Chinese snacks - Part two (Roast Duck)

Half a roast duck from Chinatown, Boston. Only $9!

While most people might not classify roast duck as a "snack," it can be. In Chinatown, look for the windows with various roasted animals hanging in the window and you'll probably find a great deal. For only $9 at most places there, you can get half a duck, roasted and chopped up into bite-size pieces with some sauce to go. With that half duck, a whole bunch of things can be prepared at home.

1. First, get the meaty breast pieces and have those as a snack or main dish with your meal. When you get home, it's probably going to be hard to resist having a piece or two as soon as you open the box and get a whiff of the roasted duck aroma. Or, if you would like to make appetizers, cut up some of the meat and use it with scallions or other vegetables for wonton appetizers (see my blog post, "Wonton wrappers - not only for wontons!"

If you ask for the duck in Chinese, they might give you the head
and all the internal organs! Otherwise, they'll probably assume that
you won't appreciate those parts.

2. Then, there are going to be some bony parts, like the neck and rib section of the duck. In the picture above, there's a head and a bony piece on the left. Keep those because you can use those to make a tasty duck broth. Just boil the bones in some water with some scallions and whatever you'd like to add. Take the bones out and strain it if you think there are still some pieces of bones in there. The skin is tasty so leave that in there.  For a more fancy version, check out eHow. Here are some dishes you can make with duck broth:

• Add noodles and vegetables to the broth to make a noodle soup dish.
• Use the broth as a base for dumpling (or other) soup. Whatever you would make with chicken broth, you could probably make with duck broth.
• Braise vegetables with the broth.
• Use the broth to make polenta.
• Instead of using water, use the broth to make rice.

The head and internal organs, ready to store in the freezer.

For more inspiration, here are some websites that feature duck broth:

The Japanese Food Report

Chowhound

Chinese snacks - part 1

If you go to any large Chinese supermarket (e.g. Super 88, C-Mart, etc.), your whole grocery bill should be lower than if you go to Shaw's or Stop & Shop. One of my favorite aisles is the snack section, with imported Asian sweets and snacks, all for great prices. In this post, I will review one of those snacks: Crispiroll - Latte Coffee.

Each box is only $3.49 at C-Mart, in Chinatown. There are 32 pieces in each box. According to the box, these snacks are from Taiwan and "suitable for ovo-lacto vegetarian," in case you were into that sort of thing. The cappuccino on the box looks much better than the snack, right? Well, it turns out that the snack doesn't really look as tasty as the picture. However, for $3.49, it's a pretty good snack for munching on while you have a cup of coffee. What else could you get for about 11 cents a piece? When I opened one of the packages, I could smell coffee. The "cream" on the inside is not really smooth on its own but you won't notice it because the brown outside part is crunchy. All in all, it's like a cheap and smaller version of Pirouline rolled wafers but a little crunchier and coffee flavored. Think of it as pirated Pirouline, if you will. I'd buy this again.

Nice picture on the box. Only $3.49 for 32 individually wrapped pieces.

32 individually wrapped snacks

Comparison of the real thing with the picture.

Of course the picture looks better!