liuzhou

牙签牛肉 (yá qiān niú ròu), Toothpick Beef. 24 hour marinated beef slices in soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wing with garlic, cumin and chilli flakes, then threaded onto toothpicks. Quick fried and finished with white sesame seeds. Usually eaten as a snack or as a 'tapa' in bars, they are available cooked from some supermarkets but I make my own to get control of the chilli level and the cook on the meat. I find the supermarket ones under-spiced and over-cooked. I go for a medium rare, which only takes seconds. Threading the toothpicks takes makes longer.

Ha! I learned it from an uncle almost 70 years ago. He was Irish! Where he got it, I don't know.

Boiled sausages Are the worst. In your stomach They do burst. Fried sausages Are the best. In your stomach They do rest. Everybody knows dat!

Thanks for this. It triggered many memories and good to see familiar sights after far too long.

It's a desert I encountered in the 1980s in a French restaurant in London very near my home. Simple frozen, peeled grapes in a one part Pernod to four parts water pond. I was always glad my house was just round the corner. Now I can only have it at home, which is probably for the good!

Some last minute supplies for Wednesday. There is a local brand of digestive biscuits, but seriously only McVitie's make the grade. Great with cheddar. (Don't grate with cheddar!) and For with my manchego. These are BIG. Here they are with a regular black olive for scale Then this To be used as a desert with frozen grapes. All I need to do now is decide what to eat. Probably fish, but what type? Decisions! Decisions! Possibly not with this gravy! The back story. The lyrics.

I'm confused by this and @donk79's comment. On the link I posted, at least for me, there is a download button which should show you the complete 30-page PDF of the paper. If you can't download it and are still interested. please let me know. I can post it here or send by PM.

Yes. My grandmother in France had something very similar, too. The article has an American viewpoint but they were all over Europe, too.

What do you mean? Why do you want a university account?

Those who know me know that I have more than a soft spot for the food of Hunan, where I lived from 1997-1999. I have a hard spot! It has been reported that the average Hunan person consumes around 50 kilograms of chilli peppers a year. That’s an average of around 140 grams a day, every day. Before I lived there, I would have thought that highly unlikely and started looking for the flaw in the mathematics. I soon learned that, if anything, it’s an underestimation. Hunan grows many different types of chilli but one is considered the Rolls Royce of chillies. Or as the Chinese put it, 辣椒中的爱马仕 (là jiāo zhòng dì ài mǎ shì), the “Hermès of Chillies”. Note this is not a direct reference to the Greek god or to Percy Weasley’s owl in the Harry Potter franchise. It is to the French luxury goods company and reflects the high price these varietals fetch – up to 600 times the price of regular chillies. It is considered to be highly fragrant (I agree) but it has a low yield with only 14,200 tons being grown in 2023. Its ‘real’ name is 樟树港辣椒 (zhāng shù gǎng là jiāo) meaning Zhangshugang Chilli, Zhangshugang being a town in Hunan and which holds the sole right to grow the type. It is said the unique weather and soil conditions make the peppers crispy, tender and strong. The name has been trademarked and has been approved by the Hunan Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as an agro-product with geographical indication. Not only that; they may be the only chillies to have travelled to space! I don’t know. However, two years ago, 163 grams of Zhangshugang chilli seeds were carried into space by the Shenzhou XIV spaceship to see whether that improved their germination, flavour, spiciness or anything else. Early analysis is reported to be positive. So, at great personal expense, travail, inconvenience and hardship, I bring you these wonders of the capsicum family which I purchased today. They are at their best in late spring and early summer, so a bit cheaper in December. Zhangshugang Chillies Having bought them purely for educational purposes, I will now discard them and certainly not be using them in my dinner tonight. Perish the thought.

Interesting article here on "innovation that helped change the status of the kitchen in the American home". From a 1916 advertisement for Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets via Wikimedia Commons

Potato starch is my go-to thickening agent.

How about these dumplings? The Chinese reads 'Hardworking Children'.

I made my own from scratch 30+ years ago. I can get all the required ingredients here in China, but living alone means I don't need so many! It's not worth the trouble making a big batch and my friends aren't interested. Also, there is a slight problem in that, like almost everyone here, I don't have an oven. My daughter still makes them back in England.

I have a confession to make. I fell by the wayside and into shameful temptation. I only meant to eat one, but suddenly my box of Scottish mince pies I bought and promised myself I'd keep unsullied until Christmas Eve became empty! So, I ordered another but as punishment for my sin, the only supplier in China is out of stock. (Maybe he ate them, too.) He did apologise and offered to instead send me a box of the more expensive Glenfiddich Whisky type, but at no extra cost! There is redemption! I've also ordered some Gordal olives to go with my manchego. And some digestive biscuits to go with my cheddar.