liuzhou

Getting away from my kitchen and city apartment kitchens I general, here is a typical countryside kitchen. This one is in a Yao ethnic minority village in the north of Liuzhou Prefecture. This is in preparation for the Chinese New Year / Spring Festival, on Feb 10th this year. Year of the Dragon 龙年.

I'm glad to hear the rice was unsalted, not that I'm ever likely to buy it. In much of Asia, certainly in China, rice is served unsalted. It is intended to be a neutral background to the flavours of the accompanying dishes. Same in S.E. Asia. The first time someone saw me salting rice I was preparing for dinner, they thought I had gone mad. I've never done so since. Possibly a good test for the 'authenticity' of your local Bamboo Garden!

These arrived at my door about half an hour ago. A pair of organic Syrah wines from Australia made by French Vignerons for the Chinese market. An unexpected gift from a friend in the wine publication and events business, for me to try. I don't know anything about them other than that. We shall see.

I don't know if this will help anyone but... Asian markets may be sources of 豆腐布 (dòu fu bù) which means tofu cloth and is really cheesecloth. Took me years to find that out. Standard practice round these parts.

炒鸡肝 （独蒜、辣椒、绍兴酒）， 小意大利面，秋葵。 Chicken liver stir fried with garlic, chilli and Shaoxing wine. Orzo and okra.

Hunan fried chilli beef, Hunan pork, Hunan steamed fish and greenery with my beautiful, Hunanese, Tujia ethnic minority friend. Here in a Hunan restaurant in Guangxi.

Many years ago, I flew Bangkok, Thailand to London and back again on the Bangladeshi national airline with a stopover in Dhaka each way. Dhaka has probably the worst airport in existence. It was the only flight I could get at short notice. Long story. On the flights, I was served lentil curry and rice for breakfast, lentil curry and rice for lunch and lentil curry and rice for dinner. In both directions. That was in their attempt at 'first class'. I don't even want to think about what they served in 'cattle class'.

Well, yes I'm aware that the terminology varies from place to place which is precisely why I was looking for an unambiguous expression. My friend has run with the 'spicy hot' suggestion.

@Norm Matthews said I imagine it would be really difficult to recreate a 1300 old recipe from a photograph. There were lots of things to wonder about in his reconstruction but something you said added a concern. You said savory wheaten foods outnumber sweet wheat foods by a lot. If the original report mentioned the morsels found in the tomb were described as biscuits, ( presumed to be savory in the USA) but it is quite possible that someone from the United Kingdom read biscuits as meaning cookies, (sweet) When English and Australians refer to biscuits it means cookies to lots or people everywhere elsewhere. Technically, neither American biscuits or British biscuits are etymologically 'biscuits'. Bis cuit (modern French) means twice cooked, which, so far as I can make out, neither are. The term entered British English (BrE) from Old French bescoit in the early 12th century at the latest and originally referred to double cooked hard ship's biscuits. The American usage is 19th century, in language terms relatively recent. Cookie is probably from the Dutch koekje, early 18th century referring to a baker's soft bun, both sweet or savory. It entered American usage in the late 19th century, referring to a hard, brittle sweet cake. Scotland and northern England retain the original meaning of cookies as soft buns while all of Britain uses biscuit for the hard items. American English (AmE) does the opposite.

I don't often follow the book, but regularly do "inspired by" dishes, especially duck and/or chicken hearts. In fact, they're on the menu for later today. You just reminded me to take them out of the freezer. Fortunately, I live in a very N-to-T culture, so can get most things easily.

Wow! That's the second person mentioned on eG today that I have actually met. I knew Nicholas quite well back in London must be 50 years ago. He was influential in many ways, not just on food. Unfortunately, I can't open the Gruaniad at the moment. (The other was Tao Huabi, the Laoganma lady, whom I've met a couple of times.)

Interesting. I knew her company do different versions in different territories but hadn't come across that one. Further research suggests the peanut version is also available in Singapore. I also searched in Chinese but drew a blank in China (but did get Singapore again). I have seen mention of Laoganma peanuts in Chilli kill but I'm thinking that's something different again. At least the Chinese suggests so. I'll ask Ms Tao next time I see her!

More Brokeback cooking. Keeping it simple. Pan fried pork tenderloin. I was happy with the sear from my Japanese cast iron pan. Simple boiled potatoes and okra.

Do you mean the sauce comes with peanuts already in the jar, or you added them yourself? I've never seen laoganma with peanuts nor is that listed on the American website. By the way, laoganma means 'old godmother', not 'old mother'. The gan means 'dry' so, literally 'old dry mother', dry indicating non-lactating.

Jiangxi fried mixed noodles.

Wheat is the main staple in northern China; rice in the south. Wheat is extensively grown, not only in Xinjiang, China's westernmost province where Turpan is located, but even more further east. All Chinese wheat is relatively low in gluten compared to North American or European wheats. Northern China is where staples such as 包子 - steamed filled buns, 馒头 - unfilled steamed bread, 饺子 - jiaozi dumplings, 煎饼 - savoury wheat pancakes etc originated and these are still a main part of the diet. Noodles here are also wheaten whereas in southern China, noodles are predominantly rice. Xinjiang is indeed noted for its dried fruits, especially grapes. While some cakes are made, they are vastly outnumbered by and the north better known for its savoury wheaten foods.

I agree it could be browser related but I've tried it in two common browsers with the same results. It's fine on my PC and lap top using the same browsers. Odd. It's nothing critical as I rarely cook from recipes anyway. I wanted to use it more as a reference resource.

I gave up on it because the cell phone version, which was what I most needed it for was simply dysfunctional. I just retried after more than a year and it's just the same.

Smoked sturgeon and its caviar.

Do you have a picture of what you are referring to as white potatoes and also of the streak. Your description sounds different from the white potatoes I buy here. They are starchy and so my preference and good for mashing, boiling and making chips in the British sense. Fries for lack of a better word.

The question in the UK is usually "spicy hot or heat hot?"

Thanks. You have all answered my main concern, the acceptability of 'spicy hot' in other varieties of English.

I have a lot more condiments. Those are the basics, used every day. The others are in cupboards or fridge as appropriate. The rest of your questions I have answered elsewhere.

I can't agree spicy is preferable. Many, perhaps most, spices are not 'hot'. What about cinnamon or fennel seeds, to pick two at random.

It's just an appalling mistranslation by the software. It should just be 'chat'.