Five-Spice Crisp-Fried Shrimp

choi

David Tanis, You Don't Have to Be Jewish * * * ; * * * to enjoy this Chinese dish at Christmas or another time. New York Times, Dec 20, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/dining/shrimp-stir-fry.html

Quote:

(a) "I did not grow up with the New York Jewish tradition of Chinese food and a movie on Christmas Day, a popular custom that purportedly harks back to the beginning of the 20th century (well, maybe not the movie part).

"As the story goes, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where immigrants of all stripes lived, Chinese restaurants were the only ones open on Christmas. Though they weren't kosher kitchens, at least they didn't mix milk and meat, which is forbidden to observant Jews. (Somehow, the presence of pork and shellfish on the menu was OK, at least for a day.) Fast-forward a hundred years and the tradition is now deeply entrenched, not just in New York, but throughout the United States.

(b) "When I lived in San Francisco, I frequently joined a group of Jewish food professionals around a giant round table for an annual Chinese Christmas banquet organized by Patricia Unterman [a Jewish surname from Belarus], a local restaurant critic. Well versed in Chinese cuisine, she knew exactly what to order from all the chef's specialties at the renowned R & G Lounge.

(c) "You'll be sprinkling the shrimp with aromatic five-spice powder, a mixture of Sichuan pepper, fennel 茴香 seed, clove, star anise and cinnamon * * * For heat, the recipe calls for strips of red, ripe Fresno chiles, available in the produce section of most supermarkets.

My comment;
(a) I have never heard of 五香虾.
(b) Tanis is a Dutch surname. From the context, Mr Tanis is not Jewish, either.
(c) Warren Richey, Elena Kagan Shows off Sense of Humor in Confirmation Hearings. Christian Science Monitor, June 30, 2010
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Po ... nfirmation-hearings
(In a confirmation hearing held on June 29, 2010 before senate judiciary committee: US Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC): "Where were you on Christmas Day?" Elena Kagan: "You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant")
(d) clove 丁香
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clove
("the aromatic flower buds of a [evergreen] tree [which] are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia")
(e) 'Fresno Chili' pepper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Fresno_Chili%27_pepper