China Food Deliveries

[liuzhou]

Dinner: 酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú) - Sichuan Fish with Pickled Mustard Greens.

 

 

This is a classic Sichuan stewed fish special, but not so well-known abroad. It is popular throughout China. Most internet recipes suggest using catfish, which makes sense, but  I've often had it with carp or tilapia. It is important to use a fairly firm-fleshed freshwater fish.

 

This is a very spicy dish with facing heaven chilli peppers and copious Sichuan peppercorns, as well as doubanjiang. There is a reasonably authentic recipe here, should you wish to have a go at making it. The only difficulty may be sourcing the pickled mustard greens (which are the heart of the dish) but your local Asian market should be able to supply it.

 

酸菜 (suān cài) Pickled Mustard Greens

 

I was wary of ordering it as it's normally a large dish meant for sharing, but they did a sensible sized one-man version and were generous with the fish. It was GOOD.
 

[KennethT]

57 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Dinner: 酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú) - Sichuan Fish with Pickled Mustard Greens.

 

 

This is a classic Sichuan stewed fish special, but not so well-known abroad. It is popular throughout China. Most internet recipes suggest using catfish, which makes sense, but  I've often had it with carp or tilapia. It is important to use a fairly firm-fleshed freshwater fish.

 

This is a very spicy dish with facing heaven chilli peppers and copious Sichuan peppercorns, as well as doubanjiang. There is a reasonably authentic recipe here, should you wish to have a go at making it. The only difficulty may be sourcing the pickled mustard greens (which are the heart of the dish) but your local Asian market should be able to supply it.

 

酸菜 (suān cài) Pickled Mustard Greens

 

I was wary of ordering it as it's normally a large dish meant for sharing, but they did a sensible sized one-man version and were generous with the fish. It was GOOD.
 

I'm always weary of ordering fish/seafood for delivery as I'm worried it gets overcooked while sitting around.  I'm glad yours didn't have that problem!  Then again, it's practically impossible to overcook catfish (which isn't commonly offered here) so that works in your favor.

[JeanneCake]

Those last two meals look amazing!  Glad you enjoyed them!

[liuzhou]

Soy-braised pig's foot, snow vegetable (pickled mixed greens) and broccoli with rice.

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Dinner:

 

Steamed pork with roasted glutinous rice crust, pig's ears with green chillies, water spinach and steamed rice. Cordycep and chicken soup.

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

中饭： Lunch

 

淮山骨头汤 (huái shān gǔ tou tāng) - Huaishan Bone Soup (pork bone soup with Chinese yam)
凉拌牛肉 (liáng bàn niú ròu) - Cold Dressed Beef ( a sort of beef and allium salad)
爆炒油豆腐 (bào chǎo yóu dòu fu) - Burst-Fried-Oil Tofu ("Burst Fried Oil" is the literal term for the cooking technique involving very high temperature wok cooking. You know the kind of thing all those jokers with their high octane burners think is daily routine. It isn't or they wouldn't need a special term for it when it is occasionally used, would they? /endrant )
娃娃菜 (wá wa cài) - Baby Chinese Cabbage

 

 

Burst-fried Tofu

 

Cold-dressed Beef

Edited November 2, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[SusieQ]

20 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Steamed pork with roasted glutinous rice crust, pig's ears with green chillies, water spinach and steamed rice. Cordycep and chicken soup.

About this word cordycep. A word new to me. So I looked it up and found this definition: " Cordyceps is a genus of parasitic fungi that grows on the larvae of insects."

 

From the "cep" part of the word I should have figured it to be some kind of mushroom, but I never would have guessed this type. Anyway, I've never seen this word on any menu or recipe but now I'm fascinated to know if it's a common word somewhere in the English-speaking world? Do you see it on English menus in China? I'm just really curious about the word itself. I will leave it to others to talk about this type of fungi for food.  😉

[liuzhou]

On 11/2/2022 at 3:04 PM, SusieQ said:

About this word cordycep. A word new to me. So I looked it up and found this definition: " Cordyceps is a genus of parasitic fungi that grows on the larvae of insects."

