Hey Guys, a few notes. 1. For zaolajiao(糟辣椒), Laoganma’s product is legit and decent, so do get a jar if you see one. You can use this stir fry base to fry up other stuff you like. Some other ingredients that’re common are Dry/Gan/Five-Spice Tofu (dougan) + pork sliver, minced pork, konjac jelly, minced beef, twice cooked pork (Guizhou style twice cooked pork uses zaolajiao), vegetables, and even rice or rice noodles. You can also use zaolajiao as a base for braises. Basically you can follow the video and start by stir frying, then add water to it and start a quick 20 minute-ish braise. Some of my favorite zaola braises include mince pork with rice tofu, taro, tofu, potato, or anything that’s a sponge for flavor. You can also fry up the zaola base, top it over fish, ribs, or other cuts of meat, and then steam it. 2. For crispy pork belly, like we mentioned in the video, is originally a dish to use up leftover cracklin from making lard. If you’re making lard, this is a dish with maximum deliciousness to use it up. In Guizhou, you can buy readymade crispy pork at the market, they’re called cuishao (脆哨, a crispy type, which we had a video on: ua-cam.com/video/f1XYlGLBm0U/v-deo.html) or ruanshao (软哨, a softer type). When using pork belly, you can control the “crispiness” to your liking. Generally, we like it harder and crispier, sometimes in Guizhou you’ll find something that’s softer, or sometimes it can be even harder that’s more of a drinking food than over rice food (like this one we had in Liupanshui: instagram.com/p/CKt2SzbBdid/?utm) 3. When getting natto, if all you can get is small grains, that’ll work too, the beans will just be smaller and you’ll probably want to eat it with a spoon haha. If you’re making your own natto (which is quite simple actually), you can sun dry the fermented beans till it’s no longer sticky on the surface, before which you can rinse off the stickiness or not (I prefer not to), then you’ll have something that’s very similar to some of these douchi from Guizhou. I’ve also seen some “dry natto snack” (www.amazon.com/Japanese-Dried-JAPANESE-SAKURA-OTAKU/dp/B09NN6WBNF), however, never tried it myself so I can’t say for sure the similarity. 4. If your natto is seasoned, taste it before stir frying. This recipe is based on unseasoned natto, i.e., when I taste it before frying, there’s hardly any salinity I can catch. If you’re working with seasoned natto, adjust the soy sauce and/or MSG quantity in the final stir fry. 5. About waxy corn. After a quick look around, I found they sell something vacuumed sealed on Weee! (use the search term “糯玉米”): www.sayweee.com/en/product/Helene-Sticky-Corn-Frozen/7259 www.sayweee.com/en/product/Choripdong-Sweet-Corn--Frozen/25894. I believe these are the “snack type”, which are sweeter than the white waxy corn that we usually get in Guizhou. However, they got great texture and would totally work in this dish. Because they’re cooked and kinda sweet, you can follow the recipe directly in the video and you’ll be fine. Alternatively, you can cook some dry corn first and then stir fry it. Just like making soups but stir fry instead. Also, as a Patron pointed out, you can get cans of “white Mexican corn” and they’re less sweet. If that’s easily available to you, do give it a try. For those living in Asia (or Mexico too, maybe?), you’d probably be able to get the fresh white waxy one too. Here in Bangkok, they ship them from the north and we can get them at our local market, they also sell it on the street as a snack. They usually look like this: m.yunnan.cn/pic/003/029/371/00302937128_5d1fd590.jpg, this is something very similar to the ones Yunnan province (in fact, I believe they're the same cultivar). If you’re working from fresh waxy corn, remember to use at least 1 and 3/4 cup of water and cook it for at least 15 minutes till it’s completely soft, otherwise it'll taste very blend. Sorry that we've kinda been AWOL, Chris went back to the US for a couple weeks to see his family and I've been deep in working on translating a book on Macanese cooking these couple months. But Chris is coming back today and I just finished that project yesterday, so things should be back to a more "normal" schedule. Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now, hope you like this one and enjoy your rice!
Can confirm I've been subbing LGM's Zaolajiao for basically any chopped pickled/fermented chillies in recipes for a while now with excellent results (particularly good in Laoyou applications). No idea what it is called or what type of chopped pickled chillies it is, but the brand with the green label and the cartoon of three workers holding up a chilli is also a great sub and widely available in the west IME.
Speaking of cookbooks: Are there any notable cookbooks in English that detail different kinds of foods from the various regions of China that you and Chris would recommend?? I currently have Kenji's book The Wok but I'm hoping to find something a bit more specific breaking down how certain regions do their foods.
