liuzhou

Slightly off topic, but... Pizza scissors.

I bought a pair of pizza scissors a few years ago. Only used them once. Standard scissors but with a wedge shaped attachment to carry your slice away. I'm lying in bed otherwise I'd share an image. Perhaps tomorrow if I remember. Goodnight. Or morning. 3:18 am. now.

I have a pair of office scissors hanging above my kitchen worktop which get used for chopping some herbs, opening packets etc. I've also seen scissors used in BBQ restaurants in China to cut the meat to make it more chopstick friendly. This was the first time for me to see them being used in the preparation stages of cooking.

The garnish is a classic round these parts - used with many dishes, especially fish. It isn't so raw as one might imagine. The ingredients are very finely diced, so the very hot oil does mostly cook things. Yes, I usually prepare okra in the ways you mention - or at least similarly, but this one intrigued me - and I'm glad it did. The short boiling time doesn't result in any 'stewed' characteristics - not that I mind stewed okra.

I've seen cooked food cut with scissors, yes. The local favourite breakfast 油条 (yóu tiáo) - deep-fried breadsticks (crullers) are often cut with scissors. I've never seen scissors used in food preparation before, though.

Fried noodles with pork, shimeji mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, chilli, Shaoxin wine, soy sauce, scallions. With a side of okra cooked as described in this topic. Here is my version:

Finally got round to replicating my friend's okra dish. I followed her method to the letter (except the scissors part). The two minutes boil was perfect - still has some bite to it, but not undercooked. I'll definitely repeat the exercise.

Boiled chicken eggs (unusual for me - I usually use duck eggs) with nicely charred flatbread.

A large part of the problem is that people are, in general, pretty useless at identifying fish, making it easier for the fraudsters. This study is about fish recognition in Europe, but I'm sure applies everywhere.

I did ask my friend why she she used scissors. Her answer was "for convenience". She pointed out that she has, in the past, used a knife but finds scissors easier and faster. No. I don't get it either.

The article says they go to the internet.

Only popular with their doting parents or Aunt Gladys.

I suppose it may be a British thing. I assumed not, but really don't know.

'Patronising word-salad': why student cookbooks make me sick Lovely takedown of 'Student Cookbooks'. Although it's centuries since I was a student, it rings true and is well written and amusing.

Fish detectives: the sleuths using ‘e-DNA’ to fight seafood fraud A Canadian supplier known for wild salmon has teamed up with geneticists to prove what really ends up on the plate.

Revealed: seafood fraud happening on a vast global scale I guess it's well known that fish isn't always what it seems to be, but the scale of the mislabelling, deliberate or accidenta,l is massive.

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.