liuzhou

All capsicums start out green. A few stay that way, most turn red, then some yellow, then all dark brown to black as they rot. They are essentially the same, just like button mushrooms, portabella mushrooms and cremini are all the same species at different ages. The only difference is the mushrooms are edible, whereas...

Aah! Candlelit dinner. Lovely! I've always been glad my cooking is with gas. We get too many electricity outages here but I can always cook. I have a tabletop induction cooker, so the rare times the gas supply is cut for pipe maintenance I can rustle up something on that or call for delivery. The gas and electric have never, touch wood, both been out at the same time.

荷兰豆炒鱿鱼须 (hé lán dòu chǎo yóu yú xū), stir-fried snow peas and squid. Snow peas and squid are a classic pairing round here. It's a dish which, before I broke my back, I often cooked. This one is from a local restaurant called "柳州妈妈菜 (liǔ zhōu mā ma cài)" which means 'Liuzhou Mama's Food". I don't know about that, but it is homely fare. The 'tomato' in the dish isn't tomato. It's pickled red chilies. Not standard. 荷兰豆 (hé lán dòu) or snow peas literally means 'Holland beans'. The name arose from the generally believed idea that they were first cultivated there, then introduced to China by the English. They were formerly known as Dutch peas in Engish.

My point was that you would have to double the price to compare it with a regular portion. It would then be over the ₤10 'barrier'. "Some pubs" is a bit of an understatement; it's over one a day in England on average and many of those are hearts of local communities.

There are four main factors in the UK. Energy prices rising (while the energy companies are making record profits), Covid, Brexit, and the general cost of living crisis. Australia doesn't have one of them.

Smithfield Market in London has been the main meat market for over 800 years, but is closing down its ancient site and moving to the far away suburbs in east London. The poultry section will be gone by the end of the month and the rest will relocate over the next five years. This has been predictable for a long time. London's fruit and vegetable market in Covent Garden (as seen in the movie My Fair Lady) relocated in 1974 when it became impractible to have hudrends of trucks arriving in the centre of London in the middle of the night through the narrow streets. It is now a major tourist site and legally protected against further development. The meat will become a new site for The Museum of London. Story with pictures here from the Guardian

I only partly agree. Chippies have undeniably been dying at an unprecedented rate, as have pubs. The Matlock sample is, as you said, a mini version. Sure people might buy it (often visitors - both places you mention are tourist destinations) but the time when Friday night was fish and chips night for many ordinary families all over Britain is all but over. I have family in the trade. They aren't "doom and gloom" media; they see it dying. I'm sure there was a time when the idea that you would struggle to find a pie and mash / jellied eel shop in London would have sounded ridiculous and impossible, but only a handful remain. Same with many other once ubiquitous choices.

Definitely. Nothing British about it.

It is apparently available in the US

What difference would that make? And what kind of induction hob would be able hold several gallons of oil / fat? As I already said, fish and chip shops don't use hobs and pans. You can't cook hundreds of fish and thousands of chips at the same time that way. Not quick enough. These places get very busy (or used to).

The End of Prohibition, 1933

I wouldn't go so far as to say common, but certainly not unknown. Ginger and garlic are in almost everything, but hot pots and slow cooked dishes such as ribs frequenty also include bay leaves. Not stir fries though. Bay leaves are noted for being used in many Sichuan dishes. The Chinese for bay leaf is 香叶 (xiāng yè) which literally translates as 'savoury leaf'. And they are real bay leaves from the bay laurel plant, unlike many elsewhere.

Incidentally, the ₤10 barrier has been broken. The article is wrong there. The current menu for the wonderful Anstruther Fish Bar, my favourite, lists just the fish at ₤9.70 with the chips adding another ₤2.70. More expensive if you eat in the restaurant.

I'm not sure. I guess thermostats sometimes fail. And with gallons of hot oil around... I have PM'd you re the ₤ symbol. That said, you could cut and paste it from the article.

Shiitake ribs. With garlic, ginger, bay leaf, soy sauce. Served rice and stir-fried sweet potato shoots.

Recently, there has been a fashion here for large oysters, with vendors battling to find the most humungous. I'm waiting to see which one loses! I agree; smaller ones are usually better.

Fish and chip shops do not use pots on ranges. They use dedicated fish friers like this. Its a ₤10 barrier. The UK, like most countries, doesn't use dollars! 😂

Well, that's incorrect. Beans and other pulses contain the lectin, phytohaemagglutinin which is toxic in high amounts unless destroyed by boiling the beans for 10 minutes at 212℉ / 100℃. Thereafter they are safe even if undercooked. Red kidney beans have the highest concentration of phytohaemagglutinin so it's best to be more than usually careful with them. https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/healthy-tips/are-red-kidney-beans-toxic Undercooked beans are unpleasant, I agree, but not poisonous if prepared correctly.

Yeah, I know, but i take this more personally. Although I wasn't technically born in the East Neuk, it is only seven miles away from my birthplace and was my growing-up playground. I know and have eaten in most of the chippies mentioned. I was last there in 2019 and ate in the Anstruther* Fish Bar as I have done many times - long before British and Hollywood royalty dropped by. It's always sad to see traditions suffer, but when you have a strong connection, the wounds are deeper. * Anstruther is pronounced Ainster locally. Also the Fish Bar is still operating - but for how much longer?

A very sad tale from the Guardian about the part of the world in which I first drew breath and still have strong ties to.

Tonight’s dinner is a simple one, but its name isn’t. And you may have one of its prime ingredients, but not in the kitchen. Instead you may find it in your bathroom. That ingredient is known in English as luffa, loofah, angled luffa, Chinese okra, dish cloth gourd, ridged gourd, sponge gourd, towel gourd, vegetable gourd, strainer vine, ribbed loofah, silky gourd, ridged gourd, or silk gourd. In Latin terms it is Luffa acutangula or Luffa aegyptiaca, two closely related species. In Mandarin Chinese, it is 丝瓜 (sī guā); in Cantonese si1 gwaa1). It is a vine gourd and is related to the cucumber. The name loofah, however you spell it, is taken from the Egyptian-Arabic name لوف (lūf). Loofah is the thing you may use in the shower as a sponge or exfoliant but these are the dried husks of mature specimens. When they are young, they are a popular vegetable in China, Japan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and in Vietnam where it is known as mướp hương. In Japan, it is へちま (hechima). They are mild flavoured and used in soups or stir-fried with pork as in my dinner, 丝瓜炒肉片 (sī guā chǎo ròu piàn), stir fried loofah with sliced pork. It is not recommended that you eat it in the shower.

Soy, ginger (and garlic) are almost obligatory in all fish dishes here. Sesame oil is only ever used sparingly as a condiment on the finished dish; never during the cooking process.

The taste is mild and rather sweet. Sweeter than any cheese I've encountered in the west. In fact, in Tibet it is eaten like we might eat candies / sweets. Yet it remains recognisably cheese. Yes, there are a number of yak cheeses, one of which, tastes like Limburger. Yak milk is a staple in Tibet and is used for cheese, yoghurt and butter, which is used in yak butter tea. Yak meat is also important in the cuisine.

Tibetan Cheese made from Yak Milk.

What's for dinner, 1907?