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liuzhou

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Everything posted by liuzhou

  1. In your kitchen?
  2. None correct. Sorry.
  3. No. It has a specific culinary kitchen use. More likely to be found in a domestic kitchen.
  4. Here's a new one to me. Usual rules. Image searches just spoil the fun.
  5. Yesterday evening, I ordered a delivery of a six pack of the local brew. Six cans of the required duly arrived and I stuck them in the fridge. They're still there. Plans changed. This morning, I was clearing up and was about to throw away the plastic bag* the cans came in when I noticed there was a foreign object lurking in the bottom. Investigation revealed a small package containg one 盐焗鸡蛋 (yán jú jī dàn) or salt baked chicken egg. Either a gift or it fell in accidentally. I did check but the store in question doesn't seem to carry these eggs. Perhaps it was the packer's breaktime snack. I'll never know. * I do normally try to re-use plastic bags but this one had been packed by one of those people found working in the food and beverage delivery business worldwide who went to that special university and took a master's degree in tying plastic bags so tightly that they can only be opened by destroying them.
  6. liuzhou

    Real Wasabi

    They come in various sizes. I have the second one. I live alone and that one suits me fine.I never need to grate much.
  7. indeed. Not necessarily a festival dish, but almost exclusively a restaurant dish. I don't know anyone who makes it at home. I have eaten it in Fujian, but although it was OK, I'm not planning to rush back.
  8. Chinese cuisine is possibly best known for its rapid cook stir-frying techniques but they know how to take it slow, too. One dish is known both for its unusual name and for its lengthy cooking time. I’m talking about Fujian province’s well-known (at least in China) signature dish, 佛跳墙 (fó tiào qiáng). Fujian lies on China’s south-eastern coast opposite the island of Taiwan. This location means that seafood is a major part of the cuisine. Yes, despite China’s preference this dish uses a lot of dried ingredients alongside the fresh. It must have been dreamt up by a Qing dynasty Chinese Ottolenghi, containing as it does eighteen or more ingredients depending on the chef. 佛跳墙 (fó tiào qiáng) translates as Buddha “Leaps the Wall” or is commonly mistranslated as Buddha jumps over the wall. This is said to refer to a Buddhist monk who, having smelled the dish being made, broke his vows by leaving his monastery and sampling the decidedly non-vegetarian dish. It is reported that when he was chastised he said that even the Buddha himself would not have been able to resist. Not that all Chinese Buddhist’s are vegetarian. The Dalai Lama isn’t. The most common ingredients involved in this long cooked stew or soup-like dish include: 1. Lean pork (瘦肉 - shòu ròu) 2. Silkie chicken (乌骨鸡 - wū gǔ jī) 3. Chicken’s feet (凤爪 - fèng zhǎo) 4. Dried or fresh abalone (鲍鱼 - bào yú) 5. Pigeon (鸽蛋 - gē dàn) or quail eggs (鹌鹑蛋 - ān chún dàn) Pigeon Eggs Quail eggs 6. Deer leg tendons (鹿 筋) 7. Fish swim bladder (鱼肚 - yú dǔ) 8. Dried scallops (扇贝干 - shàn bèi gān) 9. Sea Cucumber (海参 - hǎi shēn) 10. Shark Fin (鱼翅 - yú chì) A few years back the communist party banned the use of sharks fins at official functions, although they are still available. However, awareness of the cruelty involved in harvesting them has resulted in a sharp decline in their consumption. Instead artificial fin made from konjak is being used to supply the desired texture. Less often, sharks skin is substituted. Shark Skin Then the herbal components all of which are considered to be medicinal. 11. Angelica sinensis (当归 - dāng guī) 12. Astragalus L. (黄芪 - huáng qí) 13. Codonopsis pilosula (党参dǎng shēn) 14. Cordceps militaris (虫草花 - chóng cǎo huā) 15. Dried Chinese Yam (淮山 - huái shān) 16. Goji Berries (枸杞 - gǒu qǐ) 17. Jujubes (枣子 - zǎo zi) 18. Ginger (姜 - jiāng) 19. Solomon’s Seal - (兰 qián lán). 20. Codonopsis pilosula (党参 - dǎng shēn) 21. Ginseng (人参 - rén shēn) After that lengthy list, thankfully the cooking instructions are short to relate but long to achieve. Bung the lot, except for the eggs, into a slow cooker with chicken stock and good quality Shaoxing wine and simmer for six hours. Refrigerate overnight. Next day boil the eggs then heat up the stew, add the eggs and stand back to avoid leaping Buddhists.
  9. Seems there's more than one cannabis gin from the Netherlands. Found this, this morning. Haven't bought it, though. Casamigos Green Phantom Gold gin.
  10. liuzhou

    Real Wasabi

    That is the case for 98% of "wasabi", even in Japan. Even when they do contain some real wasabi it's usually in trace amounts, listed last or near to last in the ingredients (see the S&B powder image posted by @Tropicalsenior above. The safest way is to buy the rhizome, if possible, and grate it yourself. Of course you'll also want a genuine sharkskin grater for that. Here's mine
  11. A niche market sounds better.
  12. Parfum d'anchois sounds better.
  13. liuzhou

