liuzhou

Another example is 水饺 (shuǐ jiǎo), meaning "boiled dumplings". Both syllables use a falling and rising tone. If you get it wrong and use only falling tones, 睡觉 shuì jiào, then you are saying "sleep" or "go to bed".

While the locals are battling to get their favourite places back, the local government, in their infinite wisdom, is trying to lure more Tik-Tok idiots to the city. They have commissioned a luosifen mural near the entrance to what used to be my favourite market but is now a hell-hole.

Like many other languages, Mandarin Chinese is tonal. This means that each syllable is assigned one of five tones. Other syllables with otherwise the same pronunciation will often have different tones. These tones are important. Get the tone wrong and you change the meaning. This can be embarrassing in that while you intend saying something inconsequential, you actually come out with something shocking or amusing. One that I hope is deliberate (I know it isnt) is food related. Bell peppers, the most pointless vegetable ever are, in Mandarin 甜椒 (tián jiāo). The first syllable, tián, has a rising tone while the second has a high flat tone. Accidentally change both tones to falling then rising and you've changed the meaning to the verb 'to lick feet', something more flavourful! There are many more food related examples which I will put here as I come across them.

兰州拉面 (lán zhōu lā miàn), Lanzhou hand pulled noodles in soup with beef. Lanzhou city is the origin of hand pulled noodles. The city is mainly Muslim, so no pork. Served with 馕 (náng), the Lanzhou type of naan bread. From my local Halal (清真 - qīng zhēn) restaurant run by a lovely Lanzhou couple. The husband pulls the noodles to order.

This pretty specimen is a 龙胆石斑鱼 (lóng dǎn shí bān yú), Dragon Faced Grouper. It is a man-made hybrid of Lóng Dǔn" (龙趸), The Giant Grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) on the male side and 老虎斑 (lǎo hǔ bān), The Brown-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus fuscogattus) on the female. Its versatile flesh is suitable for a wide range of cooking methods. It can be simply steamed and finished with soy sauce, braised with fermented black soy beans, or used in soups and hot pots. .

The smallest fish I've ever seen or eaten, at least in their dried state which is how they are usually sold, are 丁香鱼 (dīng xiāng yú), clove fish or, less often, lilac fish. Always eaten as a condiment, these tiny members of the herring family are native to the East China Sea where they live on plankton. Dried, they rarely exceed 3cm in length. They are often used in Chinese XO sauce where they bring umami, are added to congee or fried with vegetables. My favourite is this bottled version with fermented soy beans. Salty, savoury and umami packed they make great beer food.

The Liuzhou locals have come up with a cunning plan to protect us from the hordes of Tic-Tok morons expected to descend on us at the Chinese New Year starting on February 17th. Liuzhou residents are flooding relevant Chinese social media with bad reviews of their local favourites in the hope of diverting the unwelcome visitors to those places they don't like. I'm not at all sure this will work.

There may be an overload of information here for people who only want to know what Shaoxing to buy for home cooking, so here is a kind of summary and a few pointers. I'll start by saying to be wary of any Shaoxing which doesn't have Chinese on the label. Most (nearly all) are fake. The characters to look for are 绍兴 or 興趣. Both mean Shaoxing, but the first is as used in mainland China; the second as in Hong Kong and among many overseas Chinese. The names are a legally enforced guarantee the wines are from Shaoxing and made to strictly designated standards. The ingredients should ony be water, glutinous rice and wheat (水, 糯米, 卖/麥). Cheaper, low quality brands often add caramel (焦糖). If you live in a jurisdiction which mandates adding salt 盐/鹽, move! Or search stores licensed to sell alcohol. As with many wines, Shaoxing can be aged to improve flavour. Here is a key to most commonly found ages in Chinese. 3 years - 三年 5 years - 五年 8 years - 八年 12 years - 十二年 Anything over eight years would be a waste in cooking. Two more quality indicators for quality in cooking grade are 花雕 / 花彫 and 加饭/ 加飯. Happy cooking! For more details on these points, see above.

I didn't mean to suggest that you did something incorrectly. I don't know exactly what you bought. Although, looking it up I found on Amazon that it contains caramel which is another bad sign. Going by Amazon's price, I'd say you could probably find something better for very little more. Anyway, perhaps this discussion would be better in the Shaoxing Wine topic.

Doew the bottle give any indicaton of where that "Shaoxing" wine is made? I've never seen anything like that and their website gives no information. I do see from your bottle that it's salted. Never a good sign.

Yeah And I've never heard that pronunciation anywhere but America. They are 180 degrees wrong.

I have seldom read so much ignorant nonsense as this. The "writer" gets everything wrong. https://www.chefsresource.com/how-to-say-basil/

Yes. Here potatoes are not used so much as a starch but as a vegetable in its own right, just like any other. This is a popular way to deal with them. The potatoes retain a crispiness and the vinegar cuts the richness of the soy sauce braising sauce of the meatballs.

红烧狮子头 (hóng shāo shī zi tóu), Red Cooked Lion's Head Meatballs. 70:30 fatty pork, glutinous rice meatballs fried then braised in soy sauce. 醋溜土豆丝 (cù liū tǔ dòu sī), Vinegared Shredded Potato Julienned potato with vinegar and green and red chilli. Served with rice.

Sauscisse is the (nuch) older version from which the English derivation comes. Saucisson is modern French, although both are still used.