Hey guys, a few notes: 1. As per an old Sichuan cookbook, for the celery and beef stir fry, you can swirl in some dark Chinese vinegar along the side of the wok when finishing stir frying for some fragrance. Or you can sprinkle in some huajiao Sichuan peppercorn powder/oil for some slight numbness. 2. You can add other kinds of vegetables with the minced beef, such as the pickled long beans and chopped chili that were mentioned in the video. You can also use cilantro, garlic scape, garlic chives, edamame, peas, cucumber, pickled chilis. Basically anything crunchy or fragrant. 3. The beef and celery stir fry is often finished with some green garlic too, but in this video we’re using just garlic to add fragrance some fragrance and keep it simple. 4. I know we always struggle with convincing people to hand mince, so… could you use supermarket ground meat for this? Well, there’s two issues that we’ve found using pre-ground meat for stirfrying - first, because it’s so finely ground, the final texture of the beef ends up sort of ‘mealy’ instead of ‘springy’. It’s not inedible or anything, but there’s a sort of hamburger-helper quality to the final dish that we find a little off putting in the context of Chinese food. Second, ground beef *loves* to suck up oil, which can be an issue because having a flavorful oil base is pretty much a prerequisite for many Sichuan stir fries. 5. There are, of course, some workarounds. One possible route that you could go would be to fry the ground beef *past* done, until it’s crispy and has released the frying oil (ala Sichuan style Mapo Tofu). This would be perfectly delicious, but you’d likely want to significantly cut back on the beef and make it more of a ‘flavoring agent’ for a celery dominant dish. 6. And probably not-so-coincidentally? That’s *exactly* the route that Dunlop goes in her recipe (at least the one in Food of Sichuan). We didn’t want to go the exact same route as her though, so if you’re using supermarket ground beef? Just follow her recipe instead, though maybe season with a touch of MSG at the end ;) 7. One day I hope we can convince y’all to hand mince though. Front to back, this style of quick hand mince for stir fries takes us about ten minutes (a hand mince for stuff like dumpling fillings is a little more intense as is needs to reach a sort of pasty stage, 15-18 minutes front to back). I know that that even that ten minutes isn’t an *insignificant* amount of time for an everyday meal, but it really does make a big difference to the final texture. You can also, if you like, hand mince a large batch and freeze it: frozen hand minced meat will be much better texturally than supermarket ground beef. 8. So the fish fragrant omelette is called “Yu Xiang Hong Dan (鱼香烘蛋)” in Chinese. “Hong Dan (烘蛋)”, meaning “baked egg” is an egg cooking technique in Sichuan cuisine, which is often either slowly pan frying the egg or deep frying the egg till it’s set and puffy. The deep-fried egg is ultra crispy and holds the shape very well, as well as being a superior sauce carrier. 9. Some versions even deep fry each egg individually, then give them all a second deep fry right before serving to make it even crispier, which is sometimes called “crab egg (螃蟹蛋)” because of it’s oval shape and a nice golden color that… kind of looks like a crab? 10. Frying up some fatty minced pork for the fish fragrant sauce is another classic approach. With the addition of meat, the fish fragrant sauce turns into a “Yuxiang Shaozi (鱼香绍子)”, meaning the a fish fragrant sauce with minced pork, which is one of the classic rendition of Sichuan fish fragrant sauce. 11. In Sichuan, the zhacai liangban cold dish is often made with the whole uncut fermented zhacai stem you get straight from the market. Because those ones are very salty, people would often cut it up then soak in water for a bit before turning it into a dish. 12. Zhacai is an awesome ingredient to have around. Besides turning it into a liangban cold dish or a stir fry, you can also toss it in a fuck it soup: fry up garlic, add in some marinated pork slivers, add water, bring to a boil, do some basic salt + sugar + MSG + white pepper seasoning, then toss in some zhacai and cilantro, then you have a super simple yet tasty zhacai pork sliver soup, which can be a nice base for some quick noodle soup. That’s all we can think of for now :)
It's absolutely wonderful how much care you put in your after-video-comments! I'm happy every time I see that. It just shows how seriously you take the recipes and the endeavour to teach them to a wider international audience
I couldn't find an easily accessible source of Lao Gan Ma pickled chili for the omelette recipe. Can I substitute it with a "Chinese Pickled Chili" I found online? The description has these Chinese characters 老母水泡菜 and comes in "red chili" and "long chili" (which is also red) variants. If it's a possible substitute, which variant do I use?
