Reading Chinese Menus: Characters: 手 — shǒu — hand

[kake]

手

手 (shǒu) is the Chinese character for "hand". It appears on menus in reference to human hands, animal "hands", and figurative hands.

As 手撕 (shǒu sī), which means "hand-torn", it refers to the chef's hands. 手撕 describes a method of breaking up an ingredient, usually chicken (雞/jī) or cabbage (包菜/bāo cài).

As 手工 (shǒu gōng), which means "hand-made", it again refers to the chef's hands. You might see this as 手工水餃 (shǒu gōng shuǐ jiǎo/hand-made dumplings).

As 豬手 (zhū shǒu), literally "pig hands", it means pig trotters. Note that there are a number of other terms for pig trotters, including 豬蹄 (zhū tí) and 豬腳 (zhū jiǎo).

Finally, as 抄手 (chāo shǒu), which literally means "crossed hands", it refers to a type of dumpling folded in such a way as to resemble a person's arms crossed across their chest (this Flickr photo is a good demonstration of what I mean here).

Here are some dishes with 手 in the name:

紅油抄手	hóng yóu chāo shǒu	"crossed hands" dumplings in chilli oil ("red oil")
雞湯抄手	jī tāng chāo shǒu	"crossed hands" dumplings in chicken soup
紅燒豬手	hóng shāo zhū shǒu	red-cooked pig trotter
香辣豬手	xiāng là zhū shǒu	fragrant-spicy pig trotter
海蜇手撕雞	hǎi zhé shǒu sī jī	jellyfish with hand-torn chicken
手撕包菜	shǒu sī bāo cài	hand-torn cabbage

Note that the mirror image of 手 — 毛 (máo) — also appears on Chinese menus, essentially in two main contexts. The first is related to the fact that 毛 was the family name of Chairman Mao Zedong, and reportedly his favourite dish was 紅燒肉 (hóng shāo ròu), or red-cooked pork. Because of this, 紅燒肉 is often listed on menus as 毛氏紅燒肉 (máo shì hóng shāo ròu) — "Chairman Mao's red-cooked pork". The second context is related to 毛's other meaning, "hairy". As I mentioned a while back in my post on 豆/dòu/bean, the Chinese name for green soya beans (edamame) is 毛豆 (máo dòu), literally "hairy bean".

手:	shǒu	radical 64 (手/扌/龵)	Cantodict	MandarinTools	YellowBridge	Zhongwen
毛:	máo	radical 82 (毛)	Cantodict	MandarinTools	YellowBridge	Zhongwen

Related posts:

• 雞 (jī/chicken),
• 菜 (cài/vegetable),
• 水 (shuǐ/water),
• 湯 (tāng/soup),
• 豆 (dòu/bean),
• 手撕包菜 (shǒu sī bāo cài/hand-torn cabbage),
• 紅燒肉 (hóng shāo ròu/red-cooked pork)

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

[eatlovenoodles.blogspot.com]

You could be onto something re: the flaps. as won ton 雲吞 means 'swallowing clouds' - and won tons do look like clouds with those billowing flaps.

[kake]

What a fantastic image! I don't think I'll ever see them the same way again. I used not to like them at all, but then I found out they don't have to be deep-fried...

[eatlovenoodles.blogspot.com]

It's strange that you first came across won ton as deep fried, as won ton soup is such an iconic dish.

[kake]

I don't think I've ever eaten wonton soup! Maybe it's time I gave it a go. I think the idea of wontons as "deep-fried thing I don't like" was ingrained in me early — the town where I grew up wasn't exactly known for its Chinese cuisine, but it did have a Chinese takeaway that sold pretty much exactly what you might expect given its location...