liuzhou

Yes. I've been using this sand pot (沙锅 - shā guō) for over ten years now. I got through a few before I worked out how to look after them. No sudden changes, as you say, though they do take a high flame when asked to. That said, for most applications I use medium heat.

So he isn't opening four restaurants at all. He is opening a kitchen which makes four different types of food and so four menus. it's all just marketing.

Chicken with leeks and almond mushrooms* in wine. Simple boiled potatoes. HP Sauce. * Agaricus subrufescens - Chinese: 姬松茸 (jī sōng róng); Japanese: 姫まつたけ (himematsutake).

The heads aren't cooked; the chef holds the fish by the head with the rest of the body in the hot oil (using appropriate equipment). They open and close their mouths for a short time after serving - all the movement is in the head. I guess it may be heat related, but I'm not qualified to say.

15. The Chinese Eat Live Fish The internet is full of horror stories; YouTube has videos; PETA are up in hysterical arms! People in China are eating live fish! You can see the fish gasping for breath; you can see its eyes move. It's YinYang Fish - 阴阳鱼 (yīn yáng yú), sometimes called 'dead and alive fish'! Except, it's all nonsense. The fish ain't still alive! This is a dish of deep fried whole carp which is served with a sweet and sour sauce. Diners are either horrified or amused to see that the fish's mouth is still opening and closing and its eyes may move, too. They assume it must be alive! Tell me how a fish that has been totally eviscerated and had chopsticks driven through its brain*, then deep fried, can possibly still be alive. What these diners are seeing is post-mortem muscular spasms - not signs of life! Alternative names for the dish are 糖醋活鱼 (táng cù huó yú) and 呼叫鱼 (hū jiào yú). The first can translate as 'sweet and sour live fish' but 活 (huó) also means 'moving'. Sweet and sour moving fish!' The second name means 'calling out fish' meaning it looks as though it's shouting for assistance - if it is, it is way too late! People see what they want to see! For the Chinese diners, it is vaguely amusing; for the more gullible foreigners, it is torture! Also, people often visit markets and see large fish heads sitting up on vendors' stalls opening and closing their mouths, then assume the decapitated heads are somehow still alive. Again, what they are seeing are post-mortem muscle spasms. These heads are from a type of carp known as Big Head Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) - 大头鲢 dà tóu lián. These are used to make fishhead and tofu soup - 鱼头豆腐汤 (yú tóu dòu fu tāng) - a delicious and popular dish. Big Head Carp The only dish I've ever been served (half) alive was drunken shrimp 醉虾 (zuì xiā) and that only once**. The Chinese have a strong aversion to eating anything raw - never mind still alive! * A standard method of killing fish in China - death is instant. ** I had previously eaten this in Japan as Odori ebi - 踊り海老.

I agree with @Shelby.

Add cheese to it next time, then!

I bought a 50g bag of dried green Sichuan peppercorns this morning and just opened it. Wow! The whole neighbourhood is scented!

Back to basics. Boiled eggs with flatbread.

Your ideas are interesting but it is much better to chat here. That way other members can benefit from the discussion, even if they don't choose to take part. Also, posting your email address on a public forum is the easiest way to get spam and viruses!

It isn't different. Gai choy (芥菜) is the Cantonese name of what is known in Mandarin as jiè cài.. It is the same plant that I posted - Brassica Juncea. There are however, several sub-types. There is a reasonable summary here.

As i've mentioned in the Mustard and China topic, any mustard is difficult to find here - I can only buy in the overpriced "foreign food" supermarket attached to the city's main department store. By preference, I go for Maille - either whole grain or regular. When they are out of that I go for Clovis. Sometimes, they only have this German brand, made Dijon style. It's acceptable. Only once did I find this! A 20g miniature. Not Dijon, though.

I'd say pull-apart tender. They like their meat that way in China.

