Chinese Pickles and Preserves

[heidih]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Thanks. I would have to be extremely desperate to make a snack of dried fish. I’m probably missing something very good!  

@Peter Green's daughter Serena was quite fond of them. The bags at Korean market do tempt me. (Serena's mom is Korean) Dried squid strips are a sort of tame entry point. Nice snack. My ex's trainer had him off meat but allowed the squid "jerky". He liked it (American redneck white boy)

Edited July 22, 2021 by heidih (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

How are the other fish generally used? 

 

The yellowtail shad is sometimes sold, mislabelled as salted anchovies. But do make a good substitute, unless of course you are one of the anchovy haters. Me, I love 'em.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

The yellowtail shad is sometimes sold, mislabelled as salted anchovies. But do make a good substitute, unless of course you are one of the anchovy haters. Me, I love 'em.

 

What species is yellowtail shad?  Sounds very different from our shad here.

 

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

What species is yellowtail shad?  Sounds very different from our shad here.

 

Trachurus novaezelandiae

There are many shads,

[JoNorvelleWalker]

58 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Trachurus novaezelandiae

There are many shads,

 

Apparently quite different 

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

Trachurus novaezelandiae

There are many shads,

 

Quite taximetrically dissimilar from our shad, Alosa sapidissima.

 

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Apparently quite different 

 

Quite taximetrically dissimilar from our shad, Alosa sapidissima.

 

 

Well, many non-scientific fish names are surprisingly imprecise. Anchovies, for example, comprise over than 140 species  in 17 genera, according to some accounts.

[liuzhou]

30. 肉松 (ròu sōng) - Pork Floss

 

肉松 (ròu sōng) - Pork Floss

 

When I posted regarding preserved meat products earlier, I had this in mind, but didn’t have any to hand. You’ll see why in the next paragraph.

 

To quote myself from something I wrote in 2012

 

Quote

Rousong (肉松) is also known as meat floss, pork floss etc. It is a form of dried pork which is made by boiling it for hours with soy sauce and other flavourings (including salt, sugar and MSG), shredding it then drying it. It resembles something you might expect to find being used as the stuffing in a mattress and tastes similar, but not quite that good.

 

It is served on top of congee (rice porridge) or rice, and stuffed into steamed buns, cakes and breads. It is even eaten as it is for a snack. I'd serve with it with c@rn, if I allowed either anywhere near my kitchen!
There is also a version made from fish - 鱼松 (yú sōng). It smells and probably tastes like urine-soaked mattresses.

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

30. 肉松 (ròu sōng) - Pork Floss

 

肉松 (ròu sōng) - Pork Floss

 

When I posted regarding preserved meat products earlier, I had this in mind, but didn’t have any to hand. You’ll see why in the next paragraph.

 

To quote myself from something I wrote in 2012

 

 

It is served on top of congee (rice porridge) or rice, and stuffed into steamed buns, cakes and breads. It is even eaten as it is for a snack. I'd serve with it with c@rn, if I allowed either anywhere near my kitchen!
There is also a version made from fish - 鱼松 (yú sōng). It smells and probably tastes like urine-soaked mattresses.

 

Personally, I'm a fan of the meat floss.  I don't think I've had pork floss (maybe packaged on EVA Airlines as an accompaniment to the congee - but it could have been fish floss), but I've had a couple different types of beef floss in Indonesia and enjoyed them - I wouldn't want a whole meal of them (I don't think they'd ever be used that way anyway) but as a condiment they're great.

[liuzhou]

Just now, KennethT said:

Personally, I'm a fan of the meat floss.  I don't think I've had pork floss (maybe packaged on EVA Airlines as an accompaniment to the congee - but it could have been fish floss), but I've had a couple different types of beef floss in Indonesia and enjoyed them - I wouldn't want a whole meal of them (I don't think they'd ever be used that way anyway) but as a condiment they're great.

 

I have many friends here who like it  a lot, but it escapes me!

[heidih]

Here at my 99 Ranch Market it is always on the end cap of an aisle in sealed plastic buckets. I only see pork but have not explored.

[chromedome]

19 hours ago, Anna N said:

Thanks. I would have to be extremely desperate to make a snack of dried fish. I’m probably missing something very good!  

In Newfoundland, both capelin (somewhat in the smelt/sardine continuum) and squid are enjoyed as snacks, both lightly salted and then dried.

