絲 (sī) is a bit of a tricky one to translate succinctly in the context of the Chinese menu; "sliver" is probably the best single-word translation, though "shredded" seems to be used quite a lot too. When used as a single character, 絲 usually refers to an ingredient's being julienned, or sliced into long, thin strips. Among other things, pork (肉/ròu), ginger (薑/jiāng), potatoes (土豆/tǔ dòu), tripe (肚/dǔ), and pig's ears (豬耳/zhū ěr) commonly get this kind of treatment.
One thing to look out for is that 絲 doesn't always appear as a single character, but also forms part of a few words that tend to turn up on menus. 粉絲 (fěn sī) are a type of clear vermicelli made from mung bean starch; I've mentioned these before, in my post on 粉/fěn. 粉絲 are known by several names in English, including glass noodles, cellophane noodles, and bean thread noodles, and they're the primary ingredient in 螞蟻上樹/mǎ yǐ shàng shù/ants climbing a tree.
Another word that includes 絲 is 絲瓜 (sī guā), or loofah/luffa (see my post on 瓜/guā). You may also see it as 絲苗白飯 (sī miáo bái fàn), which as ![[identity profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sung and I figured out a few months ago seems to be a way of specifying long-grain (絲苗) plain-cooked rice (白飯).
Here are some dishes with 絲 in the name:
| 魚香肉絲 | yú xiāng ròu sī | fish-fragrant slivered/shredded pork |
| 京醬肉絲 | jīng jiàng ròu sī | slivered pork in Peking sauce (see ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} john's explanation of how 京醬肉絲 is served in a comment thread on my post on 醬/jiàng/sauce) |
| 涼拌三絲 | liáng bàn sān sī | three-sliver salad (one of the "slivers" is usually 粉絲; the others may be julienned carrot, kelp, spinach, etc) |
| 土豆絲 or 熗拌土豆絲 or 酸辣土豆絲 | tǔ dòu sī or qiáng bàn tǔ dòu sī or suān là tu dòu sī | various forms of stirfried shredded potato (unspecified, pungent, hot-and-sour) |
| 蘿蔔絲酥餅 | luó bo sī sū bǐng | deep-fried puff pastry filled with shredded daikon |
| 涼拌海帶絲 | liáng bàn hǎi dài sī | shredded kelp salad |
| 紅油耳絲 | hóng yóu ěr sī | shredded (pig's) ear in chilli oil |
| 酸菜粉絲湯 | suān cài fěn sī tāng | pickled vegetable and glass noodle soup |
| 絲: | sī | radical 120 (糸/糹) | Cantodict | MandarinTools | YellowBridge | Zhongwen |
|---|
- 粉 (fěn/rice noodles/starch/powder),
- 瓜 (guā/gourd),
- 醬 (jiàng/sauce/paste),
- 螞蟻上樹 (mǎ yǐ shàng shù/ants climbing a tree),
- 魚香茄子 (yú xiāng qié zi/fish-fragrant aubergine),
- 蘿蔔絲酥餅 (luó bo sī sū bǐng/deep-fried shredded turnip puffs),
- potatoes in Chinese cuisine,
- 土豆絲 (tǔ dòu sī/shredded potatoes),
- 三 (sān/three),
- 涼拌三絲 (liáng bàn sān sī/three-sliver salad)