Made the Zaola pork slivers tonight since I had all the ingredients and some leftover rice. Damn that’s excellent dish for 20 minutes of work. I live in Boise Idaho where there’s no authentic Chinese restaurants (although we do have an excellent Asian grocer, they even stock caiziyou occasionally😳), so this channel has been an incredible resource for me. Thanks for all you do.
The last recipe has very similar roasting techniques as in mexico. We put the chillies in a plastic bag after roasting to "sweat" so that it's easier to peel. And somehow we char the tomatoes too but leave the skin for flavor (but not.the chilli skin)
There's a plain-looking restaurant in my college town, that mainly caters to foreign exchange students, that introduced me to "sliced pork with pickled pepper." One of the most delicious things I've ever eaten and really got me interested in Chinese food and Szechuan cuisine in particular (and probably introduced me to your channel). The wall of heat balanced with rich pork and bell peppers over plenty of plain white rice. A lesson in gastronomic pain & pleasure. I need to go back soon... Thanks for helping me understand how the magic happens.
We grow jalapeños every summer. We found that we can cut off the stems, and throw the jalapeños in the food processor, and after we have chopped hot peppers, we throw it onto a saucepan, add salt, apple cider vinegar, bring it to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, and jar. It seems to last all year in the fridge, and we use it when a Chinese dish calls for pickled chiles.
A trick to make it easier to cut corn off a whole cob is to first put a little bowl upside down inside the big working bowl and stand the cob on that. It raises up the corn so you have a better working angle and also avoid hitting the the steel bowl with the edge of your knife.
I think the world would need much more of your channel with the increasing prices as I've been using these as an inspiration of how to make rice taste even better with something on it.
Watching the Guizhou Rice Shake video and hearing Chris state he would love for GuiMex food to be a thing makes the addition of the Corn and Tomato topping interesting. It's sort of close to some vegetarian new mexican foods that I have cooked like squash Calabacitas.
You can look for "choclo" corn in South American markets. This is a waxy corn. Alternatively, waxy corn is also livestock or feed corn in the US...if you're feeling ambitious.
The corn and tomato recipe is quite unlike what I associate with Chinese food (though from watching this channel I'm much more aware of the wide variety of dishes and ingredients from different regions). It would be very Western supermarket friendly, though bell peppers would be a necessary sub in the UK - however an induction hob isn't going to blister a tomato that well 😃. Maybe the air fryer on high temperature? Somehow I doubt a candle would do the job! I really appreciated Steph's narration this time too
@@IAmTheUltimateRuler the grill (or broiler for Americans) is what I use for aubergine for things like baba ganoush and bengan bharta. So it probably would work yes
You two are really great! It’s been a number of years now for your channel. Congratulations. Do you two ever eat salted dried fish? As a kid, my Dad would steam a piece cut from a whole. We ate rice and stir fried cabbage.
Just tried the corn with tomato and chili today and it blew us away! I thought I could anticipate what it would taste like generally, but the depth of umami flavor was totally unexpected. The whole is way more than the sum of its parts, thank you for sharing this recipe!
Fermented bean is much harder than lactic acid, alcohol, or vinegar ferments. They are more easily contaminated and there is no easy way to check for that. Furthermore some contamination can lead to very bad toxins (e.g. aflatoxin).
I made the Zaola Pork. So good! Will make that more often for sure. I found the Lao gan ma pickled chili, but had to go to three stores. Happy I found it.
Caution on random "pickled chilli" products. One I bought recently could better be described as "salt-brined" rather than "fermented" (guess it must have been "DuoJiao", thanks Steph!) . I added a heap of it and it almost made my end product inedibly salty. For that matter, some Doubianjiang's are saltier than others (LKK's is pretty salty), if I'm using it, I never add extra salt or soy sauce, so just be aware if you're trying a new brand.
I wonder if you could add a huge amount of water to dilute the salt and then dispose of most of the water, to recover your dish (I expect you might have to re-season afterwards).
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 I ended up just eating the dish with a lot more rice than usual :) I'm thinking along the lines of washing some of the salt/brine off the chillies. For the moment, I'm just leaving the stuff in the jar, and snacking on it when I open the fridge :). For extra heat, I just add dried whole chillies to taste.
oh my, I'm so happy! I've had this jar of Laoganma fermented chilli for quite a while now (I suspect it can't go bad in a fridge) and didn't really know how to use it. Mainly because I found it quite salty and was scared. Definitely going to use up that jar real quick now! Much love for all you do!
Just wanted to let you know, I sometimes still cook your vegetables in water. The only thing is the dipping sauce makes me lazy. I devour those in 10 minutes and I didn’t need more than that. Thanks for the simple recipe.
Can you do braised beef tendon? I had it in Singapore two weeks ago and it was amazing. There was also some really good spicy fried eggplant and green bean dish. It had a really interesting umami quality too it that may just be the result of garlic and a bit of oyster sauce but maybe there's a bit of scallion oil going on?