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, chromedome said:

In Newfoundland, both capelin (somewhat in the smelt/sardine continuum) and squid are enjoyed as snacks, both lightly salted and then dried.

Ain’t no accounting for tastes. 

[liuzhou]

31. 农家柴火丸子 (nóng jiā chái huo wán zi) – Peasant Family Firewood Balls

 

 

Now, I know you are looking at the picture and thinking “they’re not balls”, and of course, you’re right. But that’s their name (sometimes they are balls). They’re not firewood, either. Or made by peasant families; at least these ones weren’t.

What they are is firewood smoked tofu and pigs’ blood sausages. The ingredients as listed are: Soy beans, water, pork, pigs’ blood, vegetable oil, salt, chilli, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise and cassia bark.

They are a speciality of Hunan, especially 邵阳 (shào yáng), a city in the south-west of the province.
 

These I like.

There is video on their preparation and usage here.

ht

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[kayb]

@liuzhou -- I have no experience with blood sausage. I do know that blood has a metallic taste (or at least human blood does, an experience borne of sticking a cut finger in my mouth, which is certainly not the most sanitary practice, but it hasn't killed me...yet). Does whatever cooking/curing the blood sausage goes through do away with the metallic taste? The cut sections you show above look fairly tasty. Are they eaten by themselves as a snack, in a prepared dish, or with a condiment?

 

[liuzhou]

6 minutes ago, kayb said:

@liuzhou -- I have no experience with blood sausage. I do know that blood has a metallic taste (or at least human blood does, an experience borne of sticking a cut finger in my mouth, which is certainly not the most sanitary practice, but it hasn't killed me...yet). Does whatever cooking/curing the blood sausage goes through do away with the metallic taste? The cut sections you show above look fairly tasty. Are they eaten by themselves as a snack, in a prepared dish, or with a condiment?

 

 

That last blood sausage is always cooked, usually in dishes as shown in the video I linked to. The main Hunan condiment, if you call it that, is chilli.

 

That said, those tofu and blood sausages contain minimal amounts of blood compared with most blood sausages around the world.

I do not detect any metallic taste in any blood sausage, but that may differ for other people.

[liuzhou]

32. 泡椒 (pào jiāo) – Pickled Chilli Peppers; 辣椒干 (là jiāo gān) – Dried Chilli Peppers

 

When Peter Piper picked his peck of pickled peppers, he probably didn’t realise that a peck wouldn’t last a day in the average Sichuan or Hunan kitchen. Both provinces use copious amounts of both dried and pickled peppers, as do Guizhou and Northern Guangxi.

These are often made at home but can also be found in every market and supermarket.

 

My downstairs neighbour is drying these outside her apartment window right now.

 

Sichuan Dried Peppers

 

Dried "Pointing to Heaven" chillies - 指天椒 (zhǐ tiān jiāo)

 

米椒 (mǐ jiāo, literally 'rice peppers') drying in the sun.

 

Pickled Peppers

 

Pickled Red Chillies

 

Pickled Small Green Peppers

 

Commercially produced 小米椒 (xiǎo mǐ jiāo) - Pickled Small Rice Peppers

 

Commercially produced 小米椒 (xiǎo mǐ jiāo) - Pickled Small Rice Peppers

 

灯笼椒 (dēng lóng jiāo) - Lantern Chilli (very hot!)

 

灯笼辣椒酱 (dēng lóng là jiāo jiàng) - Lantern Chilli Paste (very hot!)

 

There are many more, to which I shall doubtless return.

Edited July 25, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

33. 腊八蒜 (là bā suàn) - Laba Garlic

 

Laba Garlic

 

@Tropicalseniormentioned these on her 'My Pickled Garlic Experiment' topic here.

 

On 7/25/2021 at 12:10 AM, Tropicalsenior said:

There were some cloves in the batch that had turned green but I know from prior research that that isn't a problem. In fact, the Chinese make a jade green pickled garlic that is highly prized.

These jade green pickled garlic cloves are traditionally made for the Laba Festival – 腊八节 (là bā jié), held on the eighth day of the 12^th month by the traditional Chinese solar-lunar calendar. Hence the Chinese name 腊八蒜 (là bā suàn), 蒜 (suàn) meaning 'garlic'.

 

The preparation couldn’t be simpler. The garlic cloves are washed and put into jars with white rice vinegar (sugar can also be added according to preference), then left for around three weeks in a warm place. That’s it. The longer it is left, the greener it becomes.

