liuzhou

I just took delivery of some seafood I ordered. Included was this The essentials for the Chinese kitchen. Garlic, ginger, chilli, Chinese chives and coriander leaf/cilantro. Plus two eggs. Unordered and uncharged-for.

Anyone eaten horse's hooves? If you've eaten Chinese you may have. Unfortunately, in the most of the west, they usually only come in cans and are a poor substitute for fresh hooves. S:马蹄; T: 馬蹄 (mǎ tí) means horse's hoof, but also refers to Eleocharis dulcis or E. congesta, which you probably know better as water chestnuts. The unpeeled tubers (corms) of the aquatic plant are said to resemble horse's hooves. Hmmm. Maybe. If you are able to source fresh hooves, you will know how crisp they are and that they have a mild but definite taste. Canned examples tend to be less crisp and are tasteless. The canned variety come either whole or sliced. The whole ones tend to be a bit crisper. Of course, texture is as important as taste in Chinese culinary thinking. I've never seen canned water chestnuts in a supermarket here (or any other canned vegetable, for that matter). In the wet markets, they are sold both unpeeled or the vendor will peel them for you - a lot easier if you are going use them today. Keeping peeled fresh in water in the fridge for a day or two is highly recommended. They are eaten raw or used in stir fries, in dumplings or in braised dishes. Trot on!

I live within spitting distance of Vietnam and visit as often as possible. They'll ban me forever if I use bread hacked to pieces like that! I'm a purist when it comes to my bánh mì!

... order food delivery at the weekend. Many people run second jobs on weekends delivering food but they don't know the city so well as the regular drivers. It is painful to watch the tracking map on my phone and see them go in the wrong direction. Luckily, I didn't order ice cream today. It would have gone on a long tour of the city and would have evaporated long before it reached me.

Spicy braised duck hearts with garlic, chilli, Shaoxing wine and Chaoshan fish sauce. Umami and spice. Beer food. But without beer.

I saw these when looking for oranges and was intrigued. Fruit sandwiches. Apparently invented by some internet celebrity I've never heard of. Black plum inside slices of mango. The slightly sour plum and the sweet mango make an amusing but interesting mouthful.

I just tried some of this (a teaspoonful). Way too sweet for me. Maltose and sugar. It has the umami but the sugar kills it for me. Some may not agree. Drain.

I'm baffled. This 'ingredients for dinner' selection consists of a chicken breast and a choice of "carb". "Carbs" on offer are 紫薯 (zǐ shǔ), purple potato; 南瓜 (nán guā), pumpkin; S: 黄瓜; T: 黃瓜 (huáng guā), cucumber; or 玉米 (yù mǐ), porn spelled with an initial 'c' instead of the 'p'. Remarkably, the choice you make has no effect on the price, except in the case of the last one I listed. The other chicken and "carb" combos are 19.90元 / $2.77 each but the last is a mere 9.90元 / $1.38. In all probability, they have come to their senses and want rid of the damnable stuff as quickly as possible.

Beef and broccoli seems to be a standard 'Chinese' dish everywhere but China. In almost 30 years of eating in China, I have never seen it on a menu anywhere. Or in family kitchens. S: 西兰花; T: 西蘭花 (xī lán huā, literally western orchid), western broccoli is a relatively recent introduction, although now China is the top producer. The people selling 'ingredients for dishes' have two sets involving broccoli. Neither are 🐮 牛肉 (niú ròu), beef. 1) 🐔 S: 鸡肉炒西兰花; T: 雞肉西蘭花 (jī ròu chǎo xī lán huā), stir fried chicken and broccoli. For 10.90元 / $1.52, a 200 gram chicken breast and 250g broccoli will be delivered to the door. 2) S: 虾子炒西兰花; T: 蝦子炒西蘭花 (xiā zǐ chǎo xī lán huā), stir fried shrimp and broccoli. 13.90元 / $1.93 and you'll get 150g of shrimp and 200g broccoli. I've never eaten these combinations. There are many green vegetables I'd rather eat than broccoli.

Certain websites claim that S: 叉烧酱; T: 叉燒醬 (chā shāo jiàng), char siu sauce and S: 烧烤酱; T: 燒烤醬 (shāo kǎo jiàng), Chinese barbecue sauce are the same. One well-known site claims S: 海鲜酱; T: 海鮮醬 (hǎi xiān jiàng), hoisin sauce and char siu sauce are the same. No, they aren't. Although char siu sauce is a barbecue sauce, barbecue sauce isn't char siu sauce. Dog ≠ animal. But it's more complicated than that. There is no standard recipe for any of the three. Different manufacturers differ. Many sauce manufacturers make all three to different recipes. Are American BBQ sauces made to one standard recipe? Why would Chinese? My advice (in all aspects of life) is look at the ingredients; find one you like the look of; try it; repeat until satisfied. For the record, I only ever buy this one and that rarely. It's barbecue sauce. Incidentally, the Chinese name for hoisin sauce literally means 'seafood sauce'; it neither contains any seafood nor is it normally used with seafood. I never make cha siu. Seldom eat it. Cha siu sauce

'Hot' is often used in Chinese to mean 'popular', 'desirable', 'sexy', etc just as it is in English. Hunan women are often described as 'hot', simultaneously referencing their attractiveness and their love of spicy food. Word play. Here, I guess, they are not trying to be literal or meaning 'spicy hot'.

