liuzhou

Unfortunately, I can only find it in the original Korean, without subtitles. Although I know a little Korean, I am not up to getting much of this. 불운!

Yes, exactly. Cider* is impossible to find. I too was surprised to find that. They do have an apple wine I can find, but it is too sweet for moules. * By which I mean what you call 'hard cider' in America. In Europe, all cider is alcoholic and apple based.

I forgot to post these pictures of the shai lan ham, showing how it is sold. Avocado for scale.

Dinner tonight was special. From 1997 to 98, I lived in in 怀化 (huái huà) prefecture of 湘西 (xiāng xī), or Western Hunan. Nearby was the small remote town of 沅陵 (yuán líng), mainly inhabited by people of the Miao and Tujia ethnic minorities. I had (still have) friends who live there. I soon discovered that they make a special dry-cured ham, called 晒兰 (shài lán), only found in that town. I fell in love with it and bought it regularly. A few weeks ago, I realised that I hadn’t eaten it for a couple of years, so with the aid of friends there, tried to obtain some. They refused to send it to me, saying that the weather was too hot for shipping and they were worried it wouldn’t arrive in prime condition. I said to send it when they felt it would be OK. This week, after just over a month, ½ a kilo arrived and tonight I cooked a little of it. I did so in the manner I was taught by a Yuanling housewife. With 四李豆 (sì lǐ dòu), green beans, garlic, chilli (of course; it’s from Hunan) rice wine and soy sauce. Simple and delicious. Served with rice. I vacuum sealed the rest and it's in the freezer.

I do make them different ways. I've done them over the years with wine, beer, cider, Pernod etc. Moules marinières originated in Normandy and is believed to have originally used cider. It's probably the more traditional way; not wine although that is now most common. Normandy is not traditionally a wine area, although there are now a handful of wineries. Cider would have been plentiful, cheap and easily available for Norman mariners. Not wine.

In most of the world, it's the opposite.

One of the less appealing sights in the local supermarkets and markets are these trays of gloop known as 鱼杂 (yú zá), which basically means 'fish mixture', but really means '鱼内脏 (yú nèi zàng).' This means 'fish inner organs' and is what those of you who clean your own fish almost certainly throw away. It is the maw, liver and intestines of unidentified fish but probably carp. The maw is tasteless but is prized for texture; the liver is, in my view, inferior; and the intestines are pointless. But surprisingly popular. Added to soups and hotpots. I'll eat them, but never go looking for and certainly never cook.

Bulk buying of food is rare here in China, largely because, in general, people prefer shopping for fresh food on a daily basis. Canned and packaged foods are much less common than in the west. In fact canned foods are very rare. Supermarkets carry very little frozen foods - mostly dumplings. Maybe this explains an odd phenomenon I’ve often encountered. Having successfully utilised some Belgian apple beer into moules marinières, I decided to get in a few bottles for future use – I like me some mussels. The only store I’ve found stocking said beer is on the other side of the city so I order it for delivery. It turns up within the hour. On the shopping app, the company’s ad lists: 1 bottle = ¥9.50 6 bottles = ¥73.50 (12.2 per bottle) 12 bottles = ¥139.50 (11.63 per bottle 24 bottles = ¥295.00 (12.30 per bottle) The more you buy, the more expensive it gets! Not an uncommon feature of Chinese shopping. In one supermarket I used to frequent it was cheaper to take all the cans out of a six pack of beer and put them into your basket separately – one of the staff often came to help me! They were then scanned individually and saved me a fortune over the years. The staff member just shrugged when I questioned her. Not her job. I've seen the same with instant noodles and other goods. I'm planning on buying one a day until I build up a collection! Image from Meituan shopping app.

Traditional Moules Marinière (ie made with cider rather than wine). Unfortunately, I can't find French cider here but managed to get a Belgian lambic apple beer as mentioned here. It worked well, though not so dry as the real thing. So, garlic and shallot were softened in butter, cider added followed by the green-lipped mussels then covered and left a few minutes till the mussels open then added parsley and served with crusty bagette. The broth was excellent and mussels always are anyway! Happy mouth. Vive la France!

Not yet, but probably will. The thing is I actually like them! Just not the industrial version. I may buy some at the market later. However, once I've drunk the six-pack of beer, who knows what I'll do?

After a bit of a lull in the six-pack beer delivery chain, unexpected gifts have resumed (at least for once). This turned up last night. Braised duck tongues with soy sauce, five-spice mixture and twenty-preservative-and-fake-flavour-mixture.

Actually, they don't use ponies. They use donkeys for food and other deliveries. At least, donkeys is the local slang. e-驴 (e-lǘ) means 'electric donkeys' and is the name given to electric scooters, which 99% of them use. This one is parked outside my apartment building now, alongside many others. There are millions of them in the city. Literally.

This is a riff on devilled kidneys. I'm calling it "devilish kidneys". Pork kidneys and shiitake mushrooms fried in butter and olive oil with French whole grain mustard, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, S&P. Finished with coriander leaf and Chinese chives. Served over buttered whole meal toast.

This is odd. Today, I was planning ahead for tomorrow's lunch and decided I really would like to make Moules Mariniere, in the traditional style with Normandy cider. No chance. I've never been able to find any cider here. The nearest I can get is this imported Lindeman's Apple Lambic Beer. Not really what I want but I thought I'll give it a try. I ordered two bottles had it delivered as the only store that carries it is on the other side of the city. It arrived safely, but to my surprise, they included a 'free' promotional bottle opener - one for each bottle! Why? They don't seem to be single use! I already have several bottle openers. The writing on them is the name of the company and translates as Speedy Horse Delivery Alcohol.

I am I the only one to find this combination unappealing? 芥末章鱼味 (jiè mo zhāng yú wèi) means 'mustard (and) octopus flavour'. The first two characters are also used for fake 'wasabi'. I'm 99% sure these contain neither mustard or wasabi, but the related but much cheaper horseradish. Real wasabi is rare and expensive. It is 山葵 (shān kuí) in Chinese; セイヨウワサビ (seiyō wasabi) in Japanese. I think I'd rather eat my octopus with this. At least they admit it's fake in the smaller print, but I don't tend to treat my hair as if a type of sushi!