liuzhou

New toy arrived today. I'm sure it will get used.

Just noticed this post. They are rather short for cooking chopsticks. Mine are 16½ inches long. I don't get the 'tongs' reference. I've never seen them used like tongs. Can you clarify, please?

Linguine with mushroom and summer truffle sauce.

Probably the one Xi'an food that people throughout China have eaten, whether they have actually been to the city or not, is 羊肉串 (yáng ròu chuàn). They are sold in night markets everywhere in the country - China's most ubiquitous street food. They are lamb/mutton kebabs. Who doesn't like food on sticks? When I lived in Xi'an there was nothing I liked better of an evening than to go out, either alone or with friends and find a street stall selling Yang Rou Chuan. They weren't hard to find. See the last Chinese character in the name which looks like a kebab! They are available in some restaurants, but are more commonly found as street food. Bite size pieces of mutton (fatty tail meat is the prime choice) are threaded on sticks and grilled over charcoal while being sprinkled with cumin and chilli. They will omit the chili if you are not a spice lover. Me, I ask for extra! It is astonishing how many of these you can get through on a warm summer evening in the open air, washing them down with a cold beer in good company. Some stalls sell only these; others also offer alternative meats such as beef or chicken and also sheep offal. Due to Xi'an's large Muslim population, pork is rare. Outside any of Xi'an's universities is a good place to look for kebab stalls and they are often cheaper than in the touristy Muslim Quarter. I regularly ate them for a year at the same stall beside Northwest University near the South Gate of the wall. Cheap and cheerful.

Yeah, you can use it pretty much as you would rice. When I could get it, I usually used it in salads.

Yes, cucumbers are a rare exception. The smacked cuke is very common (although I know people who won't touch it). I've eaten donkey in Beijing but never seen that salad or any other. Interesting.

Fried fresh hand-pulled noodles with chicken, purple napa cabbage, garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander/cilantro, Chinese chives, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce.

Well, some people eat sushi; others are terrified by the very idea. I'd say it's still a small minority who do eat it. I have friends, otherwise adventurous eaters, who have refused to go to sushi places with me. (Although, as I also mentioned before, there is strong evidence that sushi originated in China and was imported to Japan.) Yes, it's largely a hygiene and parasite issue. "Night soil" is still used in rural areas, although not so much as even 20 years ago. I'm not sure that's a good thing - chemical fertilisers are taking its place. People do wash everything very, very carefully - meat, vegetables, rice etc are all scrubbed before cooking.

Something in Xi'an cuisine which may seem more mainstream next. However, it is far from mainstream in China. The Chinese generally don't eat raw food of any description. They consider it deadly poison! I often horrify friends by wolfing down raw food. Raw oysters have them running. But there is an exception. Tiger salad (老虎菜 - lǎo hǔ cài), literally 'old tiger vegetable' is one of very few dishes served raw in China, It is a simple salad. In fact, there are two versions of this dish. One is from the far north-east of China but the Xi'an version actually comes from China's westernmost province of Xinjiang, China's troubled Muslim province. It lies on what was the ancient Silk Road which started or ended in Xi'an depending which direction you were travelling It consists of a mix of strips of cucumber, carrot, daikon, onion, coriander leaf/cilantro, etc, tossed in a spicy chilli dressing. The strips of vegetable are thought to resemble the stripes of the tiger, hence the name. I often have this with my rou jia mo, when I'm in Xi'an. The refreshing, crisp salad perfectly complements the sandwich. Xi'an Tiger Salad

Ah! Sorry. I thought I had translated it. I normally do. Now edited.

That was my point. I don't see anything else potentially off-putting.

It might sound off-putting, but a Xi 'an favourite is 凉皮 (liáng pí) - literally 'cold skin', another noodle dish. In this type, the noodle making method is somewhat unusual. They are made from flour (wheat or rice) mixed with lightly salted water to make a dough. So far nothing unusual. The dough is then rinsed again and again with more water until all the starch is removed. The rinsing water is reserved and when all the starch has been extracted, the dough is discarded or used in another application (see below). The starchy water is rested overnight. The starch settles to the bottom and is collected, with the clear water being discarded. The starch is then spread out into a layer to make a 'skin' and steamed until it sets into a sheet. It is then cooled and sliced into thick noodles. The noodles are always served cold, often from street side carts (and Xi'an can be bitterly cold in winter). They are mixed with various vegetables including bean sprouts, cucumber, carrot, daikon radish, peanuts etc and covered in a spicy sauce. The discarded dough is often used to make seitan aka wheat gluten which is also frequently served in the dish.

U of Guelph investigates buttergate and suggests culprit could be higher levels of palmitic acid

You can put any guess in, but that one is nowhere near. I'm not going to elaborate and call down the 'off-topic' police.

The Chinese noodle dish whose name doesn't exist - BBC The dish is not new. It was just recently renamed. I lived in Xi'an in 1996-97 and the biáng name didn't exist then. Some restaurants still sell it under the old name - 油泼扯面 (yóu pō chě miàn). And here is the Chinese "character" in question. It is just a marketing gimmick.

Xi'an is my favourite city in China for food. Not my favourite Chinese cuisine*, but favourite city. I lived there for a while in the 1990s and have returned many times since. It is almost bang in the centre of China, was the Tang dynasty's capital and was the starting point of the Silk Road. As a result, it has absorbed and developed its cuisine from all over China and beyond. Also, it has a large Muslim population which has hugely influenced the cuisine. Luckily, I have an excellent Xi'an restaurant near my home owned and staffed by Xi'an natives so I don’t go without. I'll try to post as much about its many dishes as I can. * That is Hunan cuisine – especially in the west of the province.

Some background

Yes. I freeze it all the time. Couple of pâtés in the freezer right now.

I've been making it for decades. Made some chicken liver pâté yesterday. But I also make pork liver pâté. Never mixed the two before, though. Might give it a try.

You certainly do. A great looking bánh mì. Now you have to make your own liver pâté!

Beer battered sea bass with chips and bits*. As a kid, I'd pick up a bag of bits on the way home from school. Never paid for them. Unheard of back then. Anyway, today's were home made.

Hunan blood sausage, pork sausage and fried egg. The egg burst. Oh well.

Do you know what it really means? If not, are you sure you want to?

er, not so much a chance. more a certainty.

My apologies. I have no idea what Mama's Tease is referring to. There is nothing in the Chinese with such a meaning. But, every day I see products and stores with random English names. They think it is exotic. Just like all the westerners who ask me what their "Chinese" tattoos mean. They are seldom Chinese at all; just random characters or even random Japanese.