liuzhou

From something rarely eaten to the opposite. From Japan to Jamaica, Laos to Lithuania, one porky part is eaten with relish. Trotters or pettitoes; ຫມູຂອງ to kiaulės koja, there are few cultures which don’t eat them. I’m talking pig’s feet, although in Chinese we have both 猪手 (zhū shǒu) and 猪脚 (zhū jiǎo), pig’s hands and pig’s feet respectively, denoting the front and back feet separately although the latter is also used for both, unless it is essential to differentiate. Pig's Foot with Garlic I’ve never cooked them, but I’ve eaten them on three different continents. Now, the nearest restaurant to my home does a mean pig’s foot, which I always order when I visit. I ate them in the UK regularly when my mother cooked them (or more often bought them pre-cooked from the butcher). Cantonese Braised Pig's Feet I think these are too well known for me to have to say anything very much except to mention this typical Cantonese recipe which is how I usually have them, and point you to probably the greatest song about a porcine part. Twenty-five cents? Ha! No! No! I wouldn't pay twenty-five cents to go in nowhere 'cause listen here: Up in Harlem ev'ry Saturday night when the high-browns git together it's just too tight, They all congregates at an all night strut and what they do is tut-tut-tut Old Hannah Brown from 'cross town gets full of corn and starts breakin' 'em down Just at the break of day you can hear old Hannah say, "Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer" Send me gate I don't care I feel just like I wanna clown Give the piano player a drink because he's bringin' me down He's got rhythm, yeah! When he stomps his feet, he sends me right off to sleep Check all your razors and your guns We gonna be rasslin' when the wagon comes I wanna pigfoot and a bottle of beer Send me 'cause I don't care Slay me 'cause I don't care Gimme a reefer and a gang o' gin Slay me, 'cause I'm in my sin Slay me 'cause I'm full of gin Check all your razors and your guns Do the shim-sham shimmy till the risin' sun

I too have a very limited potato choice. Basically there are only two types. First is what I call the red skinned type which are very waxy. These are the standard spud and often the only kind stores stock. They are fine in Chinese recipes but I've never even tried to mash them. I know they won't work. They make lousy chips too, by which I mean chips as in 'fish and chips'. "Red Skin Potatoes" The other are type are the so-called white skinned potatoes. These are only semi-waxy, leaning more to waxy. I can successfully mash them but have to be careful. They go from being nearly mashed to glue very quickly - the window of acceptability is tiny. "White Potatoes" I always mash slowly by hand using a masher my daughter brought me from London some years back. They were unavailable here, but can be found now. I don't have a food processor, but wouldn't use it if I did. Friends here are sure I'm joking when I tell them there are literally hundreds of potato varieties. McDs and KFC import a lot of their potatoes for their Chinese outlets or grow them here themselves. Pig's Kidney and Okra with Mash I'd love to get my hands on some King Edwards'or Maris Piper.

Beef spleen?

There is one part of the animal which is eaten, but rarely. That is the spleen. The spleen is part of the circulatory system and its main function is to filter the blood and regulate the amount of red blood cells - if there is a shortage, it can produce more; if there is an excess it can kill some off. The spleen lies next to the left kidney in most vertebrates but is long and narrow. Straightened out, the one in the picturebelow is 30 cm / 1 foot long. Pig's Spleen It has a similar texture to the relevant animal's liver. Fergus Henderson, nose-to-tail eating enthusiast and populiser, chef-owner of London's famous St John restaurant has a recipe for rolled pig's spleen here. It is a typically simple, yet flavourful example of his no waste cooking style. The compendium edition of his two nose-to-tail books (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is a must-have for anyone seriously interested in the concept and the practice. Another interesting recipe that I came across is this for pig's spleen stuffed with minced pork.

Spicy chicken hearts with culantro/sawtooth coriander. One of three bowls of rice. A pair of my new Japanese chopsticks.

According to Wikinonsense, in Guangxi, sawtooth coriander is known as 假香荽 (jiǎ xiāng suī) or 'fake coriander'. Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten to tell anyone in Guangxi. No one I've spoken to, including local chefs, has heard of it. Now I just need to find rau răm. It is so frustrating living right next to Vietnam but being so unable to source so many of its iconic ingredients.

So, you actually made 'cottage pie'.

Thanks. I was looking at the roots and wondering.

Apologies. Have now edited the link. Here it is again.

