liuzhou

Last night (Beijing time) I was asked by @Tropicalseniorto start a topic covering China's noodles dishes. I apologised but explaned that that would be a never-ending task. There are thousands! Later, thinking about it, I thought maybe I could just do Guangxi, where I live. So, this morning I sent out an SOS to all my friends on WeChat, China's equivalant of Facebook combined with Twitter and much more. Within minutes I had this list. They are still coming. I have given the city where they are considered to be local. 武鸣榨粉 (wǔ míng zhà fěn) pressed rice noodles from Wuming, Nanning 宾阳酸粉 (bīn yáng suān fěn) sour noodles from Binyang, Nanning 北海蟹仔粉 (běi hǎi xiè zǎi fěn) crab noodles from Beihai 北海猪脚粉 (běi hǎi zhū jiǎo fěn) pig foot noodles from Beihai 玉林牛腩粉 (yù lín niú nǎn fěn) beef tenderloin noodles from Yulin 玉林牛巴粉 (yù lín niú bā fěn) beef jerky noodles from Yulin 柳江三都镇烧鸭粉 (liǔ jiāng sān dū zhèn shāo yā fěn) duck noodles from Liujiang, Liuzhou 狗肉粉 (gǒu ròu fěn）dog meat noodles from Dongquan, Liuzhou 钦州猪脚粉 (qīn zhōu zhū jiǎo fěn) pig foot noodles from Qinzhou You will notice both Beihai and Qinzhou are claiming pig foot noodles, but they are adjacent prefectures on the coastline of the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with Vietnam. Which one wins, I will leave for others to decide. There are other cities yet to come. I'll edit and update as and when. Also many noodles dishes are not specific to one place. A few of these I've never had, but I'm on the lookout.

Anything wet can be dried or so it seems round here. All sorts of things are dried. Vegetables, fruit, meat, flowers, fish. Here are some. Dried mixed vegetables with a couple of fruits thrown into the mix. I'll let you play the identification game. Dried Lemon Slices Dried Wild Onions For some reason this is called 'Ignorant Old Woman Duck'

Only if those fish are accurately labelled. The problem is that often the labels are wrong!

Doing a feature on the noodle dishes of China would take me the rest of this life and most of the next! Every town has its own specialty. Or three. The orzo pasta is not well-known here. I'm just lucky I have access to a food import store; unluckily it is expensive. I can also find it online. Anytime I show it on Chinese equivalents of Facebook etc., local friends say there is something wrong with my rice and then I have to explain. The only Italian type of pasta everyone knows is spaghetti. In fact they call it 意大利面粉, which just means 'Italian pasta' like it's the only one!

Chicken with garlic, olives, chilli white wine, coriander leaf/cilantro. Over orzo pasta.

Russian smoked sprats in olive oil on flatbread. Served with a Stolichnaya Bloody Mary, of course.

Bought these today. Advertised as sardines in olive oil. Well, they got olive oil right. They aren't sardines; they are sprats. Nothing wrong with sprats. It's OK. I knew they weren't sardines. I can read Russian (very rustily) so I am sure they are labelled correctly as sprats, but the advertising still irks me.

36. 咸蛋 (xián dàn) – Salted Eggs Another very common practice in China is to preserve eggs. I have mentioned before, at some length, so-called century eggs (皮蛋 - pí dàn) in the China Food Myths topic, but that is not the only way they are done. So here, I’ll avoid repetition and just post these couple of pictures. 皮蛋 - pí dàn 皮蛋 - pí dàn served with pickled chiliesand garlic 咸蛋 (xián dàn) – salted eggs are just as common. Duck eggs are the most common, followed by quails eggs then chicken eggs. There are at least three methods of producing these: brining them in a salt solution, or packing them in a salt and charcoal mixture, which is later washed off, or as I see around here more, just packing them in salt. They are left for around 3 to 4 weeks before being ready. Today most people buy them in supermarkets or markets. Although they are relatively easy to make at home, convenience takes over. Also, they are so cheap, why go to all the bother? You have to be careful in Chinese stores when buying eggs. What look like ordinary fresh eggs are often anything but. Fresh or preserved? It's salted. 咸鸡蛋 (xián jī dàn)- salted chicken egg 咸鸭蛋 (xián yā dàn) salted duck egg 咸鹌鹑蛋 (xián ān chún dàn) - salted quail eggs in supermarket The salted duck eggs are also individually shrink wrapped and sold as snacks. Shrink wrapped salted duck egg.

I know how to make them, thanks, and often do. Still say those in that place I linked to are the best I've eaten. Also, many of the traditional accompaniments are difficult to source outside Vietnam. 'Exotic' just means 'I can't find these where I am'. Where I live, 'mac and cheese' is considered exotic and sounds disgusting.

More of a memoir than a cookbook, eG member Carolyn Phillips' At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is on my wish list. Review here.

Sadly, my local Vietnamese restaurant doesn't have bánh xèo, either. Fortunately, Vietnam is just down the road. Or will be when we can travel again. The best bánh xèo I've eaten were these in Ho Chi Ming City(Saigon). The restaurant only does that one dish.

Actually, it was invented by a farmer, although now belongs to a large whisky group. See here for the history.

Sheep Dip, on the other hand is rather good.

Thank you!

Ah! That sort of thing is perfectly normal in Chinese language recipes. "Add the usual and cook until cooked." "Add the correct amount of garlic." "Serve with appropriate."

I do love purple perilla (紫苏 -zǐ sū) . Very common vegetable round these parts. More here.

Nice selection. What, please, are these? I can't quite make them out. Thanks.

Sea bass, wakame, crab roe, home pickled ginger. Ate that then the other fillet.

Another short extract from a guide book relating to the local Miao ethnic minority cuisine. As before, the use of 'sour' is a mistranslation for 'pickled'. And the dried pepper' mentioned means 'chilli pepper'.

One commenter on Chowhound said it all. "If it's cheap it's not saffron" Yes, Thanks. I am aware that a lot of 'saffron' isn't saffron. Some time back I was given a gift of 'Thai' spices which included 'saffron' and 'saffran'. One was saffron, the other was probably safflower.

This one OK? 😃

A late addition to the dried tofu selection. This one is first stewed in 'spring-picked' tea, then dried.