May 26: Banquet Food

My dad flew into town and we were invited to a celebratory Chinese banquet.

Part of the celebration - Dragons, lion dancers and lots of firecrackers.

Dragons are a symbol of good luck.


The lion dance is performed to drive away evil spirits and bring in good luck and good fortune. Firecrackers are also used to drive away evil spirits.


They must want extra protection from evil spirits. The string of firecrackers was three stories high and still unrolling.


The lion playing with a little girl.


The Banquet
Banquets are typically multi-course meals that becomes sort of a contradiction. The menu is somewhat more traditional "real" Chinese food, but since it is a banquet where many people are served - guessing over 300 diners, the food becomes ordinary and inconsistent.

Course 1 - A Chinese Charcuterie Platter - Ham, Praised meat, BBQ pork, some type of head cheese. The shredded stuff is shredded diakon radish and jelly fish in a toasted sesame vinaigrette.

Geek Word of the Day: Charcuterie is the French word for the art of preparing and preserving meat. For example, sausages, salamis and hams are one approach to preserving meat.


Course 5: Crispy Chicken


Initially, I thought the topping was crushed peanuts. However, it was minced garlic fried. I believe the chicken is poached whole and deep fried to crisp up the skin. Surprisingly, this was a flavorful dish was very moist. Sometimes the double cooking dries out the chicken.... and in a banquet it dries out even more waiting to be served.


The rest of the meal can be seen in the slideshow below. Hopefully it works. If not, click on the image below the slide show to go directly to the album.

Cheers!



The slideshow of the entire meal. (Playing with blogger) lol



Click below picture to see the rest of the album

banquet