As a native Mandarin speaker, I always appreciate it when non-Mandarin speaking creators put in the effort to pronounce Chinese words in a video. Lots of love from Singapore!
@@TastingHistory You did great! Not to mention the sheer number of Chinese words you used in you script, must've been hell practicing. I Would also like to add that I really love your videos! The little history lesson in every single one, plus your bubbly personality keeps me looking forward to every single upload :)
I've read that one of the reasons eunuchs were so valued and so trusted is that it was believed they wouldn't try to take power for themselves, since their inability to father children meant they wouldn't try to establish their own dynasty. I always thought, "Okay, but what if they don't care about establishing a dynasty and just want to have power for its own sake?" I think Wei Zhongxian has just proved my point.
But a child is also insurance to your vital supporters of the court, that all of your debts and everything you can provide as a king wont disappear once you die. Your supporters will be more faithful knowing that they can rely on you and dont have to look for the next hotshot that wants to rise in power to keep themselves secure. So coming back to what you said, i guess their belief on eunuchs is justified if the eunuch is smart enough to realize that a ruler without easily controllable heirs probably has a short life expectancy.
that wasn't the primary reason. the primary reason (and the reason why they rise to power) is that they serve the imperial family in their private household...so they have no schlongs in order to be trusted to not "dally" with any of the emperor's concubines and female servants, which there are a lot of in the private household. being in such intimate contact with the emperor allows them to manipulate and coerce him (secretly or overtly).
@@TastingHistory To hear Alton Brown, dealing with Food Network is pretty awful, so hopefully a different group. Oh, guest spot on something Ming Tsai does!
Just a word of caution for novices: there is a difference between rice flour and glutinous rice flour. If you buy the "normal" flour from the health shop, be prepared to watch in sadness as your walnut balls are coated in a depressing rice gloop,not at all sticky.
@@4philipp Glutinous rice. The one for sushi works, as do most types with short, round kernels (sticky rice); Or, depending on your country, just go to an Asia Market or your local equivalent and buy a pack of glutinous rice flour. It usually says it somewhere on the package, given how some people are allergic to it and the two are used for different purposes. The rice used to create pudding may also contain gluten.
@@4philipp Glutinous Rice is of different variety of Rice plant to Regular rice. In Asia, there are words to distinguish between all varieties of Rice. In my place, we call Glutinous Rice as "Ketan" or "Beras (if it's uncooked) / Nasi (if it's cooked) Ketan" while regular white rice is just "Nasi" or "Beras" (Or Nasi Putih [White Rice] because there's also many varieties of Cooked rice)
maybe a small timeline at the end of the explanation that has everything mapped down, or a small explanation / chart of everyone's connections to one another
I was able to follow along I only had to rewind one part because I laughed so hard about that perfume add that I could not hear anything! Very well explained indeed!
If you dont already know of its existence, theres a youtube channel called Oversimplified, and they have an episode on the 3 kingdoms and somewhat go into detail about ancient Chinese history, theres no food involved but its still fascinating
Advice for Westerners wanting to try these: Chinese people typically eat these with a soup spoon (like the traditional porcelain type, but a regular metal spoon works too).
As I was making this my youngest son saw me dipping and coating the filling. He requested to take over and finished the job for me! Definitely something kids will enjoy helping with! When we sampled one, he said,"We need to make this a lot more. It's a lot easier than regular mochi!"
As a Chinese, your pronunciation is one of the most accurate one among the Westerner! Oh ya, about the Yuanxiao, there's a salty version and a sweet version of it, different parts of people in China had their preference over the taste of Yuanxiao. As for the soup of the Yuanxiao, since it's being served during the annual Dongzhi Festival also known as the Winter Solstice Festival, we will prepare the soup using sugar (I would prefer brown sugar) and most importantly the ginger, just boil the water and add the sugar and ginger in. Usually we'll prepare the Yuanxiao and the soup separately. There's also different version of it in Malaysia and Singapore, we will add water straight into the glutinous power and make it into a dough and the whole family would sit down together to wrap the sugar and the glutinous dough into a ball and put it into a boiled water to boil it. There's also a fried version of it as well. There's lots of different version of it that even a Chinese can list it out, so happy trying!
actually for the soup, we add rock sugar and ginger. It's a family get together thing, such a great childhood memory with mom, we (a bunch of girl, me, my sises and mom) also made soy milk with soy beans and squeeze the hell out of the soy beans with a cheese cloth. Girls at home, we make cooking chaotic, but making the food, we enjoy:)
@@gusazoth Yes it's something like that, grits is from the southern region of the US while yuanxiao/tangyuan is also originated from the southern region of China, it was first introduced during the Song Dynasty, its first form is made out of glutinous rice powder, with sweet black sesame filling, so it is sweet from the beginning and pass throughout China. But as time goes, the southerner started to invent lots of savory tangyuan with minced chicken or minced pork or pork heart and lungs, and there's also the vegan version for it.😂 Nowadays, people from the south preferred savory while the north preferred the sweet version and we would fight which is the best.🤣Not just the Tangyuan, but the Mooncake, Zongzi and Douhua also had both the sweet and savory version of it. It's very objective so yeah it really depends what you really like.😁
@@TastingHistory mandarin is the hardest language most people who work with languages ever work with. even other chinese find mandarin difficult to understand. or at least so said my non-mandarin chinese physics professors re my favorite physics professor, who was mandarin. :)
I really really appreciate that you make an effort to pronounce everything correctly in all of your videos, despite the wildly different cultures (Aztec, Ancient Greek, Babylonian, Ming China....) and languages.
I'm so happy that you're going around the world with your culinary stories & recipes and not just sticking to European cuisine. There are so many wonderful historical dishes all around the world. I love Asian foods & history in particular, so I really enjoyed this video! Thanks again for another wonderful lesson!
@@TastingHistory You should do food history based on the country of Armenia I have recently learned to love n' appreciate their food in the last 5 almost 6years and oh yes please also do Russia as well👍🌄😀 -Mercy(Sorry for the name confusion I am on my dad's phone)
@@TastingHistory I'm really, really really interested in historical Asian cuisines prior to the Columbian exchange. Indian, Korean, Thai food, etc. WITHOUT chilis?!?!?! HOW. :p
As a Westerner who has never been to China or even near China, and doesn’t know Chinese or any other language other than English I have to say his pronunciation is a bit sloppy.
I’m so humbled you made a Chinese recipe and delighted to see you enjoy it! So often it feels that a lot of traditional Chinese foods are ignored in the global food culture or called ‘Asian’ instead of respecting each culture’s variant. These foods are so important culturally but it feels like other people take little interest in them in favor of better known dishes like sushi or ramen. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
One of the buffet restaurants a friend introduced us to used to have the more traditional Chinese options, but sadly it sounds like it was gotten rid of recently. I admit I didn't love the taste of all of those items, but it was neat to try them & have the friend & his wife telling us what they were & how they are traditionally prepared & eaten.
I know this! My grandma called this Siu Yin, and she made them without filling and boiled them in a sweetened ginger water. I have no idea where the etymological origin of our name for this comes from, but we're ethnic Chinese Zhuang, and she was born in Vietnam during my family's exodus from the late Qing Dynasty, and unfortunately, the old languages from Guangxi province have been lost to my branch of the family. At this point, so much of my family's background is a mystery. What I do know for sure is that she would make this for me every time I was sick after I'd had a bowl of her chicken soup with hand cut noodles. Thanks for bringing back all the memories!
OMG I’m Zhuang as well! Whereabouts of southern China is your family from? My family is from Nanning, near the Vietnamese border. My mom still makes Tang Yuan with sweetened ginger water!
