liuzhou

I think it's been done to death across several topics.

Exactly my reaction when she said it!

Of course not, but when a name is widely applied to a certain dish, even one which has many variations, appropriating that name for something which doesn't really resemble that dish strikes me as disrepectful at best, dishonest at worst.

I wouldn't dare suggest that this is larp in any way, but it does have Laotian / Thai influences. I would have made something more authentic, but didn't have all the required ingredients - or appropriate salad materials - and it was too hot to go out! So, here we have hand-minced beef marinated in Thai fish sauce and freshly squeezed lime juice with finely chopped lemongrass, Thai chillies and makrut lime leaves, then stir fried. I did have scallions but forgot to add them. Duh! Served with a simple lettuce and tomato salad, dressed with more lime juice.

I cant think of anything specific. It doesn't have a strong flavour like say, mint or coriander leaf / cilantro. More subtle and with slight citrusy notes. Also, a bit mushroomy. Sorry. not a very adequate answer, I know. Next time I use it, I'll pay more attention.

I did search before posting my question.

20. 金钱草 (jīn qián cǎo) – Tick Trefoil – Desmodium cajanifolium Here is a herb which I’m told comes from Shandong in the north-east of China. It is also used in TCM and is said to boost male virility (overuse may lead to the need for nutmeg!). It comes under many names but 金钱草 (jīn qián cǎo) seems to be the most common. It literally means 'gold coin grass' as the fresh leaves are believed to resemble said coins. I have only seen it twice, once in a local restaurant where it was served with stir-fried bull frog. I liked that dish so much that I searched for it and eventually found a large bag of the dried herb in my favourite unusual foods store. I often cooked it with chicken, frog, shrimp, crab etc. I must restock. Bullfrog with Tick-trefoil Note: Canada Tick Trefoil, Desmodium canadense is a related but different plant. Does anyone know if that is eaten? It is also an ingredient in the popular herbal 'tea', sold in bottles, cans and cartons in every store and known as 王老吉 (wáng lǎo jí).

Indeed, I often use tools for alternative uses. In fact, I rarely use this one as intended. Which is why I said

Only the tear-gas. Never the spice, as far as I know.

I found what they advertise and sell them as...

Good ideas, but not what it is intended for by the makers.

That's what you call them, yes.

I had fun trying to work out what the heck this is intended for. Or what it could be used for instead. And being the caring, sharing type, I decided to share the fun. It is approximately 26 cm / 10" long.

Buttered muffin with boiled eggs. Actually, there were two muffins. As an Aberdeen shopkeeper once told me "Yin ba's nau guid fur twa queenies!"

19 肉豆蔻 (ròu dòu kòu) – Nutmeg – Myristica fragrans When I'm 64 - 250 g Having yesterday posted the chilli info above, I think that concludes the main herbs and spices used in a culinary context China-wide. However, there are many others which are more localised and limited. Before I moved to Guangxi from Hunan in February 1999, I researched the place a bit. I had visited before but wanted to delve a bit deeper. One thing I learned was that although nutmeg is native to Indonesia, Guangxi is central to a belt of nutmeg production in south China which also includes Guangdong to our east and Yunnan to our west. “Oh good”, methought, “I like a bit of nutmeg from time to time.” Once I had settled in, I set off to what was then the only supermarket in town. No nutmeg there. (Still isn’t, for that matter.) “No worries! I’ll go to a proper market.” Nope. No nutmeg. I was mystified. I asked a colleague why the supermarket and market didn’t have any. She looked at me as if I had just asked for information on sourcing polar bear droppings, then changed the subject. I often caught her giving me strange sideways looks after that. Eventually the penny dropped. It turned out that nutmeg is only really used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and one of its uses is in the treatment of certain sexually transmitted diseases. (Note: there is no scientific evidence for nutmeg being beneficial for STD sufferers or any other ailments). Now understanding my colleague’s reaction, but undaunted, I headed off to the local TCM pharmacy, hung around until a male assistant was available, winked at him, made my request and left with a bag of pristine nutmegs. I have since found online sources, so I don’t have to go through the humiliation any more! My only problem now is that I can only buy them in 250 g bags. That is about 64 of the things. I don't use it that much. I have also discovered that nutmegs are used in a very few sweet dishes and meat stews by a very few people who show no discerbable symptoms of lewd behaviour. It also appears as an ingredient in some industrially produced soft drinks.

