liuzhou

I was rummaging around in the depths of the local food delivery app earlier and came across this wonder. 草原肚包肉 (cǎo yuán dǔ bāo ròu), literally 'grassland belly bag meat'. Yes it's China's answer to my beloved haggis. Comes from the grasslands of China's Inner Mongolia, the autonomous region in the north of China bordering Mongolia and Russia. It is sheep's offal stuffed into the animal's stomach. According to the writing on the image above "it is very fragrant when boiled in water." I don't doubt it. Map by Chinafolio.com That's New Year's dinner sorted out!

About a week or so ago, I posted a meal in the Dinner topic which consisted of two half portions of menu items allowing me to sample different dishes. Today I did the same for lunch from the same restaurant. 美味虾仁鲜虾 半分 (měi wèi xiā rén xiān xiā bàn fēn), delicious shrimp half portion. 美味花甲 半分 (měi wèi huā jiǎ bàn fēn), delicious flower clams half portion. Came with rice. Flower clams are a type of small salt water clam, popular here. 花甲 (huā jiǎ), flower clams

Cheeses ✔ Crackers of Choice ✔ Mince Pies (traditional) ✔ Mince Pies (whisky) ✔ Foie Gras ✔ Fig Jam ✔ Caviar ✔ Smoked Sturgeon ✔ Champagne ✔ Irish Whisky ✔ Cream ✔ Sucking Pig ✖ (will order on the day)

Yes, that's the first thing I noticed.

Unfortunately, the eG software reduces the resolution of any images over 1000 pixels, so this is the best I can do here. As you can see the vein structure is unclear on the glossy side, but more so on the reverse. Here is the bunch I purchased (42 cents for 150 grams).

Yes. That's what I thought, but wondered if anyone had ever tried pomelo. All my local friends are giving me blank looks. I have reached out to an ex-student whose family farm pomelos near here to ask her but am still awaiting her reply. I will pass on any information asap.

Yes. They are available online here (somewhat expensively). Their origin is "interesting". Some vendors describe them as Swedish made in Germany; others as Dutch made in Italy. One describes them as "Spot Dutch import Italian German import WASA Vassa crackers Original multi-fiber sesame recommended" then says the factory is in the USA! I'll call them UN Crackers.

Thanks. I mostly guessed right! Only the crackers eluded me, but then I am not familiar with that brand.

What is everything? I could guess but I'd hate to insult you by getting it wrong!

Just spent a couple of days rewatching this series. I did finally sort out the language problems - I now have English sound and English subtitles for the languages I don't know - i.e most of them! Still a recommended watch.

And another. This is 红菜花 (hóng cài huā) or 红菜苔 (hóng cài tāi), red cabbage moss or red canola (rape), a type of brassica. Only found in winter, it is slightly bitter in taste. Popular in Sichuan. The stems and leaves are sliced and stir fried, usually in freshly rendered lard. Unfortunately, it turns green when cooked. There is more information (in fractured English) here. What she translates as 'fuel consumption' is oyster sauce. Go figure!

As ever I'm mystified. Today I came across bunches of pomelo leaves being sold in the vegetable section of a supermarket. I've seen every part of the fruit, including the peel, used in recipes here, but never the leaves. Nor can I find any reference to their use in cooking. I know that their essential oils are used in TCM and The Oxford Companion to Food notes that: I suppose they could be used in the same manner as other citrus leaves, especially lime leaves but can find no such evidence. Anyone want to weigh in? Pomelo Leaves

Almost forgot! Oversight corrected. Now ordered. Essential with all that cheese.

Indeed. The Spruce Eats is riddled with errors and self-contradicts itself over and over again. I was reading something earlier where it claimed that broccoli isn't grown in China (in an article written by a Chinese-American). China is by far the largest producer of broccoli in the world! And they claim that Sichuan is China's largest province. It isn't. It is particularly weak on Cheese, listing only a handful, and then getting them wrong!

I love traditional Port Salud, but it's rare even in France. Nearly all is now industrially made and nothing like the original. The monks who originally made it sold the trademark in the 1950s. You can read the history on the Spruce Eats but take anything it says with a bucket of salt. They claim that it That would be amazing given that the Loire Valley isn't in a Trappist monastery anywhere! It isn't even in Brittany, at all. It is east of Brittany.

Feel free! She was a self-confessed hopeless cook. However, she was an accomplished eater! And a stickler for tradition.

Tonight, a couple of beef rou jia mo. 牛肉夹馍 (niú ròu jiá mó). I don't mean to be immodest, but I make them better myself when I'm up to standing up long enough. Still better than nothing. No idea who the guy on the wrapper is. These were the flaky bread type. Not my favourite, but the filling was nicely spicy, but needed cumin.

It may well work, but my French mother would turn in her grave at such an insult to her heritage! I will be having it with pain de la campagne and a fig jam as nature intended and as we have always eaten it at Christmas. I very much doubt she ate a single blueberry in her long life! 😉

As any self-respecting Sichuanese cook would.

It is from a "Western" restaurant - the one where I get the reasonably good pizza with arugula I've mentioned before. The mango was fine, if not great. We get mangoes pretty much year round here - different types at different times. No idea what the names are, though. Miraculously, none of their offerings include c⊘rn!

Shrimp, Avocado and Mango Salad. Also included lettuce, egg, cherry tomatoes, rocket/arugula, red cabbage, chickpeas, endive, quinoa and cranberries(!). Dressed with a honey mustard dressing and sprinkled with "parmesan" sawdust. Strange salad.

I mentioned that I ordered some goose foie gras for Christmas dinner. It arrived a couple of days ago and is in the freezer. Strangely, it was accompanied by these condiment and seasoning packages. The sea salt and pepper mix I understand (although I have plenty (and better) of both already). The black pepper sauce will go straight into the trash - it is revolting but the Chinese are convinced we foreigners use this muck on everything we eat. The blueberry jam (honey) is a total mystery. Who eats foie gras with blueberry jam (honeyed or not)? Anyone? In the centre is a tiny catering pack of butter. Why?

Looking for something else at home, I cam across these which I'd forgotten about. A friend gave me this set a few years back as a kind of joke. A portable set of chopsticks, a spoon and a fork. They are pretty useless. The chopsticks are a mere 6 inches long and difficult to use, although they may suit a child, but I'd still advocate even children using longer sticks.

Here is an unusual vegetable in many ways. It is not common even here and only has a two week season at its best. We are looking at 香椿 (xiāng chūn), Chinese toon (Toona sinensis), the leaves of a tree native to China. In fact, it is the only tree found in northern Asia which has edible leaves. The first character in the Chinese name, 香(xiāng) means ‘fragrant’ and is important as there is another type of toon which is anything but fragrant and is inedible. What you need to get hold of is 香椿芽 (xiāng chūn yá) which is ‘toon buds’. These crisp, crunchy and truly aromatic red buds are most commonly paired with eggs with which they have a particular affinity. I’ve had them in omelettes and with scrambled egg. It can also be eaten in salads, especially a tofu salad with oil, lemon juice and walnuts. The deeper the red colour is, the better. And the pricier. Those in my first picture cost 66.50 元 for 100 grams; the paler ones in the second picture were a mere 11.60 元 for 100 g.

Bánh mì from local Vietnamese restaurant.