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@Shel_B Amazon (France)

Source, please.

Chicken tray bake.

@Ddanno not any old American bacon , Benton's bacon. The King ( or Queen ) of Bacon .

I've only ever used generic supermarket peppercorns. Spurred on by the comments here, I thought I'd broaden my horizons... Well, night and day, innit? Thanks.

Pork tenderloin Country Captain

No. Nor did I suggest anyone did.

Over this side of the pond they have gone up in price a lot. Last few years I haven’t seen the 36” version for less than £700, they’re usually around £740-750. At the weekend I saw someone post on Reddit that Costco had them at a decent price in store. I was going any way so told my friend I’d pick him one up. Long story short, I came away with two 😁 At £360 I just couldn’t pass the deal up, less than half the price I could normally get one for. Not been able to unpack it yet but looking forward to giving it a go. We had a similar sized plancha at a holiday rental in France last summer and loved it.

山西菜 (shān xī cài), Shanxi Cuisine, 晋菜 (jìn cài) Jin Cuisine This won’t take long. Shanxi Province (山西), not to be confused with Shaanxi (陕西)*, its neighbouring province to the west, is in the north of China, also bordering Hebei to the east, Henan to the south and Inner Mongolia to the north. The capital is Taiyuan. The region has a reputation in China for being poor and very conservative. It is China’s largest coal-mining province and also host to satellite launching sites. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Unlike most of China, they eat pork much less and little beef (with none exception), Shanxi people tend to favour lamb, mutton or goat much more. The cuisine is not well known (or much liked) in the rest of China, with only a few exceptions. These are vinegar and noodles. I tend to agree with the rest of China apart from these exceptions and despite my love of sheep and goats, I believe this is the least appealing province in China in which to eat to eat. So, the exceptions: 山西老陈醋 (shān xī lǎo chén cù), literally Shanxi aged vinegar, is a type of dark vinegar made in the province, as it has been done for over three centuries. It is one of the most popular dark vinegars in China, only outshone by Zhenjiang vinegar from Jiangsu province. This vinegar is inexplicably rendered as 'Chinkiang vinegar' only in North America. At a minimum, the vinegar is aged for 9 months before being sold, but better quality examples can be up to ten years old. The vinegar can be used as a condiment, but is more commonly used in prepared dishes as an ingredient. It is a protected origin product in China. Shanxi Aged Vinegar A couple of foods traditionally ascribed to Shanxi have made their way into neighbouring provinces and beyond – especially its noodles where they have been popularised. 刀削面 (dāo xiāo miàn), or knife shaved noodles are one such example. These are made, as the name suggest by the chef taking a lump of dough and theatrically shaving off small pieces directly into boiling water. Knife Shaved Noodles - Image: p1.ssl.qhmsg.com 猫耳朵 (māo ěr duo) literally ‘cat’s ears’ are basically a Chinese version of the Italian orecchiette pasta and found everywhere. There are some in my pantry, many, many miles from Shanxi and bought five minutes away from home. Cat's Ears - Image: n.sinaimg.cn Then we have 凉皮 (liáng pí), literally ‘cold skin (noodles), reportedly another Shanxi invention, but now probably much more associated with Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi. These are rice noodles made from the starch extracted from the rice by long soaking. It then forms a soft paste which is sliced into noodles. Liangpi Despite the general disinterest in beef, Pinyao, an ancient city in central Shanxi has a long tradition of making 平遥牛肉 (píng yáo niú ròu), a type of cooked and pickled calf leg. Pingyao Beef - Image: pic.nximg.cn Almost finally, I’m going to get in your head and play with your brain. Two perhaps odd Shanxi dishes. First up is 傅山头脑 (fù shān tóu nǎo), Fushan brains which, like many people has no brains. It is a winter soup made from lamb, rice wine, yam and other spices. It is named after Fu Shan (1607–1684), a scholar and artist from Taiyuan. Maybe he had the brains. Fushan Brains - image: static.yueya.ne Then, if you’ll still short of brains we have 太原头脑 (tài yuán tóu nǎo), literally ‘Taiyhuan brains’ from the capital (pun intended) city. It is still brainless. It’s a kind of porridge with mutton, rice wine, and various vegetables and TCM herbage that do nothing they claim to do. Taiyuan Brains - Image: soho.co Finally, the most popular local spirit is 汾酒 (fén jiǔ), Fenjiu, a "light fragrance" variety of sorghum baijiu that is generally sweeter than other northern Chinese spirits. It is the most palatable type of baijiu for most people – but only just. Maybe it’s this that has done for their brains. Fenjiu Next, I’ll go to somewhere more interesting. * I known these province names seem ridiculously similar to most western ears and did to me for a while. I could never remember where I lived when I was in Xi’an. However, they are not in the least confusing to native Chinese speakers’ ears or eyes. Different characters and different tones. The double ‘a’ in Shaanxi is one of the few times pinyin breaks it own rules, but was introduced to placate ignorant foreigners like me. Otherwise uncredited images are mine.

