Topic Research: Food in Chinese Fairy Tales

After talking more in depth with my roommate, we've established that while he knows a couple Filipino recipes, he isn't super confident about amounts of stuff in recipes, and Filipino food is so diverse that there are very few defining characteristics. I'm wanting to go with something a little more cohesive, so this week I looked into finding foods mentioned in Chinese fairy tales to see what I could potentially make. To find stories, I looked at the Chinese Fairy Tale unit on the UnTextbook.

Duck Eggs

This story, The Cave of the Beasts, involves daughters eating duck eggs that their father didn't want them to have. So, obviously, I would include a recipe for duck eggs. In the story they're boiled, which is done the same way you boil chicken eggs and doesn't require much recipe, so I would probably add them to a stir fry dish so I'd have something more substantial than, "Find some duck eggs. Boil them," to use as a recipe.

Asian Pears

The titular Miserly Farmer in this story grows pears, so for a matching recipe, I'd make a dish involving Asian pears. Some quick preliminary research turned up these recipes, all of which sound intriguing. Steamed pears and honey seems simple, but delicious. Or if I were feeling like making something a little more involved, I could make short ribs with the Asian pear barbecue marinade.

Bread and Wine

I'll be honest. This story, The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away, mentions a mysterious man bringing a girl bread and wine, but the food is not really central to the plot. But, it would give me a chance to drink wine for classwork purposes (it'll be legal, I turn 21 tomorrow) and I found a neat recipe for
steamed buns that would serve as the bread from the story. I'll try to find actual Chinese wine or rice wine, but if I can't get my hands on any, I'll try to find a worthy substitute.

Fresh Duck Eggs. Source.
Steamed Vegetable Buns. Source.