liuzhou

Do a loose search for ‘Chinese Cuisine’ and often you’ll be directed to books or websites telling you that China has eight distinct cuisines. Unfortunately, this is yet another myth. The repetition of this ‘fact’ comes from the Imperial court stating such hundreds of years ago and it becoming a cliché, both in and out of China. The eight are usually listed as: 鲁菜 (lǔ cài), Shandong cuisine 粤菜 (yuè cài) Cantonese cuisine 川菜 (chuān cài) Sichuan cuisine 苏菜 (sū cài) Jiangsu cuisine 湘菜 (xiāng cài) Hunan cuisine 浙菜 (zhè cài) Zhejiang cuisine 徽菜 (huī cài) Anhui cuisine 闽菜 (mǐn cài) Fujian cuisine The list was compiled when China’s present day borders were somewhat different. In fact, not only are there many, many more; even within these categories there are distinctly different cuisines. Hunan, for example has three distinguishably different cuisines, as does Guangxi where I live. Also, the list excludes many more. It only includes the majority Han Chinese cuisines and excludes the ethnic minority cuisines of which there are so many. It also excludes significant cuisines such as Yunnan cuisine, Guizhou cuisine, Shaanxi cuisine, Xinjiang cuisine, Dongbei cuisine, Inner Mongolian cuisine, Tibetan cuisine and more. It doesn’t even include Beijing or Shanghai, both of which have their own distinct cuisines. Over the next few posts I will attempt to herd cats and describe some of the eight, but more of the others as they tend to be less well known out of China.

Last night, I found a new (to me) Japanese place locally and decided to give them a chance. This was described on my delivery app in Chinese as 咖喱猪扒饭 (gā lí zhū pá fàn). It is, in fact, in Japanese, カツカレー (katsukari) katsu curry. For those unfamiliar with the dish it is とんかつ (tonkatsu), panko breaded pork chop served over rice with vegetables and a Japanese style curry sauce. Some evil imposter of a chef infiltrated himself into the kitchen and threw some (unadvertised) c⊘rn smothered in Kewpie ‘mayonnaise’ on top, but it was all to one side so I scooped it out and destroyed it. The broccoli was also ditched, not because I dislike it that much, but it was seriously overcooked. All in all, despite the flaws, a decent meal.

From what I've been reading, it is essential to put the sugar in before the cream or it doesn't float on top. Right? Somewhat bizarrely, the best Irish coffee I ever had was in a small village in China! How it got there I have no idea. I should have asked.

For the record and clarification: Gailan Gailan aka Chinese Broccoli is 芥兰 or 芥蓝 (both jiè lán) on the mainland. It is 芥蘭 (gaai3 laan4*2) in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and among much of the overseas Chinese. Western Broccoli Western broccoli is 西兰花 (xī lán huā) on the mainland. It is 西蘭花 (sai1 laan4 faa1) in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and among much of the overseas Chinese.

Yesterday, I paid the 2024 annual service fee on my apartment. For paying a year in advance rather than monthly, I received this 5kg bag of locally grown rice. First time that's happened.

C⊘rn will last longer, I'm sure!

Do you remember what the written name looked like? There are two ways I see it written in Simplified Chinese as used in mainland China. 芥兰 or 芥蓝, pronounced identically. Then, just to confuse things further, in Traditional Chinese and so in Cantonese as used in Hong Kong and in much of the diaspora it can be 芥蘭 or 芥藍! Don't make the mistake of only remembering the first character. Many vegetables begin with that character. You could even end up with wasabi!

Yes, that many people dislike broccoli but like 'gailan', including you and @KennethTrather bears out that they are very different. As are most green vegetables in China.

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), the British writer and illustrator of children's books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit was also a keen and respected mycologist. She made detailed illustrations of many of the mushrooms she studied. Here are but a few. All images Public Domain

I've always considered the American name 'Chinese broccoli' to be ridiculous. Although both broccoli and what you call gailan (芥兰 - jiè lán in 95% of China) are both members of members of the Brassicaceae family, so are many other vegetables including turnips, kale, mustard, all the cabbages etc. I strongly advise disassociating the two in your mind. I have no experience of "Americanized Chinese" cuisine. American-Chinese cuisine and Chinese-Chinese cuisine are two very different entities. Broccoli is certainly used in regional Chinese cooking but not in the way it is used in America. I mentioned broccoli back in this post. Yes.

locally

I had a bad, over-busy day and felt majestically lazy when it came to think of dinner, so again ordered the only edible pizza in the whole province! I'll try harder tomorrow!

Yes. I know the pub. Not sure if I ever entered its hallowed halls, though.

I would love to visit Dublin again. Spent a lot of time there in my time, but haven't been since 1994. Funnily enough, I never drank Irish coffee there! Too busy with the Guinness, I guess.

No. It is referring to western style broccoli.

Still haven't used it.

Yes, my recollection is that the island is OK away from the city, but for obvious reasons my brother's place was in the city and that is what I was thinking of. I only visited once. He moved to Mallorca where he now has three restaurants and not so many drunken idiots.

Here’s an oddity but a good one. It was described as American yet is redolent of the spices of Sichuan. Or perhaps they mean the crayfish are American in that they were introduced from America after the European varieties, Astacus fluviatilis were nearly wiped out by a plague in the 19th and 20th centuries then moved eastwards from there. That said there are crayfish native to China, in the Cambaroides family, so who knows? 美国小龙虾饭 [麻辣] (měi guó xiǎo lóng xiā fàn [má là]), American crayfish over rice [spicy]. The crayfish are cooked in a Sichuan ma la sauce with chilli and Sichuan peppercorns and served with 土豆丝 (tǔ dòu sī) potato slivers stir fried and finished with rice wine vinegar. Also some greens and served over rice.

You can hold the nutmeg!

Well, it isn't a mainstream meat. Anything you can do with beef, you can do with donkey. Donkey Fried Noodles Donkey Soup Noodles Donkey Soup Donkey Stir Fry Donkey with Green Peppers

To my surprise, I couldn't find a topic for this. Do you have any favourite recipes? I'm planning to make some for Christmas.

Donkey is also very much used nose to tail. In addition to the above, my local vendor also carries donkey brains, tripe, bones, hooves, skin, and intestines. All sold seperately.

Donkey is my favourite meat. Very tender and tasteful. I've had the meat often, but also the liver, kidneys, heart, penis and tail. Donkey Liver - Image from Meituan Food delivery app Donkey Liver with Champ

I guess like most people, I don’t like to eat the same things on consecutive days (or even consecutive weeks), but today I made an exception. Last night, I had 辣子鸡 (là zi jī ), Chongqing Chicken with Chillies and tonight I had 乐山辣子鸡铁板炒饭 (lè shān là zi jī tiě bǎn chǎo fàn), Leshan Chicken with Chillies Iron Plate Fried Rice. Chongqing is a city in China which used to be classified as part of Sichuan, but no longer. Leshan is a town in Sichuan famous for its 71-metre (233-feet) high Leshan Giant Buddha, the tallest in the world. So basically two variations on the same Sichuan idea. The fried rice looked very different from last night’s dish, as if someone had picked out most of the chillies from the mound of chillies and added them to the fried rice, but the taste was all there. The chillies are not meant to be eaten anyway!

Here's another example of myth making coming from an American-Chinese writer on Spruce Eats. China grows, by far, the most broccoli on the planet. 10,263, 746 tonnes a year! It isn't served as Chicken and Broccoli though!