liuzhou

It's litchi / lychee* sea season! These images are from my friend's grandparents' farm in Guangdong Province, China. * 荔枝 (lì zhī)

Yeah. I've been doing that for about 50 years!

One of my favourites, which I omitted to mention before is 猪皮冻 (zhū pí dòng), pig skin jelly. This is basically pig skin boiled in water to make a gelatinous broth which on cooling turns to jelly. Various flavourings can be added just as you would with most stocks, ginger and garlic being the most common. I've seen suggestions to add soy sauce (usually on American Chinese websites), but never seen that here. Surprisingly delicious. Unsurprisingly served cold.

Today, I took delivery of a refill of my caviar supply. As you do. As usual it came with 'gifts'. Normally they throw in a pack of wonderful hot smoked sturgeon but this time that brought a friend. 150g of Sturgeon Steak. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, yet but thanks! The smoked sturgeon will probably be lunch in a day or two.

It does indeed but the leaves are smaller. I should have linked to this. It is classified as an endangered species in the USA.

No need to be sorry. Some topics should be bumped; some should be dumped.

Here is an odd one. 香柳 (xiāng liǔ), Elaeagnus angustifolia, is a thorny tree native to China. In English it sometimes referred to as silver berry. Alternate names include Russian olive, oleaster or wild olive. These alternates are referring to the trees fruit, which visually resembles olives, although the two plants are unrelated. The fruit is fragrant sweet but seldom eaten due to its dry, mealy texture but surprise, surprise the leaves, fruit and bark are all used in TCM. The only culinary application I’m aware of is that the leaves 香柳叶 (xiāng liǔ yè) are used to remove “fishy smells” from fresh fish. I have told them that if their fish is smelly, it isn’t fresh. They don’t believe me,

I did search this topic for any previous mention of Porthos but there are none. Yes, I meant "Never Porthos Again".

When my favourite sardines disappeared from every store in China a week ago, I went in search for an alternative. My favourite sardines My favourite sardines The only Portuguese sardines I could find were these from Porthos, a Portuguese canning company. I looked them up and it seemed they have a good reputation with some even suggesting they are among the best in Portugal. So, I ordered one can to sample them, intending to reorder if they were satisfactory. They arrived and I tried them this noon. On opening the can, I could barely make out the fish in their pool of suspiciously dark oil. I drained them and found these tiny little fish-shaped things. That side plate they are sitting on is 6 inches / 12.5 cm in diameter. Each fish was under 3 “/ 17 cm long. Half the size or less than my favourites. Still I fork mashed them up to have them on sourdough toast. Well, I tried to mash them but their strange texture made that a difficult task. Finally I put half of the resultant ‘mash’ on the sourdough and attempted to eat them. Utterly disgusting. I couldn’t finish it. Since then, I have brushed my teeth about eight times, but can’t shake off the lingering aftertaste. Never again.

Which company? Good Chop Found it.

A related issue here is that we get streets full of small stores all offering the same basic product. Whereas in western countries we tend to locate businesses in areas with no others doing the same, but with customers who would prefer to buy locally, here the businesses like to cluster together. So, we have light bulb alley, kitchen equipment avenue, liquor lane (aka whisky street), tobacco terrace, banana boulevard etc. OK, I made up the banana one. Beats me.

People in Scotland don't think so.

I posted the Chinese version of the Luosifen and Health video above. Yesterday, we completed the English language version. Translated and narrated by the me.

Sardinella.

As @SusieQ said.

Many prime cuts are subdivided onto secondary (sub-primal cuts) cuts. The images above reflect the prime cuts in the relevant countries.

I'm British, but left there 30 years ago. You're in the right place to ask questions and contribute answer to other people's. This may help you with British v American cuts. It isn't comprehensive but cut names can vary regionally across both countries. French cuts are different again. British Beef Cuts US Beef Cuts

While on the internet today, I discovered that I can have live donkeys delivered to my home! As you do. I quite fancy getting a couple to keep in my spare bedroom (to keep the ostriches company). How I'll get them up to the 6th floor of my apartment building is a mystery. I don't think they'll fit in the escalator. No. 6 looks meaty. P.S. They come with a free hay cutter. I'll have to source some hay, too.

Just went shopping. Big mistake. Everywhere I looked I saw these. 粽子 (zòng zi). Traditionally, eaten on The Dragon Boat Festival (tomorrow), they are glutinous rice balls stuffed into bamboo leaves. The rice is flavoured with other ingredients such as pork or chestnuts (or both). There are also sweet versions. Many people make their own, but it seems that is falling away, judging by the number of people buying them today. I can't stand the things. The taste is ok but the texture and the stickiness is not pleasant to me. Millions disagree!

Any comparison is going to be somewhat meaningless. It depends on the grade you buy. Also, I live an hour away from Vietnam whereas Cambodia is considerably further. Then we look at 'favourable nation status'. Vietnam has a strong trading links with China; Cambodia almost none. Then there is scale. Vietnam is the largest producing nation of all. Cambodia is way down the list. But for an example, I usually buy Vietnamese for around ¥69 / $9.58 USD per 500g. Those Cambodian peppers are ¥134 / $18.60 for 100g. Approximately 1/10

Here's what we are up against. Sounds good. Right? Wild, sustainable. Very good from a wild planet. No salt added. Then turn the box over. Caught in the North Pacific, flown all the way to Thailand, processed there and shipped all the way back to the US. Then shipped to me in China. Near Thailand. And what's this in the ingredients. Salt! I am however surprised but delighted to learn the can of sardines contains, of all things, fish.

I occasionally buy this for special meals. It ain't cheap, even though Cambodia is only a short way away. They also do white and pink peppercorns, but I've never bought them. For daily use , I go for Vietnamese.

The place where I fond the samphire immediately above has expanded its range of offerings. The first, I've been looking for for years. It is native to China but hitherto has only been sold dried in TCM stores. 大黄 (dà huáng), Rheum × hybridum, Rhubarb. ¥25 / $ 3.50 USD for 500g And 蒔蘿 (shí luó), Anethum graveolens, Dill. This is not native to China and I've no idea what people here may do with it. I use it, of course, with fish. ¥18 / $2.50 USD for 250g.

They are here too. Things come and go in mysterious ways. I've seen stuff selling like hotcakes and the stores never restocking. I think they find it messes up t heir shelf stacking rotas or something. We don't want to sell that! People just go and buy it!" Also stores disappear, too; restaurants more so but that's common everywhere. But this is different. Several stores carried those sardines. And I've been buying them for years. Suddenly they disappeared from al the stores at once. The stores are still there and trading though. Even through the pandemic, I could fins them easily. Í've never seen anything like that before. Also, the donkey restaurant is still there doing all the same dishes as before except the burgers. Most odd.