Haha well, I (Chris) *did* pen the portion for the Zaola Pork Slivers, as that was the bit that I cooked and tested. So from 2:06 to 5:11 were actually my words that Steph smoothed out to fit her voice. The reverse also sometimes happens, where Steph'll write something in her words and I'll adjust it when I'm doing the VO. So no matter who's talking, definitely view the script as a collaborative effort :) And of course, like so often happens... we spend so much time together that we've had a huge influence on each other re how we talk and write.
I've said this before but "pickling" can include vinegar preservation, but it can ALSO include fermentation, so calling them pickled is not inaccurate, just uncommon in the west for example, kosher dill pickles are fermented, they just preserve them in vinegar after they've been fermented
Your video just keep reminding me that Anglo Aussies like myself always put too much stuff in our stir fries - you guys - sauces, pork spring onions Bam!
I highly recommend jarred, fermented Calabrian chillies. They are very fresh and fruity. Best Western supermarket equivalent of the aforementioned chillies in the video
I think a possible western substitute for Chinese field corn would be canned hominy. I have no objection, though, to sweet corn, what’s not to like here?
@@zaj_mahal The one they hold in front of Sun Foods near University and Dale is great in the summer. The Hmongtown Marketplace is definitely worth a visit while we wait for the snow to melt. Welcome to Saint Paul!
I made the zaolajiao dish in the beginning with TVP instead of pork, and it was absolutely delicious. Heck, even my roommate, who I'd have thought it would be distinctly too spicy for, devoured a whole bowl of it.
I've made the zaola pork slivers so many times since watching this video, and it has become my favorite stir fry. Sadly, nobody else in my family likes food that spicy, and I have to cook it outside because it makes the air too spicy. 😂
I wish you would link where you can get these two pickled chili... I can't find on Amazon and i doubt our Asian grocery has it. Basically all they have are lau gan ma chili crisp.
I have a friend visiting me from China. Do you have any top suggestions for great ingredients that are difficult to find outside of China (e.g. that even most chinatown grocery stores in the US would not have)? Anything that you always bring back with you after a trip to China?
Bacillus subtilis is that bacteria that converts compounds in soybeans to MK-7, a type of vitamin K that has be touted for the amazing health benefits of natto. Thank you for the information that Douchi is also an excellent source of Mk-7!
I have a question and curious if you could help me out here. There's this chinese restaurant I visit here in Seoul that makes a dish called "pork with cilantro". I've been trying to figure out how to make it for so long. Its slivers of pork, pretty dry, with super spicy sliced chiles and just a messsss of cilantro on top. It is an insane rice killer and great with a cold beer. But, its WAY overpriced. One dish can cost up to 20 dollars (and I know it'd be only a fraction to make at home). Curious if you could point me to a recipe or someway to make it?
What’s your opinion on Indian ginger garlic paste? Do you think it’s an appropriate sub for ginger and garlic or do you recommend using fresh garlic and ginger?
what is that curved knife/cleaver called he is using to mince the lao ga ma? does it have a specific name? couldn't find anything that has those indentations for the hands on the top of the blade.
Excellent video as usual, but I have to ask: is “rice killer” a thing? I have literally never heard anyone use this phrase outside of this channel. Is it a translation from Chinese or something?
Do you guys use the shiny wok for corn tomato stirfry because you worried of damaging your veteran wok's seasoning? I remember reading somewhere that wok's seasoning will be severely degraded when cooking something sour and has lots of water
Can I make a request for you to demistify something? I've heard of a dish called "stinky tofu" a couple of times, but i have no idea what it is. I assume it's some sort of fermentation that makes it "stinky," but I don't know anything about it for sure. I don't even know if it really is stinky, or if that's just a corruption of a word that means something more like "fragrant." I'd really appreciate a video talking about it, but if it really is stinky, I wouldn't want you guys to have to make it lol
We just use regular Hongxing erguotou, I believe it's Qingxiang (light aroma). This brand got a decent aroma and it won't hurt too much to use it for cooking.
I love this channel, but I'm curious if you guys know how to make any 'American' Chinese dishes (not authentic Chinese food) -- I don't expect you to post any videos on the topic, I'm just curious. I mean the stuff you would find in any Chinese restaurant in America, in say... 1987. Sweet and sour chicken with pork fried rice, BBQ pork and egg rolls. Oh yeah, don't forget the side of fried shrimp, LOL! And the HOT MUSTARD. It's so good, despite being Chinese in name only. I'm extremely interested in the origin and evolution of these dishes -- were they modified Chinese recipes, to suit American tastes? Created from scratch? How did they become nearly universal? Would Chinese people refuse to eat these dishes (not suited to their tastes?). I don't know why I find this so fascinating, but it can be applied to other cultures as well, such as American Mexican food, or pizza/Italian, etc.
