The Costco Connection - February 2015

By Scott Jones

“TELL ME WHAT you eat and I’ll tell you what you are,” wrote 17th-century French author and food lover Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. While the renowned gourmet may have been the first in literature to suggest that every aspect of one’s life can be viewed through the lens of one’s daily dining, the Chinese were living this out hundreds of years earlier.

“The Chinese are an incredibly superstitious people who have long believed that you are what you eat,” explains Chinese culture and cuisine expert Grace Young. At no time is this more on display than during the annual Chinese New Year celebration.

Also called the Spring Festival, this year’s celebration starts on February 18 (New Year’s Eve), the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, and runs to March 5, the 15th day of the first month of the new year. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2015 is the Year of the Sheep (also referred to as the Year of the Goat or Ram). Those born under this

The Costco Connection Costco warehouses stock a variety of foods, from shrimp to rice and much more, to help you celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Traditions and twists for the Year of the Sheep

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Juice of ½ lime
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons dark Jamaican rum
2 teaspoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
½ teaspoon salt
1 medium ripe tomato, cut into thin wedges
1 large green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 small onion, cut into thin wedges
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

In a medium bowl, toss shrimp with lime juice for a few seconds. Rinse shrimp, drain and set on a plate lined with paper towels. With more paper towels, pat shrimp dry. In a small bowl, combine ketchup, rum, soy sauce and white pepper.

Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or 12-inch skillet over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 to 2 seconds of contact. Swirl in oil, add garlic and ginger, then, using a metal spatula, stir-fry 10 seconds or until aromatics are fragrant. Push aromatics to sides of wok, carefully add shrimp and spread them evenly in one layer in wok. Cook undisturbed 1 minute, letting shrimp begin to sear. Sprinkle with salt and stir-fry 30 seconds or until shrimp begin to turn orange. Add tomato, bell pepper, and onion, and stir-fry 1 minute or until shrimp have turned almost totally orange. Swirl ketchup mixture into wok and stir-fry 1 minute or until shrimp are just cooked through and sauce coats shrimp. Stir in cilantro. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Adapted from Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge, by Grace Young (Simon & Schuster, 2010).

Chinese Trinidadian
Stir-Fried Shrimp
with Rum
Chinese
New Year

sign are said to have an extra measure of prosperity and peace.

Unlike the Western tradition of ringing in
the new year surrounded by Champagne-
drinking revelers anticipating the stroke of
midnight, the Chinese use the occasion as a
family reunion. “It’s like Christmas and Easter
all rolled into one,” Young says in describing
the importance of the Chinese New Year’s Eve
that, as she puts it, “honors the sacredness of
family as well as ushers in the spring and a
time of renewal.”
While fun exists in activities such as light-
ing firecrackers and giving money-filled red