Did anyone suggest that LKK was an artisan or high end product? Did I miss it somehow?[8

I agree. Anyway, meat grinders / mincers are rare here.

I consider chopping and grinding to be very different processes, and that's the point. Grinding tears the meat fibers apart whereas even finely chopped meat has intact pieces so the texture is better in this dish. If I recall, it is usually recommended to chop steak tartare rather than grinding hamburger. Gordon Ramsey says even using a food processor doesn't produce the right texture (whether or not you consider him an expert...)

Only the supplier contact - thanks for that. But it seemed like there might be more information. If so, do you want to PM me here?

Griker, did you get my email about lecithin?

There are any number of "artisan" oyster sauces around,, many of them excellent. Unfortunately (or maybe not) the majority are very small scale and only made in limited amounts. Same with anything genuinely artisan. Lee Kum Kee doesn't come anywhere to those. They are much better options. LKK is a massive industrial company churning out around 300 different products in multiple factories, mostly in mainland China, although their HQ is in Hong Kong. Most of their output is exported. They don't have a good reputation where they are made. They do say they invented oyster sauce, but many companies have improved it dramatically. That said, oyster sauce isn't used in most Chinese food in China. Largely Cantonese.

My British brain just cannot comprehend this. These are tumble dryer sheets that will make your clothes (and tumble dryer, and the room where the tumble dryer is, and wherever you subsequently store the clothes, and all clothes in said furniture, and that room as well, and then the wearer) smell of bacon? And not real bacon, American bacon?!

Chuu chii curry bay scallops. Red curry paste was half commercial and half homemade (I was missing some key ingredients). Made with cooked-down coconut cream, so very rich. Fried rice with shiitake mushrooms and roasted Poblano chile.

Thanks for those tips!

Deeply jealous of the beautiful and abundant elk. How do you smoke it? And what cut?

Yes - but I suspect if I had just put the hot pan on the granite for a bit, then put the parchment on it - it would have worked. Actually did mis en place which is unusual for me! Added a bit of water to the soda. Kept the PB hot in the microwave - may have had 3 or 4 X 30 second bursts. Left the pot on the hot element while I added the soda, vanilla and PB. Corrected the recipe to add the butter just before peanuts.

Hilarious, but not for me. However if one smokes their own meats (like @rotuts) the dryer sheets could be “renewed” at home, “a pack of 10 organic cotton dryer sheets, smoked right next to Benton’s world-famous hams…” 🤣

@blue_dolphin very odd. their bacon is m however , top notch.

Grilled Asparagus and Prosciutto Salad - mixed baby greens and diced prosciutto are combined with a vinaigrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, dijon mustard and chives. Topped with grilled asparagus and served with grilled Italian sausages

Benton's Country Hams released a limited offering of smoky bacon scented dryer sheets for Fathers Day. Ten individually vacuum sealed sheets bundled with a T-shirt and 3 packs of bacon for $75 If you think that's a better idea than I do, I’m sorry to inform you that they sold out but you can find a link here to sign up to be notified of the next release: https://www.bentonssmokedsheets.com

A couple of meals from the last week or so, all picked by my nephew. Chipotle style (I guess?) rice bowls Another day he grilled some peri peri style chicken, and I made a big salad and some crisp roasted potatoes with a creamy cilantro dipping sauce that everyone really liked Ina Garten's recipe for spaghetti and spicy turkey meatballs