Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Ok, so… Taiwanese Hot & Sour soup. I’m 97% sure that Hot & Sour came into the West via Taiwan, and it’s undeniably a popular dish there. So why not show the Taiwanese version? Honestly, recreating the food from Taiwan is something that we’ve kind of been uncomfortable with. I (Chris), have been to Taiwan for a grand total of four days, if Steph wants to travel to Taiwan it’s mandatory that she goes with one of those tour groups (so… nope), and importantly, finding a proper Taiwan restaurant here in the mainland is… bloody difficult. I’m not saying that we’ll never do any, but that’s where the reticence comes in. 2. So besides Taiwan there’s four places Hot & Sour can be seen - (1) Wuxi, and to a lesser extent the surrounding areas (e.g. Shanghai) (2) in parts of Shandong (3) in Shaanxi and (4) sprinkled around the North. So why did I think that this was an American takeout sort of thing for a long time? It’s… a big country, and even up north (lived in Beijing for a bit) it’s far from a staple. Spent my first ten years here without even bumping into Hot & Sour soup; Steph (being Cantonese) was only vaguely aware of its existence. But that’s what’s so damn cool about the food here - you’re always learning new stuff. 3. Culinary history usually isn’t so cut and dry, because while China seems to have been better than most places in the world at this… people seem to be less inclined to scribble down what the common people were eating for dinner than wars and kings and so forth. This dish is an *old* dish - I always wax poetic about how 90% of dishes worldwide were invented between the years 1800-1950… this dish is in the 10%. From what I can tell, Henan Hulatang is the oldest soup of the bunch, which may or may not have been derived from an even older - like, historical - soup called “latang”. One source cited the fall of the Northern Song (and the subsequent migration of Henanese to Wuxi) as the impetus for the creation of Hot & Sour, which made sense to me. But there’s also a Hot & Sour soup from Cao country in the Shandong province too, which may or may not be just as old as Hulatang. 4. I’m not a historian. Take everything that I say ever well salted. If you pushed me, I’d probably venture that there were two fundamental styles of Hot & Sour - the Wuxi version and the Shandong version. The Shandong version likely made its way up North as Beijing food is basically a cross between Shandong and Northeastern influences. The Northwestern version was likely also derived from the Shandong version due to the migration of the Shandong people westward during the Ming dynasty (who also repopulated Sichuan as an aside, thus the Shandong-Sichuan connection with a lot of Sichuanese dishes). I think the story of the Wuxi version being derived from Henanese Hulatang makes sense. In Taiwan it *appears* to be primarily the Wuxi style, but please… someone from Taiwan can correct me. Then from Taiwan it made its way to the West. 5. If anyone from Taiwan, Shandong, the NW etc wants to share a brief recipe of how they/their family makes the soup, toss a comment and I’ll “heart” it for visibility. 6. Quick clarification: if you’re making a big pot of the stuff, use ~1.4L of the beef broth, then multiply all of your seasoning & the slurry by four. In the reddit post, I won’t assume you’re making individual servings with a claypot or whatever. That claypot just looks real nice, and, y’know… TH-cam thumbnails and all. 7. FYI Zhenjiang vinegar = Chinkiang vinegar. Should’ve tossed some “i.e. Chinkiang” on the screen when I was saying it, but forgot. As an aside… jesus, pinyin is so much better than Wade-Giles lol. Basically all you need to know is that “Zh” is more or less a “J” sound and “X” is more or less an “sh” sound and congrats, you can pronounce most Mandarin words in a not cringy way (still doesn’t stop newscasters from screwing that up though…). 8. So right. Off next week, will be back the week after with Steph’s Dad. I think we might want to try to do something a little different with this next video of his though… I think we’ll have him do the talking while he’s cooking, and Steph’ll make the subtitles for it. Dawei’s got a lot to say, and especially for a super old-school almost-extinct street food from the 1920s… I think it’d be best to let him say it. At least… that’s the plan, but we’ve never done that kind of video before so… could be a disaster haha. Worst comes to worst we’ll just do the normal style with me (Chris) doing the VO. Steph's Dad making Bak Chit Gai if anyone's curious: th-cam.com/video/GADCrcagFh0/w-d-xo.html Dawei's an awesome cook. Love his ginger smashing technique - I'm close but I still can't quite do it as well as him...
Chinese Cooking Demystified great i will be trying this suan la tang recipe!! Just wondering what you two think of the ccp? Im just recently learning about all the bad things done by ccp but i also want to know what are the goods about ccp? I have a friend in china and shes 22years old in ccp. I am confused about the ccp now. Thanks
For those looking abroad: the fried seitan puffs may also be just called "fried gluten", since seitan is basically just pure wheat gluten. I've seen such things many times in Chinese markets.
Growing up in Taiwan 酸辣湯 is super common and one of my favourite soups of all time. However what you get in Taiwan looks nothing like what you made, though I would be keen to try the Wuxi style version as I've never had that. Glad you mentioned the Taiwan version in your comment though.
they use alot of the same basic ingredients (wine, dried mushrooms, basic broths, green onions, vinegar, soy sauce, etc) just combined in different ratios and cooked in different ways. its like a sandwich place that has 50 different sandwiches.
all soups are this easy to make. Anyone who graduates culinary school should be able to make at least 40 complexed soups from basic Chicken, Beef, Fish, and Veggie stocks.
