liuzhou

刺角瓜 (cī jué guā) Cucumis metuliferus - Horned Melon

红泥花生 (hóng ní huā shēng - Red Mud Peanuts). These have been “cured” by being buried in a muddy red paste of unidentifiable ingredients then baked until the shells turn red and the ‘nuts’ take on a pleasant earthy taste. These are good (in my humble).

22. 桔梗 (jié gěng), Pickled Chinese Bellflower (aka Balloon Flower) Root, Platycodon grandiflorus Some may know this better as 도라지 (doraji), the Korean name, but it is actually native to all of East Asia and also used as a pickle in China, although any self-respecting Korean will think of it as a type of kimchi ingredient. Here in China, it is made and used in a similar way - as a side or condiment with other foods, especially rice. However, it is probably more used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), particularly to treat coughs and related illnesses.

21. 腊肉 (là ròu) preserved / cured meat or fish. 腊 (là) means ‘cured’ or ‘preserved’ and 肉 (ròu) means ‘flesh’ or ‘meat’. Used without further clarification, 肉 (ròu) is always taken to mean ‘pork’’; other meats are given fuller names – 鸡肉 (jī ròu), for example, is ‘chicken meat’. 腊 (là) is only used with meats; never vegetables. I mentioned the top three examples of Chinese cured hams before, in this topic. Most of the ham/bacon I can buy around here are home cured and from Hunan (Liuzhou borders Hunan province), which is famous for its la rou. Of course, meats can be cured in many ways: dried, dry-cured, wet-cured, smoked etc or in combinations of the above and Hunan uses them all. Here are just a few examples. The above are dry cured and lightly smoked. The next two images are of brined and heavily smoked bacon. They have a strong smell and very smokey taste which is typical of Hunan cuisine. Next we have 晒兰 (shài lán), a very localised specialty, only found in the small town of 沅陵 (yuán líng) in north-west Hunan. The town has large Miao and Tujia ethnic minority populations. Shai Lan (avocado for scale) This is a lightly cured (dry-cure) ham incorporating pork, salt, wine and Sichuan peppercorns, usually cooked with beans and copious amounts of chillies. Here is my take on it. Shai Lan with Brocolli Romanesco More locally, on my side of the border, is the Dong people's town of 三江 (sān jiāng). They also have hams and bacons, but also do a number of others. Sanjiang cured and smoked duck Finally, here is some Sichuan la rou. Winter is, of course, the main time for eating these hams and around October to December, the smell of hams being cured and/or smoked hangs in the air. So, I'll probably return to this come autumn.

I haven't been cooking much recently. My first vaccine killed my appetite. Tonight, I tried to rekindle the fire with spicy chicken and 猪肚菇 (zhū dù gū) 'pig stomach mushrooms', Infundibulicybe gibba.) The chicken was marinated overnight with Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger and chillies, then stir fried with 豆瓣酱 (dòu bàn jiàng) and Welsh onions. Served with orzo instead of rice because...

20. 泡菊芋 (pào jú yù) – Pickled Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus I rarely see Jerusalem artichokes in the markets or supermarkets. Much more often, they turn up like this. Pickled in vinegar and dressed in a chili sauce. Another snack food or to be added to your breakfast porridge (congee).

19. 海蜇 (hǎi zhé) Jellyfish, Rhopilema esculenta A popular snack or salad-like side dish, 海蜇 (hǎi zhé), literally ‘sea sting’, is sold in supermarkets and ‘mom ‘n pop’ stores. Normally, the fish is dried then, when rehydrated, lightly pickled in brine and rice vinegar for the briefest time. It remains slightly crunchy and delicately flavoured.

18. 八宝菜 (bā bǎo cài), literally ‘eight treasure vegetables’ – mixed pickles 八宝 (bā bǎo), eight treasures, is an ancient Chinese concept concerning symbols in Chinese art and on Chinese numismatic charms. In more recent times, the term has become applied to various foodstuffs. Remember this guy? If you can’t decide on which of his pickles you want, you are free to pick and mix from his selection. Most people do. Alternatively, you can just buy this pre-mixed selection of pickled vegetables from the supermarket.

红油辣椒 （hóng yóu là jiāo, literally 'red oil hot pepper'）- Sichuan chilli oil from Meishan in SW Sichuan. For some reason they have labelled it in Traditional characters - 紅油辣椒 - which are not normally used in Sichuan. As you can see, only the first one is different. The rest of the packaging uses regular Simplified characters. The ingredients are simply vegetable oil, crushed Sichuan chilies and sesame seeds. It needs to be stirred before use as the sesame seeds have all floated to the top and the chilli to the bottom. On the other hand, you may wish to leave the chili undisturbed for a slightly less spicy hit.