@@jasonnung2645 I was actually born in the United States (and my dad married a white lady, so I'm half). My great grandfathers came from somewhere in Guangxi province, but we have no idea where from. They left either immediately before or immediately after the collapse of the Qing dynasty. My grandmother's father took his family to Vietnam (again, no idea where, but probably in the north) where my grandmother was born, and my grandfather's father took his family to Laos (once again, no idea where but probably also in the north), where my grandparents met, married, and had all their children. They fled the Khmer Rouge to the Kingdom of Thailand where they then came to Iowa thanks to the sponsorship from a church and the incredible generosity of Iowa's governor at the time.
@@TheWhiteDragon3 That's very cool! I'm not born in China either (I'm from Australia), and my family left China following the establishment of the PRC, as my great grandfather worked for the Kuomintang government. They first went to Hong Kong and then immigrated to Australia in the 80s. It's actually very common for people of Zhuang heritage to travel to Vietnam and vice versa with similar languages and geographical proximity. I've heard tales from my grandmother how during WWII people from her village would relocate to the mountains of North Vietnam to hide from the Japanese.
I'm from Hong Kong and I didn't realize that tangyuen (pronounced more like tong yuun in Cantonese) was called something else in the north! At home you can get them in a packet and cook them in water with brown sugar and ginger to make a sweet broth and I miss them severely
I don’t know of a better term than adorable. I mean that in the most wholesome way. In this way is usually reserved for kids but It was refreshing to see any hint of adult seriousness just melt away when eating. It was as good as some of those reactions on Food Wars. I hope one day food will make me giddy like that.
This was a great episode... like what history channel used to be. You could have had a cooking show in the 90s, and I mean that in the best way. Relaxed tempo, very interesting information, good personality. Great work man
My paternal grandmother used to make these tongyuen for Lunar New Year when I was little. Hers were much smaller - each one was filled with crushed peanuts and sugar and sized so they were one bite. Those were served in a rock sugar and ginger soup with just enough liquid to cover the balls. She also made a savory version with minced pork and crushed peanuts, that was served in a pork broth. Everyone always went for the sweet version, and after awhile she stopped making the savory ones. My dad’s family was from Canton, but his lineage goes back to 900 AD in Fuzhou. Also, Max, most typical Chinese restaurants wouldn’t have these on the menu, you’ll need to find a place that specializes in desserts, such as Kulu Desserts.
I just want to add that four is definitely enough for even a meal! As a kid I used to eat eight small ones at a time and regret it. There used to be tangyuan eating contests in China (at least in the village where my family is from) because it’s incredibly easy to to pop in the mouth and chew, but really fast at filling you up and stopping you from swallowing. However, “stopping” is quite literal! Don’t eat these things too fast because choking is a known hazard on New Years when we eat them (you’re not going to find stats from China, but you can see plenty of news from Japan regarding mochi, a similar treat).
Yes!! also eating them fast without enough water to wash them down causes tummy upset - i learned that the hard way when i was too excited to gobble down hwajeon last week!
@@alliebean3235 .....Hwajeon and Tang Yuan aren't even the same thing.....one is pan friend and the other boiled. Now i've never had the chance to try hwajeon, but I can assure you that eating tang yuan fast without water does not cause an upset stomach (might want to check if you are intolerant of something used in the hwajeon you ate). Not to mention tang yuan comes in a bowl with water/soup, literally what "tang" means, "soup." None of my friends that have eaten these, including Caucasians, Indians, Koreans, etc..., have had any problems when eating these. And in response to OP all of us ate at least 10 in one sitting. Some ate really fast, others slower and we had them as a desert after dinner, so no tang yuan don't remotely count as a meal. No one choked, or "stopped" as you Ingerished, probably because we were being normal humans who chew and swallow at paces we can handle, which I am sure most people do.
@@acywei hwajeon are made from glutinous rice flour, same as tang yuan - and i know tang means soup, but it's been well documented that eating too much glutinous rice can cause stomach upset; there's a taipei times article from just this year that advises people to limit zongzi (粽子) to one per meal bc it can cause bloating and indigestion, especially in those who are very old or quite young, or those with sensitive stomachs. hwajeon is literally just sticky rice flour and water that's shaped into a disc and pan fried over a low heat, before an edible flower is pressed into the top - i don't have an intolerance to any of the other ingredients, therefore i naturally concluded that the indigestion was caused by the ingredient with a documented history of causing digestive trouble if consumed too quickly. Just because you personally haven't experienced issues from it doesn't mean it doesn't happen 🙄
Darn you Max! Last week it was deep fried cheese quesadillas that I had all the components for. So after watching I had to make them for us as a late night snack and now I'm faced with Chinese sticky rice balls which I also have all the ingredients for. Our collective waistlines are going to explode! Seriously Max, thank you so much for all your hard work. You're channel is an absolute inspiration.
Fun fact: the chewy, elastic texture of these is described as "Q" in Mandarin (at least in Taiwan), and they even write the letter Q on packaging etc. to describe this very texture. There are also savory ones with pork, radish, mushrooms, etc and they are AMAZING. I miss my husband's mom's tangyuan 😭
I LOVE that chewy Q texture. It's not found in a lot of western foods but there is something amazing about it. I'm autistic and like a lot of autistic people have a weird hatred of certain textures but there is something about the Q texture that makes my brain say ooh yes this is good.
OMG!!! We love glutinous rice balls! In the Philippines we eat a sweet glutinous rice ball soup made with coconut milk, tapioca, and jackfruit/ sweet potatoes called “Bilo-Bilo” and we eat it on New Year to wish for a prosperous new year! The round shape of the balls represents coins, and the golden color of the fruit/potatoes for gold. So good!
And this is also made by chinese immigrants in philippines (saw it on tv once), only that they used peanuts Edit: the show in question m.ua-cam.com/video/zD9sQgsfWbU/v-deo.html
Koreans eat a dish with slices of rice cake in a savoury broth during lunar new year as well, the slices look like coins also so you eat it to wish for a prosperous new year! They also make a glutinous rice ball soup with red beans, so yummy!
I have recommended this to no fewer than five people and three of them not only were already subscribers, but were SO EXCITED that someone else knew about this channel. It's wild how much joy we're all getting out of each episode.
Also, if you like dumplings, I'd be so very curious about historical dumplings! I loved that part in the lasagna video where you want through the historical recipes, and doing that for dumplings would be wonderful!
Bruh, when I heard some of the surprisingly accurate ones, I was giggling and applauding lol...I guess I'm just used to ppl butchering Mandarin pronunciations
every *dish* is kid-friendly. given the lack of measurements and my mother's refusal to explain half of the steps, calling them recipes is too generous.
@@calamitysangfroid2407 LMFAO, so true, even when watching this and I see a white guy talking about measuring for a recipe, I'm like, you clearly don't know what Chinese recipes be like: You jus poor dis much (as the teacher pours arbitrary amount and gives the student the, you get it look?) You just use fingaaa to chek leave on stove till it look like dis (literally looks almost no different from the start) And of course as a good asian child who's supposed to understand quickly you nod and agree all the while going WTF in your head.
@@TastingHistory One day I'm hoping to become a professor at a university! But for a start I suppose high school "seniors" (the first and last 3 years are split, you choose out of 4 specialisations for the last 3 years) at the highest level of education, I'm dutch so here we have kindergarten, primary school until they're 12, then you choose your level of education for high school, there's 3 standard levels (and then there's special/practical education too) and then you go on to 3 different levels of higher education, the highest of which being university. Sorry for the large amount of text haha.
Honest to god, I would buy that scent. That sounds amazing. The flour might be a little hard to play with, but a slight leathery smell mighty help it blend.
eunuchs preserved and kept their severed 'members' by deep frying them in oil, wrapping them in paper and keeping them in a wooden box. if Immortal Eunuch smelled like anything, i think it would smell of that: decades-old greasy sausage
0:47 I love his accent, his Chinese is so bad that it’s good. He almost sounds like those stereotypical rich people in movies but Chinese. 12/10. Learned a lot about my own culture. Have a great day!
