liuzhou

I'll take the Échiré butter, butter, please. I can buy it here but the minimum order is 2kg.

牛肉炒粉 (niú ròu chǎo fěn), beef fried rice noodles with beansprouts.

This is possibly probably the worst recipe I've ever found on the internet. Apart from being riddled with basic English errors ('loose' instead of 'lose'), it sounds like a recipe for disaster. Who the hell cooks chicken hearts for 2¼ hours? Who in hell puts carrots, parsnips, chickpeas, tomato and lard into anything described as chicken anything pâté?? And why does it take 4 hours to make when it cooks for 2¼? What do you do for the other 1¾ hours? I regularly make chicken heart pâté. No vegetation other than shallots and it takes maybe 20 minutes on a bad day!

Good news. Late last night, I managed to track down an alternative supplier of the smoked herring in the same city as that mentioned in the previous post and ordered one to sample. They just informed me my parcel has been shipped. It is a long way though, so it'll take two or three days to get here.

This may not seem much to get excited about to most of you but I can explain. 1) Hummus is almost unknown here and difficult to find. 2) Because of its unavailability, to satisfy my hummus needs, in the past, I’ve made it from scratch. All the ingredients are available. However, I have to make the tahini, too. It is equally difficult to find. Although I’ve made the tahini and then the hummus many times, it’s a grind (literally). Hummus Ingredients So for me, it’s fun to just open a tub of this very good hummus imported from Lebanon. I buy the regular type but it also comes in a number of flavours: with za-atar; with red peppers; with red hot chilli. $3.50 USD / 215g a tub plus delivery $0.55 no matter how many tubs I buy.

Sautéed literally means 'jumped' or 'leapt' in French too.

I mentioned the Great British Cheese Heist at the time, but according to this article in the Guardian today, sophisticated food scams are on the rise worldwide. Who stole all the cheese? The inside story of the boom in luxury food heists | Food | The Guardian

A Sad tale Being of the Scottish persuasion by birth and upbringing, I am extremely partial to smoked fish. Kippers, Finnan Haddie, Arbroath Smokies, Smoked Mackerel and, of course, Smoked Salmon etc. Here in China, I have a problem. A lot of “smoked” fish has never been near smoke other than perhaps the vendor’s cigarette in its life! Probably the most famous dish is what is usually described as Shanghai Smoked Fish, 上海熏鱼 (shàng hǎi xūn yú). I enjoy this but smoked it ain’t. Shanghai Not Smoked Fish - Image Mietuan Online Shopping App This misnaming isn’t dishonesty or deliberate fraud but a linguistic / translation problem. 熏 (xūn) can mean ‘smoked’ but has other meanings such as to fumigate, to assail the nostrils, to perfume. I suggest the nostril assault meaning is the correct one for the fish, which is usually carp. This Mala Market piece goes into detail as to how it’s actually made, although it doesn’t mention the linguistic confusion. Another word for ‘smoke’ is 烟 (yān), which also mend cigarette or tobacco. This is slightly more reliable but still no guarantees. It is often combined with 熏 (xūn) to give 烟熏 (yān xūn). Which still tells you not very much. More reliable but far from infallible is 熏烤 (xūn kǎo) which means ‘to smoke or cure over a wood fire’. The only decent, actually smoked fish I’ve found here was rather expensive smoked sturgeon from the world’s largest caviar supplier. Smoked Sturgeon Recently, I recently found some smoked herring, made in China, but described as Russian style. I tried to have it delivered from Heilongjiang Province, China’s most northern bordering Siberia. As soon as I placed the order they announced it had been withdrawn from sale. 😭😭😭

I'm stocking up on 'open-hearted nuts', the literal translation of the Chinese name for pistachios. Trying to maximise my hoard before the price doubles. 99% of our pistachios come from the USA.

Yesterday, my beer delivery company threw in the strangest thing yet as a freebie. According to the product name it is "泡椒臭干子", which translates as 'Pickled Chili Stinking Nuts'. It is two slices of something - about the size of one of those nori pieces you get on some sushi. It doesn't smell of anything. Fortunately, it has to list ingredients. Here's the list (computer translation) Straight into the trash. No nuts. I'd be nuts to eat it!

Picasso was very interested in food and even published recipes in Vogue. He also created many food artworks in paintings but also in ceramics and other media. Here is an article from the BBC on that very subject. BBC Arts - BBC Arts - A feast for the eyes: What Picasso's Kitchen reveals about his art and a couple of recipes from Vogue Haute Cuisine: Picasso’s Recipes from the Pages of Vogue | Vogue

Qi Baishi 齐白石 (qí bái shí) (1864-1957) was a Chinese artist from my beloved Hunan. He specialised in the natural, including seafood. Born into a poor family, he trained as a carpenter but privately studied art. When he was around 40 years old, he went travelling around China, finally ending up in Beijing where he died. He also managed to find time to breed, having five children with his wife and seven with his concubine. He was the first Chinese artist to sell an artwork for more than 100 million US dollars, joining the likes of Picasso and Van Gogh. Unfortunately, long after he died. In 2008 a crater on Mercury was named after him, not that there is any evidence he ever travelled there! Today, I took possession of a print of one of his many shrimp paintings. Slightly less than 100 million. More like $7.35 USD, although I could have had it unframed for $1.15. Sorry., it was difficult to get a straight on picture without reflections. I do find it difficult sometimes to ‘get’ Chinese art but Chinese people have the same feeling about western art. Picasso baffles them. However, this one (unnamed) I do like. It is now hanging in my kitchen.

I'm being making this dish for about 50 years but it has slowly evolved and become slightly Sinicized in the process. Chicken with black olives, black garlic, regular garlic, chopped coriander leaf and white wine. With rice.

That I did know, but when I looked into it more, I found that, in fact, that was the first meaning. It came from the Haitian language and entered English via Spanish as early as 1555. The fish name tuna didn't arrive for another 326 years, being previously known as tunny, The tuna as a fish was also preceded by it being the name of two freshwater eels. Tuna was also an early 19th century term for an officer of a Zulu king!

If I may sneak in a second mountain in my range. Twin Peaks. Gruyere Grana Padano Mozzarella di latte di bufala Occelli Castagna (Chestnut leaf) .... and if I'm being very sneaky Stilton