@@iivin4233 lately I’ve been enjoying “poor man’s Bulgogi” which is Bulgogi made with ground beef. It’s quick and cheap, hence the nickname, since there is no need to let it marinate. With this seasoned ground beef, I can either do a lazy Bibimbap using various veggies unseasoned like carrots, onions, zucchini, yellow squash, shiitake mushrooms, sautéed baby spinach, etc. I don’t bother seasoning because the flavor will come from the yummy sauce! And that’s why I call it lazy Bibimbap since traditionally you’re supposed to use a variety of side dishes (banchan) 😁 Simple Bibimbap sauce: a spoonful of hot pepper paste (gochujang), a splash of water, a splash of Ume fermented plum syrup (maesil), lil bit of sesame oil, grated garlic clove. Always serve with a fried egg on top. I can also use the Bulgogi ground beef for Korean lettuce wraps for another night or make Japchae (glass noodles) with it using the leftover veggies I had from Bibimbap night. It’s pretty versatile 👍🏼
@@mkryu ground beef, pork and chicken are a game changer with marinated meats like bulgogi and doejibulgogi, jeyuk bokkeum or dakgalbi. cooking time is minimized and flavor is instantly in the meat instead of having to marinate. plus they top rice more effectively.
So simple, so delicious and not too many 'hard to find' ingredients. Brilliant. Thank you. Please continue the "Over Rice" series as it is just so practical and (generally) simple for delicious and genuine Chinese dishes. Love the way you have been doing it by region too.
Fuchsia Dunlop is a legit reference for Sichuan cooking in the English-speaking world. So don't worry folks. Even though she's British, she's basically a Sichuanese by heart.
Oh for sure. There's a certain audacity to Dunlop going to the British publishing world in 2001 and being like "yeah, I'm doing a cookbook on JUST Sichuan food AND I'm going to tell all my readers to go find ingredients at Chinese supermarkets". To put it in perspective, this, like, predates Rachel Ray's time at the Food Network. She did a good job at a time when no one was really asking white people to do a good job.
She is my muse. I've been chasing authentic flavors from China... many of the very dishes I ate all the time at my favorite Sichuan restaurants in Fuzhou when I lived abroad teaching English. Could never find similar dishes in the USA or could replicate them just as easily or as spot-on as I remembered them. Until I found Fuchsia Dunlop. I first came across her transformational yet simple approach to Chinese cookery after Kenji Lopez-Alt praised her in The Wok. Bought "Every Grain of Rice", turned to the first recipe and POW. Pai huang gua... Literally the dish on our dinner tables every night and one of my favorite little dishes of all time. I became so excited. I read her introduction and overall philosophies of Chinese cookery, from the sourcing of ingredients, the mindset behind plating for various group sizes, etc. All of it made so much sense. Don't get me wrong. My wife and I LOVE you guys. Chinese Cooking Demystified truly began my Chinese cookery journey. Kenji too (became obsessed with his Food Lab 4 years ago), but it was Fuchsia that brought out a beast within me that I had no idea lived inside. I am so proud of the food I've prepared and cooked, looking like photos from her book or snapshots from my own memories, as well as tasting exactly how I remembered it. I'm giddy just writing all of this.
It used to confuse the shit out of me when I was buying zhacai in the supermarket that some were just labelled "student vegetables" but honestly I get it now. It'd be such a good option for dorm life
In the UK asian stores they are called "vegetable students" which I kinda imagined was because they all looked like little students? Very confusing I agree
@tallen1628 aah ok, I'm in in the UK and at the Chiense supermarket I go to they're labelled 'vegetables for students'. Probably the most sensible description, but it still sounds slightly odd 😅
I'll quote my local Chinese restaurant menu: "Yu Hsiang, literally meaning 'aromatic fish', is a common Szechuan way of cooking fish. The trick is to mix sugar and vinegar delicately with garlic and chili sauce to generate a unique, exotic flavor. It is sautéed with water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, red pepper, and black fungus". Now thinking about it, I doubt it's that similar but hopefully Chris could guide me.
While you *can* Yuxiang fish (you can really yuxiang anything - we even found a yuxiang pizza in Shenzhen), it's far from the most common use of the flavor profile. AFAIK Yuxiang gets its name because originally the pickled chilis that would be used would be fish-pickled chilis - i.e. something like this 5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20191204/dad180f488cb446488e070999b4f3f17.jpeg It's worth emphasizing that fish-pickled-chilis are a relatively obscure ingredient - basically, it's a traditional practice specific to Pixian. Further, fish-pickled-chilis are no longer used for Yuxiang - in Sichuan, people will reach for pickled erjingtiao chilis, which were the chilis that were used to make fish-pickled-chilis. This dynamic's led there to be a number of oft-repeated stories (both in English AND Chinese) of "why the 'fish' in 'fish fragrant'", but a lot of them are just hot air.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified That explains the "sugar and vinegar" aka pickling. Likely was lost in translation. Could we perhaps get a video on Chinese pickling then?
