What's in season: February

When I'm shopping with my sister-in-law in Hong Kong's street markets we buy Chinese wind-dried sausages (called 'ap cheung'), barbecued pork and spare ribs. The sausage and barbecued pork are added to the fried rice, which forms part of the evening meal. The spare ribs are cooked in a homely stir-fry with 'hairy cucumbers'.

For fish we choose a grouper, which, simply steamed with ginger, garlic and spring onions for flavouring, is, in true Cantonese fashion, the highlight of the meal. Vegetables will probably be stir-fried broccoli - or Chinese leaves and mangetout - and the dessert a refreshing mixture of fruit, coconut milk and tapioca: Malaysian rather than Chinese in origin.

Shrimp-stuffed Shi’itake Mushrooms

Steamed Fish With Oriental Flavours

Stir-fried Cucumber and Pork

Mango Melaka

Tom Bissell's wine recommendations
Harmony through contrast is the main element of Chinese food. It is above all a subtle cuisine and varies from region to region. In the colder north, wheat is eaten more than rice, there's more use of chillies and the food is richer in fat and oil. Thus, you need a weightier wine. In the tropical south, where Frances' menu originates, food is steamed, much more use is made of fish and vegetables and the food is more delicately flavoured.

Too often a Gewurztraminer is suggested as a 'catch-all' wine, but our experience of dinners in friends' homes in Hong Kong as well as banquets in restaurants convinces us that you can plan a Cantonese meal around your finest wines, starting with white Burgundies and moving on to Cote Rotie or Grange Hermitage. Equally, you can plan for more modest wines, a New Zealand or South African Sauvignon Blanc or Australian Semillon, followed by a Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux or a Chilean or South African Cabernet Sauvignon.

What food and drink do you most look forward to in February? Share your thoughts with Frances Bissell on the
All About Food & Drink message board.