I made them yesterday with fresh cracked walnuts and salted irish butter and everyone loved it! Even my brother whos not so big on walnuts and my mom whos not a fan of chewy mochi-alike stuff. I served them on top of some yellow plums and tangerines, for some added fruitiness and tarness, recommend.
@@TastingHistory If you like these, you need to find some of the Eastern European Christmas cookie recipes that all originally called for a pound of walnuts, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of flour. Or the fussy double-rising white gingerbread cookies my grandmother used to make, Zazvorniky?
i love your honest first reactions when you take that first bite at the end. its so genuine and we can tell if you really like or dislike a food. i think i saw a bit of a childhood max pop out with that first taste. lol.
Hi Max, its been a couple of years, but if you are looking for a market that would carry some of the other ingredients, one of the largest asian market chains in the US is 99 Ranch. I think you mentioned you were in or near Burbank in another video I watched. If so, the east side of pasadena has 99 Ranch, 168 Market, and Mitsuwa (japanese-specific). All excellent markets.
Nice to see some chinese on here at last! Chinese food culture is as rich and varied as the country's history. Edit, on the ball today, so early "No Views" on the video as of posting lol
My family heritage is southern Chinese, so we do call it tangyuan. Our traditional versions don't really have fillings; they're just little balls of rice or tapioca flour, and they're usually a lot smaller, often no bigger than a gumball (even by filled dumpling standards, yours were huge haha!). One variation I can recommend is to serve and eat them in a warm broth of ginger and sugar. It's warming, spicy and sweet, and goes very well with these. We often add pandanus leaves to the broth when making it as well; this is a whole new layer of complexity flavor-wise and well worth trying, but not everyone likes pandan flavor and I imagine the leaves would be really hard to find in America anyway (you can probably find essence in Asian markets, but it's frankly a poor substitute and super easy to get wrong; even a tiny bit too much leaves the whole thing tasting of chemicals). On another note, it's great that you identified how fun it is for kids, as it's actually traditionally a thing for kids to do when families reunite for festive periods, giving them a bunch of dough and letting them roll the balls, after which the balls get cooked and everyone gets some. There's a lot of auspiciousness tied to it: the roundness of the balls signifies a cycle of the year has turned and eating it is basically wishing for a smooth new cycle, and the happiness of children on a festival is also considered auspicious.
This is great, even the strategic placement of Ho-Oh in the background is well thought out. Perfect Pokémon to represent a Chinese tale about emperors. Ho-Oh itself is directly based off of the Chinese phoenix, the fenghuang (literally, “Hō-ō” in Japanese) - the only other animal to stand side by side with the dragon in Chinese folklore. Both are proper animals to represent the Chinese emperor and the collective soul of China as a whole. And the other legendary Pokémon in Gen-2: Lugia, Suicune, Entei, and Raikou - all of them are also based off of classical Chinese/Japanese mythological creatures. Thanks for that connection, Max. Just the perfect video to get the nerd juices flowing.
Ho-oh (fenghuang) isn't really phoenix, and even that name is kinda misleading because feng is male and huang is female (aka it's a pair of creatures or like a proper species rather than a single creature that would crossbreed with other mythical creatures). I have no idea why people ended up putting long and feng together, but my personal guess is, that's the result of misconception made by early novelists. Also, the design of ho-oh is likely more Japanese than Chinese. The Chinese design is usually more rainbow-y than just colorful, I think. And if Shanhaijing (tale of mountains and seas) can be trusted there's oddly words written all over the body of fenghuang... I don't even know if I understand that correctly.
@@FlameRat_YehLon thanks for the insight. I’m aware that “phoenix” isn’t an accurate term to describe the fenghuang; that’s what stuck because the West doesn’t really have an equivalent mythological phenomenon to describe the thing. The West calls it a “Chinese phoenix,” not just myself, though you have to admit the two birds have some similarities
@@kitcutting Well, it's not like "Chinese dragon" is an accurate term either. I guess the best way to say is, it's just people giving similar looking things the same name. I just feel it worth mentioning because there's actually a comic series (or more like meta-series) in China that features fenghuang, zhuque and phoenix in the same world, and all of them are annoyed by people confusing them with one another.
Love that you have made an episode on Chinese food, in fact most of the prominent Chinese food have the own lores and history and there is a lot to talk about, and I truly hope that you would make more videos on historical food outside Europe and Early Modern Americas.
If you're in the US and want to try these without the effort: You can buy premade ones with different fillings from the freezer section of most Asian groceries. Just throw them in boiling water until they float.
I tried these on a whim in college and loved them (and ate them probably more than I should have). I really want to know how the homemade version compares!
Honestly, if History Channel or National Geographic picked you up, I would purchase Foxtel/Austar in a heartbeat. This is such a fun show and your explanation of history is so interesting and entertaining because of your passion and little touches of humour. Look forward to many more episodes!
Yay a Chinese recipe! These are so yummy! You can also flavor the liquid that it’s being cooked in. Sometimes my mom puts in coconut milk, but just some brown sugar is perfect too. Store bought freezer ones (well at least for the southern ones) are actually pretty good! Also, I really appreciate that you tried to learn and pronounce all the names! A lot of people don’t even bother looking it up and trying.
This is how I was raised on Yuanxiao. The black sesame filling is especially delicious because it adds a crunchy, slightly gritty texture that contrasts nicely with the gooey rice casing. Plus, it adds a savory dimension to the sweet rice!
Love the tangyuan, very tasty treat! I like it with chopped peanuts fillings especially edit: just got to the part mentioning rolling them in flour, I can confirm that kids love it, I used to do it as a kid
I love your "reading the recipe" voice. It's clear that you're having fun. Also, my cat has learned that if he hears the opening music, it's time to get petted (because I'll be sitting for a bit).
Fantastic! As a westerner I find eastern history fascinating. The silk worm egg theft for the Byzantine emperor in Istanbul, wait I mean Constantinople in those days. Why’d they change it? I can’t say. People just liked it better that way. 😉
It's so nice to see one of my favorite traditional dishes being recreated. In my hometown of Fujian, however, we have two different versions. One is sweet with the lard, peanut, and sugar. The other is filled with ground meat and my grandfather makes the best ones, in my opinion anyway. We have so many different dishes associated with each of the big and small festivals that happen throughout the lunar year.
These are one of my favorite treats. Loved seeing the history. If you want to cheat, the Asian markets always sell these frozen with every filling imaginable.
How are they compared to mochi? Seems related, but I imagine the boiling changes things. (Somehow, I can find peanut or sesame mochi balls in Oslo, but I haven't seen these. May just need to look more thoroughly at their freezers, though.)
@@dnebdal the flavors are similar (at least the ones I've tried) but the texture is quite different. mochi is soft and chewy, these are stickier and... more gooey? It's definitely an interesting mouthfeel. they're fun to eat.
"this guy had something most eunuchs didn't have..." "Testicles!" "No, what?" "Literacy!" "Yes, literacy... Please wait for me to call on you next time."
The filling….for ancient China, you use a roller to crush your nuts into paste and normal that’s all you need to make it into a ball, if not, depending on climate, add flour and water basically to your peanut butter/roasted sesame seeds/even black beans, the goal is to make it like really thick paste thick enough to roll into a ball. Then for rolling the dough, the reason why rolling into a dough for the south is because of humidity. For the North, they use a giant bamboo sieve to roll many of the fillings with flour and sprinkle water to it. You’ll see this in streets of China in really old school dessert shops everywhere.
Oooh nice you made a video! This is always a nice part of my day, you have such a great mix of history, food and your wonderfully friendly way to tell stories. I hope your work gathers more viewers, you're great at making these videos!