The whole story around "The Dish" is hilarious. Of course totally understandable, given how delicious it tastes. Also, why didn't I know yuxiang omelette was a thing? I'm trying that ASAP 😍
Maybe I’ve been watching too many of these, but I can hear Chris’ voice when Steph starts giving the instructions for wok frying…First 滑锅 , Get your wok piping hot…
Oh wow. I just made "The Dish" and it is awesome. I took some out and added a few fermented black beans as well and I'm absolutely addicted. Tried the sichuan pepper AND oil, the contrast of flavours and numbing with rice. I'm going to try it on a thick-ish congee next :) Thank you for sharing
I made the egg dish and the beef+celery dish for dinner tonight. “The dish” was tasty but oh my gosh the egg dish was insane. Thanks for the consistent uploads and delicious recipes!
I am something of a pickle-head. And a chili-head. And when you started in on zhacai, my first thought was "Okay. I got to get me some of this stuff." I found it on the 'Net, and some arrives tomorrow. Ten packages of the kind you showed in your video. Let the experiments begin. If nothing else, I also have a lot of rice... Edit: The zha cai arrived, I tried one of the ten pack I got... and I have a sneaking feeling that the other nine may not last that long. This stuff is good.
For "the dish", I've been making one my own way. There's this jar of pickled garlic and peppers that's sour, adds a nice tangy spicy punch. I add that and cook it along with the bean paste. Dunno, it turns the mince into the most insane rice killer. I also use pork mince (to save on cost).
I love zhacai so much. Sometimes for me rice or porridge is just an excuse to eat a ton of spicy pickled veggies or sauce. Whenever I cook with it, I usually end up snacking on at least a quarter of the package lol
I laughed so hard when you had the Fuchsia Dunlop bit, I saw The Food Of Sichuan randomly in a bookstore last year and thought it had a nice list of recipes, so I suggested it as a Christmas present. Happy to hear she's good enough to be your nemesis!
I heard Dunlap on the radio long ago. It's so nice to see you mention her books on your program, and use her recipe. And I love when you present instead of you-know-who. 😅 Thank you. These all look fantastic.
Would you guys consider a video on how to make the preserved mustard greens? I'm sure I'm not the only viewer who can't get them easily pre-made, but can get fresh mustard greens and is willing to make stuff myself
I'm gonna make one of those oddly personal observations. I prefer when you make videos over Steph because you have this kind of unique intonation that I don't typically hear in English, but that I find somewhat captivating. No homo of course.
I just use generic pickled chillies, siracha or even tabasco for yuxiang. Lazy but if you are careful, you can tune the flavours towards a profile of your liking. Traditionally the ginger should also be of the pickled variety and vinegar could be reduced if you use pickled ginger. But most people do not distinguish malic acid from vinegar so it does not really matter that much. As to zhacai, it works brilliantly in an onion and oil laobing.
At the end of making the yummy omelet and sauce dish (Yu Xiang Hong Dan?), the captions show that Stef says it's, "...fish fragrant...". I was just curious as to what makes it have this fragrant profile. Does it also have fish notes in the flavour? Maybe the fermented nature of the sauce gives it this flourish?
There's nothing "fishy" about this flavour profile, I believe it's just called that because it was traditionally used in fish dishes. It's less common to see it in fish dishes now though, mostly pork and aubergine/eggplant. Another common English translation for "fish fragrant" is "sea spicy".
Somehow have never heard of "the dish" before (perhaps bc I've been vegetarian or vegan for the past decade) but am looking forward to trying it, albeit with impossible meat instead.
Although hand minced meat definitely has a better texture than ground meat, as someone with health problems affecting my joints, I'm willing to compromise and use ground meat to make life easier. :)
You covered La Xiao Dong or grandmothers vegetables in another over rice video. I found it once 3 years ago and now it evaporated. Its hard to find it here and was wondering if you had a recipe.
I love this video! Do you have your own recipe for pickled chilies? What kind of stove/BTU power are you using for your outdoor wok cooking? By the way, your hair looks amazing in pigtail braids!
We keep things replicable and try not to use a stove that's much stronger than the Western kitchen - just a solid camper burner, the Iwatani ZA-3HP - 12000 BTUs
Can you please make "wife's special noodle" dish from Lao Xi'er Noodle House. I can't find any videos on it. It was featured in the worth it noodle episode.
Hi ya, first off really love your videos! Great information and presentation. Thank you so much for bringing home style Chinese cooking to the masses! Where we live it is difficult to find even the Laoganma chillies, just wondering would sambal oelek or pickled jalapeños would make a good substitute?
