liuzhou

Today, five year after mentioning this as here While I've aways been able to find the stems everywhere, I finally found someone selling the green leaves. This was from the same supplier who now stocks culantro, giving me hope that more ingresients featured in Vietnamese food may be coming my way.

In many cultures, if not all, sausages were invented as a way to preserve meat in the days before refrigeration. Families would slaughter a pig and make some of the meat into sausages dry them before the meat went bad. Here in China (and many other countries) some families in the countryside still do. But city families also make sausages to see them through the winter. A selection of home made sausages in my kitchen in China Sausages Drying

Yes. These vac-packed fresh ramen noodles cook in a minute, too. You may not be able to source this brand in Canada, but I'm sure any Asian market or store will have something similar.

Fresh rice noodles, if you can find them, only need a minute. Whether you are actually cooking them or just heating them is open to question. Dried rice noodles about the same. Cutting noodles is a big taboo in China. They are a symbol of longevity and cutting them is to cut life short. Superstitious nonsense, of course! Fresh Rice Noodles

That was what I had read. I've only used two of them so far and they were far from mild but also far from the hottest I've met. Experiments shall continue and I'll report back!

These are nothing like bell peppers. I'd say mid-hot and relatively flavourless. Green bell peppers have a flavour to me - an unpleasant one!

Facing heaven 朝天椒 (cháo tiān jiāo, facing heaven chillies) or pointing to heaven chillies 指天椒 (zhǐ tiān jiāo), ‘pointing to heaven chillies’ are certainly milder than many other varieties, but they are more flavourful than many, too. Sichuan uses them for flavour and colour more than heat. It is a myth that Sichuan food is China's hottest. Hunan and Guizhou are much more so. That said, my favourite Sichuan dish, 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) uses a minimum of 50 grams per / 1.75 ounces per plate although the chilies are use to flavour the dish and are not eaten. That said one vistor was mischieviously told only to eat the chillies and not the chicken and ended up in hospital. 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) I do feel privileged to be able to get the chillies, fresh or dried, in every market or supermarket in town. Fresh 朝天椒 (cháo tiān jiāo, facing heaven chillies) The jalapeños I bought I found were spicier than I expected, but we also have very spicy types here too, especially originally from Hunan but grown here.

Slightly off topic, but do you get 'facing heaven chillies'. If not, what do you use in the Sichuan dishes you cook? The jalapeños fit right into Hunan cuisine, though. I used them in yesterday's dinner and had a Hunanese guest. She noticed the chillies didn't look 'normal' but had no complaints about the dish!

Matsutake Soup (in chicken stock made using chicken feet) Pork with jalapeños and black bolete mushroom, Chinese celery, scallions (green part only), Shaoxing wine, soy sauce. Cat's tooth rice. Based on a common Chinese dish, 青椒肉片 (qīng jiāo ròu piàn), green pepper pork slices but using jalapeños instead of a Chinese variety. Also the 'shrooms' are atypical.

Yes. It is written in Traditional characters as used in Hong Kong and among much of the Chinese diaspora. In full it reads "Dexter Brand Chinese Style Kitchen Knife", "dài sī tè pái huá shì chú dāo", dài sī tè being a phonetic 'translation' of Dexter. That they say Chinese 'style' suggests it isn't made in China.

It is an early version of what is now Shenandoah. https://seeitsaveit.home.blog/2020/04/14/john-lederers-zynodoa/

Arrived last night. This is half of them. Experiments shall begin.

https://people.com/food/pasta-in-woods-new-jersey-solved-macaroni-mystery-answer/

Very common in China, nearly always canned with black fermented soy beans. Traditionally a poor man's food. Avalable in every supermarket and cornershop.

So, I think will I. However, I just wanted to give them a try after reading about them so much, mainly here! Admitedly buying a kilo just to try them is a bit crazy, but being stuck at home, I need a distraction and I figured I'll be able to do something with them, even if I never buy them again.

It may surprise some but I've never seen, eaten or cooked Jalapeños in my long life. I certainly never saw them in the UK or anywhere else I have lived. Definitely not in China. Either pickled, canned or fresh. Today I came across fresh Jalapeños online. Seems they are being grown in China's north-eastern Shandong province, home to Confucius and Tsingtao (Qingdao) beer. My problem is that the minimum order is 1 kg of the things which is going to be difficult for me to get through. I read (Spruce Eats) that they can be held in the fridge for a week, but I can't see me eating a kilo in a week. I also see they can be frozen, but I am wondering what effect that has on them. I did order them anyway, so they are on their way. May take three days or so. Any advice warmly welcomed. Image from the vendor's online listing.

Funny but true.

Lotus Root Shoots with Beef, Pickled Green and Red Chillies, Fresh Chillies. Rice.

Sometimes they are made from black soy beans but more often from regular yellowish beans (they're cheaper). The fermentation process turns them black. I use them very often (including in your squid dish), probaly at least once a week. I don't find them at all bean-like in flavour but loaded with unami. The anchovy comparison is spot on.