Will the real free-range egg (yolk) please stand up?

I’m a firm believer in buying farm fresh local eggs (and other ingredients): true pastured eggs – from chickens who eat what what they can find while out scratching around in a pasture – come from happy hens, are likely to be better for us, for the environment, and for the local food economy, and [...]

Asian vegetables: resource sites

Came across two interesting sites about Asian vegetables – definitely worth checking out (oddly, both claim to be a “thesaurus”). Although neither give cooking tips, there are very useful photos and a list of “also known as” given in many different languages. From ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations): Vegetable Thesaurus From Australia’s Deparment [...]

A question of cooking oil…

Gone are the days when I could have told you to get some high-quality lard and start cooking! This fat has become one of the “big bad boys” of healthful cooking and eating, but it’s also one of the most commonly used fats in rural China, where many farmers raise their own pigs and render [...]

Bamboo Beancurd

If you are looking to expand your tofu repertoire beyond the usual soft to firm varieties and baked or pressed beancurd, “bamboo beancurd” (also called “beancurd sticks” or fuzhu in Mandarin) is a terrific place to start. It is made by skimming the creamy film off a vat of heated soymilk, crumpling/rolling the “sheet” up, [...]