I think this is largely one of those "what's your obsessiveness level?" questions. So like, we were *already* substituting pickled erjingtiao chilis. Instead of that Lao Gan Ma "Pickled Chili" base, more authentic to Sichuan would be whipping up something like this (old video of ours, bit of a rough watch): th-cam.com/video/OH5pP5Yd85A/w-d-xo.html So in some sense, doing that exact approach with pickled Jalapenos would actually be *closer*. The problem would be color - the sauce would obviously be green and not red. The second issue is that we didn't test this specific recipe based off of a pickled chili sauce, so of course caveat coquus and all that - you'd likely need to season to taste and make adjustments yourself. Besides that of course, duojiao, i.e. "chopped chilis", are readily available at almost all Chinese supermarkets. This is a direct substitute for the Lao Gan Ma Pickled Chili that we used in the video. Something like this: www.amazon.com/Chopped-specialty-chopped-Condiment-Flavored/dp/B0BMPKP65V/ www.sayweee.com/en/product/Chopped-Chili-Pepper/10765 www.sayweee.com/en/product/TTX-Ferment-Chili-Sauce/11254?trace_id=cec4825a-64d8-4409-b250-f21e6a3423bc
Can you elaborate on the difference between Sichuan pickled chilis and other kinds? My asian market has some Chinese pickled whole chilis, some red and some green, the green ones which the restaurant in the market (which seems to specialize in Sichuan food) uses for "fish fillet with pickled chili" (amazing dish)
If you can find pickle whole chilis, you can use the red one for the fish fragrant. The green might be "ye shan jiao/野山椒", meaning while mountain chilis, it's a lot spicier and used for other flavor profiles.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified they use the green ones for fish fillet with pickled chili, pretty spicy but I would put it at lower than a Thai chili or habanero. I guess my real question is what are the differences between those 2 and the more common pickled chiles that aren't from Sichuan? And which do you think is most versatile?
I couldn't find an easily accessible source of Lao Gan Ma pickled chili for the omelette recipe. Can I substitute it with a "Chinese Pickled Chili" I found online? The description has these Chinese characters 老母水泡菜 and comes in "red chili" and "long chili" (which is also red) variants. If it's a possible substitute, which variant do I use?
8:25 Minor cultural nitpick: throwing your hat into the ring doesn't refer to a literal circle, but rather a boxing ring. Which is a square. Don't ask questions.
10:25 "Don't make me tell you again about the scooching!" 😁 I've not had that specific dish but I have had similar, and wow is it good! I'll have to make that omelet though...😳🤤😍
For the love of god, buy a small whisk! Or pick up a small fork? I really want to try your recipes but it's absolutely disgusting how you stir every damn thing with your fingers! Do you not have cooking utensils? Forks? Whisk? Spoon? Even chopsticks?
Sorry - 2:50 - cilantro is coriander? The UK, AU and NZ have coriander leaves as well as coriander seeds and powder. Please be more region universal in your videos. Not american. In Addition 4:25 - scallions aren't a thing here - all of us call them spring onions
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Hey guys, a few notes:
1. As per an old Sichuan cookbook, for the celery and beef stir fry, you can swirl in some dark Chinese vinegar along the side of the wok when finishing stir frying for some fragrance. Or you can sprinkle in some huajiao Sichuan peppercorn powder/oil for some slight numbness.
2. You can add other kinds of vegetables with the minced beef, such as the pickled long beans and chopped chili that were mentioned in the video. You can also use cilantro, garlic scape, garlic chives, edamame, peas, cucumber, pickled chilis. Basically anything crunchy or fragrant.
3. The beef and celery stir fry is often finished with some green garlic too, but in this video we’re using just garlic to add fragrance some fragrance and keep it simple.
4. I know we always struggle with convincing people to hand mince, so… could you use supermarket ground meat for this? Well, there’s two issues that we’ve found using pre-ground meat for stirfrying - first, because it’s so finely ground, the final texture of the beef ends up sort of ‘mealy’ instead of ‘springy’. It’s not inedible or anything, but there’s a sort of hamburger-helper quality to the final dish that we find a little off putting in the context of Chinese food. Second, ground beef *loves* to suck up oil, which can be an issue because having a flavorful oil base is pretty much a prerequisite for many Sichuan stir fries.
5. There are, of course, some workarounds. One possible route that you could go would be to fry the ground beef *past* done, until it’s crispy and has released the frying oil (ala Sichuan style Mapo Tofu). This would be perfectly delicious, but you’d likely want to significantly cut back on the beef and make it more of a ‘flavoring agent’ for a celery dominant dish.
6. And probably not-so-coincidentally? That’s *exactly* the route that Dunlop goes in her recipe (at least the one in Food of Sichuan). We didn’t want to go the exact same route as her though, so if you’re using supermarket ground beef? Just follow her recipe instead, though maybe season with a touch of MSG at the end ;)
7. One day I hope we can convince y’all to hand mince though. Front to back, this style of quick hand mince for stir fries takes us about ten minutes (a hand mince for stuff like dumpling fillings is a little more intense as is needs to reach a sort of pasty stage, 15-18 minutes front to back). I know that that even that ten minutes isn’t an *insignificant* amount of time for an everyday meal, but it really does make a big difference to the final texture. You can also, if you like, hand mince a large batch and freeze it: frozen hand minced meat will be much better texturally than supermarket ground beef.
