liuzhou

Sorry, maybe I didn't explain myself clearly. The article didn't explain clearly either. The restaurants in Shenzhen do prepare traditional Hunan food, to cater for the large Hunanese population there. However the Hunanese populations of Beijing and Shanghai are much smaller at least in percentage terms. The Hunan restaurants there are not primarily catering to Hunan people, but people from elsewhere all over China - people who want to experience 'the Hunan experience' but don't necessarily know what that is, so are less judgemental. You are correct in saying that separate menus would be unnecessary - written Chinese generally remains the same no matter how it's pronounced, even if it sounds totally different to another place.

I found this article from the BBC about an underground pasta school in an abandoned ghost town in Sicily to be fascinating. I'm sure others will be interested. If anyone goes, I for sure want to hear about it. Simonetta Bazzu teaches tourists to make traditional Sardinian pasta

I’ve muttered and mumbled more than once about Chinese foods in the west usually being unrecognisable to many Chinese – even in so-called ‘regional’ restaurants. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Guardian reviewed a ‘genuine Sichuan’ restaurant near London, in which most of the menu wasn’t Sichuan at all. There has been a ‘fine dining’ restaurant in London for years, called Hunan. There is nothing at all Hunanese about it. It’s Taiwanese, if anything. Normal. However it isn’t only in the west. According to this article, Hunan restaurants are now the most popular in China, outnumbering Sichuan (So, yesterday!). However in Beijing and elsewhere many such Hunan restaurants are under fire for their Hunanese food being heavily altered to suit tastes local to Beijing etc. Beijing is approx 1,500 km (932 miles) from Changsha, Hunan’s capital. Shanghai is 1,100 km (680 miles). Hunanese people living and working in those cities and others are not happy! There is no doubt, that all these new restaurants are popular, just not so much with Hunanese people. One of my good friends is Hunanese but has been living in Shanghai for 20 years and craves ‘real’ Hunan food which, she can’t find in Shanghai. There are many accounts on Chinese social media complaining about the same. According to the article, “as Hunan restaurants become increasingly popular, their purveyors stand at a crossroads: Do they spend more and stick to the traditions and flavors that have helped propel them to where they are today, or do they further adapt to local demands to the detriment of authenticity, making it a true national food.” They also mention Shenzhen in Guangdong bordering Hong Kong as having a large number of Hunan restaurants, but without mentioning that a huge number of people there are Hunanese. Almost all of Shenzhen consists of in-migrants from other parts of China. When I arrived in China it was an obscure fishing village; now one of China’s biggest cities. Despite being slap in a Cantonese speaking area, the lingua franca is Mandarin as spoken in Hunan. Hardly surprising it’s full of Hunanese restaurants. I ate in one 20 years ago. The article is more nuanced and detailed than I may have painted here so please, read it if you are at all interested. Incidentally, there has been a Hunan restaurant here in Liuzhou for 40 years, but we do border Hunan province. For more on Hunan food in Hunan, see this topic.

A couple of people have recently mentioned 'zucchini' as it’s known in America, Australia and Canada or as 'courgette' as used in the UK, Ireland, Malaysia and New Zealand although the latter also uses ‘zucchini’. I couldn't remember what I wrote about it here, mainly because, to my surprise, I never really mentioned them. It is, of course, available widely here, too. There are arguably better reasons for the 'zucchini' appellation. What are known by either name are not botanically really a specific species but simply smaller examples of several varieties of Cucurbita pepo, or squash. In fact, both the words zucchini and courgette are respectively diminutives of the Italian and French for ‘squash’ or ‘marrow’. In South African English, they are often called baby marrow although courgette is also used. Although, like all curbita varieties, they originated in the Americas, these small versions were first cultivated in Italy in the late 19th century and introduced to America by Italian immigrants in 1920, hence the use of ‘zucchini’ there. The UK took the French name as they were introduced there via France as courgettes d’Italie. This nomenclature profusion extends into Chinese where they are called 西葫芦 (xī hú lu, literally ‘western gourd’), 意大利青瓜 (yì dà lì qīng guā, literally ‘Italian green gourd’) or simply 小瓜 (xiǎo guā. ‘small marrow’). In Chinese cuisine, they are often used in soups or hotpots, steamed with garlic, or sliced and stir fried. The flowers too are valued and both stuffed, usually with ground pork, or used in soups.

