liuzhou

Yesterday, an old friend sent me a picture of her family dinner, which she prepared. She was never much of a cook, so I was a bit surprised. It's the first I've seen her cook in 25 years. Here is the spread. I immediately zoomed in on one dish - the okra. For the first 20-odd years I lived in China, I never saw okra - no one knew what it was. I managed to find its Chinese name ( 秋葵 - qiū kuí) in a scientific dictionary, but that didn't help. I just got the same blank looks. Then about 3 years ago, it started to creep into a few supermarkets. At first, they stocked the biggest pods they could find - stringy and inedible - but they worked it out eventually. Now okra is everywhere. I cook okra often, but have never seen it served in China before (had it down the road in Vietnam, though) and there are zero recipes in any of my Chinese language cookbooks. So, I did the sensible thing and asked my friend how she prepared it. Here is her method. 1. First bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the washed okra and boil for two minutes. Drain. 2. Top and tail the pods. Her technique for that is interesting. 3. Finely mince garlic, ginger, red chilli and green onion in equal quantities. Heat oil and pour over the prepared garlic mix. Add a little soy sauce. 4. Place garlic mix over the okra and serve. When I heard step one, I thought she was merely blanching the vegetable, but she assures me that is all the cooking it gets or needs, but she did say she doesn't like it too soft. Also, I should have mentioned that she is from Hunan province so the red chilli is inevitable. Anyway, I plan to make this tomorrow. I'm not convinced, but we'll see. to be continued

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The taste is very mild. Best paired with something more robust in flavour.

Big favourite round here. I recommend it.

Nearly one pot dinner: chicken leg meat slow cooked with potato and black garlic. Served with crisp chicken skin (from legs) and celtuce rounds. The celtuce was cooked separately with the chicken skin.

Thai yellow curry with prawns and asparagus.

The Story of Foie Gras and Cuisine of Gascony A podcast featuring more about the latter than the former. An interview with Ariane Daguin co-founder of D'Artagnan. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in Gascony and even bought a house there in later life (long since sold), so this sharpened memories I'd never totally forgotten.

Still life with peaches, detail of a wall painting from Herculaneum, Roman, c.62-79.

My brain automatically skipped that in a triumph of instinctive self-preservation. I rescued the corn however and gave it a decent burial in a top quality coffin. Just because I loathe it doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a proper funeral - as soon as possible.

100% of each!

Sugar and vomit. I am Scottish, but loathe the stuff.

That is only true in some places, yet restaurants seem to have become louder almost everywhere.

Some more recent history. Here is a selection of sandwiches in an unknown London sandwich bar in 1972. First thing I notice is the prices - from 10 pence to 15 pence! Then the obvious shortfall in the hygiene department. Sandwiches piled on top of each other with no coverings. Then the ingredients. Some standards - unidentified cheese (probably mousetrap!), egg, chicken, ham. I remember liver sausage with great affection. Pressed veal surprised me. The bread looks like supermarket, sliced, Chorleywood processed blotting paper. Moving on, I searched out a random menu (part of it above*) from a similar sandwich bar in London today. Prices have obviously risen astronomically. from around 10 pence to between £1.90 and £3.60. Hygiene regulations have improved and all sandwiches are now individually wrappped - unfortunately, usually in plastic. But the biggest difference is in the ingredients. No longer anonymous 'bread' but a choice of focaccia, baps, baguettes or ciabatta. The cheese is no longer anonymous or singular; we have Emmental, cream cheese, brie, mozzarella beside the cheddar. Other fillings unknown in the 1970s appear: Thai chicken, chicken tikka, tuna, prawns, smoked salmon, and of course, avocado. I won't be here in another 50 years but I'd bet that the changes by then will be even more astounding. * The full modern menu is here.

A short history of the pressure cooker.

Fried hand-pulled noodles with pork, 黑皮鸡枞菌 (hēi pí jī cōng jūn), 'black skin chicken fir mushroom', carrot, daikon radish, scallions, green chilli, chayote shoots, garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce.

The Ancient Mesopotamian Tablet as Cookbook

I didn't say they were related. Merely that the way they are hung is similar. Being impaled on a hook is far from unique. As I also said, I've seen carp being treated in the same way here in China.

Pig kidney with white wine, garlic, red and green chilli. Baked potato. Asparagus.

It seems that the legendary traditional appearance and accoutrements of witches may have actually risen because they were conjuring up beer rather than malign entities from beyond. The full article is here.

Fancy a copy of a hand-written and illustrated cookbook, “a funny cookbook for people who don’t cook”, one of only 34 copies in existence? Only $30,000-$50,000 (£21,600-£36,100) estimated auction price. I'd buy it myself but I like to buy things in pairs - you know like shoes and gloves - but there is only one for sale!

Other than that the do have a black skin and grow in fir plantations, no. I can't explain the 'chicken' part.

Tagliatelle with chicken and 黑皮鸡枞菌 (hēi pí jī cōng jūn), 'black skin chicken fir mushroom', Oudemansiella raphanipes and 龙须菜 （lóng xū cài), chayote vine shoots.

Chinese style scrambled egg and tomato (番茄炒鸡蛋 - fān qié chǎo jī dàn）on flat bread with 龙须菜 - lóng shū cài; literally 'dragon's beard vegetable'.