 

Laba Garlic in Jars

 

Image Credits

 

I have used these images from Wiikipedia, which I don't normally do, because I can't find any of the garlic now (wrong time of year)  and I have no desire to make any just to take a photograph; not that I mind eating it.

 

1. Laba Garlic - Image by Dennis Wu6; This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
2. Laba Garlic in Jars - Image by N509FZ; This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

 

Edited July 25, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[heidih]

What is the texture?

[liuzhou]

34. 干豆腐 (gān dòu fu) – Dried Tofu

As well as fermenting tofu, it is also preserved by drying. 干豆腐 (gān dòu fu)* comes in many formats. Some are also flavoured by stewing with spices etc, first. Some are dried then smoked. Here are a few.

 

Dried Tofu Layer Cake

 

Dried Tofu Layer Cake

 

Dried Tofu Shapes

 

White Dried Tofu

豆腐卷 (dòu fu juǎn) Tofu Roll

 

Tofu Roll Unwrapped

 

5-Spice Tofu

Red Tofu "Noodles"

 

White Tofu Noodles

A Different Type of Rolled Tofu

Smoked Tofu

 

"White Chicken" Tofu

 

Here in Liuzhou, a highly popular tofu iten is 腐竹 (fǔ zhú), which is made from the skin which forms on the top of the soy  milk when being made into tofu. The layer of skin is lifted off and dried. Often it is rolled into sticks.

 

Dried 腐竹 (fǔ zhú)

 

Rehydrated 腐竹 (fǔ zhú)

 

Fried 腐竹 (fǔ zhú)

 

腐竹 (fǔ zhú) is an essential part of Liuzhou's signature dish, 螺蛳粉 (luó sī fěn) or 'river snail rice noodles', but is also used in other dishes.

柳州螺蛳粉 (liǔ zhōu luó sī fěn)

 

Lamb with 腐竹 (fǔ zhú)

 

Tofu is also frozen, but this is not to preserve it. Freezing then thawing regular tofu makes it spongy, so ideal for soaking up sauces and hotpot flavours.

 

 

 

* Sometimes the 干 (gān) meaning 'dried, is at the end - 豆腐干 (dòu fu gān).  The meaning is the same.

Edited July 26, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[heidih]

The first image is visually stunning.  Taste? Tofu skin here, in my experience, has become quite the vegan restaurant item. I have always enjoyed it and among so many things wonder who thought of this great idea?"

[liuzhou]

35. Preserved Ginger – 酸姜 (suān jiāng) - Pickled Ginger, 干姜 (gān jiāng) - Dried Ginger, plus

 

I’ve mentioned preserved garlic; I’ve mentioned preserved chillies; so now it’s time to complete China’s holy trinity.

First up, we have 酸姜 (suān jiāng), pickled ginger. I’ve only ever seen young ginger pickled. It is both home made and sold in markets, street stalls and supermarkets. I usually make my own. This is exactly the same as the pickled sliced ginger used in Japanese cuisine as a palate cleanser.

 

Here is a commercial version.

 

嫩姜 (nèn jiāng) means 'tender ginger'.

 

Then we have the dried ginger, (干姜 gān jiāng).

 

 

This is used to make ginger tea, or powdered to make ginger soup.

 

Ginger Soup Mix

 

Finally we have crystalized ginger. I've only ever seen this once.

 

 

but no worries, I make my own.

liuzhou's home made crystalized ginger.

[Tropicalsenior]

59 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

liuzhou's home made crystalized ginger.

Absolutely beautiful! Any chance of you favoring us with a recipe?

[heidih]

Is the not sweet version like Beni shōga popular as well?

[liuzhou]

On 7/26/2021 at 9:45 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

Absolutely beautiful! Any chance of you favoring us with a recipe?

 

Thanks.

 

Nothing easier. I use equal quantities of ginger and white granulated sugar. Some advocate freezing the ginger first to break down the fibres. I've never found this necessary, but I use young ginger.

The ginger and sugar is simmered for about an hour. Exact timing varies, so just keep testing it for tenderness. I prefer to still have a bit of bite. When it's ready to your satisfaction, let it cool in the syrup, then sprinkle with dry sugar. Bung in fridge.  I have no idea how long it lasts. Usually a couple of days around me!

Keep the syrup. I use it in a seafood salad dressing with lime and orange juice, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Edited June 5, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Nothing easier

Thank you very much. This is much easier than what I have been doing. I'm going to have to go out and raid my Ginger patch.