Black Dragon Cafe

This song by Paula Tsui 1 is an ode to the glory that is Chinese pickled vegetables (paocai 2 ):

 

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Hey hey, restaurant proprietor, give me pickled vegetables! (Hey hey, lao ban, lai pan paocai!) (chorus) Hey hey, restaurant proprietor, give me paocai! Hey hey, restaurant proprietor, give me paocai! Paocai paocai Wooo! paocai paocai (2nd verse) Everyone loves it, yeah, Don’t you reckon it’s funny? Just put a plate of paocai on the table, Wooo! My intention is to Whet the diners’ appetite…

Autumn Night album cover - Paula Tsui (1969)

 

Here is the Chinese recipe:

Take cooled boiled water, washed and drained vegetables and
1 tsp Sichuan pepper (花椒 huā jiāo),
1 tsp fennel seeds (茴香籽 huí xiāng zǐ)
3 star anise (八角 bā jiǎo)
6 medium sized dried chilis
1 tbsp salt
Throw it all together in a jar, the water should cover the vegetables. Ready in about two days.

Here is a bit of the science behind it, from Salt – A World History by Mark Kurlansky (a blinding book by the way):

 

The process by which the Chinese, and later the Japanese, fermented [vegetables] in earthen pots is today known as lactic acid fermentation, or, in more common jargon, pickling. Optimum lactic fermentation takes place between sixty-four and seventy-one degrees Fahrenheit [18 – 22 Celsius], which in most of the world is an easily achieved environment.

As vegetables begin to rot, the sugars break down and produce lactic acid, which serves as a preservative. Theoretically, pickling can be accomplished without salt, but the carbohydrates and proteins in the vegetables tend to putrefy too quickly to be saved by the emerging lactic acid. Without salt, yeast forms, and the fermentation process leads to alcohol rather than pickles.

Between .8 and 1.5 percent of the vegetable’s weight in salt holds off the rotting process until the lactic acid can take over. Excluding oxygen, either by sealing the jar or, more usually, by weighting the vegetables so that they remain immersed in liquid is necessary for successful lactic fermentation.

The ancient Chinese pickled in earthen jars, which caused a white film called kahm yeast, harmless but unpleasant tasting, to form on the top. Every two weeks the cloth, board, and stone weighting the vegetables had to be washed or even boiled to remove the film. This added work is why pickling in earthen jars has not remained popular.

 

The sort eaten today is more about flavour than preserving, though even with the method given above you can continue to use the same liquid, just dump in new vegetables. It cannot be contaminated by even the slightest bit of oil though, otherwise you get a nasty white froth.

And if you’re pining for fish and chip style paocai, as in the suspicious looking eggs and gherkins lurking on the counter of the chippy, here is the Western version, with photo, from master chef Karine:

500g cucumber, the fat one, peeled and sliced, not to small
250ml water
250ml white vinegar
12g salt
60g sugar
1 bayleaf
10 black pepper corns
1 heaped tblsp mustard seeds

bring water, sugar, salt and vinegar and spices to about 100 C, let it cool down to about 60 C. put cucumber in a glass jar and cover with the fluid and spices. wait for a couple of days, keeps very long in the fridge (not in our house ;-)

1. Paula Tsui 徐小凤 xú xiǎo fèng The song above isn’t typical, by the way. Usually it’s Cantopop. See also: paulatsui.com
   and the answers.com page.
2. pickled vegetables 泡菜 pào cài There’s more on paocai at Karine’s site here.