Wonton Soup Recipes

[billbowden]

I'm still trying to figure out how to make the broth for Wonton Soup that
tastes as good as what I get in a restaurant I'm going to try and get an
interview with the chef to teach me how to do it. Meanwhile, searching
Google turned up hundreds of Wonton soup recipes with different ingredients.
I factored them down to common dominators and they all, or most of them use
soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and ginger. A chef at another place
said to boil the chicken with a chopped up brown onion, but I didn't get the
rest of the story. I have the soy sauce and vinegar but need to shop for the
other stuff. The broth is the hard part, the rest is just adding vegetables
and cooking for a couple minutes. I've used that idea of adding a brown
onion to the water while boiling the chicken but it never tastes as good as
what I get in the restaurant.




. . .

[billbowden]

"billbowden" <bpe...@bowdenshobbycircuits.info> wrote in message
news:57e0a7d2$0$28920$c3e8da3$88b2...@news.astraweb.com...

Well, I went shopping today and had to look through all the asiles of the
grocery store to find a bottle of sesame oil. I finally found it for $13.99
and decided to go to Wal-Mart and try to save $6. One of the employees was
hanging around and I asked her why the sesame oil was so expensive and she
said it was the gourmet brand and they had a cheaper variety in the asian
food section for $3.69. So I got that and some fresh ginger and cooked up
some soup tonight. I can't say it was as good as the restaurant recipe but
it was ok. I think I might have used too much. My next experiment will be
less. But it's getting better.

[rumpelstiltskin]

City boy that I am, I just go to my favourite Chinese take-out
place. They don't have Won Ton soup but they do have hot and
sour soup (which I love), and it comes free with a take out meal
that adds up to at least $5 (which mine always does). It's been
quite a while since I've had Won Ton soup, though I do like it.
There's an alternate soup if one doesn't want something as spicy
as hot-and-sour, which has corn kernels in it and is generally
an egg-drop soup without Won Ton. I have that occasionally,
since it's good too, but 97% of the time I go for the Hot and
Sour.

http://tinyurl.com/zhl4sf4

[bfla...@gmail.com]

On Monday, September 19, 2016 at 8:27:17 PM UTC-7, billbowden wrote:
> I'm still trying to figure out how to make the broth for Wonton Soup...

Bill, the broth is the easy part. Work on the "slurp"!

[billbowden]

"rumpelstiltskin" <x...@y.com> wrote in message
news:qbi4ubhtj9cp7ecgn...@4ax.com...

None of those pictures look anything like I get at my favorite take out
place. I like veggies such as broccoli , carrots, squash, napa cabbage,
green onions, snow peas, celery, baby corn on the cob, mushrooms. The Won
Tons don't interest me much so I use the cheaper vegetable dumplings. Some
of the recipes I see on the net go to a lot of trouble making the Won Tons
from many ingredients, but I would just rather buy a bag of frozen dumplings
for $2.50. Seems like there are a thousand recipes for a simple soup. I
still think the secret is all in the broth.

[billbowden]

<bfla...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:9020f030-12b8-426d...@googlegroups.com...

> On Monday, September 19, 2016 at 8:27:17 PM UTC-7, billbowden wrote:
>> I'm still trying to figure out how to make the broth for Wonton Soup...
>
> Bill, the broth is the easy part. Work on the "slurp"!

Well, I might get some more clues tomorrow. The waitresses like me since I
give them a $1 tip and maybe they will let me talk to the chef who knows all
the answers. All I want to know is how much sesame oil, ginger and salt I
have to add.

[rumpelstiltskin]

Four ingredients - that sounds too complicated for a simple
guy like me. I also don't have any sesame oil or ginger, and
I don't want to buy more stuff that's going to be hanging
around for ten or fifty years. I'd rather get a package that I
can just add to boiling water with the WonTons. Safeway
knows best - don't you trust them? They're Mormons.

I never buy beef from Safeway. Their beef has tasted
funny to me, and I don't think it's just my "bigotry" against
Mormons. Maybe an angel, Mormon or Mammon, told
them they have to stuff the cows with hormones to make
them grow faster, or something.

