liuzhou

I was talking about the liver in the post I quoted from.

It supposedfly reduces any bitterness. No, I've never done it, either but I think it's quite common.

I exclusively use single headed garlic. I just give it a dirty look and the skin falls off.

Exactly what I did tonight. Then ate it. Perfect.

Cumin beef with hot green chillies, garlic, ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine and soy sauce. Served with couscous, because.

Ok. For reasons beyond reasonable explanation other than rampant lack of attention, today I made some couscous. Making couscous doesn't need explanation, but the amount I made does. Accurate measurement (no cups involved) have calculated it as 'too frigging much'. So, my question is can I freeze prepared couscous or would it be better to just keep it in the fridge overnight and reheat and eat it tomorrow? I did have other plans for tomorrow, but they are not fixed in stone.

AKA Amorphophallus sylvaticus Mostly used in traditional medicine in India, I believe. I've seen it there, but never in Thailand.

Uyghur places do often have spits similar to the one I pictured. Their culture (and language) is closer to Turkish than to Chinese. Lamian places, not so much, but possible.

There is no one correct answer. The names used in particular locations seem linked to immigration patterns and the immigrants brought their own local names - as always. The USA favours 'gyro' which is the Greek name (γῦρο-ς) which means 'turning'. This reflects the higher levels of immigration from Greece to the USA. Europe on the other hand prefers 'döner' or 'doner' from the Turkish, reflecting emigration patterns there. Döner also means 'turning'. This is often expanded to 'donor kebab', kebab being from the Arabic (as well as used in Persian and Urdu) used throughout the Middle East. Kebab referes to anthing cooked on a spit or skewer, so is a much wider term. Shawarma is from the Syrian version of Arabic - šāwirma. Again, its use probably reflects immigration. Shashlik comes from the Russian 'Шашлык', which was derived from the Turkish 'šiš' meaning a spit or skewer. Al pastor is from the Spanish for 'shepherd's style' and is based on shawarma brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants. As to the meat used in these, this often varies from the immigrants starting point.Greek versions traditionally used pork, whereas Turkish usd lamb or beef. Note: most of t hese names have alternate spellings.

There is a thread on Chinese language cookbooks I started in 2014 here. Nothing much has changed.

Carolyn is a member here @Carolyn Phillips, but hasn't been active for over four years. She knew me from here and contacted me privately when she was researching her book, to ask some questions about Guangxi cuisine. We had a few conversations then and have done since. The book is a good introduction, but with only a half dozen or so dishes from each of 35 cuisines, is necessarily limited. Thank you! I would say more that to fully understand Chinese cuisine (no one ever will) you have to eat it in China. Chinese language cookbooks are very different from western cookbooks. They often assume a lot of prior knowledge and suggest things like "Add the correct amount of ..." "Cook until cooked" "Serve in the usual way" etc. I have a few, but I couldn't really recommend any of them. Several of my friends were amazed by Fuchsia's Sichuan book. It has been translated into Chinese and they have all bought it!

Pork tenderloin steak, morels and maitake, scallions. There were some chips (fries) to the side.

Beyond the Great Wall by Alford and Duguid (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is an interesting read on the food of China's minorities. ‎

There are literally hundreds of books on Guangdong cooking. Cantonese is by far the most popular style outside China. Not my favourite,though, so no particular recommendations Guangxi, as noted in All Under Heaven by Carolyn Phillips because I told her so*, has no distinctive cuisine, but instead leans towards Cantonese in the south and east, but more to Hunan and Guizhou in the north and west. We also get a lot of thecuisine of the DOng, Miao and Yao etc ethnic minorities. I have never found a book on Guangxi food, even in Chinese. I live in the centre where we get both. *She was kind enough to mention me in the acknowledgements.

Odd breakfast, but it was the second one of the day. I got up at 5 am and had some coffee and toast, but then went back to bed! So this is more like brunch, perhaps. Prawns with egg and garlic scapes Celtuce with garlic and ginger.

Apron ties at the back are safer. Less likelihood of @CentralMAsyndrome.

According to Wikipedia, "the name of the dish is a homophone for union ... ... 团圆; pinyin: tuányuán)" Whoever wrote that drivel clearly doesn't know what a homophone is because that ain't one! Also, 团圆 doesn't mean 'union'. It means 'family reunion'. And today, there are precious few reunions on the Lantern Festival. Quite the opposite. Most people will have returned to work by then. It then goes on to say "The round shape of the balls and the bowls in which they are served symbolize family cohesion." Maybe once; not now. The Lantern Festival is held on the first full moon of the lunisolar calendar. The balls resemble the moon.

grrrr!

That looks beautiful. I'll give the rest a miss, if you don't mind. 😃

Not one I've heard of. But I find the two are quite different.

Today (Feb 15, 2022) or Day 15 of the First Month of the Year of the Tiger marks the Lantern Festival, the last day of the Spring Festival which began on Chinese New Year's Day (February 1st, this year). Traditionally, today almost everyone will be eating 汤圆 (tāng yuán, literally 'soup balls') which are boiled balls of sticky rice stuffed with black sesame paste and served in a hot, sweet syrup. Utterly horrible, in my opinion, but what do I know? I'll be having a steak, mushrooms and chips, thanks! Other versions do exist, including savoury tang yuan, but they are very much in the minority. Equally horrible. The coloured ones contain taro, but are unusual.

No difference. It's just that Sichuan uses potato starch more, but it doesn't matter..

I too find the Woks of Life very hit and miss. I have never even seen Thai chillies here in Sichuan. That is a huge miss. For astart Mapo Tofu traditionally uses beef and not pork as they claim. And the chilis are all wrong. The brand of doubanjiang you found is fine. Pixian Doubanjiang has Protected Geographical Index rating in China and they do enforce it strictly. Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe is as good as it gets and very much identical to anything I've eaten in Sichuan. If it is still too bland for you add more of the ground chili. Below, for entertainment value only, is a photo of the mapo tofu recipe in one of my Chinese language cookbooks entitled, Everyday Family Sichuan Cooking. Not a Thai chili in sight. Don't worry about the colors shown in the finished dish - the photographs in that book are alll washed out! It's redder than it looks.

I have a couple hanging in the kitchen. I dust them about once a year. They haven't been worn since Chairman Mao was a boy!