8. So the fish fragrant omelette is called “Yu Xiang Hong Dan (鱼香烘蛋)” in Chinese. “Hong Dan (烘蛋)”, meaning “baked egg” is an egg cooking technique in Sichuan cuisine, which is often either slowly pan frying the egg or deep frying the egg till it’s set and puffy. The deep-fried egg is ultra crispy and holds the shape very well, as well as being a superior sauce carrier.
9. Some versions even deep fry each egg individually, then give them all a second deep fry right before serving to make it even crispier, which is sometimes called “crab egg (螃蟹蛋)” because of it’s oval shape and a nice golden color that… kind of looks like a crab?
10. Frying up some fatty minced pork for the fish fragrant sauce is another classic approach. With the addition of meat, the fish fragrant sauce turns into a “Yuxiang Shaozi (鱼香绍子)”, meaning the a fish fragrant sauce with minced pork, which is one of the classic rendition of Sichuan fish fragrant sauce.
11. In Sichuan, the zhacai liangban cold dish is often made with the whole uncut fermented zhacai stem you get straight from the market. Because those ones are very salty, people would often cut it up then soak in water for a bit before turning it into a dish.
12. Zhacai is an awesome ingredient to have around. Besides turning it into a liangban cold dish or a stir fry, you can also toss it in a fuck it soup: fry up garlic, add in some marinated pork slivers, add water, bring to a boil, do some basic salt + sugar + MSG + white pepper seasoning, then toss in some zhacai and cilantro, then you have a super simple yet tasty zhacai pork sliver soup, which can be a nice base for some quick noodle soup.
That’s all we can think of for now :)
It's absolutely wonderful how much care you put in your after-video-comments! I'm happy every time I see that. It just shows how seriously you take the recipes and the endeavour to teach them to a wider international audience
@@timhuester7721 true, the comments are epic. and useful !
I couldn't find an easily accessible source of Lao Gan Ma pickled chili for the omelette recipe.
Can I substitute it with a "Chinese Pickled Chili" I found online? The description has these Chinese characters 老母水泡菜 and comes in "red chili" and "long chili" (which is also red) variants. If it's a possible substitute, which variant do I use?
In Korean we call yummy dishes “rice thief” (bap do duk)
Korean food taste like sewer water
That's so cute I love it!
What's your favorite Korean weekday dinner dish?
@@iivin4233 lately I’ve been enjoying “poor man’s Bulgogi” which is Bulgogi made with ground beef. It’s quick and cheap, hence the nickname, since there is no need to let it marinate. With this seasoned ground beef, I can either do a lazy Bibimbap using various veggies unseasoned like carrots, onions, zucchini, yellow squash, shiitake mushrooms, sautéed baby spinach, etc. I don’t bother seasoning because the flavor will come from the yummy sauce! And that’s why I call it lazy Bibimbap since traditionally you’re supposed to use a variety of side dishes (banchan) 😁
Simple Bibimbap sauce: a spoonful of hot pepper paste (gochujang), a splash of water, a splash of Ume fermented plum syrup (maesil), lil bit of sesame oil, grated garlic clove. Always serve with a fried egg on top.
I can also use the Bulgogi ground beef for Korean lettuce wraps for another night or make Japchae (glass noodles) with it using the leftover veggies I had from Bibimbap night. It’s pretty versatile 👍🏼
@@mkryu ground beef, pork and chicken are a game changer with marinated meats like bulgogi and doejibulgogi, jeyuk bokkeum or dakgalbi. cooking time is minimized and flavor is instantly in the meat instead of having to marinate. plus they top rice more effectively.
So simple, so delicious and not too many 'hard to find' ingredients. Brilliant. Thank you. Please continue the "Over Rice" series as it is just so practical and (generally) simple for delicious and genuine Chinese dishes. Love the way you have been doing it by region too.
Fuchsia Dunlop is a legit reference for Sichuan cooking in the English-speaking world. So don't worry folks. Even though she's British, she's basically a Sichuanese by heart.
Oh for sure. There's a certain audacity to Dunlop going to the British publishing world in 2001 and being like "yeah, I'm doing a cookbook on JUST Sichuan food AND I'm going to tell all my readers to go find ingredients at Chinese supermarkets". To put it in perspective, this, like, predates Rachel Ray's time at the Food Network. She did a good job at a time when no one was really asking white people to do a good job.
She is my muse. I've been chasing authentic flavors from China... many of the very dishes I ate all the time at my favorite Sichuan restaurants in Fuzhou when I lived abroad teaching English. Could never find similar dishes in the USA or could replicate them just as easily or as spot-on as I remembered them.