I’ve mentioned before my enjoying watching old women fighting over bits of meat in the supermarkets in China. I’ve turned it into a spectator sport. The amusing thing is that they are usually after bits that most of us would reject out of hand. For example this would be low on their desirability scale. Instead they would do injurious battle to get their grubby little manual appendages on this. The first doesn’t have enough fat to satisfy them, the second is nearly all fat. OK. I exaggerate but only a little. They do battle for the fattier cuts in the knowledge that it comes with its own built-in cooking medium. In the case of my first picture, they will separate the fat from the flesh, chop the fat and render it down to cook the rest of dinner. Vegetables are nearly always stir-fried in pork fat rendered at home each meal. However, this is a low quality fat. To obtain the best results you need to obtain the best fat from which to make your lard and it is generally accepted that this is the ‘flare’ or ‘leaf fat’ which is mainly found surrounding the internal organs such as the kidneys. This is what, in other animals such as sheep and cattle is referred to as suet. Back fat is also a good source, followed by the ever-common pork belly fat. Fortunately, good fat is easy to source. Most supermarkets sell it as pictured above. And it’s very cheap, if not as cheap as the lower quality stuff still attached to the flesh. There are websites with information on how to render the lard, including this one, however the Chinese cook will do it in a wok on relatively low heat. I tend to add a splash of water to start the process without scorching - the water soon evaporates once the fat starts to melt. Lard was, not so long ago, a common choice fat in Europe and the Americas for all sorts of cooking from frying to baking, but became demonised recently as part of the anti-fat movement and competition / propaganda from the liquid oil industry. China has largely avoided that trap, except perhaps in the larger cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. In fact, lard has many health advantages over the common oils used worldwide. Also, of course, it is (as those Chinese grannies recognise) an important element of nose-to-tail. Why buy expensive, highly refined air-mile heavy oils when you can use more healthy, local fat that would otherwise be wasted? The fat is rendered and any remaining solids are eaten as snacks à la "cracklings," or "pork rinds" depending on your local terminology. No waste. Of course the Chinese are much more fat tolerant than modern Europeans or Americans generally tend to be. A favourite dish (which I find inedible) is Dongpo pork from Hangzhou in eastern China which is extra fatty pork belly (with the skin) slow cooked for hours in rice wine and soy sauce until very soft. Although it isn’t greasy in the mouth, it is basically 95% fat. It’s the texture I don’t like. I like my fat crisp. Dongpo Pork Also, some, maybe most, Chinese sausages have huge amounts of fat in them; certainly more than would be acceptable in most western kitchens. PD

Five years after starting this topic, I finally found something this morning that I've been looking for here all that time and longer. Eryngium foetidum. Variously known as sawtooth coriander, culantro (not cilantro), Mexican coriander, Thai coriander, long leaf coriander and many other names. I first encountered it as ngò gai in Vietnam. With a similar but stronger taste than the well-known cilantro or coriander leaf, it also retains its flavour when dried, unlike its more famous near-namesake. Here it is known as 广东香菜 (guǎng dōng xiāng cài) or Guangdong coriander, although it has no real connection with that province.

Not really a 'gift' as such, although that's how they describe it. Obviously the cost is factored into what you actually order. I ordered some sea grapes online. I can't buy them in any stores here - they are Vietnamese. Anyway they came with these irrelevant condiment bags. I'm guessing most of you will be able to work out what the three on the left are. In the middle column, we have (top) 芥末 (*abbreviated to just 芥） which is that horse radish or mustard that has been dyed green to pretend to be wasabi which it ain't - and soy sauce. Bottom is honey mustard. Right is a sachet of chilli powder (??). Bizarre. I'll probably never use them.

Pour myself a nice glass of Bordeaux and tip it into my keyboard. There may be a fewwinegeneratedtypos in this post!

