liuzhou

Well, they certainly are here in China. Most larger retaurants catering for weddings, banquets etc make their own paocai. What happens elsewhere, I don't know. This plate of pickles was served at just such a restaurant here 10 years ago, as documented in this post. One of my regular haunts only has five tables and also makes all its own pickles. My neighbours make their own pickles.

Well, line caught is a heck of a lot better than most industrial fishing methods. When frozen properly, yes. But it so often isn't and you have no way of knowing until you buy it and get it home. As I said, I'm very lucky to have access tofresh seafood. I never forget.

I haven't bought frozen fish for many years. Most of it is water and I don't like paying for stuff that falls out of the sky for free. If you haven't already, try weighing your frozen fish before thawing and after. Intresting. I buy all my fish fresh. How do I know it's fresh? Simple. It's still alive 90% of the time. I very rarely buy or have bought other seafood other than alive. Frozen prawns or shrimp? No thanks. I do realise people far from coastal areas have less choice and I am lucky, yet there is also an unwillingness among suppliers to challenge that. With modern infrasructure, it is perfectly possible to supply supemarkets etc with fresh fish - but it is costly, for the supplier and ultimately for you. You get what you pay for.

Yes, There are many varieties, not all edible. Most are poisonous unless prepared correctly. Arsenic. I know which are edible because the supermarkets and markets tend only to sell those. Poisoning customers isn't usually good for business! 🤣

6. 老坛笋 (lǎo tán sǔn) If, like me before I came to China, you have only had bamboo shoots from a can, then you've never had bamboo shoots in all their glory. There are many was to prepare them (some of which I'll get to later; some of which aren't relevant in this topic). But I'll start with one of the simplest. But not the simplest which is coming soon. 老坛笋 (lǎo tán sǔn) means 'old earthern jar bamboo shoots' which I think is pretty self explanatory. The bamboo shoots are pickled in old earthern jars with rice vinegar and chilis. We like our chili hit round here. They are usually sliced thinly into batons and either used in the paocai I described above or added to stir fries. Again the vinegar is considered to cut through fattiness of meats, but Chinese rice vinegar is milder than most, so the delicate, subtle flavour of the bamboo still comes through. This is one I buy a lot, but have never made. a) I don't have an old jar b) it isn't really practical to make for just one person living alone (but not lonely).

or Stovies https://forums.egullet.org/topic/156030-dinner-2018/?do=findComment&comment=2144947

Mince and Tatties

The two versions of suancai are ready to eat. They are not usually rinsed or soaked. Both are simply chopped finely and served as I described.

Understand. I'm the same here with regard to most non-Chinese ingredients. I'd love to buy good olive oil, for example, but can only find oil from very dubious sources. There is nothing wrong with the vinegar you have and it will be very suitable for the purpose in mind.

It isn't Zhenjiang vinegar, but is black vinegar and similar. It is Shanxi* Aged Vinegar, although I can't see how long this one has been aged. It'll do exactly the same job. *Shanxi (山西) is a province in northern China. Zhenjiang is in Jiangsu province in eastern China, near Shanghai. Zhenjiang vinegar is generally considered China's finest. If you see it, buy the oldest you can afford!

I don't know but I suspect they are using a similar technique as your recipe does but using black rice vinegar, probably Zhenjiang vinegar (often known in the USA as Chinkiang vinegar), and perhaps dark soy sauce. There isn't much I've not thought of making, but a lot I've never gotten round to!

5. Pickled Garlic Vinegar pickled garlic is common enough. In fact, it is frequently sitting on the table in smaller restaurants in many parts of China as a sort of free* appetizer, alongside raw garlic in Xi'an. These are a Sichuan version called 酸辣蒜头 (suān là suàn tóu) - Pickled Spicy Garlic Heads. I always have them in the pantry. Great with cheese! Maybe grate with cheese, too. Never tried. They are made from the immature garlic bulbs and rice vinegar with spices. A more unusual version, which I've only seen once, is this I forget the precise name, but they are soy sauce cured garlic cloves. They were extremely good. * Nothing is free! The cost is no doubt factored into whatever you order.