Until I found Fuchsia Dunlop. I first came across her transformational yet simple approach to Chinese cookery after Kenji Lopez-Alt praised her in The Wok. Bought "Every Grain of Rice", turned to the first recipe and POW. Pai huang gua... Literally the dish on our dinner tables every night and one of my favorite little dishes of all time. I became so excited.
I read her introduction and overall philosophies of Chinese cookery, from the sourcing of ingredients, the mindset behind plating for various group sizes, etc. All of it made so much sense.
Don't get me wrong. My wife and I LOVE you guys. Chinese Cooking Demystified truly began my Chinese cookery journey. Kenji too (became obsessed with his Food Lab 4 years ago), but it was Fuchsia that brought out a beast within me that I had no idea lived inside. I am so proud of the food I've prepared and cooked, looking like photos from her book or snapshots from my own memories, as well as tasting exactly how I remembered it.
I'm giddy just writing all of this.
@@ChineseCookingDemystifiedreading this comment after watching your stir fried spaghetti video is quite a trip 😂
It used to confuse the shit out of me when I was buying zhacai in the supermarket that some were just labelled "student vegetables" but honestly I get it now. It'd be such a good option for dorm life
In the UK asian stores they are called "vegetable students" which I kinda imagined was because they all looked like little students? Very confusing I agree
@tallen1628 aah ok, I'm in in the UK and at the Chiense supermarket I go to they're labelled 'vegetables for students'. Probably the most sensible description, but it still sounds slightly odd 😅
I'll quote my local Chinese restaurant menu: "Yu Hsiang, literally meaning 'aromatic fish', is a common Szechuan way of cooking fish. The trick is to mix sugar and vinegar delicately with garlic and chili sauce to generate a unique, exotic flavor. It is sautéed with water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, red pepper, and black fungus".
Now thinking about it, I doubt it's that similar but hopefully Chris could guide me.
While you *can* Yuxiang fish (you can really yuxiang anything - we even found a yuxiang pizza in Shenzhen), it's far from the most common use of the flavor profile.
AFAIK Yuxiang gets its name because originally the pickled chilis that would be used would be fish-pickled chilis - i.e. something like this 5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20191204/dad180f488cb446488e070999b4f3f17.jpeg
It's worth emphasizing that fish-pickled-chilis are a relatively obscure ingredient - basically, it's a traditional practice specific to Pixian. Further, fish-pickled-chilis are no longer used for Yuxiang - in Sichuan, people will reach for pickled erjingtiao chilis, which were the chilis that were used to make fish-pickled-chilis. This dynamic's led there to be a number of oft-repeated stories (both in English AND Chinese) of "why the 'fish' in 'fish fragrant'", but a lot of them are just hot air.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified That explains the "sugar and vinegar" aka pickling. Likely was lost in translation. Could we perhaps get a video on Chinese pickling then?
The whole story around "The Dish" is hilarious. Of course totally understandable, given how delicious it tastes.
Also, why didn't I know yuxiang omelette was a thing? I'm trying that ASAP 😍
Maybe I’ve been watching too many of these, but I can hear Chris’ voice when Steph starts giving the instructions for wok frying…First 滑锅 , Get your wok piping hot…
Where is he though?
@@CaptainCrunchyBitsMIA.
Oh wow. I just made "The Dish" and it is awesome. I took some out and added a few fermented black beans as well and I'm absolutely addicted. Tried the sichuan pepper AND oil, the contrast of flavours and numbing with rice. I'm going to try it on a thick-ish congee next :) Thank you for sharing
"Mildly spicy"
Sichuan for "You better buckle up!" in Western.
Amazing work. I will use this.
I made the egg dish and the beef+celery dish for dinner tonight. “The dish” was tasty but oh my gosh the egg dish was insane. Thanks for the consistent uploads and delicious recipes!
I am something of a pickle-head. And a chili-head. And when you started in on zhacai, my first thought was "Okay. I got to get me some of this stuff."
I found it on the 'Net, and some arrives tomorrow. Ten packages of the kind you showed in your video.
Let the experiments begin. If nothing else, I also have a lot of rice...
Edit: The zha cai arrived, I tried one of the ten pack I got... and I have a sneaking feeling that the other nine may not last that long. This stuff is good.
I’d love to see an edition of Over Rice dishes featuring Fujianese cuisine!
The Dish has become a total staple in our house. It's quick to cook and delicious and I'm so happy y'all showed it to us.
“下飯-ability”? I think you mean “飯-tastic” dishes 😉
You should see my wife roll her eyes when I describe something as 他妈的licious.
I so love pickled mustard greens. Pork and Pickled Mustard Greens was my introduction to non-American chinese food.
