liuzhou

I agree with the above. The problem is it's turkey. Why have you been making them for years if you don't like them.

This page outlines what topics go in what forums. I'd say this goes under Cooking If you report your post, I'm sure @Smithy will move it to where it should be (and hide this).

Prawn fried rice with (mostly) SE Asian herbs: culantro, coriander leaf, Thai basil, Chinese chives and non-Asian rocket / arugula. Chili and garlic, Chinese fish sauce.

BLT 2024-6-1

I have two small rice cookers which each do about two servings. They are, of course, Chinese and were very cheap. I bought the first about 5 years ago or more, but when I moved house in January this year couldn't find it in the jumble of boxes littering the new place and wanted to eat that night, so I bought the second. They're that cheap here - almost disposable. This it the 2nd one. Cooks 1-4 cups of rice; I usually just do one or two. I'm pretty sure the names of the specific brands would be of no use to you, but I'd check out a Chinese or generally Asian market if you have one nearby.

How would I know? Oh! You don't thing I bought them, do you? 🤣🤣🤣

It is normally only used with seafood. I elaborated on this serving style on this topic .

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be for sale.

Astonishingly often, I come across strange food themed oddities, mostly on Taobao, China's largest online shopping portal (part of the Alibaba group). I'd like to share some of the most amusing or bizarre. Kicking off with a pistachio. Well, a pistachio pin / badge. These come at a whopping ¥8.39 / $1.16 USD a nut. Real pistachios are around ¥20 / $2.76 for 100 grams. Made here in China. Next, also Chinese, are salad (or whatever) bowls resembling pillows. I often rest meats; never salads. Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong. Bedding down your salad will cost you ¥100.78 / $13.93 a bowl. Finally for now, this time from Japan is the strangest (in my estimation). A half eaten hamburger. When I first saw this image, I thought it was a giant burger cushion but no. It's hamburger sized. Ths nonsense costs a whole ¥500.77 / $69.21. For that I could buy 15 real burgers from McD's. More to come as I spot them.

Pork tenderloin cubes marinated in EVOO, lemon juice, garlic, chilli and crushed (roasted) coriander seeds. Stir-fried in the marinade. Served with a simple white onion, tomato and coriander leaf salad and rice.

Nice. Originally खिचड़ी in Hindi (khichri and various other transliterations), kedgeree was described by visitors to India hundreds of years ago, long before British rule.. The Arab traveller Ibn Batuta wrote in 1340 that The word for lentils in Hindi, दाल। (daala) covers many more species than the English and includes mung beans. Under British influence and for British Raj colonialists, flaked fish or smoked fish replaced the pulses and chopped hard-boiled eggs came into the dish. Fish-based kedgeree is still popular in the UK and even in India. I was served an excellent version several years ago in Kolkata. I’ve often thought of making it here in China, but the only smoked fish I can source is much more heavily smoked / cured than that used in India or the UK and tends to overpower the spices in the dish. I know it can be made with fresh, unsmoked fish, but for me the whole point of kedgeree is that smokiness. I occasionally make the traditional version with lentils, but with fish I tend to just go for a Chinese fried rice.

I think this is a UK site, but of universal appeal. We Want Plates.

I couldn't resist these. They were being sold as hair clips for women but I can use them as tie clips on the once a decade occasions I wear ties. $1 a piece - minimum order, two. I never wear two ties. One is more than enough. Ridiculous garments.

Velveting This came up elsewhere, but I think belongs here, too. I read things like this Hmmm. Not quite. Velveting is a Cantonese cooking technique. Although a large, but shrinking, proportion of Chinese emigrants and their descendents in the west are of Cantonese origin, in China they only comprise around 4.6% of the population. And not even all of those 4.6% use velveting in their cooking. Additionally, I see statements like this Maybe in America where both these quotes originated; certainly not in China. To repeat, it’s Cantonese. Also, few home cooks employ it anywhere. It’s mainly a restaurant thing. Then we have the terminology. There is no name in Chinese that translates as velveting. A number of American writers tell us that it is 走油 (Cantonese: zau2 jau4*2; Mandarin: zǒu yóu) The first character, 走 literally translate as ‘to walk’, ‘to go’, ‘to run’, ‘to move (of a vehicle)’, ‘to visit’, ‘to leave’, ‘to go away’, ‘to die (as a euphemism), ‘from’ or ‘through’. Take your pick. The second, 油 means ‘oil’. So they put the two together and come up with ‘passing through oil’'. One problem. In Cantonese (and Mandarin), the two together means either ‘to lose lustre (of varnished furniture)’; or specifies "no oil" when cooking – almost exactly the opposite. And no velvet in sight. Some writers suggest that velveting in water rather than oil may be better for home cooks and/or that the results are almost indistinguishable. This they have dubbed 走水 (Cantonese: zau2 seoi2; Mandarin: zǒu shuǐ). Again a problem. This means ‘to flow’, ‘to leak’ or ‘to put out a fire’! No culinary association. Neither of these two terms appear in any of my Chinese dictionaries (Cantonese or Mandarin) in any culinary sense other than the ‘no oil’ mentioned. Even my dictionary of food and drink doesn't mention it. A related term, which unlike the above, which I have seen on Cantonese restaurant menus, is 滑 (Cantonese: waat6; Mandarin: huá) which means ‘to slip’, ‘to slide’, ‘smooth’, ‘slippery’ or ’cunning’. Presumably, this is meant to to describe the resulting texture achieved by using either the oil or water methods. A number of food writers, including the esteemed (in America) Grace Young use the technique when making non-Cantonese dishes, such as her ‘Kung-po Chicken', another term unknown in China. The good people of Sichuan rarely, if ever, do. My two favourite Chinese cuisines, Hunan and Xi’an don’t use it. Like I said, it’s Cantonese. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with velveting; just that it isn’t as common in Chinese cooking as people make out. I put it into a similar category to the other American obsessions, wok hei and high butane burners as I mentioned in a previous post. Note: Cantonese pronunciation here is using the Simplified: 粤拼 Trad. 粵拼 (Mandarin: yuè pīn Cantonese: jyut6 ping3) Jyutping transliteration system.

