – again, the only white chick around is moi). They’re really more like diners, serving customers a limited selection of crowd-pleasers like thick buttered toast (no crusts), eggs, and macaroni-based soups. This being the venerable Australia Dairy Company (false advertisement by the way – their milk products are definitely Chinese) however, I needed to go in for the house specialty. What I loved about this custard, which was lighter than flan, was its undertones of almond and nutmeg. Not flavors I’d typically associate with Chinese cooking. But then again, most food in Hong Kong is anything but typical.
Which leads me to my third-dairy obession, milk tea. Nai Cha (in Cantonese) is made with black tea and lots of steaming (or cold) evaporated milk, giving it an almost coffee-like texture and appearance. And Hong Kong people drink it like Massholes drink Dunkin Donuts, which is to say always, and often several times a day. Cold in the summer and hot by this time of year, nai cha is found in every respectable (and non-respectable) eatery and cafe in Hong Kong. So until the government shuts down the entire city to ban the unofficial-national drink, I’ll keep on sippin’ it.