Actually, McD's is hugely successful in China - while they stick to what they know how to do. It's when they try to pander to local tastes without understanding them that they fail. They all sell congee for breakfast OK - that's difficult to screw up, I guess. Also KFC have the same problem identifying what is going to work, but are still very successful - more so than McD's

Indeed, but they seem to have originated in Cantonese cuisine. Agree HCM City probably has the best chả giò. And they certainly don't come with mustard!

Sausage, fried tomatoes and poached egg. Bread was lurking stage left.

The end is nigh! McD's recently launched this in selected stores in China! I'm delighted to say that it hasn't gone well. Chinese social media has gone ballistic complaining that McD's version of this beloved Xi'an sandwich bears no comparison to the real thing or to this image, but is dry and has about a tenth of the filling, which is bland to t e point of tastlessness. They just can't get Chinese food rght. A couple of years ago they tried to launch some Sichuan sauces and were laughed off the stage!

Ok. This appears to come from Xingguo in Jiangxi in eastern China, yet most of the ingredients are Sichuanese staples. I must stress that I've never cooked or eaten this, so I can only explain what the recipe says (without translating it - copyright). The ingredients are: 500g hare meat 50g Hangzhou chilies (Hangzhou is also in the east.) 40g wild chilies ginger spring onion (scallion) doubanjiang (Sichuan bean paste) dried Sichuan facing heaven chilies star anise cooking wine stock salt MSG rock sugar soy sauce oyster sauce vegetable oil If I haven't mentioned quantities, that's because the recipe doesn't! Hangzhou peppers are long thin green chilis - relatively mild. Image. Wild peppers are smaller, also green and usually hot. Image. I'd say any similar heat chilies you have access to will be fine. I can't get the Hangzhou chilies here, either. Here is a paraphrased version of the method. The hare is blanched and the first two chilies cut into small round slices. The ginger, sprng onion, doubanjiang, dried facing heaven chilies and star anise are stir-fried until fragrant. Cooking wine, stock, chillies and hare are added and everything brought to a boil. Salt, sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce and MSG are added, then everything simmered until cooked through. Here is a low-res image of the book's illustration of the final dish. I think this is covered by "fair use".

Yes, but their restaurant was Chinese-American as are her books. By the way, Manchuria is a somewhat offensive name to most Chinese people. It was given to the lands in the north-east by the Japanese occupiers (1932-1945) who installed their puppet emperor. To the Chinese, it is Dongbei, meaning 'north-east and comprising the provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin.

China consumes around 63%* of all the rabbit consumed worldwide, and of that amount (about 235 million bunnies a year), 66% is eaten in Sichuan. So, I had a look through my Chinese-language cookbooks for recipes. Among those listed are: Hand Pulled Rabbit Chillied Rabbit Slivers Pepper Taste Rabbit Palace Rabbit "Crooked Mouth" Rabbit Head Sichuan Pepper Rabbit Stir Fried Rabbit Cubes ZiGong Cold Rabbit Rabbit and Taro Hotpot Chilli Fried Rabbit Cubes Xingguo Hare If any catch your eye, let me know and I'll expand on the details. * and consumption is rising, partly because of African swine fever causing a shortage of pork, leading to higher prices. China is now importing rabbits from Europe (especially France) reversing the traditional trade. When I last lived in Europe, all supermarket rabbit meat was imported from China - no longer.

I try never to make things up. All my working life in education taught me that that doesn't work. You get busted!

What we get here is Brassica Juncea, also known as 'oriental mustard'. I understand it is grown in the USA, but that Braissica Nigra, aka Black mustard, is more common. What the visual and/or taste difference might be, I have no idea.

So I'm lead to believe, but I don't know what you see there!

I'm not sure what your point is. I merely pointed out (again) that egg rolls are American-Chinese food, not Chinese. As far as I am concerned they are two separate cusines. Of course, she writes about them - she writes about American-Chinese food. As to spring rolls, they are Chinese (Cantonese), but not as common as people seem to think. Anyway, Vietnam does them much better!