[rumpelstiltskin]

You've gotten me thinking about WonTon soup now. I
don't want to get it in a restaurant because they'll probably
put shrimp in it. I should be able to find something at
Costco. I have some chicken bouillon powder, but I'm
sure any packaged WonTon will come with it's own
bouillon powder that's more "traditional" for the purpose.

[billbowden]

"rumpelstiltskin" <x...@y.com> wrote in message

news:jgieub1vu3ekt40m0...@4ax.com...

> On Wed, 21 Sep 2016 17:48:36 -0700, "billbowden"
>
>>

>>None of those pictures look anything like I get at my favorite take out
>>place. I like veggies such as broccoli , carrots, squash, napa cabbage,
>>green onions, snow peas, celery, baby corn on the cob, mushrooms. The Won
>>Tons don't interest me much so I use the cheaper vegetable dumplings. Some
>>of the recipes I see on the net go to a lot of trouble making the Won Tons
>>from many ingredients, but I would just rather buy a bag of frozen
>>dumplings
>>for $2.50. Seems like there are a thousand recipes for a simple soup. I
>>still think the secret is all in the broth.
>
> You've gotten me thinking about WonTon soup now. I
> don't want to get it in a restaurant because they'll probably
> put shrimp in it. I should be able to find something at
> Costco. I have some chicken bouillon powder, but I'm
> sure any packaged WonTon will come with it's own
> bouillon powder that's more "traditional" for the purpose.

Yes, they always put 4 shrimp in it but I like shrimp. I don't think you
need any chicken bullion since the raw chicken is boiled in water which
turns the water into a mild chicken broth. I usually add a chopped up brown
onion while boiling the chicken to give the broth a little onion flavor.
Then I filter the water so it's clear and add the salt, ginger, sesame oil,
vinegar and maybe some garlic. But it still doesn't taste as good as the
takeout place. I'm going to try adding the 5 ingredients while boiling the
chicken to see if that helps. And I'll reduce the amount of the ingredients.
It's tempting to add too much seasioning when only a tiny amount is
required. All I want to do is make the next batch better than the former
batch.

[rumpelstiltskin]

Hmm, boiled chicken, eh? I have taste which, while
not good, is very selective, and boiled chicken is not an
idea that appeals to me. I'm sure there are places I
can get WonTon soup, but when I get Chinese I mostly
head for Dim Sum places or my favourite cafeteria-style
downtown restaurant, where I load up on General Tso's
and Sesame chicken, but there's no chicken soup. So
I haven't been any place that has WonTon lately. I've
put WonTon soup on my shopping list though, so I'll see
if they have anything at Foodsco or Costco when I next
go food shopping, probably tomorrow (without having
to deal with the ghastliness of recognizable pieces of
dead chickens).


Here's a page on "cafeteria-style". If you want
a bit of unconnected light entertainment, click on
the link on that page "What character was removed
from the Alphabet?" I guessed Thorn, but I was
dead wrong.

I've futilely campaigned for bringing back thorn
into the English alphabet. We lost it, I read, because
the first printing presses came to England from
Germany, and there was no "thorn" in German. For
a while people made do by using "y" for thorn,
since it does look a little bit like thorn. Thus we
got "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" for example, but
"Ye" was always pronounced "The" at first, while
people still remembered "thorn". After a while
people forgot, and then they started to mistakenly
think it really was pronounced like the "y" in "you".

The combination "th" which represents "thorn"
in our modern times is nonsensical, since the
actual pronunciation doesn't resemble "t" or "h".

Actually there are two kinds of "th", the
non-aspirated one as in "thorn" and the
aspirated one as in "there". The aspirated one
was represented by "edh" (or "eth") and still is
in Icelandic, though I'm not aware if "edh" was
ever part of the English alphabet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_%28letter%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth

[billbowden]

"rumpelstiltskin" <x...@y.com> wrote in message

news:anjeubp181dde6g52...@4ax.com...

