liuzhou

Here is a new one to me. In Shanghai there is a company named 肉管家 (ròu guǎn jiā) which means Housekeeper or Butler Meat, although they have chosen "Mr Meat" as their English name. The company caters mainly to foreigners, of which there are many in Shanghai, but they also ship elsewhere. They specialise in American cuts of meat of all types, but mostly beef. They also do their own beef sausages using beef from Australia. In addition, they do these sausages. You may be thinking they are blood sausages, as I did first time I saw them, but no. These are Mr Meat's Cuttlefish Sausages - 肉管家墨鱼肠 (ròu guǎn jiā mò yú cháng). Inside they look like this. The actual cuttlefish is mixed with pork and the cuttlefish ink and spicing and stuffed into natural pork casings. 720 grams (a touch over 1½ pounds) of sausages costs me ¥144.32 or $19.76, so expensive for here. But a nice change.

They don't look at all "perfect" to me.

蒜苔猪肝 (suàn tái zhū gān), pork liver with garlic shoots.

Rock and chips is or was common in British fish and chip shops when I was a kid. Cheaper than cod or haddock. I'm not sure however if that is the same species as rock fish in North America whichI'm told comes from the Pacific. Cod is certainly better, but in my opinion haddock is the winner for fish and chips. It's more popular in Scotland. I've been really craving fish and chips recently, but I'm reliant on delivery meals due to my health or rather lack of it, and the locals don't do fish and chips. My nearest fish and chip options are in Hong Kong, 316 miles, a day and a lot of administrative hassle away.

27℃ is what I set my air conditioner at when I want to cool down! It's 35℃ here right now at 23:30. Has been for months. Looking forward to what's coming up next from your trip.

🤪🤪🤪 Well, I used juice as nuts don't have milk as the vegan mob convince themselves. Yes, Wagon Wheels are similar to Moon Pies, but I suspect not identical.

This evening, while my friends and neighbours were busy contemplating the moon... ,,, I was lying in bed eating a mooncake from yesterday's gifts (above). These are made in the 5-star hotel, next door to my home and are considered by the locals to be the best. Thankfully, they are the traditional type, with salted egg yolk, representing the moon, and surrounded by sweet bean paste. Not bad, but mooncakes will never be a favourite. That's the one I ate sitting on the box containing nine more.

I was responding to @Tropicalseniorwho did not specify she wanted it for Japanese food. I know she has difficulty sourcing Asian ingredients where she is and also know she cooks Chinese food from time to time. She did mention しゃぶしゃぶ but also said she has the soy sauce she wants for that. I did say usually it refers to light soy sauce. China does make up around 70% of the population of East Asia, so how they translate it is usual. The problem does not arise in Chinese. Light soy sauce is 生抽 (shēng chōu), whereas dark is 老抽 (lǎo chōu).

Obesity is on the rise in China (and SE Asia). Still half as low than in America, though. As discussed here.

Yes, same brand. 'Haday' seems to be the name they use for export. In Chinese it's Hai Tian which is less easy to pronounce correctly unless you know how.

Sure. Much of it is made by small producers who don't get into the export market. Can you get 海天 (hǎi tiān) brand in the UK. It is the most popular (and the largest soy sauce company) in China? It's not the best but reasonably good at an affordable price.

Usually, it means light soy sauce. Dark is normally described in full. Yes, as I mentioned, dark soy sauce is mainly used for colour and in small quantities.

Most people I know would have one of each, yes. I have seven at the moment, but I'm not normal (or Chinese). Pearl River Bridge is not really considered the best here but generally more so than LKK. In fact, neither are even available in most stores.

Ah. The Woks of Strife! I wouldn't trust them to cook rice! Mushroom flavoured soy sauce is a whole other thing. https://www.nutritionix.com/food/dark-soy-sauce

The brands I would recommend are probably not available where you are, although Pearl River is much more respected and is widely available in the US as you have said. My point is that dark and light soy sauce are two different things of equal value, but different functions. Apples and oranges tofu.

Yeah. But it is used in much smaller doses than light.

Nonsense. Dark soy sauce is widely used in Chinese cooking for colour, as I said. Colour is just as important as flavour in Chinese cuisine. It isn't used for flavour. Maybe a waste in American cuisine. LKK is the Heinz of China. Low grade. And oyster sauce is Cantonese, which accounts for about 4% of China.

On average, one tablespoon of dark soy sauce contains 879 milligrams of sodium. Whereas regular soy sauce contains 1000 mg.

In China 'light soy sauce' is the norm, too. Low sodium sauce is clearly marked as such.

🙄🙄🙄 It's the other way round. Dark is less salty and mainly used for colour. Molasses sounds totally wrong to me, although some cheap (and nasty) brands do add molasses to their recipe. Too sweet. Can you find mushroom soy sauce? If not, Kikkoman is technically more akin to a dark soy sauce than to light. I agree that rice vinegar is not a substitute for mirin, but I don't agree that the vinegar in the recipe is being used as a substitute. It is surely being used to give a hint of acid to balance the rest of the sauce, which you wouldn't get from mirin. Now I'm going to put my eyes back in and have a long lie down. Good luck with the recipe. It sounds fine.

Wagon Wheels were invented in Britain by Burton's Bakery Co. which still makes them. The company started in 1935, although the Burton family had being make biscuits since the mid 1800s. They still sell 125 million Wagon Wheels a year in the UK alone. In 2013, the company was bought by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, who in turn sold it on in 2021. It is now owned by a Ferraro related company. Still based in Birmingham, England they sell Wagon Wheels in 170 countries around the world. Those I received are a Chinese clone. and although it's over 60 years since I ate an original one, they appear very similar to what I remember. Not very pleasant. The Chinese name has no relation to Wagon Wheels, though; it translates as 'Daily Garden'. The company, Dali Food Group was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Hui'an, Fujian Province, opposite Taiwan. It seems they entered China during the British rule of Hong Kong. https://www.burtonsbiscuits.com

On further investigation of the gifts above, I discovered that the contents of the ‘nuts’ box were a couple of cans of nut juice and several packs of nutty things. Almonds from Australia / USA, Cashews from Vietnam, Hazelnuts from Turkey, Walnuts from China, Cranberries from Canada, Blueberries from Chile and Blackcurrants from Uzbekistan! The cakes were these. Mooncakes will be investigated tomorrow on Mooncake Day.

Compared to my usual meals, yes. Frog does tend to be a bit more expensive than other proteins. More fiddly to work with, I suppose.

Despite yesterday's miserable deliver dinner, tonight I took my fate in my hands and ordered again from a previously untested restaurant. 蒜米炒牛蛙 (suàn mǐ chǎo niú wā), which is stirfried bullfrog with whole garlic cloves. The other main ingredients were red onion, ginger, chilli, soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine Hallelujah! It was excellent. Garlicky, spicy, and frog-sweet. A winner. Served with rice, natch. ¥42.80 / $5.86 USD