    Real Wasabi

    Japan
  14. @Tropicalsenior Got you covered!
  15. Dinner was an old standby I've posted a dozen times, so I'm sparing you that but to start: Auditory organs of Sus scrofa scrofa
  16. liuzhou

    Lunch 2024

    Yes.
  17. Yes, but not feathery flamboyant cobras. They are dangerous!
  18. Yes. May 20th. Sorry, I only do ridiculous food related headgear!
  19. I have much the same problem, but it comes from Chinese friends. My b'day in Chinese style is 5-20, which is a code word for "I love you" in Chinese. Somehow my students all remember it is also my b'day! I never told them when it was. If I find more headbands what would you prefer. I'm looking for a lobster!
  20. I gave them up a long time ago. I'd had too many! But following that disgraceful interlude, may I recommend some hair bands or whatever you call them? or perhaps a new neck decoration.
  21. Wash your mouth!
  22. Some monstrous, fiendish demonic psychopath from the bowels of depravity has designed a new range of t-shirt and shorts combo. And the UN is doing nothing about it! It shouldn’t ought to be allowed! I apologise from the heart of my bottom for displaying this sacrilegious, toxic perversion here but it is an emergency! The end is nigh!
  23. Crayfish get complicated. Especially in China. 10 years ago, although a few people knew what they were, next to no-one ate them. The one species of Chinese crayfish, Cambaroides dauricus was (and still is) very rare and they are very small, so not really worth eating. Today in 2024, it is said that 90% of all crayfish eaten by humans are done so in China. But first the name. For a start, as I’m sure everyone knows, they are not fish but crustaceans. More importantly, they go under four common names in English. All are derived from the Old French word crevisse, at first spelled creusses (wih ‘u’ being pronounced as ‘v’ in Old English). This first appeared in the early 1400s. In modern French, it is écrevisse. By 1555 this had morphed into crefysshe, the earliest fish-like reference, found in Richard Eden's Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). Crawfish followed in 1624 in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Capt. John Smith, now mainly known for his part in the Pocahontas myths and legends. “They caught‥great craw-fishes.” More recent arrivals are crawdad (in an 1878 Indiana magazine) and its variant crawdaddy (1901 in a Minnesota news paper, The Globe). In China they are 小龙虾 (xiǎo lóng xiā). This literally means ‘small dragon shrimp’ but more pragmatically means ‘little lobster’. This can be misleading as some restaurants drop the ‘small’ part on their menus leaving the diners expecting lobster but getting crayfish. Price is your best guide. Lobster is much, much more expensive; one lobster will cost more than 2 kg of crayfish. I've never heard of any restaurant charging lobster prices for crayfish. An older name, 螯虾 (áo xiā) is less ambiguous, meaning 'nipper (or chela) shrimp', but I guess the marketing people saw that one off. Having sorted out names (at least in two languages) there is still confusion. Where do the things come from? The crayfish eaten today, Astacus fluviatilis were first imported to East Asia in the 1930s from Louisiana in the USA, to Japan. To feed not humans but bullfrogs which were and remain a popular protein. The frogs were imported from the USA, too. Only during the years after World War 2, did Japanese troops introduce the Louisiana crayfish to China. They were still largely shunned as being unfit for human consumption although they did for a time become popular pets. However some people, mainly rural peasant farmers, were eating them as a cheap or even free food supply. In the 2000s, many of these people, especially the younger generations, left their homes to seek employment in the cities when China became the world’s factory and the economy was starting to boom. Like migrants everywhere, they took their food culture with them and their new neighbours were happy to supply them with their needs. By 2016, the number being eaten had risen hugely and a trend developed, first in Shanghai then across China. Crayfish became a hugely popular meal among mainly young people in the same way as the various hotpots across China are enjoyed. As a communal activity. Groups of friends began to meet over huge platters of crayfish, peeling them themselves and washing them down with beers. Informal, messy and great fun! They would get through kilos of the critters – 20 kg for a party of four is not uncommon. This continues to this day. Crayfish farms began to sprout up all over China but especially in Hebei and Jiangsu provinces – it is no coincidence these border Beijing and Shanghai, respectively. Today, live crayfish are ubiquitous; supermarkets carry them in huge tankfuls and I can have them delivered to my door live or cooked in twenty minutes. Crayfish in my local supermarket So how are they cooked, you rightfully ask. Generally, they are stir-fried with popular seasonings such as garlic, or with Beijing’s 13-spice mix. 13-Spice Powder 麻辣 (má là), the well known Sichuan flavour of Sichuan pepper and chilli is also a popular choice. The liquid component of any sauce is often beer although that's usually mostly boiled off; it tends to be a dry but sticky dish. Mala crayfish being cooked You can even get your crayfish fix at KFC or Pizza Hut where they throw them on pizzas. You may have come across Lay’s crayfish chips / crisps which are now sold through Amazon, but originated in China. All that said, I seldom eat them. Too much pain for so little gain. I’m sure de-shelling them and finding the meat consumes more calories than they replace! Give me real lobsters! Hang the expense!
  24. I try not to store spices; or, at least not for long. Most that I can want and get are sold in resealable 15g or 50g bags from a high turnover store. The once exception was coriander seed which until recently I could only buy imported and came in 500g packs. In just the last few months, I have found them in 15g bags, too. The idea of year-old or more spices does not appeal, at all. I never use dried herbs other than bay leaf which again come in 15g packs.
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