I'd also recommend Made With Lau here on yt. Dude decided to let his dad, who's a retired Chinese chef in the San Francisco bay area, go nuts and cook everything he knows. Often includes some nice detours into history and a decent amount of Chinese American dishes as well as more authentic stuff.
You should also check out the channel Made With Lau! It's a father/son (and the whole family) project where the son documents his Dad's recipes. The parents are Cantonese but immigrated to the US, where their kids were born, and Daddy Lau worked in Chinese restaurants his whole life. So it's a really interesting perspective where he knows all the tricks of Chinese restaurants, and how to replicate them at home (because as any Asian kid knows, food is love), but also the parents remember the foods they grew up with in China. It's always funny to me when the son asks his parents if they ever ate [insert yummy dish here] in China, and 9/10 times the dad's just like "no, meat was too expensive."
@@particlemannn ; @emmythemac -- thanks for the additional suggestion. I really love these kinds of historical trivia, such as the fact that Madame Chiang Kai-shek (宋美齡) spoke English with a strong Southern drawl accent, because she lived in the state of Georgia, as a kid. When I was a kid, I was friends with a Chinese kid named Barton, whose family owned a Chinese restaurant (although we did not discuss it).
Using baijiu in lieu of shaoxing for cooking? Would that include the higher 56% ABV er guo tou baijiu? “No, really honey. I only use it for cooking…” Thank you! 😊
Hey Guys, a few notes.
1. For zaolajiao(糟辣椒), Laoganma’s product is legit and decent, so do get a jar if you see one. You can use this stir fry base to fry up other stuff you like. Some other ingredients that’re common are Dry/Gan/Five-Spice Tofu (dougan) + pork sliver, minced pork, konjac jelly, minced beef, twice cooked pork (Guizhou style twice cooked pork uses zaolajiao), vegetables, and even rice or rice noodles.
You can also use zaolajiao as a base for braises. Basically you can follow the video and start by stir frying, then add water to it and start a quick 20 minute-ish braise. Some of my favorite zaola braises include mince pork with rice tofu, taro, tofu, potato, or anything that’s a sponge for flavor.
You can also fry up the zaola base, top it over fish, ribs, or other cuts of meat, and then steam it.
2. For crispy pork belly, like we mentioned in the video, is originally a dish to use up leftover cracklin from making lard. If you’re making lard, this is a dish with maximum deliciousness to use it up. In Guizhou, you can buy readymade crispy pork at the market, they’re called cuishao (脆哨, a crispy type, which we had a video on: ua-cam.com/video/f1XYlGLBm0U/v-deo.html) or ruanshao (软哨, a softer type).
When using pork belly, you can control the “crispiness” to your liking. Generally, we like it harder and crispier, sometimes in Guizhou you’ll find something that’s softer, or sometimes it can be even harder that’s more of a drinking food than over rice food (like this one we had in Liupanshui: instagram.com/p/CKt2SzbBdid/?utm)
3. When getting natto, if all you can get is small grains, that’ll work too, the beans will just be smaller and you’ll probably want to eat it with a spoon haha.
If you’re making your own natto (which is quite simple actually), you can sun dry the fermented beans till it’s no longer sticky on the surface, before which you can rinse off the stickiness or not (I prefer not to), then you’ll have something that’s very similar to some of these douchi from Guizhou. I’ve also seen some “dry natto snack” (www.amazon.com/Japanese-Dried-JAPANESE-SAKURA-OTAKU/dp/B09NN6WBNF), however, never tried it myself so I can’t say for sure the similarity.
4. If your natto is seasoned, taste it before stir frying. This recipe is based on unseasoned natto, i.e., when I taste it before frying, there’s hardly any salinity I can catch. If you’re working with seasoned natto, adjust the soy sauce and/or MSG quantity in the final stir fry.
5. About waxy corn. After a quick look around, I found they sell something vacuumed sealed on Weee! (use the search term “糯玉米”): www.sayweee.com/en/product/Helene-Sticky-Corn-Frozen/7259
www.sayweee.com/en/product/Choripdong-Sweet-Corn--Frozen/25894.
I believe these are the “snack type”, which are sweeter than the white waxy corn that we usually get in Guizhou. However, they got great texture and would totally work in this dish. Because they’re cooked and kinda sweet, you can follow the recipe directly in the video and you’ll be fine.
Alternatively, you can cook some dry corn first and then stir fry it. Just like making soups but stir fry instead. Also, as a Patron pointed out, you can get cans of “white Mexican corn” and they’re less sweet. If that’s easily available to you, do give it a try.