For the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, we eat this with ginger soup, for a touch of spice and sweetness. Legend has it that an emperor was able to find his mother because of her recipe, where the skin is so thin it was translucent, yet never broken in the boiling water.
As a native Mandarin speaker, I always appreciate it when non-Mandarin speaking creators put in the effort to pronounce Chinese words in a video. Lots of love from Singapore!
Thank you! It’s the hardest language I’ve tried.
@@TastingHistory You did great! Not to mention the sheer number of Chinese words you used in you script, must've been hell practicing. I Would also like to add that I really love your videos! The little history lesson in every single one, plus your bubbly personality keeps me looking forward to every single upload :)
WKang Walaaooooo he replied to you
@@memebandit steady bombibi lah
@@memebandit Hahaha probably cos i was somewhat early lahh
I've read that one of the reasons eunuchs were so valued and so trusted is that it was believed they wouldn't try to take power for themselves, since their inability to father children meant they wouldn't try to establish their own dynasty. I always thought, "Okay, but what if they don't care about establishing a dynasty and just want to have power for its own sake?" I think Wei Zhongxian has just proved my point.
Yeah, that theory didn’t always pan out for them 🤣
But a child is also insurance to your vital supporters of the court, that all of your debts and everything you can provide as a king wont disappear once you die. Your supporters will be more faithful knowing that they can rely on you and dont have to look for the next hotshot that wants to rise in power to keep themselves secure. So coming back to what you said, i guess their belief on eunuchs is justified if the eunuch is smart enough to realize that a ruler without easily controllable heirs probably has a short life expectancy.
pa pi well, he was possibly a gambler
that wasn't the primary reason. the primary reason (and the reason why they rise to power) is that they serve the imperial family in their private household...so they have no schlongs in order to be trusted to not "dally" with any of the emperor's concubines and female servants, which there are a lot of in the private household. being in such intimate contact with the emperor allows them to manipulate and coerce him (secretly or overtly).
@vlad wick castrated men still have the twig, just not the berries.
A recipe to make balls and a story about eunuchs. The jokes write themselves.
HAHAHAH! You win the net for me today!!! Thanks!
What did they have to lose....
And sticky balls at that!
"it's so gooey and wonderful! MMmmmmm!" -TastingHistory
And the one of the ingredients is nuts
This is a less a UA-cam channel and more a TV show. It's quality.
Wow! Thank you for that. Maybe one day on a major VOD :D
Netflix series starring food historian Max Miller 😊
80s pbs
@@higanbana_a Please no. Netflix will find a way to ruin everything. They're second only behind HBO in ruining IP with their meddling.
@@TastingHistory
To hear Alton Brown, dealing with Food Network is pretty awful, so hopefully a different group.
Oh, guest spot on something Ming Tsai does!
Just a word of caution for novices: there is a difference between rice flour and glutinous rice flour. If you buy the "normal" flour from the health shop, be prepared to watch in sadness as your walnut balls are coated in a depressing rice gloop,not at all sticky.
So what rice is it made from, sushi rice?
@@4philipp Glutinous rice. The one for sushi works, as do most types with short, round kernels (sticky rice); Or, depending on your country, just go to an Asia Market or your local equivalent and buy a pack of glutinous rice flour. It usually says it somewhere on the package, given how some people are allergic to it and the two are used for different purposes. The rice used to create pudding may also contain gluten.
@@4philipp Glutinous Rice is of different variety of Rice plant to Regular rice.
In Asia, there are words to distinguish between all varieties of Rice. In my place, we call Glutinous Rice as "Ketan" or "Beras (if it's uncooked) / Nasi (if it's cooked) Ketan" while regular white rice is just "Nasi" or "Beras" (Or Nasi Putih [White Rice] because there's also many varieties of Cooked rice)
@@aribantala oh so it's those. Thanks for the clarification.
@@4philipp The one they use for mochi. Glutinous rice flour is same as sweet rice flour/mochiko.
This is the most complex history I’ve covered. Were you able to follow along? Suggestions on making it clearer?
maybe a small timeline at the end of the explanation that has everything mapped down, or a small explanation / chart of everyone's connections to one another
Really good History! Very Shakespearean with the intrigue. Awesome job on the pronunciation! I know it’s not easy.
Not sure how well non-native english speakers will understand but it seems very well enunciated.
I was able to follow along I only had to rewind one part because I laughed so hard about that perfume add that I could not hear anything! Very well explained indeed!
If you dont already know of its existence, theres a youtube channel called Oversimplified, and they have an episode on the 3 kingdoms and somewhat go into detail about ancient Chinese history, theres no food involved but its still fascinating
"IMMORTAL EUNUCH, A NEW FRAGRANCE BY CALVIN KLEIN"
I died
It’s my favorite part
The eunuch didn't
I died as well😂
@@Griff98 All according to jihua.
Translator's note: jihua means plan.
Oh yeah, I busted up laughing at that one!
Advice for Westerners wanting to try these: Chinese people typically eat these with a soup spoon (like the traditional porcelain type, but a regular metal spoon works too).
Lmao i was just thinking that
If you do this with red bean, is the process still the same? I want to try but im allergic to walnuts
@@neffyg35 Yep, everything is the same, you just gotta make sure your red bean paste is cold so you can shape it easier.
I was getting so nervous that the filling was gonna spill into the soup.
Chinese soup spoons represent!!
As I was making this my youngest son saw me dipping and coating the filling. He requested to take over and finished the job for me! Definitely something kids will enjoy helping with!
When we sampled one, he said,"We need to make this a lot more. It's a lot easier than regular mochi!"
Yay!
As a Chinese, your pronunciation is one of the most accurate one among the Westerner! Oh ya, about the Yuanxiao, there's a salty version and a sweet version of it, different parts of people in China had their preference over the taste of Yuanxiao. As for the soup of the Yuanxiao, since it's being served during the annual Dongzhi Festival also known as the Winter Solstice Festival, we will prepare the soup using sugar (I would prefer brown sugar) and most importantly the ginger, just boil the water and add the sugar and ginger in. Usually we'll prepare the Yuanxiao and the soup separately. There's also different version of it in Malaysia and Singapore, we will add water straight into the glutinous power and make it into a dough and the whole family would sit down together to wrap the sugar and the glutinous dough into a ball and put it into a boiled water to boil it. There's also a fried version of it as well. There's lots of different version of it that even a Chinese can list it out, so happy trying!
Ginger with palm sugar is my fav soup. As for fillings, the video showed a modern pre made frozen version which is pretty good.
actually for the soup, we add rock sugar and ginger. It's a family get together thing, such a great childhood memory with mom, we (a bunch of girl, me, my sises and mom) also made soy milk with soy beans and squeeze the hell out of the soy beans with a cheese cloth. Girls at home, we make cooking chaotic, but making the food, we enjoy:)
Other than the ginger soup, I've also tried ones in soya bean milk. It's really good (oh god I miss them)
"there's a salty version and a sweet version of it" - So it's a bit like the Chinese equivalent of grits in America?
@@gusazoth Yes it's something like that, grits is from the southern region of the US while yuanxiao/tangyuan is also originated from the southern region of China, it was first introduced during the Song Dynasty, its first form is made out of glutinous rice powder, with sweet black sesame filling, so it is sweet from the beginning and pass throughout China. But as time goes, the southerner started to invent lots of savory tangyuan with minced chicken or minced pork or pork heart and lungs, and there's also the vegan version for it.😂 Nowadays, people from the south preferred savory while the north preferred the sweet version and we would fight which is the best.🤣Not just the Tangyuan, but the Mooncake, Zongzi and Douhua also had both the sweet and savory version of it. It's very objective so yeah it really depends what you really like.😁
Every intro is becoming increasingly dramatic, and it’s wonderful
The tension is rising!
