liuzhou

This information will be of no use to anyone here other than me but this cropped up today. 1kg / 2.2 lbs of live wild oysters (20-30 molluscs) for ￥12.80. That is the equivalent of $1.76 USD.

I've mentioned tilapia more than once before in this topic but never red tilapia (红罗非鱼 -hóng luó fēi yú). These are not, as some food websites which should know better claim, a different species but simply regular tilapia which have been selectively bred to be red skinned and with pinkish red flesh. Image: sohucs.com They are also widely regarded as being more healthy eating as well as better flavoured than the regular colour. Given the blandness of regular tilapia that would not be surprising. They are, in addition, almost scentless, so ideal for those who find 'fishy' smells off-putting (although that usually indicates lack of freshness rather than any inherent quality of the fish itself). They are becoming increasingly popular, but are relatively expensive. I buy them as fillets at around ￥50 / $6.88 USD each, which is expensive here. Regular tilapia are around half of that at most, often much cheaper.

驴肉手工水饺 (lǘ ròu shǒu gōng shuǐ jiǎo) Boiled hand-made donkey meat dumplings. With a chilli oil dip.

That's normal. Fishing is a highly unpredictable food supply - always has been. Weather at sea is volatile (especially now); catches are often a matter of chance. That (and other factors) have their effect on prices. Ain't gonna change.

As the discerning classes are aware, no table is fit for dining from lest it be properly dressed. Not overdone and garish as a peacock display, but elegantly sophisticated. Such decorum related features should, of course, not merely be appendages to the decoration of the table but must, of course, include suitable devices such as chopstick rests to make avail of during pauses in the guests' consumption in order that they may devote their full attention to their interlocutors. Such essential implements may include such as the following. These should be decided on to match the culinary delights which the servants have prepared. On occasion, one may provide high class trivia for the use of the juvenile family members, who will of course not be at main dining table, but served separately in the nursery or in the servants' dining area, whatever that is. These should not, of course be provided to the adult guests for fear it may lead them to question the provenance of the 'venison'. 'Sleeping dog' rests are sold by irreputable vendors but should not be used in any civilised home. Be sure to give clear instructions to the butler and house-keeper regarding this matter. The virtuous and noble only ever eat dog with spoons; silver of course.

Hmmm. Highly unlikely since they are mentioned in print earlier than the 1830s; they appeared in 1809 in A New Sytem of Domestic Cookery, meaning the name, at least, was in the spoken language much earlier. The only thing known for sure, though is that they aren't Scottish. I haven't made any for a couple of years, but used to like to do them with quail eggs and a pork and blood sausage casing or with minced duck leg meat. The struggle for me is consistently getting a soft yolk. I must persevere. I have attached a recipe I wrote a few years back for ome Chnese friends. Please excuse any perception of patronising language. It was written for people with little experience of eating western food and none of cooking it . Scotch Eggs Recipe.docx

Yes, they can be hard enough and certainly, sharp enough to hurt. Video here.

It's 榴莲 (liú lián) season. Durian*. They're still a bit pricey but they were promoting them today in Nanning, Guangxi's capital. * Both the English and Chinese names are derived from the Malay duri, meaning 'thorn'.

... and this one, also in Scotland. The cafe is located at the rear of an Aldi's supermarket. In the dialect, 'Back of Aldi's' is pronounced like the faux-Italian Bacchialdi's.

In Glasgow, Scotland there is (or was) a restaurant called Local Scran and Swally, Scots slang for Local Food and Drink.

There are several restaurants in English speaking countries called 'Graze'. I've been to two. A few called 'Moo' or 'Oink'. A chain of restaurants called 'Le Peep'.

I talked about tomatoes back in 2018 in this post. Today, I came across these for the first time. The Chinese describes them as 绿色千禧小番茄 (lǜ sè qiān xǐ xiǎo fān qié) which translates as 'green jubilee small tomatoes'. I call them 'green cherry tomatoes'. To my amusement they come with instructions! Because China thinks of cherry tomatoes as a table fruit and many use them in fruit salads, they have to be advised to stir fry these until they burst and use as a quick sauce with noodles as a sweet and sour sauce or, as it's known in Chinese, a 'sour and sweet sauce'.

Maybe sometimes. All the farms I've visited, two in Japan and three in China are in mountainous areas and use natural streams. The only 'modification' was some landscaping.

I'm sorry but in what way does a stream, 'modified' or not, become to be between a stream and a pond? Ponds contain still water; streams have running water. I've visited a number of wasabi farms; none were anything like ponds.

Today's haul in the Land That Doesn't Do Dairy: 1-year fermented Manchego and finally, spurred on by the notorious enabler, @Katie Meadow, here. 😂

I grated some today to use as a garnish on a homemade hamburger. Worked well. I'll do that again. (Can't see McDonald's taking it up, though.)

No. It grows in or on the banks of fresh running water, usually in mountainous areas.

Yes, that's it. Looking back at it now, perhaps I overreacted. However, at the time I did find many of the responses to be very negative and the whole experience depressing and largely unhelpful. Obviously there were exceptions which I noted at the time. Water. Bridge.

I did start such a topic or it may have been more about cooking for one. That was many years ago and all I got was a load of judgemental garbage questioning why I might be living alone and even more saying I should just eat frozen food and leftovers and think myself lucky, despite my having said that was precisely what I didn't want. As I said, it was long ago and most of the participants then are probably no longer still here, figuratively or literally. I forget what it was called and it's best to leave it to rot in peace. The site is, on the whole, a more friendly place today, so if someone were to start such a topic again, I'd willingly take part to the best of my ability.

My friend, who is something of an expert on fish in her homeland, was baffled by the number of fish she saw in Australia which she didn't recognise, just as I was when I moved from England to China 30 years ago, not that I'm in any way as expert. I do know flake, but it is called dogfish or huss (among other names ) in the UK, but so are many other shark species. . Fish names are notoriously highly mutable. One name can be applied to many different fish and any one fish can have multiple names, even in the same language. In Mandain, shark are all 鲨鱼 (shā yú), the first part being borrowed from English and the second simply meaning 'fish'.

I doubt there is a "right one" as such. It seems tobe like Ras El Hanout in that it may not be the same each time, even when mixed by the same person. If you mean whose does Blementhal use, you'd have to ask him.

From the little I know about Somali chili powder, it is a blend of spices, rather than pure chili powder. If so, like many such blends, there will be many variations. Does that seem likely? I know of Somali stores in London, where there is a small but significant Somali immigrant community. No idea about availability in the US, sorry. Is Devil's Penis another name for Peter Peppers? A search for those may yield results. Not very helpful I realise; good luck!