17. 裙带菜 (qún dài cài), Undaria pinnatifida – wakame Another seaweed. Although wakame is often considered to be Japanese, only that name is. The name was adopted from Japanese into English in America sometime in the 1960s along with the briefly faddish macrobiotic movement. In fact, this seaweed is native to China, Korea, Eastern Russia and Japan. In China, it is 裙带菜 (qún dài cài). That said, it is often mislabelled 海草 (hǎi cǎo), meaning ‘seagrass’. This preparation of what is actually a type of kelp is lightly pickled in rice vinegar with sugar, salt and sesame oil for a brief time (what Fuchsia Dunlop calls ‘taking a shower’ pickling) and is served as a side dish. I particularly like it with sashimi or sushi. Before I’m told that sashimi and sushi are Japanese and not Chinese, may I point out the Chinese have been preparing and eating raw (and pickled) fish for millennia. Also, even the Japanese recognise that the concept of sushi was originally Chinese, although Japan did take over and develop it in their own way later.

You had a spherificater when you were a molecule? Isn't that a bit precocious? 😆

I'm not sure if this is bad or just sad.

16. 臭豆腐 (chòu dòu fu) – Stinky Tofu Another fermented bean curd preparation is 臭豆腐 (chòu dòu fu) or stinky tofu. This comes in various versions, but all have one thing in common – they stink! My favourite type is that which originated in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, the province to the north of Guangxi. Twenty-five years ago, I lived in a small Hunan city and behind the central market was a maze of streets. One of those streets was lined by hole-in-the-wall shops, all with low trestle tables and stools outside, selling stinky tofu and beer. I could always find the street in the maze – simply by following my nose. I could get there blindfolded. Changsha Stinky Tofu Traditionally, stinky tofu uses firm tofu which is then dried and then fermented for months in a brine also containing amaranth leaves, pork, dried shrimp and various vegetables. The Changsha style also incorporates winter bamboo shoot, and shiitake mushrooms, as well as koji, Aspergillus oryzae, a fungus used to promote fermentation During the fermentation process, the tofu develops a ‘hairy’ exterior, then begins to turn grey, at which time it is considered ready. Normally, the fermented tofu is then deep fried until black or dark brown and the outside is crisp. It is commonly served with a chili sauce. Hunan is chili central in China. In Hong Kong, it is eaten with hoisin sauce – preposterous idea, if you ask me! Here I can buy it on the streets from itinerant vendors with their portable stoves and cunningly designed woks in which the fried tofu can sit in these cages around the rim to drain, but also to keep warm. Stinky tofu being deep fried in Hunan Fried stinky tofu 'resting' in a cage at the rim of the wok. Once you get past the smell, the taste is creamy and mild, contrasting with the chilli sauce. Sort of like a funky cheese. Other, well-known varieties include Shaoxing stinky tofu. Shaoxing city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province is also, of course, famous for Shaoxing wine. Sichuan stinky tofu includes Sichuan peppercorns in the brine, while Tianjin in north China makes a milder, light-coloured version with less of the tell-tale smell. I've even seen stores selling 5-year-old Shaoxing stinky tofu brine on China's online shopping sites. 5-Year Old Shaoxing Stinky Tofu Brine Taiwan is also known for its love of stinky tofu, which they cook in many ways, besides deep frying. I’ve never been there, so can’t comment on that too much.

15. 豆腐乳 (dòu fǔ rǔ) - Fermented Bean Curd (Tofu) It is not just green vegetables that are pickled or fermented, of course. One popular condiment is 豆腐乳 (dòu fǔ rǔ), often shortened to 腐乳 (fǔ rǔ), or pickled tofu (Note: ‘tofu’ is from the Japanese name, ‘とうふ - tōfu ’, which they took from the Chinese, which is ‘doufu’.) Cubes of tofu are first dried, then brined and fermented, along with various flavourings such as rice wine, vinegar and chilli. This is usually sold in glass jars. To be used as a condiment with such as rice, congee, etc., but can also be added to stir-fried dishes. Spicy Fu Ru Different brands of commercially produced furu vary in taste, but also in degrees of spiceness and texture. My preference is for this type, in which the tofu remains relatively firm. Others can be softer. Guilin, one of China's top tourist destinations (in better times), an hour north of here is renowned for its furu. About the only thing they sell in the small airport shopping area is presentation boxes of furu, sold for outrageous prices, of course. Find a small neighbourhood store and buy it there for a fraction of the airport price. Note: The red colour in the image above is from chili oil. However there is a type of furu known as 红腐乳 (hóng fǔ rǔ), which is red from the addition of a red yeast, Monascus purpureus. Be suspicious of furu which is dayglo red - this has probably been dyed with red food colouring.