TastingHistory Tension is rising, and the dough is proofing 😉
@@oliviagunn3790 - Or even proofing!
Last time I was this early the han dynasty was still chillin with the Romans.
🤣
Wait the han dynasty and the Romans interacted or was this a complete joke and I'm a dipshit
@@lxn_ni1814 They did indeed interact! The silk road connected Rome to China.
@@stephanielee7344 i was more of thinking more interaction other than trading i knew that much
The pronunciation practice really shows!
His Mandarin is on fleek!
Thank you. Hardest language I’ve ever worked with.
@@TastingHistory mandarin is the hardest language most people who work with languages ever work with. even other chinese find mandarin difficult to understand. or at least so said my non-mandarin chinese physics professors re my favorite physics professor, who was mandarin. :)
@@TastingHistory You did great! I've been studying Mandarin for several years now and your pronunciation was really good!
I'm shook
I really really appreciate that you make an effort to pronounce everything correctly in all of your videos, despite the wildly different cultures (Aztec, Ancient Greek, Babylonian, Ming China....) and languages.
Max is the best.
I love how honest he is in his taste tests. If he hates something he tells us. So when he loves something like this, we know it's true.
God, I remember his tasting the tomato peanut soup from the Depression school lunch episode. Poor kids.
I'm so happy that you're going around the world with your culinary stories & recipes and not just sticking to European cuisine. There are so many wonderful historical dishes all around the world. I love Asian foods & history in particular, so I really enjoyed this video! Thanks again for another wonderful lesson!
Thank you! Europe will be covered a lot of course, but I do like expanding my horizons. ☺️
@@TastingHistory You should do food history based on the country of Armenia I have recently learned to love n' appreciate their food in the last 5 almost 6years and oh yes please also do Russia as well👍🌄😀
-Mercy(Sorry for the name confusion I am on my dad's phone)
@@TastingHistory I'm really, really really interested in historical Asian cuisines prior to the Columbian exchange. Indian, Korean, Thai food, etc. WITHOUT chilis?!?!?! HOW. :p
I feel like Max would be really good at comforting and encouraging you if you were feeling down
I could try ☺️
He's ALREADY good at that! I always feel better after watching his videos!
@@TastingHistory That's just it though, Max, you don't even have to "try", you're a natural at it. ;)
You're right. I had a hectic morning and Max made me chill. ❄️❄️❄️🍧🌰🌰🌰🍡🍡🍡🥠🥠🥠
Totally an Aziraphale vibe. I love it!
As a Westerner who lived in China and learned Chinese, I have to say your pronunciation of Mandarin is pretty good for a complete beginner!
Thank you! It’s definitely the hardest language I’ve ever tried.
@shutendoji 你是好的人之一
As a Westerner who has never been to China or even near China, and doesn’t know Chinese or any other language other than English I have to say his pronunciation is a bit sloppy.
Rusty Shackelford you- you just said you don’t know what you’re talking about i-
@@WannaAstro www.dictionary.com/browse/joke?s=t
I’m so humbled you made a Chinese recipe and delighted to see you enjoy it! So often it feels that a lot of traditional Chinese foods are ignored in the global food culture or called ‘Asian’ instead of respecting each culture’s variant. These foods are so important culturally but it feels like other people take little interest in them in favor of better known dishes like sushi or ramen. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
One of the buffet restaurants a friend introduced us to used to have the more traditional Chinese options, but sadly it sounds like it was gotten rid of recently. I admit I didn't love the taste of all of those items, but it was neat to try them & have the friend & his wife telling us what they were & how they are traditionally prepared & eaten.
Well sushi and ramen are amazing so it's not surprising that they have taken the world by storm.
Max, the effort that you put in to respecting the language means so much! It shows your respect for the cultures and people! Thank you!
Oh my gosh, as a Chinese American your pronunciation is better than some of my relatives, lol
Ha! Thank you so much!
Wow! Nice!
Agreed
@@TastingHistory you do well with most non-English words. Good ear.
Wow, I was wondering about that. I don't speak a word of mandarin, but that sounded surprisingly legit to my ears. Good stuff.
I know this! My grandma called this Siu Yin, and she made them without filling and boiled them in a sweetened ginger water. I have no idea where the etymological origin of our name for this comes from, but we're ethnic Chinese Zhuang, and she was born in Vietnam during my family's exodus from the late Qing Dynasty, and unfortunately, the old languages from Guangxi province have been lost to my branch of the family. At this point, so much of my family's background is a mystery. What I do know for sure is that she would make this for me every time I was sick after I'd had a bowl of her chicken soup with hand cut noodles. Thanks for bringing back all the memories!
That sounds delicious 😋
OMG I’m Zhuang as well! Whereabouts of southern China is your family from? My family is from Nanning, near the Vietnamese border. My mom still makes Tang Yuan with sweetened ginger water!
@@jasonnung2645 I was actually born in the United States (and my dad married a white lady, so I'm half). My great grandfathers came from somewhere in Guangxi province, but we have no idea where from. They left either immediately before or immediately after the collapse of the Qing dynasty. My grandmother's father took his family to Vietnam (again, no idea where, but probably in the north) where my grandmother was born, and my grandfather's father took his family to Laos (once again, no idea where but probably also in the north), where my grandparents met, married, and had all their children. They fled the Khmer Rouge to the Kingdom of Thailand where they then came to Iowa thanks to the sponsorship from a church and the incredible generosity of Iowa's governor at the time.
@@TheWhiteDragon3 That's very cool! I'm not born in China either (I'm from Australia), and my family left China following the establishment of the PRC, as my great grandfather worked for the Kuomintang government. They first went to Hong Kong and then immigrated to Australia in the 80s.
It's actually very common for people of Zhuang heritage to travel to Vietnam and vice versa with similar languages and geographical proximity. I've heard tales from my grandmother how during WWII people from her village would relocate to the mountains of North Vietnam to hide from the Japanese.
@@TheWhiteDragon3 Wow! Those are amazing stories.
Can we appreciate how Max handles each and every culture with care!? From pronunciation to respect of cities and time periods. He is just AWESOME!!!!
Good historians appreciate and respect as fully as they can ☺️
I'm from Hong Kong and I didn't realize that tangyuen (pronounced more like tong yuun in Cantonese) was called something else in the north! At home you can get them in a packet and cook them in water with brown sugar and ginger to make a sweet broth and I miss them severely
In Taiwan it’s called Tangyuan 湯圓
In Jiangsu, yuanxiao is a small tangyuan with no filling. Usually cooked with 桂花 or 酒酿
I appreciate that he had a friend help him with the pronunciation and him giving credit where credit is due.
l loooooooove how tasting history is expanding beyond europe!
Gotta cover it all!
*western europe
The pure delight on your face when taking that first bite!!! The best!
It was a delightful bite 😁
I don’t know of a better term than adorable. I mean that in the most wholesome way. In this way is usually reserved for kids but It was refreshing to see any hint of adult seriousness just melt away when eating. It was as good as some of those reactions on Food Wars. I hope one day food will make me giddy like that.
I'm a native Mandarin speaker and your pronunciation is really good! Thanks for making the effort. :-)
Thank you! I commend you on being able to speak this language. Difficult and beautiful.
This was a great episode... like what history channel used to be. You could have had a cooking show in the 90s, and I mean that in the best way. Relaxed tempo, very interesting information, good personality. Great work man
My paternal grandmother used to make these tongyuen for Lunar New Year when I was little. Hers were much smaller - each one was filled with crushed peanuts and sugar and sized so they were one bite. Those were served in a rock sugar and ginger soup with just enough liquid to cover the balls. She also made a savory version with minced pork and crushed peanuts, that was served in a pork broth. Everyone always went for the sweet version, and after awhile she stopped making the savory ones. My dad’s family was from Canton, but his lineage goes back to 900 AD in Fuzhou.