I only buy meat from the 50% marked down section at Von's, or the regular
meat section at a hispanic market. The hispanic market is across the street
from Wal-Mart and has lower prices. But frequently, there are people
carrying picket signs complaining about the low wages at the hispanic
market. But Wal-Mart is better on a hot day since it's air conditioned and
they have fast self checkout stands. I got a watermelon Saturday and have
eaten almost half in two days. I'm going to make WT soup tomorrow and try
some new ideas of less seasoning.


.



. .

[rumpelstiltskin]

I didn't buy WonTon at Costco. They had regular-sized WonTon
only with shrimp. The only chicken WonTon was "miniature" size.
I didn't particularly want to get the miniature size, and I also was
having second thoughts about buying yet another high-carb thing
that might be hanging around for months until I finished it.

At Foodsco, my tail lights stayed on after I stopped the car,
which I didn't realize until a guy passing by told me. The same
thing went on at Costco. I looked up a mechanic on Yelp and
picked one who got a lot of rave reviews, and I'll be taking the car
in there today, after I pick up the part at Autozone since it's
doubtful the mechanic would have it on hand. The little pieces of
broken plastic I noted on the floorboard fit right in with the
mention of them in the video below, so I'm pretty sure that's the
problem. There's no way I want to try contorting my 71 year old
bod into the positions I'd have to get into to replace the part
though, even if I could do it at all which is questionable at best.
If my son were here, he could do it because he's great with cars,
which I sure am not. Last night I had to disconnect the batter to
prevent it from draining overnight, which for me was a project
in itself. Despite my son's insistence that of course I could do it,
I couldn't make any headway. Brian, a local guy I know, who's
at least twice as much a "real man" as myself, stopped by and
he was having trouble too, even after going into his house to
get some goop to put on the screw. since it was so rusted.
Luckily though he spotted another neighbor and called out to
him, which neighbor is even more of a "real man": he's even
heterosexual. He got it loose, so my battery won't have been
drained overnight. Now I have to reconnect the battery to get
started this morning, but I hope I can at least do that much.
My son of course insisted on the phone that of course I can
disconnect and reconnect the battery myself, despite his
familiarity with my gross incompetence about all things
practical.

Here's the video. I wasn't even aware that such a
problem was within the realm of possibility until it actually
happened, and it's very doubtful the mechanic would have
on hand the little plastic thingie that's needed to get the
breaklights working properly again, which is why I'm going
to stop in at Autozone myself to (hopefully) pick it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vFq_aydwUs

The only thing more of a pain in the butt than
owning a car is NOT owning a car.

[Al Green]

On 09/26/2016 09:57 PM, billbowden wrote:


> I only buy meat from the 50% marked down section at Von's, or the regular
> meat section at a hispanic market. The hispanic market is across the street
> from Wal-Mart and has lower prices. But frequently, there are people
> carrying picket signs complaining about the low wages at the hispanic
> market. But Wal-Mart is better on a hot day since it's air conditioned and
> they have fast self checkout stands. I got a watermelon Saturday and have
> eaten almost half in two days. I'm going to make WT soup tomorrow and try
> some new ideas of less seasoning.
>
>

Let us know what you come up with. I'd be interested in what the
Chinese chef tells you. I have a feeling that he will say that he
tastes as he goes and adds seasonings accordingly. I do know that
adding too much sesame oil can spoil your soup very fast. I bought a
small bottle of it 8 years ago to add to stirfries and I have almost
half a bottle left. I haven't had wonton soup for so long that I
hardly remember what it's like. I guess it off to "Chinese" for
me!

[maxw...@my-deja.com]

That sounds like Wonton Endangerment. In most places it is
illegal.

[rumpelstiltskin]

On Tue, 27 Sep 2016 17:22:30 -0700 (PDT), maxw...@my-deja.com wrote:
>On Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 11:41:03 AM UTC-4, rumpelstiltskin wrote:

<snip>

>> I didn't buy WonTon at Costco. They had regular-sized WonTon
>> only with shrimp. The only chicken WonTon was "miniature" size.
>> I didn't particularly want to get the miniature size, and I also was
>> having second thoughts about buying yet another high-carb thing
>> that might be hanging around for months until I finished it.
>
>That sounds like Wonton Endangerment. In most places it is
>illegal.