Yes. you are probably correct. but I still think, any time we talk about garlic in oil, it's important to point out the risks to others who may not be aware of the possibility of serious health issues or how to avoid them.

Coincidentally, I was thinking about figs today after seeing these which an itinerant vendor was carrying. That got me thinking about these, which I've seen many, many times over the last few years. Dried figs. I have no idea how they are used; must find out. I suspect they are involved in TCM (Chinese Traditional Medicine) but don't actually know, but then everything else is. Interestingly (perhaps), the Chinese name for figs, 无花果 (wú huā guǒ) translates literally as 'no flower fruit'.

Thanks Norm. Good job. There is a discussion on these pickling jars going on now at this topic.

14. 芽菜 (yá cài) – Sichuan Pickled Mustard Tops In No 7 of my numbered posts above, I covered Zhacai, the Sichuanese root of a type of mustard plant. You didn’t think we were going to be ignoring the stems and leafy tops, did you? These are also salt cured, but in a more pungent manner. First they are dried, then salted and left to ferment with spices for months. Yibin city (宜宾市 - yí bīn shì) in south-eastern Sichuan is considered to produce the best. Mustard tops drying in the sun As ever, Fuchsia Dunlop's The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) has a number of recipes for using the pickle. Sichuan Yacai A very similar pickle, made in almost the exact way from the same ingredients, is known as 雪菜 (xuě cài - literally 'snow vegetable'). They may look somewhat different, but taste the same. Warning: Outside Sichuan, in other parts of China and among much of the diaspora, 芽菜 (yá cài) is taken to mean ‘bean sprouts’; something Ms. Dunlop doesn't mention. It is safer to specify 四川芽菜 (sì chuān yá cài) for the pickle. If you have to specify bean sprouts, ask for 豆芽菜 (dòu yá cài) or just 豆芽 (dòu yá).

13. 酸辣海带丝 (suān là hǎi dài sī) - Spicy Pickled Kelp Strips Another quick ‘food to help the rice go down’ (下饭菜 -xià fàn cài). This time seaweed. This is a commercial, factory processed product, made in Sichuan. Where they get the kelp from, I don't know - Sichuan is a landlocked province. Ingredients are, unusually, provided in a sort of English. Note: Rap oil (sic) should be Rapeseed Oil; Chinese prickly ash is Sichuan peppercorns and the white wine is actually 白酒 (bái jiǔ), a strong spirit usually distilled from sorghum or maize. Should you prefer to pickle your own without the added chemicals, just pop into the local market where the kelp is easily available in several forms. This one is simply pickled in vinegar. Or if you prefer, you can buy it dried, either in sheets or cut into strips and tied in knots Finally, here is a homemade version made from home-cured fresh seaweed. a

Garlic in oil MUST be kept refrigerated or there is a real risk of botulism.

Only if Dunkin' Donuts sell unsweetened versions.

That took a while. Most rice cookers in China have a congee setting and have done for decades.

While I agree 100% with your second sentence, I rather like fig newtons, too.

Yes, there are various ways to do it. Certainly nothing difficult about it.

12. 酸藕 (suān ǒu); Pickled Lotus Root Lotus root (莲藕 - lián ǒu) was clearly invented by the Chinese. I mean who else would come up with a vegetable specifically designed to be eaten by incompetent chopstick users? It is a very popular vegetable, often used in soups and hot pots, but also Chinese salads and here as an example of what is known in Chinese as 下饭菜 (xià fàn cài), which doesn’t directly translate well, but means ‘food to help the rice go down’. It is a quick brined (usually two or three days) pickle and is used for many vegetables. All over town are small stalls or just handcarts with people selling this type of pickle - vegetables and fruit. People take it to snack-type restaurants and add it to whatever they buy there – usually rice noodles or congee. Or they just eat it as it comes. I bought these below this morning from a man on a stall in the basement of a local shopping mall which has many small snack places. People were buying various things to eat with their noodles etc at the other stalls. The stick is supplied to spear the crisp vegetable should you just want to eat it on the hoof, as many people do. Often, it is covered with a chili sauce and the man did offer, but I wanted you to see it clearly, so I went for the no-chili version.