If I were to be restricted to only one kind of ‘offal’ or related parts for the rest of my life, it would be an impossible choice. Chicken livers or hearts? Blood sausage? Haggis? I’d sooner give up chocolate or ice cream! But high on my list would be kidneys; lamb / mutton by preference, pig by availability; beef not so much. I have managed in my life to convert offal haters to kidneys; if not to fallopian tubes! Pig's Kidney Two recipes spring mind for these conversions. The first is western-type recipe by Delia Smith for lamb kidneys in red wine, a recipe which converted my son's best friend who definitely couldn’t eat kidneys as he would probably immediately die, howling in agony. Or perhaps not. The second is a Chinese (Sichuan) treatment detailed in The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Fuchsia Dunlop. 火爆腰花 (huǒ bào yāo huā ) which she translates as fire-exploded kidney ‘flowers’*, is a pig kidney dish which are basically stir-fried with vegetables. The special part of the recipe and the dish is in the cross-cutting of the kidneys prior to cooking. * I'd translate it as 'fiery kidney flowers'. Usually I can only get pig kidneys but I have successfully made the Smith recipe with those, too. Occasionally, lamb kidneys turn up, once tucked away unnoticed in a piece of lamb belly. Even more rarely, I can get them with the suet still in place. Heaven! Lamb kidney in lamb belly Lamb kidneys in suet - image from advertisement on Meituan online shopping portal in China. Kidneys seem to go with almost everything. Sometimes I do them in western recipes and sometimes Chinese. I’ve even done a Chinese take on that old favourite, steak and kidney pie! As with so much offal, cleaning is important but kidneys are easy. Just lay the kidney on the board and slice in half lengthwise keeping the knife blade parallel to the board, remove the exterior membrane and cut out as much of the fat in the centre as you can manage and you’re good to go. Again a light cook is all that is needed unless you have beef kidneys; they require long slow cooking. Kidneys seem to go with almost everything. Here a few dishes I’ve made. There are many more. Steak and kidney with spinach, new potatoes and mustard Pork kidneys with mushrooms and rIce Pork kidneys with okra and mash Breakfast - Devilled pork kidneys Kidneys and mushrooms with hothouse chives Versatile ingredient

Every source I have seen, and I've seen a lot, agree that chitterlings are small intestines. Anyone who has seen and eaten chitterlings and large intestines would agree, they look very different. The Oxford Companion to Food - Second Edition 2006 OED

Another connection between the soul food of the Southern States of the USA and the daily fare of China is the regard for or 猪肠 (zhū cháng) or 粉肠 (fěn cháng), the small intestines of the pig. Or as they are known in the USA by everyone but the USDA, ‘chitterlings’. The USDA thinks they are large intestines. They are wrong again! (Yes, I know sometimes other animals are used, but not often). Small Pig Intestines These are another divisive part: people either love or hate them and they really have to be prepared correctly – especially when it comes to cleaning them. Several changes of water are needed, aided and abetted by baking soda and/or vinegar. For more on this see here. The advice given applies no matter which culture you are cooking in. These knives are sold specifically to slit open the small intestines. They are useful for gutting small fish, too. In Cantonese cooking intestines are often cooked in a casserole-type dish with 海鲜酱 (hǎi xiān jiàng), hoisin sauce or 柱侯酱 (zhù hóu jiàng), chee hou sauce. Round here, however, they are more likely to be stir fried with chillies. I’ve seen them mixed into congee or as part of a fried rice dish. Like so many Chinese favourites, they are more about texture than flavour, but if cooked well, they shouldn't be over-chewy. 肥肠 (féi cháng) literally ‘fat intestines’ are the large intestines and these are also eaten, but are more often braised, especially in soy sauce with spices. These can be more chewy. They are sold raw or pre-cooked on deli counters in supermarkets. Soy-Braised Large Pig Intestines

I have to say that I follow the no fish and cheese 'rule', not so much because I consider the rule to be inviolable; simply because I dislike the two together. I was recently in the local 5 star hotel*'s so-called 'western' restaurant for lunch with a friend and ordered that western classic - seafood curry! It came with American cheese** melted all over it! Utterly disgusting. * The hotel and restaurant are government owned. The star system is administered by the er, government. ** Undoubtedly the most egregious misnomer ever! Cheese?

Slicing thin isn't the problem. It's best sliced thin. The problem is simply one of overcooking. It should only be flash fried for seconds. Perfect.

Slight interruption to normal service and a question. I have always considered chitterlings to be the small intestines of (usually) pigs and all my dictionaries agree. However the USDA seems to define them as the LARGE intestines. Surely not? What's your take?

? I ony got one product. Anyway I got round to trying it. What a disappointment. I regularly buy Iberian canned sardines and anchovies which are wonderful and was expecting something equally exciting. Poor deluded me. First of all, when I have to break aout a pair of pliers to open a can I get pissed off. Then inside, I find a swimming pool of cheap olive oil with stringy bits of tasteless fish. Emptying the tiny quantity onto a saucer I find a tablespoonful of mush. Never again The cheapo stuff I get here (from SE Asia) is just as bad for a quarter of the price. Bargain.

