liuzhou

I thought it was well known that crab sticks don't contain crab. They are made from surimi (i.e fish paste made from the stuff they can't sell!) That's why, in many places, they cannot be labelled or advertised using the name 'crab'. So we get Krab Sticks', Ocean Sticks, Sea Legs and Imitation Crab Sticks etc.

Pork in soup with fresh rice noodles, century eggs (皮蛋 - pí dàn ) and spinach. Garlic, ginger, chilli, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce.

17. A Mixed Bag The article which included the horse urine nonense above also went on as follows. I've put their claims in italics; my comments follow unitalicised. 1. Sparrows are a common food both in the street and as a snack at home. No they aren't. Never seen any such thing. 2. Banquet specialities include cow's lung soaked in chili sauce, goose stomachs, fish lips with celery, goat's feet tendons in wheat noodles, shark's stomach soup, chicken-feet soup, monkey's head, ox forehead, turtle casserole, pigeon brain, deer ligament and snake venom, also lily bulb. Some of these are common world-wide. Chicken-feet soup, for example. Some (marked in red) are extremely rare or mythical. It is well-known that sharks are de-finned then cruelly thrown back into the sea to die. They take their stomachs with them. Fish maw (float bladders) , usually from freshwater fish, are used in soups. Snakes are eaten; their venom rarely if ever. Grass Carp with its Float Bladder What is so surprising about lily bulb? 3. Some people in China eat dirt as "famine food." What? Drivel! 4. Huangshan Stone Frog is a speciality of the Anhui province. Yes. So? Frogs of many varieties are eaten world-wide. 5. Interestingly, the Chinese considered many foods eaten by non-Chinese to be strange. They consider eating a plain cooked steak as primitive and unappetizing. Many regard eating cheese or butter as disgusting and find the French custom of eating snails to be strange. Yes. But you might want to consider that if a food is popular in a country with a population of 1.5 billion, but 'strange' in a country with only 330 million, then maybe it is you who are strange! And you should have stopped at cheese and butter (but see my comments on dairy above). Snails are extremely popular in China. Why would they think France was strange? Chillied snails in my local market These Jade snails below are imported from Africa at great expense and are considered a delicacy in China. "Don't believe anything you read on the internet" - Plato.

16. Horsing Around With Eggs I read this on the interwebs "Thousand-year-old eggs, a Guangdong delicacy, are made from duck eggs coated with lime, ashes and mud and soaked in horse urine for 100 days until the yolks turns green and the whites become gelatinous and dark brown." Horse urine? Horseshit more like! a) They are not from Guangdong. Tradition has it that they were invented accidentally in Hunan, but no one really knows. They are avalable all over China. b) No horse urine is involved in any way. Known as 皮蛋 (Mandarin: pí dàn; Cantonese: pei4 daan6*2); hundred-year-old eggs, thousand-year-old eggs, millennium eggs, skin eggs, black eggs, etc, the eggs (duck or chicken- less often quail) are preserved by coating them in a mixture of alkaline mud, quicklime and rice chaff and leaving them to cure for weeks or even months. Horse urine is not alkaline, so wouldn't even work if some joker tried to use it. The traditional method involves the mud, but in modern methods various chemicals are used to replicate the curing process. Neither method requires equine assistance. There is a also a version known as 松花蛋 (Mandarin: sōng huā dàn; Cantonese: cung4 faa1 daan6*2), songhua eggs, pine flower eggs or pine-patterned eggs. They are prepared in the same way but are considered superior. Songhua Eggs The eggs are eaten as is, often with a chilli dip or a soy and vinegar dip. Pidan with chilli dip. They are commonly used alongside lean pork in congee (even Pizza Hut does their version). Pizza Hut Pidan and Lean Pork Congee They are often cut up and mixed with tofu in various dishes. They also appear in noodle soup dishes. The eggs sometimes have a faint ammonia odour (which may be the source of the urine myth), but the taste is simply that of intense egginess. I like them a lot! Here is a video which explains the science behind the eggs.

You mean YOU like it. Fine. I don't.

C@rnmeal and c@rn?!?! What are you trying to do to me?