Also, Max, most typical Chinese restaurants wouldn’t have these on the menu, you’ll need to find a place that specializes in desserts, such as Kulu Desserts.
protip: blend nuts and sugar together, the sugar acts as an abrasive for a finer powder.
Brotip: use magnets for faster blending.
@@jacobp.2024
"Gotta get in that anabolic window, right babe?"
I just want to add that four is definitely enough for even a meal! As a kid I used to eat eight small ones at a time and regret it. There used to be tangyuan eating contests in China (at least in the village where my family is from) because it’s incredibly easy to to pop in the mouth and chew, but really fast at filling you up and stopping you from swallowing. However, “stopping” is quite literal! Don’t eat these things too fast because choking is a known hazard on New Years when we eat them (you’re not going to find stats from China, but you can see plenty of news from Japan regarding mochi, a similar treat).
Yes!! also eating them fast without enough water to wash them down causes tummy upset - i learned that the hard way when i was too excited to gobble down hwajeon last week!
Tis a worthy death. A deliciously sweet death.
@@alliebean3235 .....Hwajeon and Tang Yuan aren't even the same thing.....one is pan friend and the other boiled. Now i've never had the chance to try hwajeon, but I can assure you that eating tang yuan fast without water does not cause an upset stomach (might want to check if you are intolerant of something used in the hwajeon you ate). Not to mention tang yuan comes in a bowl with water/soup, literally what "tang" means, "soup." None of my friends that have eaten these, including Caucasians, Indians, Koreans, etc..., have had any problems when eating these.
And in response to OP all of us ate at least 10 in one sitting. Some ate really fast, others slower and we had them as a desert after dinner, so no tang yuan don't remotely count as a meal. No one choked, or "stopped" as you Ingerished, probably because we were being normal humans who chew and swallow at paces we can handle, which I am sure most people do.
@@acywei you must be fun at parties
@@acywei hwajeon are made from glutinous rice flour, same as tang yuan - and i know tang means soup, but it's been well documented that eating too much glutinous rice can cause stomach upset; there's a taipei times article from just this year that advises people to limit zongzi (粽子) to one per meal bc it can cause bloating and indigestion, especially in those who are very old or quite young, or those with sensitive stomachs. hwajeon is literally just sticky rice flour and water that's shaped into a disc and pan fried over a low heat, before an edible flower is pressed into the top - i don't have an intolerance to any of the other ingredients, therefore i naturally concluded that the indigestion was caused by the ingredient with a documented history of causing digestive trouble if consumed too quickly. Just because you personally haven't experienced issues from it doesn't mean it doesn't happen 🙄
I don’t know why but I really felt the joy he felt when he tasted the dish. Expressiveness be damned.
Glad it came through.
Darn you Max! Last week it was deep fried cheese quesadillas that I had all the components for. So after watching I had to make them for us as a late night snack and now I'm faced with Chinese sticky rice balls which I also have all the ingredients for. Our collective waistlines are going to explode! Seriously Max, thank you so much for all your hard work. You're channel is an absolute inspiration.
This channel is so cosy, welcoming and wholesome. It's like coming home from a long day. Thanks for all your work ❤
Fun fact: the chewy, elastic texture of these is described as "Q" in Mandarin (at least in Taiwan), and they even write the letter Q on packaging etc. to describe this very texture. There are also savory ones with pork, radish, mushrooms, etc and they are AMAZING. I miss my husband's mom's tangyuan 😭
I LOVE that chewy Q texture. It's not found in a lot of western foods but there is something amazing about it. I'm autistic and like a lot of autistic people have a weird hatred of certain textures but there is something about the Q texture that makes my brain say ooh yes this is good.
The savory ones are really easy to make.
Is it the same process...just make a cold filling (mushrooms, pork, whatever) then roll in the rice flour and boil?
@@harvestmoon_autumnsky they taste better when you cook the filling first but pretty much just wrap it in the dough
@@harvestmoon_autumnsky The savoury ones are about the size of a marble with no filling, then you cook it in a broth with radish/pork/etc.
My mother wanted me to say, that she grew up in Taiwan, these were her favorite, but she loves the black sesame ones.
I need to try those.
Black sesame is best.
Is it black sesame seeds ground with sugar for the filling?
@@cazadoo339 the filling is made of black sesame paste.
If u put brown sugar and a little ginger in the boiling water they taste they taste even better
OMG!!! We love glutinous rice balls! In the Philippines we eat a sweet glutinous rice ball soup made with coconut milk, tapioca, and jackfruit/ sweet potatoes called “Bilo-Bilo” and we eat it on New Year to wish for a prosperous new year! The round shape of the balls represents coins, and the golden color of the fruit/potatoes for gold.
So good!
I didn’t know they had them there. Love it!
And this is also made by chinese immigrants in philippines (saw it on tv once), only that they used peanuts
Edit: the show in question m.ua-cam.com/video/zD9sQgsfWbU/v-deo.html
This sounds delicious and very caloric!
Koreans eat a dish with slices of rice cake in a savoury broth during lunar new year as well, the slices look like coins also so you eat it to wish for a prosperous new year! They also make a glutinous rice ball soup with red beans, so yummy!
Yup! In Visayas region in the Philippines, we called them 'masi' similar to the japanese mochi. And the filling is made of ground peanuts.
I have recommended this to no fewer than five people and three of them not only were already subscribers, but were SO EXCITED that someone else knew about this channel. It's wild how much joy we're all getting out of each episode.
14:48 his grin after taking a bite is so wholesome :) "what a wonderful little dish! I love it!"
Also, if you like dumplings, I'd be so very curious about historical dumplings! I loved that part in the lasagna video where you want through the historical recipes, and doing that for dumplings would be wonderful!
A good idea
That would be sooo interesting! Almost every culture has its own version of dumplings!
Even different names. We call dumplings just that whereas Americans call them doughboys
John Ransom n-no we don’t,,,
@@WannaAstro we should
as a native Mandarin speaker, I respect your attempts to pronounce the words lol
Thank you! I applaud all of the Chinese children who can learn this language.
I'm actually from Taiwan but nonetheless, your pronunciation is one of the better ones, I can clearly tell that you worked on it 🤙
Yeah, he was close enough that my ears perked up a bit, but still giggled a bit at the funny accent. Much better than a lot of people for sure
Bruh, when I heard some of the surprisingly accurate ones, I was giggling and applauding lol...I guess I'm just used to ppl butchering Mandarin pronunciations
@tastinghistory kudos to you man! If you wanna do anymore that needs Mandarin or even German pronunciation, you know who to seek help for 😉
"Most of the recipe is kid-friendly."
Jokes on you Max, in the eyes of Chinese parents, every recipe is kid-friendly.
every *dish* is kid-friendly. given the lack of measurements and my mother's refusal to explain half of the steps, calling them recipes is too generous.
@@calamitysangfroid2407 LMFAO, so true, even when watching this and I see a white guy talking about measuring for a recipe, I'm like, you clearly don't know what Chinese recipes be like:
You jus poor dis much (as the teacher pours arbitrary amount and gives the student the, you get it look?)
You just use fingaaa to chek
leave on stove till it look like dis (literally looks almost no different from the start)
And of course as a good asian child who's supposed to understand quickly you nod and agree all the while going WTF in your head.
@ᚹᛖᚷᚨ ᚨᛊᛏᚱᚨ Haha Thanks
ᚹᛖᚷᚨ ᚨᛊᛏᚱᚨ that cracked me up too lol.
Communism With Giggles Laughing at gulags?😂
This channel is a weird intersection of history, cooking, and dumb jokes and I love it.
So......I'm listening to a foreigner talk about my country's history. GOOD JOB,MAX!