Stovies

Having horrified the more sensitive with stomachs, lungs and fallopian tubes, I thought to give you a break and go a bit more mainstream, but still in the offal arena. Probably the least divisive offal is the liver, whether from poultry as in liver pâté or foie gras, or from mammals as in many dishes around the world. Poultry, whether home made or commercial products, is probably the most common source of livers, but here I’m mainly looking at the mammals. And it’s quite a list. Liver and Onions Like many, I was brought up with ‘liver, bacon and onions’ about once a fortnight. It wasn’t a highlight. Dredged in too much flour then fried to a leather-like consistency, how could it have been? I was astonished when I finally ate barely cooked liver. So delicious! Lamb's Liver The liver of my childhood was nearly always lamb’s liver. Calves liver would have been first choice, but was outside our price range. Still. Nothing wrong with lamb’s liver. I still eat it when I can, although it's not so common here in southern China. When I accidentally moved to China, I could only find pig and beef liver. I quickly got used to pig liver. Although it has a slightly more offal flavour than lamb’s it’s not overpoweringly so. The beef liver I fed to my cat, Nora. She liked it. Pig Liver Since then I’ve eaten horse, donkey, deer and camel liver. Donkey and horse were good. Deer liver was rather gamey and camel even more so. For those with access to deer liver, there is comprehensive information here. Ignore the recipe for deer haggis; putting maple syrup into haggis is a capital offence in Scotland! Or would be if we had maple syrup, which thankfully we don't! Never eat the liver of carnivores. In fact, in general I recommend never eating land-dwelling carnivores*. They just don’t taste good. Polar bear liver will probably kill you. Hypervitaminosis A is an often fatal overdose of vitamin A, which polar bear livers have up to 100 times more than we do. One of the greatest surprises in my life was in a small local restaurant here in Guangxi, but run by a couple from Sichuan. I spotted on the menu 鱼香肝尖, (yú xiāng gān jiān), 腈肝尖 (jīng gān jiān) and 圆葱焗猪肝 (yuán cōng jú zhū gān). These are fish-fragrance liver, quick fried liver and onion steamed pork liver. In fact, they are all pork liver. Over the next few days I sampled them all. The fish-fragrant liver had the classic Sichuan flavours. The quick fried liver was the opposite of what my mother cooked but roughly the same ingredients. The onion steamed pork liver became my favourite liver and onions dish ever. Pork Liver with Flowering Chives I’m not going to be so crass as to to tell you how to cook liver and onions; you probably have your own tried and tested family recipes, but if not the interwebs are full of them – some more inspiring than others. But I do recommend you add some green chilli peppers and Sichuan peppercorns to pep them up. In fact, the internet has hundreds of recipes for all sorts of liver dishes. One thing I don’t remember from growing up is these, available in my local supermarket. These are fish livers from some unidentified species, probably carp. Yes, I spelled that correctly. I’ve never cooked them, but I do like me some monkfish liver – the foie gras of the sea, also available in some stores. That said, as children, we were regularly dosed with cod liver oil, whatever that was about. Monkfish Liver *Although pigs will eat pretty much everything, they are generally vegetarian when left to their own devices.

THE No 1 classic filling for wontons and jiaozi in China is what is known as 三鲜 (sān xiān) flavour - literally 'three delicacies', namely pork, shrimp and shiitake. It's almost a cliché. I don't understand this topic at all. In Asia, seafood and mushrooms is no more unusual than fries and ketchup in the west!

Most of my beef is actually water buffalo.

Here’s a bit of pig you are extremely unlikely to come across by accident. 生肠 / 生腸 (Mandarin Pinyin: shēng cháng; Cantonese: sang cheong), these are the lady animal’s fallopian tubes (and sometimes the uterus), which are usually stir fried. A traditional Singaporean dish, it is harder to find there than previously although it can still be found in neighbouring Malaysia. Pig's Fallopian Tubes The tubes are pretty tasteless on their own, but have a crunchy, springing texture which is much appreciated and they take on the flavours of the accompanying ingredients, usually onion, garlic, ginger and hot sauce. They are also often served as 蝦米生腸 (Cantonese: har mai sang cheong), fallopian tubes with dried shrimp, which can bring pungent tastes to the dish. Despite being a Mandarin speaking area, Singapore uses the Cantonese name. 蝦米生腸 (Cantonese: har mai sang cheong), fallopian tubes with dried shrimp These are sometimes incorrectly described in English as intestines as they visually resemble the said organs and because the same Chinese character (肠/腸) is used in both. I've never heard of them being served in mainland China, although they are sometimes seen as street food in Hong Kong. Frog's fallopian tubes (hasma) are used to make a dessert.