Those preserved mustard greens are so good. I'm not ashamed to admit I'll eat that straight out of the packet
This might be my favorite video of yours. Thank you!
Do you think you could make a xiafancai/rice killers playlist? It would help having them all in once place :)
Good call. Making it now
For "the dish", I've been making one my own way. There's this jar of pickled garlic and peppers that's sour, adds a nice tangy spicy punch. I add that and cook it along with the bean paste. Dunno, it turns the mince into the most insane rice killer. I also use pork mince (to save on cost).
I love zhacai so much. Sometimes for me rice or porridge is just an excuse to eat a ton of spicy pickled veggies or sauce. Whenever I cook with it, I usually end up snacking on at least a quarter of the package lol
Yessss. I placed an order on Mala Market and they sent 2 small trial packets with my order. Now I'm addicted. They knew what they were doing lol
yess can't wait to try your version of The Dish!
I laughed so hard when you had the Fuchsia Dunlop bit, I saw The Food Of Sichuan randomly in a bookstore last year and thought it had a nice list of recipes, so I suggested it as a Christmas present. Happy to hear she's good enough to be your nemesis!
thank for reading all the ingredients a loud ❤
it's very helpful
I'll never be over rice dishes.
Surely you jest?
many thanks, I made the omelette for supper. It was brilliant definitely having it again... and again and so on.
"Xiafan-dability" is my new favourite word
Me, who speaks 0 Mandarin watching Steph explain the process of making Zha Cai: "huh, that sure is some funny looking Ya Cai"
Me, 30 seconds later: 😮
Oh man, I can see why “The Dish™ is so popular! I’ll have to give it a try soon!
I heard Dunlap on the radio long ago. It's so nice to see you mention her books on your program, and use her recipe. And I love when you present instead of you-know-who. 😅
Thank you. These all look fantastic.
Woah I haven't read either of those books so thanks for the summer reading rec!
OMG, an explanation of the two “pickled vegetable”! I have been so confused by this and not sure which one I should be using.
Tasty looking stuff!
Love these videos with Steph!
Delicious looking as usual.
Would you guys consider a video on how to make the preserved mustard greens? I'm sure I'm not the only viewer who can't get them easily pre-made, but can get fresh mustard greens and is willing to make stuff myself
The Dish. lol. That's the one I'm now going to make.
Great video and looks delicious
You can sub that pickled chili in a Western supermarket friendly way with pickled Calabrian chilis. They're so good
I'm gonna make one of those oddly personal observations. I prefer when you make videos over Steph because you have this kind of unique intonation that I don't typically hear in English, but that I find somewhat captivating. No homo of course.
Hey speaking of spicy stuff that's good with rice, would love to see you guys do a video on 擂辣椒皮蛋 (mashed peppers with century eggs)
Oh, we covered it in our century egg video: th-cam.com/video/zOCXstCe73A/w-d-xo.html. It's such an awesome dish~
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Oh i see, thanks! And agreed, that one is one of my all-time favourites for sure!
Ooooh I needed this
thanks, very informative
Whenever I get sick and have minimal appetite, I eat plain/mild rice congee with zha cai.
Nice
I just use generic pickled chillies, siracha or even tabasco for yuxiang. Lazy but if you are careful, you can tune the flavours towards a profile of your liking. Traditionally the ginger should also be of the pickled variety and vinegar could be reduced if you use pickled ginger. But most people do not distinguish malic acid from vinegar so it does not really matter that much. As to zhacai, it works brilliantly in an onion and oil laobing.
At the end of making the yummy omelet and sauce dish (Yu Xiang Hong Dan?), the captions show that Stef says it's, "...fish fragrant...". I was just curious as to what makes it have this fragrant profile. Does it also have fish notes in the flavour? Maybe the fermented nature of the sauce gives it this flourish?
There's nothing "fishy" about this flavour profile, I believe it's just called that because it was traditionally used in fish dishes. It's less common to see it in fish dishes now though, mostly pork and aubergine/eggplant. Another common English translation for "fish fragrant" is "sea spicy".
Thanks for sharing,
Somehow have never heard of "the dish" before (perhaps bc I've been vegetarian or vegan for the past decade) but am looking forward to trying it, albeit with impossible meat instead.
Just made the omelette - super tasty! (And just my level of skill 😆)
Although hand minced meat definitely has a better texture than ground meat, as someone with health problems affecting my joints, I'm willing to compromise and use ground meat to make life easier. :)
Cheers to you.
I can’t eat much chilli, (stupid bad stomach!) but I’m tempted to try that omelette without the spice !🤷♀️👍🏻🥰
any recommendations for sichuanese-inspired ways to prepare shredded seitan?
Idk if it was specifically Sichuan style but in their seitan 101 video they make a málà stir fry with it that was really good
You covered La Xiao Dong or grandmothers vegetables in another over rice video. I found it once 3 years ago and now it evaporated. Its hard to find it here and was wondering if you had a recipe.