Thank you!
I love that there's more complex history! as someone who's studying to become a history teacher this is extremely entertaining and just wonderful!
A worthy pursuit! What grade do you want to teach?
@@TastingHistory One day I'm hoping to become a professor at a university! But for a start I suppose high school "seniors" (the first and last 3 years are split, you choose out of 4 specialisations for the last 3 years) at the highest level of education, I'm dutch so here we have kindergarten, primary school until they're 12, then you choose your level of education for high school, there's 3 standard levels (and then there's special/practical education too) and then you go on to 3 different levels of higher education, the highest of which being university.
Sorry for the large amount of text haha.
Yeah!! I’m REALLY loving these in-depth histories! I had never heard of this entire story before!
I would purchase Immortal Eunich by Tasting History. I would expect that it would smell of wine, flour, and old books.
All scents I love
Honest to god, I would buy that scent. That sounds amazing. The flour might be a little hard to play with, but a slight leathery smell mighty help it blend.
eunuchs preserved and kept their severed 'members' by deep frying them in oil, wrapping them in paper and keeping them in a wooden box. if Immortal Eunuch smelled like anything, i think it would smell of that: decades-old greasy sausage
@@insoserious 😂😂😂😂😂 Thanks for almost making snort chai up my nose, you glorious bastard.
And asafoetida.
We need a supercut of just Max's reactions (positive and negative) to the various dishes.
🤣 I’d like to see that.
0:47 I love his accent, his Chinese is so bad that it’s good. He almost sounds like those stereotypical rich people in movies but Chinese. 12/10. Learned a lot about my own culture. Have a great day!
I made them yesterday with fresh cracked walnuts and salted irish butter and everyone loved it! Even my brother whos not so big on walnuts and my mom whos not a fan of chewy mochi-alike stuff.
I served them on top of some yellow plums and tangerines, for some added fruitiness and tarness, recommend.
"Because of his military upbringing Liu had something that very few eunuchs had"
Don't say it.. Don't say it...
Arrrhggg.
TESTICLES???
🤣
Big brass balls?
This joke is... Nuts.
*sunglasses*
YEEEAAAAHHHH!!!
Yes, it was clear that, despite being an eunuch, he had balls!
Ba-dum-TISH!
Sugary buttery walnut filling?!?! Sounds like the best thing ever! Enjoyed this weeks video very much, brightens up my Tuesdays!
It really tastes amazing!
Doing the same with cruched seasme is also SO good! I made some once and just kept the extra filling for my toast in the morning and YUM
@@TastingHistory I'm going to try it out if my grocery store sells rice flour! Thanks for the reply :)
@@TastingHistory If you like these, you need to find some of the Eastern European Christmas cookie recipes that all originally called for a pound of walnuts, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of flour. Or the fussy double-rising white gingerbread cookies my grandmother used to make, Zazvorniky?
Like baklava, which I made last weekend
i love your honest first reactions when you take that first bite at the end. its so genuine and we can tell if you really like or dislike a food. i think i saw a bit of a childhood max pop out with that first taste. lol.
Definitely! It’s such a fun thing to eat.
Hi Max, its been a couple of years, but if you are looking for a market that would carry some of the other ingredients, one of the largest asian market chains in the US is 99 Ranch. I think you mentioned you were in or near Burbank in another video I watched. If so, the east side of pasadena has 99 Ranch, 168 Market, and Mitsuwa (japanese-specific). All excellent markets.
99 Ranch is my go too. I’m there a lot 😁
Your Chinese is pretty good! Even doing the tones! That's so refreshing, good work.
I am so happy that my favorite channel on UA-cam is covering a recipe from my culture!
Hope you enjoy!
Nice to see some chinese on here at last! Chinese food culture is as rich and varied as the country's history.
Edit, on the ball today, so early "No Views" on the video as of posting lol
TastingHistory video compilation but everytime Max announces the video's recipe he becomes prettier.
I mean, look at him guys. He's so ✨handsome✨
Awww, making me blush ☺️
@@TastingHistory You are adorable, like if Captain America was a sweetly dorky (and I mean that in the absolute best way) cook and UA-camr.
My family heritage is southern Chinese, so we do call it tangyuan. Our traditional versions don't really have fillings; they're just little balls of rice or tapioca flour, and they're usually a lot smaller, often no bigger than a gumball (even by filled dumpling standards, yours were huge haha!). One variation I can recommend is to serve and eat them in a warm broth of ginger and sugar. It's warming, spicy and sweet, and goes very well with these. We often add pandanus leaves to the broth when making it as well; this is a whole new layer of complexity flavor-wise and well worth trying, but not everyone likes pandan flavor and I imagine the leaves would be really hard to find in America anyway (you can probably find essence in Asian markets, but it's frankly a poor substitute and super easy to get wrong; even a tiny bit too much leaves the whole thing tasting of chemicals).
On another note, it's great that you identified how fun it is for kids, as it's actually traditionally a thing for kids to do when families reunite for festive periods, giving them a bunch of dough and letting them roll the balls, after which the balls get cooked and everyone gets some. There's a lot of auspiciousness tied to it: the roundness of the balls signifies a cycle of the year has turned and eating it is basically wishing for a smooth new cycle, and the happiness of children on a festival is also considered auspicious.
Hey guys Winter Solstice is coming and this is exactly what we eat on the day (besides Yuan Xiao). Make them!! Thanks Max for the research and recipe.
If you want to try more fillings, Asian supermarkets here in the US generally have frozen yuanxiao which you can just boil in water.
This is great, even the strategic placement of Ho-Oh in the background is well thought out. Perfect Pokémon to represent a Chinese tale about emperors.
Ho-Oh itself is directly based off of the Chinese phoenix, the fenghuang (literally, “Hō-ō” in Japanese) - the only other animal to stand side by side with the dragon in Chinese folklore. Both are proper animals to represent the Chinese emperor and the collective soul of China as a whole.
And the other legendary Pokémon in Gen-2: Lugia, Suicune, Entei, and Raikou - all of them are also based off of classical Chinese/Japanese mythological creatures.
Thanks for that connection, Max. Just the perfect video to get the nerd juices flowing.
Ho-oh (fenghuang) isn't really phoenix, and even that name is kinda misleading because feng is male and huang is female (aka it's a pair of creatures or like a proper species rather than a single creature that would crossbreed with other mythical creatures). I have no idea why people ended up putting long and feng together, but my personal guess is, that's the result of misconception made by early novelists.
Also, the design of ho-oh is likely more Japanese than Chinese. The Chinese design is usually more rainbow-y than just colorful, I think. And if Shanhaijing (tale of mountains and seas) can be trusted there's oddly words written all over the body of fenghuang... I don't even know if I understand that correctly.
@@FlameRat_YehLon thanks for the insight. I’m aware that “phoenix” isn’t an accurate term to describe the fenghuang; that’s what stuck because the West doesn’t really have an equivalent mythological phenomenon to describe the thing. The West calls it a “Chinese phoenix,” not just myself, though you have to admit the two birds have some similarities
@@kitcutting Well, it's not like "Chinese dragon" is an accurate term either. I guess the best way to say is, it's just people giving similar looking things the same name.
I just feel it worth mentioning because there's actually a comic series (or more like meta-series) in China that features fenghuang, zhuque and phoenix in the same world, and all of them are annoyed by people confusing them with one another.
@@FlameRat_YehLon good point
Almost all the Pokémon plushies in the background are related in one way or another to the topic of the video.
Love that you have made an episode on Chinese food, in fact most of the prominent Chinese food have the own lores and history and there is a lot to talk about, and I truly hope that you would make more videos on historical food outside Europe and Early Modern Americas.
Hats off to you for going the extra mile and doing your best to learn proper pronunciation. You are a gentleman and a scholar. You actually are, btw.
