liuzhou

Wah! I haven't had areyes in decades. I'd completely forgotten they exist! I can get pita bread here, but the spices are more difficult. If I do make them, I'll be taking a lot more liberties. Beautiful looking plate of food.

Oh! Happy Day! I just took possession of 526 grams of the 诺邓火腿 (nuò dèng huǒ tuǐ) as described two posts back! Vacuum packed and sitting in my fridge waiting to see what I do with it!

It is more than a whole chicken, but I I wouldn't say the difference is huge. Whole 土鸡 (tǔ jī) organic chickens are roughly about $12-$20 USD per bird. China most certainly has 放山鸡 (fàng shān jī) free-range chickens. In a similar price range as the organic depending on the breed. I listed some of the more prized breeds up-thread starting here. Many Chinese shoppers are incredibly fussy about their poultry, often buying chicken or ducks live in farmer's markets rather than supermarkets - especially at holidays or wedding celebrations etc. However, we can also get the cheap supermarket mutants sold as chicken, usually as butchered parts.

The ones in this topic.

I have been asked by PM about English language cookbooks that I would recommend. I prefer to answer openly as other people may also want to know. However my answer won't be particularly illuminating. 99% of my Chinese cookbooks are in Chinese! I only have about five in English - all by Gullet embers as it happens, albeit inactive members. First, Fuchsia Dunlop The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and Land of Fish and Rice (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). That latter covers eastern Chinese cuisine. These two are particularly good, but all her books are sound. Beware! Her Land of Plenty and Sichuan Cookery are earlier editions of the same book. The one I link to is the latest update. Hopefully, the last. Second, Carolyn Phillips All Under Heaven (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is a good introduction to regional Chinese food, although no one book could cover all. That would require a library! She also has a short book on Dim Sum, but I can't find my copy. I very rarely eat dim sum anyway. Beyond the Great Wall (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) - Naiomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford covers only a few regions but IS a good read. I no longer have a copy. I wonder what happened to it. Generally (and I know there must be exceptions), I find English language books and websites tend at best to concentrate on western renditions of Cantonese food, rather than food you would find in most of China - if anywhere in China. I'm really not the best person to answer the question.

Back in November last year, I wrote that pheasant is only available from itinerant peasants on the streets. They catch them wild in the mountains. Today, I was going through my online grocery app, looking for some organic chicken legs, and came across this. Going solely on this image from the app they are Phasianus colchicus torquatus, Chinese ring-necked pheasants. Yes. They are now offering peasant free pheasants. Still wild. So probably they're buying them from the peasants. Whatever, saves me from going out hunting peasants with pheasants. They're listed alongside the chickens as the Chinese name for pheasant is 山野鸡 (shān yě jī), literally mountain (and) field chicken. However, 'mountain and field' is also used to indicate 'wild'. Around $22-23 USD per bird. (Got my organic chicken legs, too)

I don't know about weird coating, but I always quickly fry spinach in home rendered lard (pig fat) but then that is the standard treatment for most greenery in China.

驴肉火烧 (lǘ ròu huǒ shāo), Donkey burgers or sandwiches. Donkey meat, chilli, cumin. Flaky buns.

I bought this online. Arrived this morning. According to the manufacturer: Actually, it's very mild with little goat flavour. And tolerance or lack of is not an issue for me. The odd thing was that it was described as Roquefort on the shopping app listing. I knew it wasn't just by looking at the image. And Roquefort is a protected species in Europe. No such thing as Dutch Roquefort would ever be allowed! Anyway, I was happy to buy it for a try, knowing what it really was!

I would describe it as typical AI .

Blood sausage on ciabatta. Locally made pig's blood and glutinous rice sausage (糯米血肠 - nuò mǐ xuè cháng).

I have successfully soften over-hard cheese 🧀 by wrapping it in damp paper towels and leaving it overnight in the fridge. I'm a little surprised you consider 7 oz to be such a great amount. That's around 200 grams, the smallest amount I can buy. You could buy a whole cheese - only 35 kilos or 77 lbs! Image: taobao.com China's largest online shopping service

Have you actually tried it? I didn't write it. But they are definitely seared.

A proper breakfast. Banana 🍌. This one. Mashed onto wholewheat bread 🍞. Perfect with a nice gin and tonic.

Well, we get plant based everything now, so why not butter? It's called marketing. Or lying.

How happy I ham! Anyone who knows me, knows I love blood sausage / black pudding. I've tried it all around the world from Scotland to North Korea. These I'd heard rumours of, but never managed to find, even when, back in 2003. I visited where they originate. But today I did! Online. They are Inner Mongolian blood sausages, but with a difference from those from that region I've had before. These are sheep's blood. I can only buy a minimum of a kilo, but at the equivalent to $17 USD affordable. They are winging their way to me now. I shall report back. Images from Taobao online shopping portal.