It's doubtless anti-dead-shrimp bigotry in the first
case and anti-high-carb bigotry in the second.
Heavens!

[billbowden]

"Al Green" <agr...@basura.net> wrote in message
news:nseqpa$12ne$1...@gioia.aioe.org...

I didn't get an interview with the chef last Sunday. I'm a little shy of
asking the waitress to talk to him while he's busy. Maybe I'll get enough
nerve to ask next Sunday. Meanwhile, I used a lot less spices and the soup
was better tonight, but still not as good as the restaurant. Years ago, I
took a Chineese cooking class at a community college at night and learned
the basics of of making the marinade for Mongolian Beef which is stir fried
green onions and beef. I only remember the 5 basic ingredients that begin
with 'S' -- Sugar, Sesame oil, Salt, Soy sauce, and Sherry wine. Of course
the trick is how much of each to use, and I forget that part. Best idea is
to visit several Asian places to explore the differences and then find out
how they do it. I went to a new place a couple weeks ago and the soup was
mostly mushrooms with 4 shrimp and some green onions. The broth was ok but
there were no vegetables (carrots, broccoli , napa cabbage, squash, celery).
I asked about the vegies and they said that was a additional cost. I figured
at $6.50, I could make my own at lower cost.
.
.

.

[islander]

Bill, I would be a bit cautious about asking a chef for his recipe. A
chef makes his living with the knowledge that he possesses and there
have been cases where a chef was justified in charging a customer for
his intellectual property. If you have a comfortable relationship with
the chef and he doesn't see you as a threat, he may well reveal his
secrets to you, but he may also resent your expectation that it be free.

A small group of us once hired a local chef to teach us how to make SE
Asian food. It was a totally enjoyable evening and the chef was very
confident in his skills - "a little garlic and a little ginger." I
doubt that any of us could duplicate it since there was no obvious
recipe. Just a matter of years of experience working over a wok.

I also once asked a Japanese neighbor lady to teach a group of us to
make sushi, something that she excelled at. She agreed and even
provided the ingredients. We all took copious notes and spent the
evening rolling sushi (awkwardly - it is harder than it looks). I can
make a passable sushi, but nothing close to what she made. Sadly, she
died a couple of years ago.

Personally, I think that cooking is an art. I wish that I was good at
it, but for me there are far too many variables. Definitely more
difficult than chemistry lab!

[Al Green]

On 09/27/2016 08:15 PM, billbowden wrote:
>
>
> I didn't get an interview with the chef last Sunday. I'm a little shy of
> asking the waitress to talk to him while he's busy. Maybe I'll get enough
> nerve to ask next Sunday. Meanwhile, I used a lot less spices and the soup
> was better tonight, but still not as good as the restaurant. Years ago, I
> took a Chineese cooking class at a community college at night and learned
> the basics of of making the marinade for Mongolian Beef which is stir fried
> green onions and beef. I only remember the 5 basic ingredients that begin
> with 'S' -- Sugar, Sesame oil, Salt, Soy sauce, and Sherry wine. Of course
> the trick is how much of each to use, and I forget that part. Best idea is
> to visit several Asian places to explore the differences and then find out
> how they do it. I went to a new place a couple weeks ago and the soup was
> mostly mushrooms with 4 shrimp and some green onions. The broth was ok but
> there were no vegetables (carrots, broccoli , napa cabbage, squash, celery).
> I asked about the vegies and they said that was a additional cost. I figured
> at $6.50, I could make my own at lower cost.
> .

On Friday I plan to go over to the coast since it's cooled down
somewhat. (Yesterday it was 108 degrees here. Now that's hot!)
There are several Chinese restaurants in Morro Bay that I've eaten
at and liked. Here we just have a plethora off Mexican Restaurants.
In fact. I once wanted to eat out on Christmas day and all the Chinese
restaurants were closed and the only thing I could find open was an
Indian restaurant. I'm really curious about exactly what goes into
Wonton soup.

