Title: Selecting Ingredients--Ginger Root (Ck)
Categories: Info Chinese Ethnic
Yield: 1 Servings

Fresh ginger root, pungent and tangy, is used in small quantities as a flavoring agent in numerous Chinese dishes. It adds spiceness and a special aroma to stir-fried dishes and a more subtle, gentle flavor to stews and red-cooked meats (foods cooking in soy sauce are described as "red cooked"). Ginger root is also used by the Chinese to counteract the fishiness of strongly flavored fish. Powdered ginger has neither the pungent aroma nor the taste of fresh ginger rood and is therefore not an acceptable substitute.

Fresh ginger root, cold by the piece by Asian groceries and some supermarkets, resembles a small, gnarled tree root. The root has a light brown skin, which when peeled reveals a creamy yellow interior. The lighter and thinner the skin, the more likely it is that the root is young and fresh. The peeled root can be sliced, minced, or grated, or it can be forced through a garlic press.

Store fresh, unpeeled ginger root in the refrigerator, where it will keep from a few days to several weeks, depending on how old it was when purchased. To keep ginger root from becoming moldy, peel it with a vegetable peeler, put it in a clean jar, cover the ginger root with shery, secure thelid, and refrigerate. The root retains its falvor well when wrapped airtight and frozen. The root can be grated successfully while still frozen, but when defrosted it tends to become soft. However, since the ginger is used mainly for its flavor, the change in consistency is not a problem.

Occassionally, a piece of ginger root will turn out to be very woody. This indicates that the root has matured too much, and although it can be used in a chunk in stews and removed before serving, it should not be used in stir-fried dishes.

From: Chinese Kosher Cooking Betty S. Goldberg Jonathan David Publishers, Inc., 1989

Entered by: Lawrence Kellie

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