Yes. Another reason is that, as I said, in some dishes the chillies are not meant to be eaten. If the chillies in the 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) - Chicken with Chilli dish were to be substituted with the same amount in powdered form, the dish would be lethal!

Powdered and flaked chilli is available (as I mentioned), but is used much less often than we perhaps do in western countries. The Sichuan chilli oil I posted contains flaked chillies, for example. Chinese cuisine generally prefers whole or sliced fresh and dried chillies, though.

Thesauruses. No question. When words from other languages become naturalised into Englsh, they almost always take on regular English inflections. There are thousands of examples. Pluralising a fully naturalised word (since the 16 century) using obsolete forms from dead languages is just pretentious. Latin died for good reasons!

Most certainly. I worked on a famous one and have many thesaurus engineer friends! I don't think that's what he needs. Dry meat is typical of this kind of canteen food. Cooked in advance and held until serving time. I'm surprised they get the vegetables OK.

Tien Tsin is the old romanization of 天津 (Tiān jīn) Tianjin, the large port city in northern China bordering Beijing. Tianjin and other northern cuisine seldom uses chillies. The chillies are very similar in flavour and strength to those used in Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, but tend to be smaller at about 5 cm / 2 inches long. They are actually a Japanese cultivar that was introduced to China via Tianjin in the late 1970s, hence the name. There is no other connection to the city. They are not so common in China as they appear to be abroad. The fact that they are using the old romanization tends to support that. It isn't used in China.

