Skip to content

Salt me some meat, mate.

Is there any culture, ethnic group or country that doesn’t have some sort of salted pork or beef dish; one that often sits front and centre? Religious dietary strictures aside, of course. And yes, I know the same process isn’t… Read More »Salt me some meat, mate.

Jellied stock…

Don’t those words make “you shiver with antici–Pation” (a hat tip there, for Tim Curry’s “Rocky Horror” tour-de-force)? Known as Pi dong, in Shanghai where it’s frequently used to ‘stuff’ soup dumplings. It’s a rich stock, sliceable when chilled but… Read More »Jellied stock…

Am I bitter? Nope.

Eating bitter. 吃苦 (chīkǔ) A Hakka concept. There’s an element of “pain first, then pleasure” (or maybe better, say “sweetness” rather than “pleasure”, so that you don’t think I’m simply straying into S&M territory) or “no pain, no gain” implicit… Read More »Am I bitter? Nope.

Kimchi Kojin kilned

The hand-built kimchi jar has gone into the kiln overnight, for its first firing to biscuit. We suitably propitiated the kiln god and rang the kiln bell. It’ll have cooled enough be able to be handled around 8pm tomorrow I… Read More »Kimchi Kojin kilned

Brown clay pot, with black and red and white skeleton fishes imprinted on it.

Fill yer Derby Kell, gal!

Eh, fill yer what? Rhyming slang son, rhyming slang. “Derby Kelly” is belly. Pretty sure I was introduced to boiled beef & carrots (albeit mashed, natch!) by my Mum. Equally pretty sure that there were no Gerbers or similar bottled… Read More »Fill yer Derby Kell, gal!

Browned chunks of beef along with sliced orange carrots cooking away in a deep, metal pan, with some onions and stock in the bottom.

Mum’s chip butty

I swore I wasn’t going to invoke Proust but as I was constructing a snack for lunch, I had just such a moment. A soft cottage roll, cut in half, both sides slathered with butter, then a layer of English… Read More »Mum’s chip butty

Brown chips inside a golden roll.

Pineapple fights its attacker

Great observation; until today the reason for something that we’ve probably all noticed happening, certainly hadn’t occurred to me, even though I’ve used the juice in this way. “There’s an enzyme in pineapple that tenderizes meat, which is why it… Read More »Pineapple fights its attacker

A hand drawn illustration over a photo showing how to cut pineapple in an "asian" manner. Bright yellow pineppale chunks highlighted against a red dress on the woman who's cutting through the chunks.
Skip to content