liuzhou

Certainly not. Both Kraft and Heinz varieties were and remain a feature of every bad 'picnic' sandwich in the UK, too. Revolting stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Sandwich_Spread

This is raises an important point. In popular terminology names for the various alliums and related species is uncontrolled. What you may call one thing, I may call another and who is to say who is correct? Of course, this applies to many foodstuffs. You may use cilantro as a herb; I use coriander instead, for example. I prefer rocket to your arugula. But it seems to cause more confusion in what we might loosely refer to as onions, if only we could agree what they are! Even the scientific names get jumbled. 'Shallot' comes from the old French 'eschalot', now 'échalotte' which was the diminutive of 'eschaloigne' which meant scallion! The items above for which I asked about your terms are known locally in Chinese as variously 小洋葱 (xiǎo yáng cōng, literally 'small onion*') or 洋葱头 (yáng cōng tóu, 'onion heads'). I've seen these translated as alternatively 'shallots' or 'small onions'. However, they are not true shallots, which are Allium Ascalonicum but, in fact, are Allium Cepa, regular onions. In fact, besides being used in dinner (they are sometimes used peeled but whole in hotpots, but aren't particularly popular) these are mainly used as seed onions to grow the larger varieties. They come in both red and brown skinned varieties. I use them as shallots as I've never seen Allium Ascalonicum here. * Incidentally, the OED defines 'shallot' as 'A small onion, Allium Ascalonicum, native in Syria and cultivated for use as a flavouring ingredient for salads, sauces, etc.' (My emphasis.) Here is what passes for 'onion' in China. Known as 大葱 (dà cōng, literally 'big onion'), these are Allium fistulosum, which are often called Welsh onions in English, despite being nothing to do with Wales. What we call regular onions, the Chinese call 洋葱 (yáng cōng) , which literally means 'foreign onions'.

Definitely more oniony-y than scallions.

Ｉmay already know the answer to this, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm unwilling to influence your answers, so I'm saying nothing yet. What would you call these? For scale, I'll mention that plate is 28cm / 11 inches in diameter. No idea what size my hand is other than hand sized. Do hands get sized? I don't know why that photograph is blurred on eG; it isn't on my computer. Still, it's only for scale, again.

That's better!

Then there are these Fresh Green Sichuan Peppercorns These take no prisoners.

Being of the Scottish persuasion, I was raised in the knowledge that New Year is much more important than Christmas and should be marked appropriately with a suitable dinner. This will come together slowly over the course of the day (or longer) with most of the work being done by the slow cooker while I doze. There is a chicken carcass simmering away with suitable aromatics. A large chunk of JInhua ham has been added. Some quails will follow. Carcass Carrot Chinese Celery Jinhua Ham Onion White Peppercorns To be continued...

Prepared myself this alcohol-soaking-up early lunch by ordering it from a delivery service the night before. Spicy seafood fried rice cooked by someone else and heated up by the nuclear option! A New Year's Day lunch tradition for me.

New Years Day morning. Steamed pork buns (肉包 - ròu bāo) with pickled yellow chilli peppers and pickled ginger. Pickles are very popular with breakfast round here.

I wouldn't buy Sichuan peppercorns from this outfit. Anyone selling such peppercorns that only have "slightly numbing" flavour should be shunned. Sichuan peppercorns should be slap in the mouth numbing. If not; they are stale and worthless. Otherwise, a good summary.

Black

I seem to remember that pepper was nominally black, but in fact was a stale, greyish powdery substance that could have been anything. The detritus that multiplied in my father's trousers' turn-ups, perhaps. Actual peppercorns were totally unknown and probably immoral foreign muck!

Er, no. It is almost alway sold unground. I use whole Sichuan peppercorns, but I'm lucky in that I get them fresh.

and Scotland! I have a clear memory of the onion Johnny coming round and my mother getting excited because, as the daughter of a refugee from Hitler living in Scotland, she seldom had the chance to speak French with anyone outside her family. The problem was the onion Johnny's and her dialect were about as far apart as it was possible to get - but they somehow managed to communicate (and of course do some onion business). I mostly remember being fascinated by his ramshackle bicycle which had somehow carried him all that way and by the intricate pleating of the onion stems. Shortly before she passed in 2021 aged 92, she had a sudden moment when she asked my brother if the onion man was still coming. He replied that he wasn't sure. If he had still been alive he would have been around 150 years-old.

Well, I think these are fun. My pepper grinders have been looking decidedly shabby for a while, so I finally succumbed and ordered these online. Three x 100 gram capacity. Why three? Well, obviously I need one for black pepper and one for white pepper (Chinese cuisine almosts always defaults to white). Then I need a third for my desk. Bad habit, I know, but I often snack at the computer and often want a liberal dusting of black pepper on my whatever but I'm loathe to move a grinder from its alloted position in the kitchen prep area. So, a second black pepper grinder was required. All I need now are the peppers to fill the other two - they are on the way.

Nearly always does. It is one good reason why the wok became so popular in China and beyond; fuel-saving. Every day, I hear my neighbours preparing meals chopping, mincing, etc. They start early in the morning. The sound of China is of cleavers hitting chopping boards. Millions of them. Cooking typically takes no time at all.

No one suggested it does. However, it is only fair to point out the fact that it is an expensive option. The OP gave a link to the type of suppler he is looking for. Ocado is light years away from that.

While Ocado certainly has the range and is known for its quality, it is also expensive and, being a nationwide on-line supermarket, lacks the local touch. It was the second most expensive choice in 2020 according to surveys. There are more affordable local suppliers.

That was my point. Denser omelettes are, to me, the opposite of fluffier.

Here is why I am so easily confused. These two images are from my online shopping portal of choice. This one is captioned 白皮洋葱 (bái pí yáng cōng), white skinned onions. This one, on the other hand, is captioned 白皮洋葱 (bái pí yáng cōng), white skinned onions. These ones are marginally cheaper.

I don't think there is anyone here from Bristol. The majority of the membership is American. Perhaps, you'd get a better response posting this in the UK section, but I doubt it. Really, your best bet for this type of information is a search engine such as Google or Bing etc. Here are Bing's results from a search for "bristol vegetable delivery". I see a couple of options that may match the ethical approach of what you have at present.

I'm sure it would have an impact, but not the desired one. Salt would be more likely to toughen up the eggs.

First let me say that very few people here will make master stocks at home; it is a Cantonese restaurant thing. The restaurants aren't going to be freezing it either; they need it to cook with. These restaurants are open for business 18 hours a day, first with Yum Cha or morning tea and dim sum, then straight into lunch then dinner until late at night. Ideally, they will boil up the stock every day and skim and strain it to remove impurities. Less scrupulous places maybe not that often. As for the places using stock up to 100 year sold, thre would have been no way to freeze it or even refrigerate it. Refrigeration (and certainly freezing) is a relatively modern luxury.

Another Hunan favourite, this time from Hengyang in south-central Hunan. Known as 三色辣椒酱 (sān sè là jiāo jiàng), or three-coloured chilli sauce, it contains red, green and yellow peppers. This is an industrial product, but very similar to the rustic version the peasants make. Like all Hunan sauces, it take no prisoners.