18. 辣椒 (là jiāo) – Chilli – Capsicum Let’s get the spelling of the name out of the way for a start. ‘Chilli’, ‘chili’ and ‘chile’ are all all acceptable somewhere. I use ‘chilli’ because a) it’s the preferred British English and I am British and b) it is the original romanisation of the Nahuatl ‘chīlli’. Just to confuse things further, the first recorded written use of the word in English (1662) was spelled ‘chille’. It is also spelled ‘chilly’ by some in the Indian subcontinent. It also has no connection to the country, Chile. So no silly arguments, please. Native to Mexico, the plant was introduced to China by the Portuguese in the 16th century; however, it took a while to catch on, only really becoming popular in the 18th century. Prior to that spicy heat came mostly from white pepper, as is still used for some dishes today. In China today, it is most used in Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, as well as northern Guangxi where I am. But, it also turns up in other parts of China. Just less so. Here and in the named provinces it is the third element of the culinary holy trinity after garlic and ginger (replacing scallions as third in the rest of China). There are many different, specifically Chinese cultivars and they are all sold fresh, crushed, dried, powdered and pickled. Here I will only be dealing with fresh and some dried. Many chillies here are seasonal so, for today, I will just include what are the more perennial and what is in season now. I will add others and edit as they appear in the market. I am giving the local names out of interest and amusement. Chilli names are notoriously fluid here. One type may even have different names at adjacent market stalls. I have no idea how these may equate to American or other chillies. Looking similar is not enough. I will ignore bell peppers because I always do, for obvious reasons. So. off to work. 指天椒 (zhǐ tiān jiāo) Most common are the approximately 7 cm / 3 inch long 朝天椒 (cháo tiān jiāo), ‘facing heaven’ chillies or 指天椒 (zhǐ tiān jiāo), ‘pointing to heaven’ chillies (pictured above), the name coming from the fact that they grow pointing upwards unlike most varieties. They are a cultivar of Capsicum frutescens. There is also a very similar variety called 七星椒 (qī xīng jiāo) or ‘7 star chillies’, named so as they tend to grow in bunches of around seven. These chillies also turn up in their immature green state. (Note: the Wikipedia page on ‘Facing Heaven Chilis’ is not about these, but a different American variety.) Facing Heaven Chillies growing in my neighbour’s plot in my countryside home. Green Facing Heaven Chillies These heavenly chillies are sold both fresh and dried; the dried being more commonly used in Sichuan cooking. They are also crushed and powdered. I’d describe them as medium hot. In many Sichuan dishes such as 宫保鸡丁 (gōng bǎo jī dīng), Kung-po chicken and, especially 辣子鸡 (là zi jī), Chicken with Chillies, the chillies are not actually eaten but merely used to flavour and colour the dishes. They are halved and the seeds removed before use. 干指天椒 （gān zhǐ tiān jiāo) - Dried Facing Heaven Chillies 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) - Chicken with Chilli The same chillies are also considered best for making 红油 (hóng yóu), Sichuanese red chilli oil. 红油 (hóng yóu) - Sichuan Chilli Oil Next, we have the beautiful people. As everyone knows, beautiful people come in two colours, red and green. Green beautiful people chillies 青美人椒 (qīng měi rén jiāo) or ‘green beautiful people chilli’ is around 20 cm / 8 inches long, whereas 红美人椒 (hóng měi rén jiāo) ‘red beautiful people chili’ is about 14 cm / 5½ inches. Diameter at the widest is around 2cm / ¾ inch for both. These can be hot, especially the red, but they are unpredictable. I use these a lot. Red beautiful people chilllies Here are the two side by side for size comparison. Another year round chilli is the 青尖椒 (qīng jiān jiāo) or ‘green pointed chilli’. 青尖椒 (qīng jiān jiāo) or ‘green pointed chilli’. These big fellows can be 23cm / 9 inches long and have a diameter of around 5cm / 2 inches. The are fairly mild and have a pleasant vegetal flavour, although they can sometimes creep up and hit you! I also use these a lot in 肉夹馍 (ròu jiā mó) and 青椒肉片 (qīng jiāo ròu piàn) a simple but common pork and chilli stir-fry. They are also often stuffed with ground pork and either steamed along with the rice in a rice cooker, or fried. Many supermarkets sell them pre-prepared and ready for you to cook, but I do them myself. I prefer to know what is in my minced / ground pork, thank you! These next chillies are more seasonal, but the season is now. They are either called 五彩椒 (wǔ cǎi jiāo), five colour chillies or 七彩椒 (qī cǎi jiāo), seven colour chillies, although numbers in both are only approximate. They are sometimes also called 米椒 (mǐ jiāo), literally 'rice chillies', but 米 (mǐ) is often used as an adjective meaning 'small', that being the meaning here. They are about the size of grapes. 五彩椒 (wǔ cǎi jiāo), five colour chillies 七彩椒 (qī cǎi jiāo), seven colour chillies However many colours there are , these are HOT. Others that turn up from time time include: 青泡椒 (qīng pào jiāo) Green 'bubble' chillies. This name is a little confusing. 泡椒 (pào jiāo) usually means 'pickled chillies' but these are clearly not pickled. It is another meaning of the same character. They are similar in shape to 灯笼椒 (dēng lóng jiāo) lantern chillies but those are more usually a bit larger and yellow or red. These are not available at the moment. Watch this space. 黄灯笼椒 (huáng dēng lóng jiāo) - Yellow Lantern Chillies Then there are the 螺丝椒 (luó sī jiāo), literally 'screw chillies'. These are what you may know as 'shishito chillies', the Japanese name. Mild and smoky flavoured. They had these in the market this morning, but I didn't bite. Already have plans. Finally, for now, we also get these which are called 白辣椒 (bái là jiāo ) which means 'white chili'. They are more white at the beginning of their seasonability, but it's getting late in the summer now, so they tend to be this pale green colour. These are relatively hot. Another one I buy a lot. Happy Heat!

These homophone errors are common, either through ignorance or carelessness or wandering attention. They are however, kind of understandable. 'chicken' and 'pork fall into a different category, I would suggest.

I will never again post my dinner in the dinner thread and misidentify the pork as chicken. When I bought it, I knew it was pork; when I cooked it I knew it was pork; when I ate it I knew it was pork. When I posted it, my fingers decided to type 'chicken' instead. Now edited.