For those living in Asia (or Mexico too, maybe?), you’d probably be able to get the fresh white waxy one too. Here in Bangkok, they ship them from the north and we can get them at our local market, they also sell it on the street as a snack. They usually look like this: m.yunnan.cn/pic/003/029/371/00302937128_5d1fd590.jpg, this is something very similar to the ones Yunnan province (in fact, I believe they're the same cultivar).
If you’re working from fresh waxy corn, remember to use at least 1 and 3/4 cup of water and cook it for at least 15 minutes till it’s completely soft, otherwise it'll taste very blend.
Sorry that we've kinda been AWOL, Chris went back to the US for a couple weeks to see his family and I've been deep in working on translating a book on Macanese cooking these couple months. But Chris is coming back today and I just finished that project yesterday, so things should be back to a more "normal" schedule.
Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now, hope you like this one and enjoy your rice!
Can confirm I've been subbing LGM's Zaolajiao for basically any chopped pickled/fermented chillies in recipes for a while now with excellent results (particularly good in Laoyou applications).
No idea what it is called or what type of chopped pickled chillies it is, but the brand with the green label and the cartoon of three workers holding up a chilli is also a great sub and widely available in the west IME.
Speaking of cookbooks: Are there any notable cookbooks in English that detail different kinds of foods from the various regions of China that you and Chris would recommend?? I currently have Kenji's book The Wok but I'm hoping to find something a bit more specific breaking down how certain regions do their foods.
Can you show us how to cook that Egg-Wrap thing in the intro?
Hi Steph! *wave* ☺💕
@@Pridetoons ua-cam.com/video/COP2hnoAEQg/v-deo.html
I will always, always, ALWAYS click on an over rice dish video from Steph and Chris. Keep 'em coming!
I really appreciate that you often include vegetarian options to your recipes! Thanks a lot!
Love how "下饭ability" is now a word
Made the Zaola pork slivers tonight since I had all the ingredients and some leftover rice. Damn that’s excellent dish for 20 minutes of work. I live in Boise Idaho where there’s no authentic Chinese restaurants (although we do have an excellent Asian grocer, they even stock caiziyou occasionally😳), so this channel has been an incredible resource for me. Thanks for all you do.
The corn one is amazing that two such diverse cultures and kind of mutually develop corn salsa style dishes.
The last recipe has very similar roasting techniques as in mexico. We put the chillies in a plastic bag after roasting to "sweat" so that it's easier to peel. And somehow we char the tomatoes too but leave the skin for flavor (but not.the chilli skin)
There's a plain-looking restaurant in my college town, that mainly caters to foreign exchange students, that introduced me to "sliced pork with pickled pepper." One of the most delicious things I've ever eaten and really got me interested in Chinese food and Szechuan cuisine in particular (and probably introduced me to your channel). The wall of heat balanced with rich pork and bell peppers over plenty of plain white rice. A lesson in gastronomic pain & pleasure. I need to go back soon...
Thanks for helping me understand how the magic happens.
We grow jalapeños every summer. We found that we can cut off the stems, and throw the jalapeños in the food processor, and after we have chopped hot peppers, we throw it onto a saucepan, add salt, apple cider vinegar, bring it to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, and jar. It seems to last all year in the fridge, and we use it when a Chinese dish calls for pickled chiles.
Hooray fusion!
In the US you can look for cans of "white Mexican corn" which is not sweet and has a more neutral flavor
Isn't that hominy?
@@Cryptex410 yes, sometimes cans will be labeled as “white/yellow hominy” or “white/yellow Mexican corn”
@@Cryptex410 not quite
@@Cryptex410 Hominy is often alkalized or otherwise processed, waxy or sticky corn itself is getting more and more common these days
You can look for "choclo" corn in South American markets. This is a waxy corn.
I love how long your puppy has been taste-testing the dog-friendly parts of your recipes. Keep up the wonderful work!
A trick to make it easier to cut corn off a whole cob is to first put a little bowl upside down inside the big working bowl and stand the cob on that. It raises up the corn so you have a better working angle and also avoid hitting the the steel bowl with the edge of your knife.
I think the world would need much more of your channel with the increasing prices as I've been using these as an inspiration of how to make rice taste even better with something on it.
Watching the Guizhou Rice Shake video and hearing Chris state he would love for GuiMex food to be a thing makes the addition of the Corn and Tomato topping interesting. It's sort of close to some vegetarian new mexican foods that I have cooked like squash Calabacitas.
YES, love videos hosted by Steph. And love this topic too.
Keep the over-rice dishes coming. I absolutely love these recipes for afterword meals as I am an al-fresco snob when it comes to food.
You can look for "choclo" corn in South American markets. This is a waxy corn. Alternatively, waxy corn is also livestock or feed corn in the US...if you're feeling ambitious.