When I fancied this for lunch today, I thought I’d have a look to see what I said about it here. To my surprise, I said nothing! It is very popular indeed I’m talking about octopus. Formally known as 章鱼 (zhāng yú), but more colloquially 八爪鱼 (bā zhuǎ yú), literally meaning “eight claw fish”. Yes, they don’t have claws and they aren’t fish, but the Chinese classes many aquatic animals as fish, at least in their names. I don’t know which of the circa 300 members of the Octopoda order we get here. I doubt the vendors know either. Mostly we get these baby octopuses*, although I can buy larger beasts or even bits of beast online. Never in markets or supermarkets. They are mostly stir fried or boiled, but looking at my food delivery app, I see that the most common dish is to fry them and dress with a sesame and chilli sauce. I've had them in hotpots, too. Sesame Chilli Dressed Octopus as pictured on Meituan food delivery app. I’m not sure yet, what I’ll do with them later today. *Yes the plural is octopuses. Octopi is nonsensical. It isn't even octopi in Latin or the original source of the word, Ancient Greek. It is octopodes, a term now only found in 18th century texts.

1-10-10 every time. How to Cook Chicken Breasts (Juicy & Tender) | The Kitchn

Another rare ham made by Yunnan’s Bai ethnic group is 鹤庆火腿 (hè qìng huǒ tuǐ), Heqing Ham. This has been made in the village of Heqing since the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). In the past this was made exclusively using the rear legs of a local breed, know as a Diannan small-eared miniature*. Today, some local hybrids are also used. Diannan Pig - (image: Research Gate) Unusually, the legs are boned before the meat is washed in Heqing barley wine and salted, then stored in vats for three weeks, before being hung for between one and two years to ferment. Because of the boning, the resulting ham can be cut into circular slices before being served, so it is sometimes described as Heqing round ham. Round ham - (Image: inf.com) Sadly, with the modern infrastructure giving the Bai easy access to other foods, fewer and fewer people are now making these hams but it was once a necessary way of getting through the winter. The have always been made on a small scale by subsistence farmers, mostly for their own consumption, so few reach the market today. In fact, I have been unable to find any recently although I did sample it 27 years ago in Yunnan. Heqing Hams Curing - (Image: inf.com) *This breed is being extensively studied as a possible source of organs for pig-human transplants.

The simplest solution is found in commercial stock bases as shown in this topic. They should be found in any Chinese or Asian supermarket and on Amazon etc. The internet has hundreds of recipes for hotpots, not that many people use a recipe as such.

It's hotpot season here, so many hotpots have been consumed of late. A few: Of course, some pickled chillies lift them up.

I thought it was roast monk. How disappointed I was when I read the recipe - it's just lumpy raita.

Homemade pork wontons in an equally home made chicken broth. The broth was garlicky and peppery with white pepper.

Somehow, I had almost forgotten this topic, but a recent encounter reminded me. So another ham for your delight – this time one of the most interesting rare and, in my view at least, one of the finest. I’m talking about 诺邓火腿 (nuò dèng huǒ tuǐ), Nuodeng ham (above) from Yunlong County, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan province. This is a highly protected product which can only be made under strict conditions in one small village and its surrounding mountains and valleys. Nuodeng village 诺邓村 (nuò dèng cūn) is populated by people of the Bai ethnic minority. Nuodeng Village - image: guzhen100.com The hams come from a local, black skinned breed known as 诺邓黑猪 (nuò dèng hēi zhū), Nuodeng Black Pigs which are relatively hair-free. These roam freely in the mountains eating wild plants and herbs. When they reach the right size they are fattened for about a year by being fed corn and soy beans. Curing begins around the Spring Festival which is just over, so basically they are working on them as I write. The legs are carefully bled and as many blood vessels as possible removed. Then they are sprinkled with the local grain wine. After being left for a day or two, they are then salted. But not with any old salt. The area is known not only for its pigs but for its salt wells which have been mined since the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 CE). It is high in potassium, magnesium and other trace elements. The legs are covered in this salt which is massaged into the flesh. This procedure is then repeated and the hams placed in wooden barrels, covered with a lid and left for around three weeks. After that, the hams are removed and again covered, this time in a mix of ash, salt and the local mud. These muddy hams are then suspended from the peoples’ rafters for a minimum of a year but more typically three to five years. After two years, the hams develop a green mould, which looks like they are spoiled but when this outer coating is removed one can see that the insides are unaffected but, according the locals, the taste is much improved. Nuodeng hams drying and showing the characteristic green mould I have only ever eaten the 3-year version and it was great. Easily as good as jamón ibérico, if maybe not jamón ibérico de bellota. Of course, it doesn’t come cheap. $USD 180 / kg. expensive by Chinese standards. I spent $55 for 300 grams. 150 gram pack of Nuodeng ham

Re： Chinese Cardamom (Lanxangia tsao-ko or in older texts, Amomum tsao-ko). Also referred to in English as Chinese black cardamoms or Chinese red cardamoms. They are mainly used especially in Sichuan, Yunnan and neighbouring provinces and in Vietnam where they are an ingredient in the broth for phở. We border northern Vietnam and Yunnan so, they are readily available here, too. So they should be available in Chinese or S.E. Asian markets/stores. Here mainly used in hotpot broths. In Chinese they are: 草果 (cǎo guǒ); in Vietnamese: thảo quả. Here are some I bought in Guangxi recently. The largest is just over 1 inch long.