Yes, a different formulation from what's sold here. I'd guess they call it 'caramel color' for legal reasons. They can't just say 'çolor'. That could be many things, including allergens.

I wonder if you are referring to Knorr chicken powder as sold in China or a type of chicken powder labelled as Chinese chicken powder for the North American market. They may not be the same. Are you able to get a picture of the container, including hopefully the ingredients list? If so, I would happily translate for you (if it's in Chinese). The Knorr chicken powder sold in China (made in Hong Kong) contains: (in order listed) salt, Maltodextrin, Flavour Enhancers, (E621, E635, E637*), Cornstarch, Chicken Meat, Sugar, Flavourings (containing milk and eggs), Chicken fat, Vegetable Oil, Yeast Extract, Soy sauce powder (contains wheat and soy bean), Spice. So, no specific colouring, but things that may colour it. They add that it is made on machinery also used to handle crustaceans, barley, fish, sesame and molluscs. I'll add that it's not popular in China, most people, including me, going for this. It has no colouring, but I don't know about international availability. LKK is even less popular here. * E621 = Monosodium Glutamate (MSG); E635 = Disodium-5; E627 = Ethylmaltol.

Shrimp with garlic, ginger, chilli, 郫县辣豆瓣酱 (pí xiàn là dòu bàn jiàng), Shaoxing wine, slivered sugar snap peas. Rice. The peas were barely cooked. That's how I prefer them, but had I been cooking for others, I may have done them a bit more.

so lado means chilli in Bahasa? No. It's Minang dialect. Cabai in Bahasa, as you say.

Balado means 'with chili (lado)'.

What is wrong with these people? I don't want potatoes made of plants; I want regular normal potatoes, not fakes! Sad fools! Here below is a primer on real potatoes.

I have no doubt there are occasions where surface temperatures matter in culinary contexts but in 70+ years, I've never met one. I do have a gun type thermometer but rarely use it. The Thermopen gets almost all the work. Maybe just my cooking but internal temp is what I'm interested in.

Reviving this just to show you one picture which made me inordinately happy. Yet another friend's daughter (who always makes me laugh or smile) went picking vegetables from her Grandma's garden. So happily proud of her work!

This reminds of an unrelated anecdote from about 40 years ago. I had occasion to send a fax to an Indian colleague (in India - I was in London). I asked a new secretary to send it to Mr Anil Gupta and gave her the number. Somehow she managed to render that into Anal Tiptoe. She took my message, put it into an envelope, wrote "For the attention of Mr. Anal Tiptoe" on the envelope and faxed the envelope! Fortunately Mr. Gupta had a good sense of humour. The secretary didn't last the week!

The Guardian's article on the same story lists the ingredients pointing out that in addition to the usual pasta and eggs

Here's the link. For some reason the eG friendly link isn't working.

Maybe, but I've always chilled the eggs. I often use quail eggs, but it's only in Scotch eggs I struggle. i look forward to your findings.

Same problem I've always had (apart from the splitting; never had that). Just getting the eggs right.

and another, more serious piece from the BBC.

So do I. I think I have 10 of them. They are sold by specialist tea shops primarily as tea strainer rests but, not being a tea drinker, I only use them as chopstick rests or as eggcups.

柳州螺蛳粉 (liǔ zhōu luó sī fěn). 螺公堂 (luó gōng táng) is the name of the restaurant. It literally means 'snail law court',

甜豆鱿鱼 (tián dòu yóu yú) Squid with sugar snap peas. Garlic, ginger, chilli, Chaoshan fish sauce and Shaoxing wine. Served with rice. Squid with snap peas is a very common pairing round these parts.