Free Form Chinese Cooking

So one of the things I've learned about Chinese cooking over the years is that it's not done the same way that I have learned to cook. Compared to the average Chinese Mama, I can't cook worth a crap. I am excellent at following a recipe and I turn out some amazing meals as a result of that, and I'm also pretty good at reading recipes to determine if they are going to be good or not. I have not had a failed recipe in quite some time, because I understand much more how different flavors & textures and methods of cooking work together, so I do a pretty good job analyzing recipes before making them.

I've watched Chinese friends cook, I've taken a cooking class in China, I've watched chefs in restaurants in China, and what I can see is that there is no actual recipe or measuring spoons of any sort. In the chinese cooking class I took in Yangshuo, the girl teaching it (She was very young!), she taught us to measure ingredients in the metal spatula we also used to stir food in the wok with. We added a quarter size amount of one ingredient, a half dollar size amount of another ingredient. She would come around and say "no, too much" or "not enough"- and just know exactly how much. Of course it was perfect tasting afterwards, and when I tried to replicate at home later, my amounts were all wrong and the taste was nothing like in the class!

I've watched my friend Mei cook, and she follows the same sort of philosophy. I am astounded at the food I taste from her kitchen- she always proclaims it "so simple and not very interesting", but if I could be so lucky as to eat her cooking every night, I would in a heartbeat!

So this is how I came to have a recipe from Mei. When I was in Germany in June she made this beef and potato dish that was just amazing. She explained to me how to make it, and sent me typed out instructions via email. Tonight is my first attempt to make it.

The instructions look something like this:
peel potatoes, how much depends what you like.
cut to blocks, throw in pot with water, boil the potatoes a few minutes. cut beef ribs and marinate in some soy sauce and salt and fennel. after 6-7 minutes, fry ribs in sunflower oil, meanwhile put in ginger, garlic, rosemary, cumin, caraway, cinnamon (stick). fry until not red (Judged by look!)
Pour fried things into potatoes and steam together, first big heat, then lower heat, 2-3 hours lower heat. Judge by looking if you should pour a little bit more water or not.

So this I am referring to as "Free Form Chinese Cooking", or also known as "a Giant Leap Of Faith." I *KNOW* how this srecipe should taste! I just hope it tastes as it should! Wish me luck!