liuzhou

This seems timely although I know my time zone is way ahead of most of you! Merry Crimble.

I've never heard of it, but generally McCormick is where I go when I want stale over-priced spices and dried herbs that taste of nothing.

Thanks. Apart from the pork soup, I think everything else was versions of things I've made and posted before, but some new to them. They were astonished but delighted by black garlic, but then I love it, too.

This evening, at their request, this old pensioner cooked a five course dinner for three hungry twenty-year old Chinese women friends, but under the pressure forgot to take any pictures. There were matsutake mushrooms in there which fascinated them, but not as much as the black garlic I accompanied them with. I did a sort of Moroccan inspired chicken thing with ras el hanout. Clams with oyster sauce. A soup of pork and 粉葛 (fěn gé), Pueraria montana var. lobata, kudzu, Japanese arrowroot. Stir fried spinach with salted black beans and garlic. And the obligatory rice. Lots of fruit was eaten afterwards. Fun, hard work and photographic memory lapse.

I know this is a very old thread, but I want to correct something. Luffa - 丝瓜 (sī guā) and snake gourd - 蛇瓜 (shé guā) are two very different things. Snake gourd is Trichosanthes cucumerina, whereas luffa is Luffa aegyptiaca or Luffa acutangula.

Well, you wouldn't want me to be ordinary, would you? I was kind of messing about and fancied some soup, but the only mushrooms I had were dried and the weather was being very unfriendly, so this is what I came up with instead of going out. If I ever have to leave here, I'll so much miss the local supermarkets having up to ten different fresh mushrooms and even more dried.

They were, yes.

My favourite way to cook them is my attempt at a dish served in a small restaurant near my countryside home. They slice them into segments about 3 - 4 inches long, topped with finely chopped and fried garlic, then steamed. But the most common way of cooking here is to roll cut them then simply stir fry them. They also go well with eggs or tofu (again stir fried). The two different types are not a matter of age. They are distinct cultivars. The light ones are Luffa acutangula whereas the darker ones are Luffa aegyptiaca. The light coloured ones are generally my preference. The darker ones have a rougher skin and I tend to use them in soups more. You definitely don't want to be eating old luffa, but then no market should be selling it, unless as a scrubbing sponge / exfoliant. Sadly, now is not luffa season.

Mushroom soup using 灰树花 (huī shù huā), maitake, aka hen-of-the-woods and 姬松茸 (jī sōng róng), almond mushrooms. The stock is the drained soaking water for the dried 'shrooms, with a little garlicky chicken stock. Chinese chives sprinkled on at the end. Very simple, but a umami bomb.

The name seems to be connected to the Chinese 拉面 (lā miàn meaning "pulled noodles"), from which we also get 'ramen'. The dish is, I believe more Uyghur than Uzbeki. But although I've happily eaten it, I've never cooked it.

Braised chicken legs with black garlic, capers and green olives. Served with orzo and not Brussels sprouts.

Well, now I appreciate my gift even more!

99% of stories about cat or dog being served in Chinese restaurants are racist urban myths. A very few people in China eat them, especially cat. But I posted what I thought was a beautiful celebration of great food and cooking and have no idea why we are even discussing this irrelevance instead of the video. Well, actually, I do.

Don't tempt me. I have photos of cats on butchers' stalls and of cat meat restaurants, but have not and probably never will post them! That said such sights are very rare!

Could be; could be not. There are many "arrowroots", but they are all basically just sources of starch. I tend to use potato starch as a go to and I never use c@rn in any form whatsoever. Kudzu is classified as an invasive species in the USA, as I understand.

I wasn't sure where to put this, but it is a beautiful video of a young woman from Sichuan making, among other things, my local signature noodle dish, Liuzhou Luosifen (柳州螺蛳粉). She grows or forages what she needs. Beautifully shot.

This is part of a gift I received today. Grown by my friend's grandfather. 粉葛 (fěn gé), Pueraria montana var. lobata, kudzu, Japanese arrowroot. It's not short of names. 16"/ 40cm long. Mainly used medicinally or as animal fodder, but also by humans for its starch and is peeled, sliced and used in soups.

Where do you get the idea that a carrot and an ear of corn cost ¥6? While this store is a bit more expensive than some, the produce I posted is only ¥7.98 a kilo! Around $1 USD. Vegetables are still very cheap in China, although meat prices are rising due to African swine fever.

You're meant to wash dishes and reuse them? I didn't get the e-mail! Sorry, but this is male bovine excrement aimed at selling something else no one wanted! Still, you have to admire their honesty in admitting they've been selling shit for almost 50 years, but now will sell you different shit for another 50 years!

An avocado. Just the way I like them. Perfectly ripe. With olive oil (not vinaigrette), sea salt and black pepper.

Looking, but not tasting a bit brown. Pork with hand-pulled noodles*, celtuce, black beans, garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, Chinese chives. by my local noodle puller, not me!

Here's a rarity for you, which I found this morning. Brassica juncea var gemminfera. 儿菜 (ér cài) or 拳头菜 (quán tóu cài; literally 'fist vegetable)', this is a member of the mustard family found mainly in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. It can be boiled, stir fried or roasted and tastes similar to Brussels sprouts. For me this a good thing!

'Christmas dinners may be affected' Amused me.

Matsutake Soup. Fried rice with 晒兰 (shài lán) ham and more matsutake.

The USA reimagined as a pig. Amusing, but also an interesting, more serious back story.