I've been trying to think of any Chinese recipes using ground/minced beef but although there are many for beef in general, not so much pertaining to ground beef. Apart from mapo tofu , which has already been mentioned, I can think of 1. Ants Climbing Trees (蚂蚁上树 - mǎ yǐ shǎng shù). Both Fuchsia Dunlop in The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and the relevant Wikipedia article on this Sichuan noodle dish only mention pork, but it is also often made with beef. 2. Mr. Xie's Dan Dan Noodles (牛肉担担面 - niú ròu dàn dàn miàn) is an excellent dish using beef. Again, Fuchsia Dunlop has the recipe. 3. Ground Beef in Nests (窝窝头牛肉 - wō wo tóu niú ròu) The only local dish I can think of is this, which I have had in restaurants and made myself. The beef is stir fried with garlic and ginger (and any spices you care to include - I used cumin in the batch above) and pickled vegetables of choice and served in the buns. There is a recipe for the buns here in Recipe Gullet. I'm sure there are more, but I'll need my second coffee of the morning before dislodging them from what remains of my mind.

Me too. And I never took a photo either. Too busy wiping pineapple juice from my face and hands, I guess.

Yes. I've seen here and all over SE Asia.

via Twitter

Brined and slow cooked pig's tongue. The tongue was trimmed of excess fat and gristle then brined for 24 hours. In retrospect, a heavier brine would have been better. Don't ask me what the ratio was. I just threw in what I thought to be a reasonable amount of salt. Next time. Then it was slow cooked for around 4 hours. The timing is a little uncertain because a technical error with the slow cooker (i.e. me forgetting to put the lid on!) confused the issue a bit. The meat is slightly overdone, but not unpleasantly so. Served cold with home-made Chinese pickled vegetables (泡菜 (pào cài)).

4. 泡菜 泡菜 (pào cài) has a confusing etymology. 泡 ((pào) means 'bubble' or 'steeped; soaked'. Together with 菜 (cài) meaning 'vegetable' it means 'pickled vegetable'. I can imagine the name comes from the pickling liquid bubbling as things ferment; or maybe it just means the vegetable is steeped or soaked in that same liquid. Or both. Take your pick. Whatever, the name covers all wet-pickled vegetables (including the suancai above). That said the most common use of the name is for this: It normally consists of cabbage or mustard leaf with daikon radish, carrots, chilis and ginger , but there are many variations. It is usually served as a pre-meal appetiser or palate-cleanser, but sometimes with the main meal. Available all over China, but often associated with Sichuan where it is particularly popular. The example pictured above is a commercial product and is pickled in rice vinegar with some spices, the most common method. Some are done in a brine. Here is my own home-made version. Same vegetables as I listed above (cabbage rather than mustard, here), done in rice vinegar with green Sichuan peppercorns.

Not so bad! I'm always fascinated by how quickly the market people can peel and de-eye pineapples here. A few seconds per fruit. I even bought one of the dedicated pineapple peelers they use, but I'm still hopeless. Lovely looking pineapples you got there!

It was kind of hard to tell. Certainly not roasted but perhaps boiled. I'll ask next time, but the supermarket people rarely have any clue about what they are selling.

Shiitake are different. They are Lentinula edodes. Some are more valued than others (flower shiitake for example) but that is based on aesthetic considerations, not taste or age. I can't comment on UK prices for mushrooms. It's over 30 years since I left. I guess they haven't got cheaper, though! I think a large part of why I have never left China after coming for only two years, 25 years ago, is that it would be too painful to leave behind the huge selection of mushrooms that every supermarket and market carries. I have detailed that on this topic from a while back.

Which other mushrooms?

.. which is really just one choice. They are all agaricus bisporus at various ages.