I'm surprised but happy that I got 7/7. There were a couple of lucky guesses.

Millions sign up to anti-food-waste apps to share their unused produce

Spicy prawns with orzo. Doubanjiang (豆瓣酱 Sichuan Broad Bean Chilli Paste), garlic, ginger, chilli and green onions. I'm launching a campaign to have green onions treated as a full vegetable rather then just a garnish.

Okra (Hindi: भिंडी - bhindi) is very common in curries. Bhindi Bhaji is on almost every menu in UK 'Indian' restaurants. Bhindi masala is also popular. Yes, okra is better still somewhat firm. I can't see okra working in hot pots, but the other methods you mention, yes. I was just interested in posting my friend's method as it is the first I've seen it being cooked here - and it looked so good!

Okra is also used in many Indian style 'curries' where it is stewed. The juices which some people find 'slimy' are a tasty and natural thickener, too. But I agree that crispness is good, which is why I liked the Chinese preparation. The two minute boil left it cooked, but crisp.

This is the brand of doubanjiang I see most often - 丹丹郫县豆酱 (dān dān Pí xiàn dòu bàn jiàng) from Pixian, probably the centre of doubanjiang excellence. I've seen it in England, so I know it is exported - hope you can find it.

Soy braised silkworm pupae with chillies. Apologies for picture quality.

Simple but satisfying. Pork tenderloin steak with chips.

I have a fair number of cameras. They range from a top of the range DSLR (one of four DSLRs I have) to an ancient manual camera I bought in Mocow in the communist era. But that said, I take all my food photos with an old Samsung cell phone. It is a bit battered and out of date, but has a great camera, when it comes to taking food pictures. Less so for other applications.

My main camera comes with a 610 page instruction manual. Not sure how big the help pages are - massive. Then there are the separate manuals for lenses!

Doubanjiang (豆瓣酱) is essential for Sichuan cooking. The sweet soy bean paste is not a substitute. The Zhenjiang vinegar you bought is Chinkiang black vinegar. 'Chinkiang' is the old transliteration which only America uses now! I don't know that brand. I'd try to find some aged more than three years (the minimum). Mine is aged for six years (marked 六年陈). I'm always happy to give names in Chinese, should you want to print them out and take to the store to help find those items not labelled in English.

You're not the only one.

Braised chicken legs with onion, garlic, black olives, capers, white wine. Finished with a sprinkling of shichimi togarashi. Served with boiled spuds and wilted endive.

Another version: A priest, a pastor and a rabbit walked in to blood donation clinic. The nursed asked the rabbit: "What is your blood type?" "I am probably a type O" said the rabbit.

After receiving an unexpected gift, lunch/brunch plan changed. Hunan blood sausage with poached egg and flatbread.

Not a silly question. I was just confused as to why I was suddenly an authority on potatoes! I have eaten Jersey Royals, but as you note, a very long time ago. Maybe 50 years! I remember them being special, but can't really elucidate beyond that. Sorry.

I recently had goose liver sushi - two ways. Seared liver on rice (honest!) Roast Goose Liver and Mango

and again 10 am, someone knocked on my apartment door. Most unusual. A young lady was standing there with a box. I explained I wasn't expecting anything, but on examining the label, found it was definitely addressed to me. I'm not expecting any nasty surprises (I don't think I've upset anyone who knows my address!) so I accepted it. Delving through the packaging I found an polystyrene insulation box with two ice packs and a vacuum sealed bag of unidentifiable something. Closer inspection revealed these. Four beautiful, fat, blood sausages from Hunan! Happiness overflows! Dinner plans re-thought! Thanks Ms, Chen! (She of the okra and scissors.)

That wouldn't work round here. Although 鲑鱼 (guī yú) is the correct technical name for salmon, most people use 三文鱼 (sān wén yú). Salmon is all imported* and 三文 (sān wén) is the nearest they can get to pronouncing 'salmon'. 鱼 (yú) means 'fish'. So, you'd have to change your name to 三文 (sān wén) for free sushi. * It was mostly imported from Norway, but they fell out with Norway about some trivial political disagreement. Now it mostly comes from Scotland.