liuzhou

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.

And here is a dish using all three of the holy trinity. Chickens' feet with pickled ginger, pickled chillies and pickled garlic. Enjoy!

Pig, new movie starring Nicholas Cage as a truffle hunter/ex-chef.

Actually, black vinegar is seldom used in pickles. White rice vinegar is by far the usual choice. I, too, love the flavour of the Zhengjiang vinegar and it's smokiness. Most black vinegar is made from a glutinous black rice. It is usually used with braised meats and fish. My friend J's husband does a wonderful chicken dish with it, but is protective of his recipe. She is going to divorce him as soon as she gets it! 😂 But most commonly, it is used for dips with dumplings etc..

Yes, there are recipes on that interweb thing which are ludicrously complicated. One recipe pushed by Goggle takes three days!

Thanks. Nothing easier. I use equal quantities of ginger and white granulated sugar. Some advocate freezing the ginger first to break down the fibres. I've never found this necessary, but I use young ginger. The ginger and sugar is simmered for about an hour. Exact timing varies, so just keep testing it for tenderness. I prefer to still have a bit of bite. When it's ready to your satisfaction, let it cool in the syrup, then sprinkle with dry sugar. Bung in fridge. I have no idea how long it lasts. Usually a couple of days around me! Keep the syrup. I use it in a seafood salad dressing with lime and orange juice, but that's a whole 'nother story.

35. Preserved Ginger – 酸姜 (suān jiāng) - Pickled Ginger, 干姜 (gān jiāng) - Dried Ginger, plus I’ve mentioned preserved garlic; I’ve mentioned preserved chillies; so now it’s time to complete China’s holy trinity. First up, we have 酸姜 (suān jiāng), pickled ginger. I’ve only ever seen young ginger pickled. It is both home made and sold in markets, street stalls and supermarkets. I usually make my own. This is exactly the same as the pickled sliced ginger used in Japanese cuisine as a palate cleanser. Here is a commercial version. 嫩姜 (nèn jiāng) means 'tender ginger'. Then we have the dried ginger, (干姜 gān jiāng). This is used to make ginger tea, or powdered to make ginger soup. Ginger Soup Mix Finally we have crystalized ginger. I've only ever seen this once. but no worries, I make my own. liuzhou's home made crystalized ginger.

Yeah, thanks. Like @Anna N, I worked it out in the end. Hey! I hadn't had my first coffee!

I just think this is weird. But first, I admire how, in Chinese dinner parties at home (or in a restaurant), no one thinks twice if offered a store-bought dish along with home cooked. This was a friend's food a few days ago. She has given her permission for me to post it here. I could make out that plastic box contains what I took to be salmon, some slices of lemon and what appears to be mayonnaise, but to be sure I asked her. She sent me the ingredients label, which fortunately she still had. This lists the ingredients as: Atlantic salmon, butter, mayonnnaise, garlic, vegetable oil, Moravian cheese, salt, lemon and spices. This is odd in itself. Moravianan cheese, I'm taking to be Olomoucké tvarůžky, the soft cheese from Loštice, Moravia, in the Czech Republic, rather than the Italian-sounding Gran Moravia, the hard cheese, also made in the Czech Republic, but using traditional Italian methods. But who knows? Not my friend. But what really spooks me is that it comes with clear instructions on how to cook the dish: Home oven: Bake for 8-10 minutes at 200℃; or pan fry on a low heat for about 3 minutes. Yet, there it is on the table, clearly uncooked. Of course, I asked my friend. "Oh! I didn't notice that! I thought it tasted a bit strange, but just guessed that is what foreign food is meant to taste like!" Full marks for being adventurous, zero for reading her own language. P.S. She teaches Chinese language in a high school!

34. 干豆腐 (gān dòu fu) – Dried Tofu As well as fermenting tofu, it is also preserved by drying. 干豆腐 (gān dòu fu)* comes in many formats. Some are also flavoured by stewing with spices etc, first. Some are dried then smoked. Here are a few. Dried Tofu Layer Cake Dried Tofu Layer Cake Dried Tofu Shapes White Dried Tofu 豆腐卷 (dòu fu juǎn) Tofu Roll Tofu Roll Unwrapped 5-Spice Tofu Red Tofu "Noodles" White Tofu Noodles A Different Type of Rolled Tofu Smoked Tofu "White Chicken" Tofu Here in Liuzhou, a highly popular tofu iten is 腐竹 (fǔ zhú), which is made from the skin which forms on the top of the soy milk when being made into tofu. The layer of skin is lifted off and dried. Often it is rolled into sticks. Dried 腐竹 (fǔ zhú) Rehydrated 腐竹 (fǔ zhú) Fried 腐竹 (fǔ zhú) 腐竹 (fǔ zhú) is an essential part of Liuzhou's signature dish, 螺蛳粉 (luó sī fěn) or 'river snail rice noodles', but is also used in other dishes. 柳州螺蛳粉 (liǔ zhōu luó sī fěn) Lamb with 腐竹 (fǔ zhú) Tofu is also frozen, but this is not to preserve it. Freezing then thawing regular tofu makes it spongy, so ideal for soaking up sauces and hotpot flavours. * Sometimes the 干 (gān) meaning 'dried, is at the end - 豆腐干 (dòu fu gān). The meaning is the same.