The corn and tomato recipe is quite unlike what I associate with Chinese food (though from watching this channel I'm much more aware of the wide variety of dishes and ingredients from different regions). It would be very Western supermarket friendly, though bell peppers would be a necessary sub in the UK - however an induction hob isn't going to blister a tomato that well 😃. Maybe the air fryer on high temperature? Somehow I doubt a candle would do the job!
I really appreciated Steph's narration this time too
chuck it under the grill? or maybe in a screaming hot cast iron
@@IAmTheUltimateRuler the grill (or broiler for Americans) is what I use for aubergine for things like baba ganoush and bengan bharta. So it probably would work yes
This channel, Chinese Cooking Demystified, is 100% Genuine!
You two are really great! It’s been a number of years now for your channel. Congratulations. Do you two ever eat salted dried fish? As a kid, my Dad would steam a piece cut from a whole. We ate rice and stir fried cabbage.
I (Steph) love salted fish, especially the soft ones, so good just steamed with pork and eat it with some white rice!
Just tried the corn with tomato and chili today and it blew us away! I thought I could anticipate what it would taste like generally, but the depth of umami flavor was totally unexpected. The whole is way more than the sum of its parts, thank you for sharing this recipe!
My mom's boyfriend was asking me yesterday how to make Asian food spicy without using chili oil. How perfect!
Put in a habanero pepper. Problem solved.
This still uses chili oil, it's just still inside the chilis😜
There are various spicy bean pastes, hot sauces, chili flakes, fermented or dried chilis etc that can be used depending on the dish.
Weir question. Just use... chillis?
@@42ZaphodB42 lol, good answer. Sometimes the most obvious answer seems too simple.
can you show us how to do homemade fermented black beans from scratch? this is something i would really like to see
Fermented bean is much harder than lactic acid, alcohol, or vinegar ferments. They are more easily contaminated and there is no easy way to check for that. Furthermore some contamination can lead to very bad toxins (e.g. aflatoxin).
It’s better to buy it from a store than preparing it by yourself, which is time consuming and may cause bacteria.
I feel like that's like asking for a recipe for canola oil
I made the Zaola Pork. So good! Will make that more often for sure. I found the Lao gan ma pickled chili, but had to go to three stores. Happy I found it.
Caution on random "pickled chilli" products. One I bought recently could better be described as "salt-brined" rather than "fermented" (guess it must have been "DuoJiao", thanks Steph!) . I added a heap of it and it almost made my end product inedibly salty.
For that matter, some Doubianjiang's are saltier than others (LKK's is pretty salty), if I'm using it, I never add extra salt or soy sauce, so just be aware if you're trying a new brand.
I wonder if you could add a huge amount of water to dilute the salt and then dispose of most of the water, to recover your dish (I expect you might have to re-season afterwards).
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 I ended up just eating the dish with a lot more rice than usual :) I'm thinking along the lines of washing some of the salt/brine off the chillies. For the moment, I'm just leaving the stuff in the jar, and snacking on it when I open the fridge :). For extra heat, I just add dried whole chillies to taste.
@@zalibecquerel3463 salt will come out if you soak them in water. But Idk if that would mess with the texture or something
oh my, I'm so happy! I've had this jar of Laoganma fermented chilli for quite a while now (I suspect it can't go bad in a fridge) and didn't really know how to use it. Mainly because I found it quite salty and was scared. Definitely going to use up that jar real quick now! Much love for all you do!
Just wanted to let you know, I sometimes still cook your vegetables in water.
The only thing is the dipping sauce makes me lazy.
I devour those in 10 minutes and I didn’t need more than that.
Thanks for the simple recipe.
Can you do braised beef tendon? I had it in Singapore two weeks ago and it was amazing. There was also some really good spicy fried eggplant and green bean dish. It had a really interesting umami quality too it that may just be the result of garlic and a bit of oyster sauce but maybe there's a bit of scallion oil going on?
I love rice...so anything with high overriceability is good for me!
Just got recommended this video and I basically have everything in the fridge to make 2 of the 3 dishes here, hell yes.
I know Stephanie is speaking but in all these videos, I hear Chris's voice because the scripting is very much like him.
Haha well, I (Chris) *did* pen the portion for the Zaola Pork Slivers, as that was the bit that I cooked and tested. So from 2:06 to 5:11 were actually my words that Steph smoothed out to fit her voice. The reverse also sometimes happens, where Steph'll write something in her words and I'll adjust it when I'm doing the VO. So no matter who's talking, definitely view the script as a collaborative effort :)
And of course, like so often happens... we spend so much time together that we've had a huge influence on each other re how we talk and write.