Oh my goodness! I don't think I've ever seen Max so ... delighted ... with a recipe. He's glowing with joy.
If you're in the US and want to try these without the effort: You can buy premade ones with different fillings from the freezer section of most Asian groceries. Just throw them in boiling water until they float.
I tried these on a whim in college and loved them (and ate them probably more than I should have). I really want to know how the homemade version compares!
Are they at all similar to Mochi?
@@NeverLoveNiila pretty much, they're all glutinous rice balls.
And make a seperate sugar ginger broth to serve them in
There's MURDER...and tasty filling.
The perfect combo
So long as they aren't linked. "Best Pies in London", anyone?
A fun drinking game with friends:
Read through the Wikipedia pages of ancient China
Take a shot whenever the country is fractured
Might as well tell people to drink a vat of moonshine, that's just cruel.
🤣
And the drink has to be baijiu?
also take a shot whenever torture is mentioned
@@chanman819 if you're drinking baijiu, you will die
Honestly, if History Channel or National Geographic picked you up, I would purchase Foxtel/Austar in a heartbeat. This is such a fun show and your explanation of history is so interesting and entertaining because of your passion and little touches of humour.
Look forward to many more episodes!
I love the medieval recipes, but it's nice to see this channel branching out in terms of flavors and locales.
Yay a Chinese recipe! These are so yummy! You can also flavor the liquid that it’s being cooked in. Sometimes my mom puts in coconut milk, but just some brown sugar is perfect too. Store bought freezer ones (well at least for the southern ones) are actually pretty good!
Also, I really appreciate that you tried to learn and pronounce all the names! A lot of people don’t even bother looking it up and trying.
I think flavoring the liquid would be fantastic. Doing that next time I make them.
Ohhh, can you imagine how lovely this would taste with rose flavouring?
@@midnightlightthevamp I personally hate the taste of roses but I think it definitely would be lovely!
I'm definitely more used to the southern version. They taste amazing when they're filled with black sesame paste and served in hot, sweet almond milk!
That sounds heavenly
This is how I was raised on Yuanxiao. The black sesame filling is especially delicious because it adds a crunchy, slightly gritty texture that contrasts nicely with the gooey rice casing. Plus, it adds a savory dimension to the sweet rice!
to everyone reading this without almond milk..you can also use soy milk. alternatively boil peanuts and sugar to make a sweet syrup. ginger optional
Love the tangyuan, very tasty treat!
I like it with chopped peanuts fillings especially
edit: just got to the part mentioning rolling them in flour, I can confirm that kids love it, I used to do it as a kid
It was so fun!
What is the point of rolling the balls in flour and washing it off?
@@healinggrounds19 Tried it today. It builds up layers of flour.
Filipino have something similar but filled with savory meats and dough made of rice pastry 🥰 it's called Siopao
I love your "reading the recipe" voice. It's clear that you're having fun.
Also, my cat has learned that if he hears the opening music, it's time to get petted (because I'll be sitting for a bit).
“And I usually like what kids like.” Now if that isn’t one of the most relatable things I’ve heard recently 😅
Thanks for this fascinating history. I recommend serving these in a sweetened ginger broth instead of plain water.
Fantastic! As a westerner I find eastern history fascinating. The silk worm egg theft for the Byzantine emperor in Istanbul, wait I mean Constantinople in those days. Why’d they change it? I can’t say. People just liked it better that way. 😉
I got that reference!
That's nobody's business but the Turks...
Even New York was once New Amsterdam...
Been a long time gone, Constantinople...
The Romans truly were one of a kind... As goes for the Chinese and Persians
Ahhh Tasting History x Townsends collab! I’m so happy for you Max!
Wow thank you for pronouncing things correctly! So refreshing compared to other history channels that's don't bother to take the time.
Thank you ☺️
"I tend to like what kids like"
No shame in that - I turned 30 in August and still love classic Disney films :)
You’re never too old for Disney
Why is it kids stuff is more interesting than the adult stuff ? - the 30something adult...
My husband and I are in our 40's we love legos, video games, and disney. No shame in it.
I'm 41. I am the biggest 5 year old you ever met 😂
65 here and I'm building my first radio controlled airplane. Retirement brings out the kid in me.
My Taiwanese grandmother used to make something like this when I was a kid! Perhaps I'll try to make these next time I visit her.
Regardless of actual pronunciation, as a Mandarin speaker, I'm impressed that you even tried to say the names correctly! (Goes for all your videos)
It's so nice to see one of my favorite traditional dishes being recreated. In my hometown of Fujian, however, we have two different versions. One is sweet with the lard, peanut, and sugar. The other is filled with ground meat and my grandfather makes the best ones, in my opinion anyway. We have so many different dishes associated with each of the big and small festivals that happen throughout the lunar year.
I really appreciate how respectful you are of other cultures!
The innuendo is strong with this one.
These are one of my favorite treats. Loved seeing the history. If you want to cheat, the Asian markets always sell these frozen with every filling imaginable.
How are they compared to mochi? Seems related, but I imagine the boiling changes things. (Somehow, I can find peanut or sesame mochi balls in Oslo, but I haven't seen these. May just need to look more thoroughly at their freezers, though.)
@@dnebdal they are a different texture to mochi. Mochi is quite stretchy, but these, while soft, don't have the same stretch
@@dnebdal the flavors are similar (at least the ones I've tried) but the texture is quite different. mochi is soft and chewy, these are stickier and... more gooey? It's definitely an interesting mouthfeel. they're fun to eat.
One Scheming Eunuch dislikes this video
🤣 I knew they were out there
Now it's seven... Three more and we'll have to call in Lu Bu
@@TastingHistory and now there's 12 scheming concubines too
Hilarious
@@Bluebelle51 FIIIIIIVEE GOL-DEN RIIIIIINNNNNNGGSSS...!
THANK YOU for putting effort into proper pronunciation in your videos. And the confidence you speak with speaks volumes.
"He had something that very few eunuchs had"
*don't say balls don't say balls dont say balls*
“It hurts nonetheless.” - literally laughing out loud when you said that!
If you liked these, make some Dango (rice flour) balls. They're about the same as this and you can add fillings or glazes as well.
Weeb
Or mochi, which are even more similar to this. (weeb power intensifies)
I've watched so many of your videos that the very first thing I thought when this one started was, "oh, i see he got a haircut"...
Ha! I like that my hairstyle is the topic of conversation today 🤣
"this guy had something most eunuchs didn't have..."
"Testicles!"
"No, what?"
"Literacy!"
"Yes, literacy... Please wait for me to call on you next time."
The filling….for ancient China, you use a roller to crush your nuts into paste and normal that’s all you need to make it into a ball, if not, depending on climate, add flour and water basically to your peanut butter/roasted sesame seeds/even black beans, the goal is to make it like really thick paste thick enough to roll into a ball.
Then for rolling the dough, the reason why rolling into a dough for the south is because of humidity. For the North, they use a giant bamboo sieve to roll many of the fillings with flour and sprinkle water to it. You’ll see this in streets of China in really old school dessert shops everywhere.
11:00 that is the thiccccest goddamn horse i have ever seen in my life
11:08
He adorably CHONKY, but I do question how it supports itself on those teeny little legs
Oooh nice you made a video! This is always a nice part of my day, you have such a great mix of history, food and your wonderfully friendly way to tell stories.
I hope your work gathers more viewers, you're great at making these videos!
Thank you 😊
Spit out my coffee at the new Calvin Klein scent: Immortal Eunuch.
🤣
For the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, we eat this with ginger soup, for a touch of spice and sweetness. Legend has it that an emperor was able to find his mother because of her recipe, where the skin is so thin it was translucent, yet never broken in the boiling water.
I love this channel and Max's enthusiasm makes it 20 times better. History and food? Sign me up