New York Street Food

Yiwu is a city of about 1.2 million people near the central eastern coast of China.   It has sizable Korean and Muslim populations, with the Chinese Muslims known as Uighurs.   The Uighur appear to be Turkish, but are actually an ethnic Chinese Muslim population that meets with a fair amount of discrimination in China.  He Needs Food spent some time in Yiwu and documented the street food scene there.

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NBC’s Jenna Wolfe was in Beijing and tried some of the more unusual (to us) street food items available.  Scorpions, lizards and tripe, oh my!

Did you know that silkworm tastes like cashews? [NBC]

Perhaps the last Friday’s Recipe should have been chicken with silkworm and pineapple.

Bahn Xeo - crepes filled with seafood, meat and fresh bean sprouts

The street is the center of daily life in Southeast Asia.  If you truly want to partake in this daily carnival of the street, you need to be eating the street food.  Gadling gives you 5 reasons to eat more street food in Southeast Asia.

Cau Lao - a Vietnamese noodle dish with crispy wontons and pork

1) Because it’s cleaner than you think – Many vendors wake up while you’re still asleep to grab the freshest, tastiest ingredients at the local market. In addition, the vast majority of street food is cooked over an open flame or simmered in a boiling pot. This high heat kills any organism that’s likely to make you ill. Not to mention you get to watch with your own eyes as your food is prepared.

2) Because it’s the best on earth – Lots of countries have street food. But Southeast Asia has the best. The region’s unique blend of European, Indian and Chinese ingredients is unlike anything you’ve ever tasted: year-round supplies of straight-from-the-ocean seafood, colorful exotic produce and dizzying selection of spices combine to ensure a mouth-watering array of meals, snacks and desserts.

Fresh spring roll - steamed, not fried, filled with pork, sausage or shrimp

3) Because it’s a great way to meet locals – You don’t eat street food in Southeast Asia by yourself.  Typically you’re seated around a communal table. The closeness of street food encourages conversation.

4) Because it’s good for you – Southeast Asian street food is much more than deep-fried cuisine.  Cooks have been using healthy ingredients like “organic produce” and “locally-sourced” foodstuffs since the dawn of time.

Banh Mi filled with pate, pork and crisp veggies

5) Because it’s cheap – After gorging on fresh, delicious food – meals which would cost $20 or more at home – the bill is never more than $2-3 dollars.

We could all benefit from eating more street food. [Gadling]

Sweetened chilled soup with tapioca jellies, white bread and coconut milk broth

Today’s Lunch is a kimchi-bulgogi hot dog from New York Hot Dog & Coffee, located at 245 Bleecker St (west of 6th Ave, by Leroy Street).

I must confess, when they moved into my neighborhood last year, we refused to try them because they replaced Pasticceria Bruno, one of our favorite places for Italian cakes and pastries, and we were pissed.  I know Bruno has another location on LaGuardia Place, but I passed this one almost every day and their pastries were works of art.  We know it was probably the landlord’s fault that Bruno closed, but we didn’t want to patronize the store that replaced our beloved Pasticceria Bruno.  And the name, New York Hot Dog & Coffee…it just sounded so tourist-y.

Well, they say time heals all wounds, and I love both bulgogi and hot dogs, so it was time to give it a try.  The person in front of me was being served as I walked up to the counter, and it looked really good, so I asked what her order was.  They said it was #7, a kimchi-bulgogi hot dog, which is a spicy hot dog with both kimchi and bulgogi on top.  There was an option of having this with a regular hot dog, but I went with the spicy dog.

The hot dog is grilled, put on a piece of lettuce on a hot dog bun, topped with kimchi and bulgogi, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  It was piled high and quite a mouthful, but worth the effort.  Very tasty.  The hot dog was not the highest quality hot dog in the world, but it was good, and covered in kimchi and bulgogi, it was even better.  The kimchi was spicy, but the hot dog wasn’t really spicy, and the bulgogi gave it a nice balance.  Next time I want to try the dak-kalbi, spicy chicken with lettuce and pickles on a hot dog bun.

One more confession.  I actually snuck in and tried the bulgogi hot dog last year when this place was still under my house’s boycott.  It sounded too unique not to try.  While the bulgogi hot dog was good, the kimchi-bulgogi hot dog was much better.  The spiciness really made it come alive.

Is a kimchi-bulgogi hot dog street food?  Who cares, it was delicious.  (For the record, we’re going to add New York Hot Dog & Coffee to our Honorary Street Food category and put it on the New York Street Food map.)  Welcome to the neighborhood.

The Burlington Free Press asked five chefs about their favorite street food.  Some pretty interesting responses were given.

In no particular order, they were:

Roti chanai from Malaysia – bread made from dough stretched very thin, folded into itself to create these crisp membrane-thin layers of bread. The sauce usually a chicken-based curry made with coconut water and galangal (sometimes called lesser ginger) and chilies and you get a little metal bowl of chanai and you dip your bread into it. (Lauren Gammon, chef-owner and cooking teacher, The Nomadic Chef, Starksboro)

Khanom krup from Thailand – It’s made in special cast iron pans with little golf ball-size divots. They have a pitcher of coconut and rice flour batter they pour into the divots and then they take coconut cream and spoon it in the middle. There’s a really hot fire underneath, and it makes the bottom crispy and the inside turns into something like coconut custard. Sometimes they add fillings like cilantro and corn kernels — it’s a savory thing, not sweet really. You get like a little bag of six of them for 5 cents.  (also from Lauren Gammon, chef-owner and cooking teacher, The Nomadic Chef, Starksboro)

Tripe sandwiches from Ankara, Turkey – Cow or lamb stomach boiled for a long time and then they take the tripe out and add vegetables — tomatoes, onions, scallions — and cook that for another couple hours. Once everything is cooled they take it all out and chop it up and put it between pieces of crusty Italian-style bread that are soft on the inside. Then they add spices like fennel seed, ground cumin and freshly ground pepper. It’s not the best cut of the animal, but it has fantastic flavor. (Ozzy Giral, co-owner, Blue Cat Cafe and Wine Bar, Burlington)

Roasted chestnuts in Italy – The smell is amazing. They roast them in this perforated circular pan that sits on top of an open fire, and the nuts are scored with an X, and you have to peel the skin back to eat them. (Aaron Millon, chef and co-owner, Restaurant Phoebe, Montpelier)

And of course:

Dirty water dogs (Sabretts) in New York – Hot dogs that sit in kettles of water all day. It’s like hot dog stock. You can eat them in 10 seconds, and they’re everywhere in New York.  They’re so good because they’re full of nitrates, and they serve them on a bleached white flour roll that is so soft you could squeeze it into a tiny pellet. (also from Aaron Millon, chef and co-owner, Restaurant Phoebe, Montpelier) [Burlington Free Press]

We knew that already – but don’t forget the onions and sauerkraut.  There are a few other responses that we didn’t mention in the link, too.