19 hours ago
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I finally made the Zaola pork slivers last night and oh my word was that good. A+ recipe there
I've said this before but "pickling" can include vinegar preservation, but it can ALSO include fermentation, so calling them pickled is not inaccurate, just uncommon in the west
for example, kosher dill pickles are fermented, they just preserve them in vinegar after they've been fermented
Blows my mind that Natto and fermented black soybean are basically the same, when the flavor seems so different
"Same type" of food, but different fermenting time and different strains of fungus/bacteria.
Your video just keep reminding me that Anglo Aussies like myself always put too much stuff in our stir fries - you guys - sauces, pork spring onions Bam!
I highly recommend jarred, fermented Calabrian chillies. They are very fresh and fruity. Best Western supermarket equivalent of the aforementioned chillies in the video
I think a possible western substitute for Chinese field corn would be canned hominy. I have no objection, though, to sweet corn, what’s not to like here?
I recently discovered we can get waxy corn at the Hmong and Karen farmers markets here in Minnesota. I can't wait to try this in the summer.
Waxy corn is first bred in Yunnan in the 1700s, next to the Karen home region!
What farmers markets do you like? I moved to Saint Paul and haven't found a reliable one yet :(
@@zaj_mahal The one they hold in front of Sun Foods near University and Dale is great in the summer. The Hmongtown Marketplace is definitely worth a visit while we wait for the snow to melt. Welcome to Saint Paul!
@@tomelko thank you!!
I made the zaolajiao dish in the beginning with TVP instead of pork, and it was absolutely delicious. Heck, even my roommate, who I'd have thought it would be distinctly too spicy for, devoured a whole bowl of it.
I love anything over rice. Would it be ridiculous to request more "over rice" recipes? 😂
haha, we also love it so much that we already have two more videos planned out.
Oh my gosh I'm so excited to make more of these.
Your channel has made me want to visit China for a gastronomic trip!
It gonna be a long trip!
I've made the zaola pork slivers so many times since watching this video, and it has become my favorite stir fry. Sadly, nobody else in my family likes food that spicy, and I have to cook it outside because it makes the air too spicy. 😂
I wish you would link where you can get these two pickled chili... I can't find on Amazon and i doubt our Asian grocery has it. Basically all they have are lau gan ma chili crisp.
This is so cool…looks delicious
I have a friend visiting me from China. Do you have any top suggestions for great ingredients that are difficult to find outside of China (e.g. that even most chinatown grocery stores in the US would not have)? Anything that you always bring back with you after a trip to China?
Xiafan! Adding this word to my vocabulary! ❤
Jajajaja that third one is straight up salsa •́ ‿ ,•̀ 🇲🇽❤️🇨🇳
Bacillus subtilis is that bacteria that converts compounds in soybeans to MK-7, a type of vitamin K that has be touted for the amazing health benefits of natto. Thank you for the information that Douchi is also an excellent source of Mk-7!
we get really good sweet corn here, i have got to try this one
I have a question and curious if you could help me out here. There's this chinese restaurant I visit here in Seoul that makes a dish called "pork with cilantro". I've been trying to figure out how to make it for so long. Its slivers of pork, pretty dry, with super spicy sliced chiles and just a messsss of cilantro on top. It is an insane rice killer and great with a cold beer. But, its WAY overpriced. One dish can cost up to 20 dollars (and I know it'd be only a fraction to make at home). Curious if you could point me to a recipe or someway to make it?
Nice, more "over rice" dishes!
Ok, this is the only way I'll ever eat nattō, or trust nato. Thanks Chris and Steph.
I need your blog with recipes ❤
What’s your opinion on Indian ginger garlic paste? Do you think it’s an appropriate sub for ginger and garlic or do you recommend using fresh garlic and ginger?
Great job guys❤
what is that curved knife/cleaver called he is using to mince the lao ga ma? does it have a specific name? couldn't find anything that has those indentations for the hands on the top of the blade.
AY YO THATS PICO DE GALLO WITH MAIZ! Sounds good. I make something similar but with Mango as well.
That sounds great, care to share how you make it? And what kind of mango do you use?
I really wish I could try the corn dish, but that will have to wait until late summer to get fresh ingredients.
Just picked up a jar of 壇壇鄉豆豉朝天椒 yesterday :) already love it, going to put it to use on this for sure!
I notice the different wok for the last one. I'm supposing it's because of the tomato acid and it's impact on a properly seasoned pan?
Excellent video as usual, but I have to ask: is “rice killer” a thing? I have literally never heard anyone use this phrase outside of this channel. Is it a translation from Chinese or something?
Do you guys use the shiny wok for corn tomato stirfry because you worried of damaging your veteran wok's seasoning? I remember reading somewhere that wok's seasoning will be severely degraded when cooking something sour and has lots of water
I immediately went to seek out those egg wrapped mash potatoes, they look so good and perfect for me to get some use out of my carbon steel
Can anyone tell me what the book in the bookshelf behind Steph is, under 'Black Swan' with 'The Anarchy' in the title?