 

Unfortunately, you have stumbled upon an incomplete definition.

 

Cordycep sinensis is a parastic fungi that grows on the larvae of insects. There are over 400 types of cordyceps. Non-parasitic human-bred varieties have become mainstream in recent years. What I ate (and regularly eat) is cordyceps militaris, a non-parasitic type. It is cultivated locally and often served in chicken soup.

 

Dried Cordycep Militaris

 

Fresh Cordyceps Militaris

 

Although I would have no objection in principle to eating cordycep sinensis (I've eaten insects and I've eaten fungi, so I can save time and eat them together), sinensis is gathered from the wilds of the high Tibetan Himalayas and is, as a result, prohibitively expensive. It would be about $300 USD for that bowl of soup.

 

Cordycep sinensis

 

As to the word 'cordycep', it is derived from the Greek kordulē meaning ‘club’ and latin caput meaning 'head', presumably describing the shape.

 

There are very, very few  English menus outside of the largest cities (Beijing, Shanghai etc). Most of those in Liuzhou, I've translated! On menus most places, they would use the Chinese name, 虫草 (chóng cǎo) for sinensis and 虫草花 (chóng cǎo huā) for militaris. That last character in militaris means 'flower(s)' and indicates that it is only the fungus without the larvae. Even if someone misread it, the price would soon alert them. Militaris is very cheap.

 

Edited July 30 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Today, I was idly flipping through my phone and the delivery app. The opening page always features ads for restaurants or ingredient delivery outlets. I noticed my new address in one of them!

 

My address covers a large, gated residential community (about 800 apartments) and on the main street side a few commercial outlets. 

 

The ad I spotted was for a Sichuan restaurant. When I looked more closely, I realized it was a restaurant I often used last year when I was forced by my health to order in meals. And they had good food. It is two minutes walk from my apartment, in a corner I hadn't previously noticed.

 

四川地摊火锅 (sì chuān dì tān huǒ guō), Sichuan Market Hotpot.

I don't know if this is a good thing when I've just gotten back into cooking after a year's break. But they will delivery just upstairs, too. They don't only do hotpot.

 

 

 

Edited March 21 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I very rarely order meals now, but still in inclement weather (too wet or too hot) order ingredients to cook with. 99.99% of the time, it goes well. The food is fresher than the nearest supermarket and the range wider.

 

Today, they royally screwed up.

 

I ordered some squid, specifying from the preparation options they offer, uncut. I also ordered some coriander leaf, some sinsensis militaris mushrooms and four duck eggs. Simple. No. Here is what turned up

 

 

Two wasp fish, Tachysurus fulvidraco (my least favourite fish), three tomatoes and a cucumber.

 

A quick phone call and they said they would resend.

 

Very quickly my actually order turned up. Almost.

 

 

Miraculously the uncut squid has been cut and the four eggs have paired up and become two.

 

I did inform them and say 'stuff it' in Chinese. They didn't ask for the tomatoes or cucumber back. Those I still have. So I've won. They didn't want the fish either, so it has been donated to the local feral cats who are eyeing it suspiciously.

 

I must, in fairness, note that this is highly unusual. They are usually very efficient. The heat may have scrambled their brains, too.

 

 

Edited July 30 by liuzhou (log)

[Katie Meadow]

@liuzhou I'm curious. What kind of cooling system does your apartment have? What's most typical? What about restaurants?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

@liuzhou I'm curious. What kind of cooling system does your apartment have? What's most typical? What about restaurants?

 

 

Standard air conditioning, although I don't like it and only use it in extremis. Mainly I use electric fans.

 

When I mentioned too hot, I meant outside. 40℃+. Supermarkets, restaurants etc are  air-conditioned.

[liuzhou]

On 7/30/2024 at 1:50 PM, liuzhou said:

the four eggs have paired up and become two

 

 

The two eggs turned out to be absoutely rotten. It has taken me two days to get the revolting smell out of my kitchen. First time ever in my long life I have managed to buy rotten eggs. Harsh words were conveyed to the vendors. Definitely on the black list!