One of the highlights of Chinese New Year for many people is sitting with the entire family around a table making 饺子 (jiǎo zi), jiaozi or S: 馄饨; T: 餛飩 (hún tún), wontons* - a rebonding experience for families coming back together for the festivities. Of course, this also happens at other times. Jiaozi skins But a lot of families (most?) cheat. Although, they will make the filling and assemble the 'dumplings', many won't necessarily make the wrappers - 饺子皮 (jiǎo zi pí) or 馄饨皮 (hún tún pí). 皮 (pí) means 'skin'. Every market sells the 'skins' very cheaply. 7元 / $1 / 500g. That's a lot of skins. Wonton skins I didn't need to buy this set of dumpling instruments, after all! * Alternative names for wontons include S: 云吞; T: 雲吞 (yún tūn) and 抄手 chāo shǒu).

Thanks for the clarification. The issue was on my mind as I have my beautiful Hunan Tujia ethnic minority friend staying for a few days. She lives in the US now but came back for CNY. She happened to mention the salt issue while perusing my extensive collection of Shaoxing wines.

I'm not usually bothered by unusual food names. China, my adopted home, has many bizarrely named dishes - "ants climbing trees", "dogs won't eat them buns", "Buddha jumps the wall" etc. When I heard "stinky tofu" my reaction was "Great. Take me there and fill me up" "Maternal grandmother's fragrant fluttering bones" had me mildly concerned but I soon got over that despite my maternal grandmother having died in the 1960s and her bones now far from fragrant or flutteration. But mention the c-word in any food discussion and I'm out of there! Yellow grains of retch-inducing wretched negativity. Shouldn't ought to be allowed. In China, I had to give up relationships with other people. In Mandarin, the seeds of despair are known as 玉米 (yù mǐ), pronounced "you (and) me"!

When I first heard of Sloppy Joes (as a child), for some reason I formed the impression they were some sort of casual footwear popular in foreign parts of the American type. 70 years on, I'm still not convinced that I was wrong.

I finally got hold of some 潮汕鱼露 (cháo shàn yú lù), Chaoshan fish sauce (see above). Made in Shantou, the 'shan' part of Chaoshan, this is a three year fermentation sauce. It will no doubt turn up in my dinners soon!

Looking on my grocery delivery app for something else, I spotted this which I've never seen before. The sparse description answered none of my questions, so I bought it. 11元 / $1.53. Worth a gamble. 白灼汁 (bái zhuó zhī) translates as 'white burning hot juice' whatever that means. Fortunately, food labelling laws force them to tell me it contains in order: cooking wine, msg, chicken bouillon powder, water, soy sauce, maltose, granulated sugar, salt and potassium sorbate. So, a premixed cooking sauce. Odd. I'll have a taste later and decide whether to use it or donate it to the drainage system. It certainly sounds even worse than the salt adulterated Shaoxing the Americans among you have to suffer, but we have unadulterated Shaoxing to compensate.

Japan also makes its own very popular version of Worcestershire sauce. Apparently they started in the 1920s with a company replicating L and P's sauce and selling it as ウスターソース under the Bulldog brand. The original is also widely available.

Is that Lizano you are referring to when you mention Costa Rican clones?

Not in the least.

Scrambled duck eggs with mushrooms. 黑皮鸡枞菌 (hēi pí jī cōng jūn), 'black skin chicken fir mushrooms', Oudemansiella Raphanipes. 松茸菌 (sōng róng jùn), (Japanese: マツタケ), matsutake, Tricholoma matsutake.

Does an English breakfast make men more attractive? https://www.itv.com/news/2024-03-07/does-an-english-breakfast-make-men-more-attractive I have rarely read such semi-literate garbage in my life. The UK's ITV (Independent Television) site almost guarantees typos and tortuous sentence structures in every story but even ignoring that, this is patent nonsense. Must have been a slow news day.

The locals call this S: 排骨冬瓜汤; T: 排骨冬瓜湯 (pái gǔ dōng guā tāng). I call this 'hospital soup'. During my four hospital stays last year, it was the only soup served. No doubt for its seasoning-free restorative attributes. I am talking about pork rib (排骨) and winter melon (冬瓜) soup (汤). In summer months the used pumpkin (南瓜 - nán guā). Now, if I take leave of my senses and start missing hospital food, I can replicate the experience in the comfort of my own home for a mere 21.90元 / $3.50. 300 grams of ribs, 500 g melon and the usual 100g of scallion, ginger garlic wings its way. Ain't gonna happen.

Every Chinese kid over the age of two knows how to make scrambled eggs with tomato, or so it appears. The combo ingredients people are on to this but with a twist. They are selling the ingredients for 番茄鸡蛋面 (fān qié jī dàn miàn), egg and tomato noodles. One tomato, two eggs, two scallions and 150g of dried noodles - 6.90元 / $0.96. Just add water!

The second ingredients for specific dish combo is one I find to be strangely popular. I'm told it originated in Hong Kong before travelling to the mainland. Coca-Cola Chicken Wings. For 22.90元 / $3.19 including delivery, you get 300 grams of wings and a standard 330 ml can of Coke plus 100 grams of mixed chopped scallions, garlic and ginger. This is one of the most expensive of these dish ingredient selections. I've never eaten it, so won't judge. Comes with a recipe leaflet. There are recipes all over the internet in English so I wont bother translating this. Like most Chinese recipes, it is of the 'add the appropriate amount and cook until cooked' type.