Ya Cai is so hard to find in US supermarkets, I’ve been all over the east coast and only saw it once.
More over rice recipes more!!
I love this video! Do you have your own recipe for pickled chilies? What kind of stove/BTU power are you using for your outdoor wok cooking? By the way, your hair looks amazing in pigtail braids!
We keep things replicable and try not to use a stove that's much stronger than the Western kitchen - just a solid camper burner, the Iwatani ZA-3HP - 12000 BTUs
Can you please make "wife's special noodle" dish from Lao Xi'er Noodle House. I can't find any videos on it. It was featured in the worth it noodle episode.
Hi ya, first off really love your videos! Great information and presentation. Thank you so much for bringing home style Chinese cooking to the masses!
Where we live it is difficult to find even the Laoganma chillies, just wondering would sambal oelek or pickled jalapeños would make a good substitute?
I think this is largely one of those "what's your obsessiveness level?" questions.
So like, we were *already* substituting pickled erjingtiao chilis. Instead of that Lao Gan Ma "Pickled Chili" base, more authentic to Sichuan would be whipping up something like this (old video of ours, bit of a rough watch): th-cam.com/video/OH5pP5Yd85A/w-d-xo.html
So in some sense, doing that exact approach with pickled Jalapenos would actually be *closer*. The problem would be color - the sauce would obviously be green and not red. The second issue is that we didn't test this specific recipe based off of a pickled chili sauce, so of course caveat coquus and all that - you'd likely need to season to taste and make adjustments yourself.
Besides that of course, duojiao, i.e. "chopped chilis", are readily available at almost all Chinese supermarkets. This is a direct substitute for the Lao Gan Ma Pickled Chili that we used in the video. Something like this:
www.amazon.com/Chopped-specialty-chopped-Condiment-Flavored/dp/B0BMPKP65V/
www.sayweee.com/en/product/Chopped-Chili-Pepper/10765
www.sayweee.com/en/product/TTX-Ferment-Chili-Sauce/11254?trace_id=cec4825a-64d8-4409-b250-f21e6a3423bc
Never heard of Fuchia Dunlop1 new cook to check out!
Heard that 榨菜 is essential among hiking hobbyists because they put your sodium level back in one bite 🤣
I'm gonna ask my hiking friends to see if that's true hahahaha.
Can you elaborate on the difference between Sichuan pickled chilis and other kinds? My asian market has some Chinese pickled whole chilis, some red and some green, the green ones which the restaurant in the market (which seems to specialize in Sichuan food) uses for "fish fillet with pickled chili" (amazing dish)
If you can find pickle whole chilis, you can use the red one for the fish fragrant. The green might be "ye shan jiao/野山椒", meaning while mountain chilis, it's a lot spicier and used for other flavor profiles.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified they use the green ones for fish fillet with pickled chili, pretty spicy but I would put it at lower than a Thai chili or habanero.
I guess my real question is what are the differences between those 2 and the more common pickled chiles that aren't from Sichuan? And which do you think is most versatile?
I couldn't find an easily accessible source of Lao Gan Ma pickled chili for the omelette recipe.
Can I substitute it with a "Chinese Pickled Chili" I found online? The description has these Chinese characters 老母水泡菜 and comes in "red chili" and "long chili" (which is also red) variants. If it's a possible substitute, which variant do I use?
8:25 Minor cultural nitpick: throwing your hat into the ring doesn't refer to a literal circle, but rather a boxing ring. Which is a square. Don't ask questions.
Oh, wow, I'm early.
Although I don't know why I'm watching TH-cam at 4:30 AM…
Pls do a video on stinky tofu!!!
I feel like a crossover between tortang talong and the fish fragrant omelette in this video would be amazing
I almost always get sichuan beef or kung pao chicken
10:25 "Don't make me tell you again about the scooching!"
😁
I've not had that specific dish but I have had similar, and wow is it good! I'll have to make that omelet though...😳🤤😍
oh my god yummy
I just can't stand the aroma of zhacai, am I broken?
With these food prices, I have been experimenting more with ground beef and rice dishes.
what happened to Chris :O
Tired from voicing the last video :)
For the love of god, buy a small whisk! Or pick up a small fork? I really want to try your recipes but it's absolutely disgusting how you stir every damn thing with your fingers! Do you not have cooking utensils? Forks? Whisk? Spoon? Even chopsticks?
Sorry - 2:50 - cilantro is coriander? The UK, AU and NZ have coriander leaves as well as coriander seeds and powder. Please be more region universal in your videos. Not american. In Addition 4:25 - scallions aren't a thing here - all of us call them spring onions
Thank you for correcting my English :). I'm sure you're correct.