[billbowden]

"Emily" <Emily1...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ifunubt42fh6b3op3...@4ax.com...
> This is guaranteed to be no help at all, but I just checked "Basic
> Cantonese Cooking", a book my husband won somewhere along the line and
> their recipe for won ton soup has the tasty stuff like soy sauce,
> sesame oil, and minced onion in the won tons themselves. Their recipe
> for the soup is:
>
> 4 cups chicken stock
> 1 teaspoon dry sherry
>
> Bring that to a boil and add the won tons, simmer five minutes
> covered, divide into four bowls and garnish with roast pork and
> scallions.
>

I'll try it. The won tons aren't important (too much trouble or too
expensive). I substitute frozen vegie dumplings for the won tons. I like to
add lots of vegies - squash, broccoli, carrots, snow peas, napa cabbage,
celery, green onions and maybe a few mushrooms. But it's the broth that's
the hard part. The broth in the soup I buy looks just like clear water, but
has a particular good taste that I can't duplicate. But I'll give your idea
a try using just a little chicken stock and dry sherry.

Thanks





, . . . ,

[billbowden]

"islander" <no...@priracy.com> wrote in message
news:nsgko2$fgt$1...@dont-email.me...

I'll be cautious, but I remember what Jesus said about doing unto others as
you would have them do unto you. If I was a cook and somebody wanted my
recipe, I'd be flattered and try to teach them how to do it. I get inquires
from my webpage asking how to do this or that, and I never charge
anything..I enjoy the responses that what I had to offer was of some value.

[islander]

Good for you! One can enjoy "payment" in terms other than cash.
Unfortunately everyone doesn't view the world the same way.

[billbowden]

"islander" <no...@priracy.com> wrote in message
news:nsgko2$fgt$1...@dont-email.me...

> On 9/24/2016 8:11 PM, billbowden wrote:
>> <bfla...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:9020f030-12b8-426d...@googlegroups.com...
>>> On Monday, September 19, 2016 at 8:27:17 PM UTC-7, billbowden wrote:
>>>> I'm still trying to figure out how to make the broth for Wonton Soup...
>>>
>>> Bill, the broth is the easy part. Work on the "slurp"!
>>
>> Well, I might get some more clues tomorrow. The waitresses like me since
>> I
>> give them a $1 tip and maybe they will let me talk to the chef who knows
>> all
>> the answers. All I want to know is how much sesame oil, ginger and salt I
>> have to add.
>>
>
> Bill, I would be a bit cautious about asking a chef for his recipe. A
> chef makes his living with the knowledge that he possesses and there have
> been cases where a chef was justified in charging a customer for his
> intellectual property. If you have a comfortable relationship with the
> chef and he doesn't see you as a threat, he may well reveal his secrets to
> you, but he may also resent your expectation that it be free.
>

I got a little more information today. The waitress said the broth was from
boiling the chicken and not from a can. The salt was already in the
water.and apparently the first ingredient while boiling the chicken. That
makes the chicken taste better and the broth since salt is the first
ingredient. I'll find out in a couple days when I try it. But now I have a
relationship with the waitress and can ask for more details next week. But I
don't think she knows the exact recipe, but was willing to help. I might try
a little sherry wine as emily suggested. The whole thing hinges on the
proportions of various things.




.

[billbowden]

"billbowden" <bpe...@bowdenshobbycircuits.info> wrote in message

news:57f19afa$0$15586$c3e8da3$9dec...@news.astraweb.com...

From what I got today, the broth has some kind of powdered spices they buy
from a wholesale place and not available to the public unless you want to
buy a ton of it. So, apparently, the recipe is hidden in the powdered spices
bought from some other source. I'm going to try an Asian market and see if I
can buy a small shaker of the stuff, whatever it is. She did say it had a
tiny amount of black pepper.

[billbowden]

"billbowden" <bpe...@bowdenshobbycircuits.info> wrote in message

news:58043458$0$1815$c3e8da3$5d8f...@news.astraweb.com...

I visited a asian market today inquiring about the wonton soup broth and
found a frozen package of wonton soup that you just add boiling water. The
asian guy helping me didn't know how to make the soup but led me to the
frozen package. I haven't tried it yet, but it should be interesting. He
said they used to have the powdered spices but don't carry it anymore. I'll
try it tomorrow night.