Reading Chinese Menus: Characters: 皮 — pí — skin/leather/rind

[kake]

皮

One of the main contexts in which you'd see 皮 (pí/skin/leather/rind) on a menu is as 皮蛋 (pí dàn), which translates literally as "skin egg" but is more commonly translated as "century egg", "thousand-year-old egg", or "preserved egg". I've previously discussed 皮蛋 in my post on 蛋 (dàn/egg).

皮 is also used on menus in a more literal sense, as 脆皮 (cuì pí), or "crispy skin"; this could apply to fish, chicken, pork, various deep-fried things such as tofu or spring rolls, and so on.

Similarly, 酥皮 (sū pí) is used to mean "flaky skin", which I've only seen in the context of egg custard tarts — a dim sum dish made with flaky pastry — as 酥皮蛋撻 (sū pí dàn tà) or 酥皮雞蛋撻 (sū pí jī dàn tà). The latter variation adds the character 雞 (jī/chicken); as explained in the abovelinked post on 蛋, this is often done for reasons of euphony, and does not imply that 酥皮蛋撻 are made with non-chicken eggs!

Another manifestation of 皮 is as 腐皮 (fǔ pí), or beancurd skin. This is the skin that forms on top of simmering soya milk, lifted off the surface and dried to form a thin sheet (read more at the Soy Info Center). Beancurd skin is also used in Japanese cuisine, where it's known as yuba. On the Chinese menu, it turns up mainly in a dim sum context, where it's used to wrap various fillings into what are usually translated as something like "beancurd skin rolls".

Here are some dishes with 皮 in the name:

皮蛋豆腐	pí dàn dòu fu	beancurd with preserved egg
皮蛋瘦肉粥	pí dàn shòu ròu zhǒu	congee with lean pork and preserved egg
糖醋脆皮魚	táng cù cuì pí yú	crispy sweet and sour fish
脆皮炸大腸	cuì pí zhà dà cháng	crispy deep-fried intestine
脆皮鍋貼	cùi pí guō tiē	crispy-skinned potstickers
脆皮炸雲吞	cuì pí zhà yún tūn	crispy deep-fried wontons
鮮蝦腐皮卷	xiān xiā fǔ pí juǎn	prawn-stuffed beancurd skin rolls
百花腐皮卷	bǎi huā fǔ pí juǎn	a more poetic name for the above, literally "hundred flowers beancurd skin rolls"
齋腐皮卷	zhāi fǔ pí juǎn	vegetarian beancurd skin rolls

皮:	pí	radical 107 (皮)	Cantodict	MandarinTools	YellowBridge	Zhongwen

Related posts:

• 蛋 (dàn/egg),
• 皮蛋豆腐 (pí dàn dòu fu/beancurd with preserved egg),
• 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pí dàn shòu ròu zhǒu/congee with pork and preserved egg),
• 東北拉皮 (Dōngběi lā pí)

If you have any questions or corrections, please leave a comment (here's how) and let me know (or email me at kake@earth.li). See my introductory post to the Chinese menu project for what these posts are all about.

Comments

[nanaya]

Beancurd skin is awesome! It also shows up quite a bit in Central Asia, which I think may be down to Uighur influence? They make salads out of it. At any rate, I am often baffled by how not-popular it is, as a cheap & tasty source of protein.

[kake]

Ooh, interesting! I don't know much about its use outside China and Japan. Have you got any good recipes, or suggestions for where I can learn more?

I once made a pretty awesome mock duck thing from yuba, though it was quite labour intensive. I think the process was to simmer the skins in a braising liquid based on soy sauce, then layer them and roll them up tightly, possibly simmer that again, and finish up by frying it. I wish I could remember where I learned about it.