Lily bulb ✦
Bulbe de lys
| Latin name | Lilium brownii |
|---|---|
| Family | Vegetables |
| Origin | Lanzhou, Gansu, China |
| Season (France) | September – November |
| Flavour | Sweet · Mild · Delicate |
| Typical price (France) | 30–60 €/kg |
What it is
Chinese cooking keeps two lilies apart: the bitter medicinal bulb of the pharmacopoeia, and the sweet Lanzhou bulb from Gansu, which never entered it and is grown as a vegetable. Only the second is worth cooking — it comes apart into separate white scales, each one crisp as a water chestnut.
In the kitchen
Break the bulb into scales and trim the brown edges, then cook them for barely a minute — stir-fried past that they go from crisp to chalky and never come back. Ten minutes in cold water takes off any lingering bitterness.
Goes with
Celery Snow fungus Goji berry Chinese rock sugar Scallop Shrimp Egg
Also used with
In season alongside
Japanese tilefish (amadai) Haddock Halibut Olive flounder (hirame) John Dory Lemon sole
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