Roujiamo night! 孜然牛肉夹馍 (zī rán niú ròu jiá mó) - Cumin beef roujiamo. The first of more to come. Still cooking.

Potatoes are almost always eaten wuith rice in Chinese cuisine. They are seen as just another vegetable to be stir fried or added to hotpots. The most common treatment is to sliver them along with carrot and often chilli, stir fry them and finish with white rice vinegar. In fact, most supermarket sell the potato and carrot pre-slivered.

Deboned a couple of chicken legs and diced the meat. Marinated that for 24 hours* in the fridge with garlic, ginger, fermented black beans and Shaoxing wine. Today, stir fried the meat, added some sliced black boletes, then the marinade and a splash of soy sauce. Finished with thinly sliced scallions. Ate with rice. The marination time was meant to be less but an unexpected lunch invitation pushed it back - no loss!

Indeed, but then velveting is not so common in Chinese cuisine as people seem to think, either. It is a Cantonese technique. In my experience, few people here have even heard of it. Not surprising. After all, only around 4.6% of the population are Cantonese and not all of them are cooks. I'd say it's more American than Chinese. The term 'velveting' is certainly American.

After decades of search. I believe I have finally identified the Latin name of the species of snail used in Luosifen - Margarya melanioides. This appears to answer what I have often asked and been asked. They are endemic to freshwater lakes and rivers in the Yunnan-Gui plain, 'gui' being an abbreviation for Guangxi, derived from Guilin, the capital of the province in the Qing dynast and off and on again until 1949 when the capital was moved to Nanning. Most English websites list these as endangered, but those studies are only looking at the snails in two lakes in Yunnan to our east: 滇池 (diān chí), Dianchi Lake near Kunming, Yunnan’s capital and 洱海 (ěr hǎi), Erhai Lake near Dali city to the east. Some studies indicate these are threatened due to chemical fertiliser seepage from the tea plantations in both areas. Liuzhou snails come from the local river and are not mentioned in any endangered list I can find. I shall continue to investigate further. Image - zhiimg.cn

Prawns (not shrimp) stirred fried with garlic. chilli, Sichuan doubanjiang, Chinese chives, coriander/cilantro and culantro. Rice.

I found this article on the science of pyrophilous fungi, including morels to be interesting. The Vital Near-Magic of Fire-Eating Fungi

Marinara is Italian for mariners, aka sailors,

Here it was always cheese. The locals didn't want it and there weren't enough long-term foreigners to justify importing it. In recent years, with many more foreigners working in the larger cities and with online shopping, cheese has become much more available. Still a limited choice of varieties but much more than when I arrived when it was limited to 'zero'. I don't recell ever seeing North American cheeses here though - mostly European and New Zealand. Plastic American cheese is made here now. I call it 'fake fake cheese'.

Sure, of course the Soviet controlled countries weren't exactly replete with American products. I lived in Soviet Russia in the 80s. Even the Berioshka stores (with armed guards to keep out the rabble), exclusively reserved for foreigners and high ranking Communists and only accepting US dollar payments, had no American goods. In 1988, in Moscow, Air Rianta, the Irish Airport Authority opened Russia's first airport selling foreign goods (mostly Irish), but nothing American at that time. Two years later McDonals arrived. desecrating 'Moscow's Pushkin Square with their crap. (They had to change the Golden Arches logo as it was identical to the Moscow Metro signs.) North Korea probably doesn't have M&Ms today, either. In fact, they don't have food. much.

I'm confused by M&Ms being seen as difficult to obtain outside America. They're everywhere I've ever lived. I don't even need to go to an "American" store or '"foreign section" in a supermarket. Here in China, every Mom 'n Pop store has them and has done so for at least 30 years.I can order some for delivery through my phone app and they'll be here wiith 30 minutes. I first ate them in China. I've seen them in Mongolia,Japan, India, Vietnam, Thailand, as well as all over Europe. I doubt my neighbours even know they are American.