Yummy. Cheers to you.
Great content as usual. Please make some new recipes based on Xi'an cuisine :)
how about Beijng Corn?
I was full just 5 seconds ago, and now I'm starving...
Xian Fan-ability overload 🤤
I have leftover pickled chili sauce from your Fish Flavor Sichuan Yuxiang Pork recipe. Would that work for the pork here?
Yes, it can work too, but it'll be quite spicy, so be a bit careful with the chili amount there.
looks good
Can I make a request for you to demistify something? I've heard of a dish called "stinky tofu" a couple of times, but i have no idea what it is. I assume it's some sort of fermentation that makes it "stinky," but I don't know anything about it for sure. I don't even know if it really is stinky, or if that's just a corruption of a word that means something more like "fragrant." I'd really appreciate a video talking about it, but if it really is stinky, I wouldn't want you guys to have to make it lol
which aroma baijiu do you typically cook with? (sorry if you've gone over this somewhere else before!)
We just use regular Hongxing erguotou, I believe it's Qingxiang (light aroma). This brand got a decent aroma and it won't hurt too much to use it for cooking.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thanks!!
Xiafanability - new vocab acquired
Just to be pedantic, pickling is a fermentation process.
awesome, thank you! Hao hao tse! 😊
I love this channel, but I'm curious if you guys know how to make any 'American' Chinese dishes (not authentic Chinese food) -- I don't expect you to post any videos on the topic, I'm just curious. I mean the stuff you would find in any Chinese restaurant in America, in say... 1987. Sweet and sour chicken with pork fried rice, BBQ pork and egg rolls. Oh yeah, don't forget the side of fried shrimp, LOL! And the HOT MUSTARD.
It's so good, despite being Chinese in name only. I'm extremely interested in the origin and evolution of these dishes -- were they modified Chinese recipes, to suit American tastes? Created from scratch? How did they become nearly universal? Would Chinese people refuse to eat these dishes (not suited to their tastes?). I don't know why I find this so fascinating, but it can be applied to other cultures as well, such as American Mexican food, or pizza/Italian, etc.
There’s a channel called American Chinese Food Show here on UA-cam you might like! More history than recipe focused.
@@notarose Thanks!
I'd also recommend Made With Lau here on yt. Dude decided to let his dad, who's a retired Chinese chef in the San Francisco bay area, go nuts and cook everything he knows. Often includes some nice detours into history and a decent amount of Chinese American dishes as well as more authentic stuff.
You should also check out the channel Made With Lau! It's a father/son (and the whole family) project where the son documents his Dad's recipes. The parents are Cantonese but immigrated to the US, where their kids were born, and Daddy Lau worked in Chinese restaurants his whole life. So it's a really interesting perspective where he knows all the tricks of Chinese restaurants, and how to replicate them at home (because as any Asian kid knows, food is love), but also the parents remember the foods they grew up with in China. It's always funny to me when the son asks his parents if they ever ate [insert yummy dish here] in China, and 9/10 times the dad's just like "no, meat was too expensive."
@@particlemannn ; @emmythemac -- thanks for the additional suggestion. I really love these kinds of historical trivia, such as the fact that Madame Chiang Kai-shek (宋美齡) spoke English with a strong Southern drawl accent, because she lived in the state of Georgia, as a kid.
When I was a kid, I was friends with a Chinese kid named Barton, whose family owned a Chinese restaurant (although we did not discuss it).
Using baijiu in lieu of shaoxing for cooking? Would that include the higher 56% ABV er guo tou baijiu? “No, really honey. I only use it for cooking…” Thank you! 😊
Is that skin on or skin off pork belly. It’s hard for me to tell.
yum
yummy food
good job, your English is superb
God I love pork belly and lard
😋😋😋😋😋😋 amazing 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
8:26 My life philosophy
👍👍🔥🔥
Steph is so beautiful!!
YUMMM
Why is MSG necessary?
Because it's tasty. Give Ajinomoto a try if you haven't, they're a decent brand that's widely available in the west.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified What's it made from?
@@MichelediMuratoreseaweed
what happened to ben shapiro😢
3:06 oof knife needs some work
Third poster 😏
You're so pretty! You should try parting your hair on the side and doing a 20's bob. And get cat eye glass frames.
I hate how every other video these days is voiced by Stephanie.
Why??
Some people may find my talking not clear enought, but there's always cc. The subtitles for this one should be done in about 1 hour.
And i had completely the opposite reaction. To each their own.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified
Ignore this person, you sound perfectly clear and your narration is fun to watch ❤️
Utter nonsense -- she has a lovely personality, and the other guy is fine as well.
Great technique for cooking the pork belly.