Just wanted to tell you guys your channel has motivated me to get a lot more adventerous in my 'lets make something nice today' food choices and I've spent a decent amount of time in Asian food markets and Chinatown in Chicago since i've started watching this and a few other cooking channels.
Hot and Sour is my favorite soup in the world. I had to teach myself how to make it to fit our family’s tastes-extra spicy. Next time I have a chunk of free time I’ll be trying this version.
Hot and sour is my fav as well. Do you have a recipe for your version? I like mine very spicy and very sour. I'm only familiar with the americanized version, which has never been served with bread or cilantro. Not sure else is different, but this looks delish!
I grew up in Beijing and have always thought it as part of Jingcai, or the Beijing branch of Shandong cuisine. It probably shows that this is so widespread that everyone thinks it their local dish. However, the use of hujiao (peppercorns or piper nigrum) in China started in earnest when it was a common item of gift to the Imperial Court from SE Asia and at various times of difficulty at the court they gave their officials and civil servants these kinds of gifts as part of their salaries. Hence the two capitals Beijing and Nanjing and surrounding areas have long traditions of using this in cooking - you can only consume a small amount yourself so if you get paid in this you have to put it into the local food market for cash or barter, and that market will then find use for this thing, etc. The combination of peppercorns and spices made from them (e.g. white pepper powder) and vinegar is classic worldwide without national boundaries. What's special about hot and sour soup is what you described so well, the combination of ingredients and the process. Bravo and I think we will do this soon again having seen this video now. My son unthinkingly orders this every time in a Chinese restaurant and this will no doubt happen soon now that he has just started a holiday in Beijing. Or his grandma will make him one. All the best with your moving to the foodie's heaven.
The Taiwanese recipe uses pork, carrot, bamboo, muer, mushroom, tofu, duck blood, and egg drop. We usually julienne the ingredients thinner than what's shown in this video. The vegetables and pork are stir-fried first, then we add soy sauce, and then water or stock. Then we add the rest of the ingredients, starch water, adjust the flavour to taste with black vinegar, white pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and top with coriander. Sometimes we'll cook some noodles serve it as a noodle soup.
In the FWIW category, 酸辣湯/hot and sour soup in Taiwan (and in the style that you showed) is considered to be a “northern” dish. It is commonly eaten along with pan fried dumplings or scallion pan cakes, and thus you can see the “northern” connection. The dish was most certainly brought to Taiwan by those who left China circa 1949 and was brought to the United States by Taiwan immigrants post WWII. The addition of more local ingredients such as pork blood in the Taiwanese version came way later as the dish localized in Taiwan. In the “northern style” restaurants in Taiwan, however, the soup still is very much identical to what you may find in Beijing and Shandong.
May your move go as smoothly as possible. I am learning so much from you two. From an "expat mainlander" living on Maui, mahalo nui loa! Your lessons bring a smile to my heart and inspire me to learn and COOK. Aloha.
Hot and sour soup from Chinese restaurants here in Britain usually contains shiitake mushrooms, chicken and shrimps. And is often thickened with egg. I love it. And the genuine version in this clip looks awesome.
Wow. I have virtually zero resources to use half of these ingredients in my small town in the middle of nowhere. But this channel is 100% motivating me to spend some time in China.
There's a site called Amazon.com, they sell books, cd's, ATV tires, brake pads, dried shrimp, shoes, umbrellas, fishing hats,...I'm just guessing that maybe these items are on there too
Haha that was almost the idea ;) Did a slightly different transition this time - if I ramble in the intro like this one I've been trying to make it flow better into the cooking itself
I love that fact that at the end of the videos you guys give some info about how it's eaten and alternative dishes which are still authentic. Good luck with the move!
Thank you for the historical perspective! I've been making wantanmien's hot and sour soup recipe for years, and everyone loves it! I always just sort of assumed hers was "authentic Chinese", even though I knew how big and varied China and outlying areas are.
It's 4 am here, I can't sleep, and I want in life is noodles. But the awesome Chinese grocery store near me has shut down temporarily and rice noodles from Publix just aren't cutting it. So, I'm obsessively watching your videos.
I actually have every ingredient for this and its my husband's favorite SOUp... i can even make the wheat gluten bread puffs... well except for the clay pots im drooling over... eventually 😉✌ Thanks for sharing your recipe, def saving this one in the Library 👏🥰👏 Generally a silent viewer 👌👌
I studied in Taiwan for 2 years but never took liking for the hot and sour soup until the few last months.. Slightly too late and been craving since! Great video as always👍
Quick Personal Story: I really enjoy H&S Soup ... enough so that 20+ yrs ago I researched how to make a fairly decent version. It even became something of a benchmark dish for us that we'd order any time we (my wife and I) tried out a new chinese restaurant ... we'd order just the soup and an app or two, and begin reading the menu. If the chef's version of H&S Soup didnt display a reasonably successful 5-way balance between the hot, sour, salty, umami and sweet notes that are the signature of the dish, it factored large into how shallowly, or deeply, we'd like to explore their main menu for entrees. If the soup wasnt up to snuff, we'd pay for our appetizers and then go elsewhere for dinner ... and if the soup was excellent, we'd order entrees. 😎 EDIT: Nice recipe ... beef shank broth as the base is a definite "sunday" upgrade over faster versions. Never seen day lilies or fried saitan puffs in my area. Neat. No chilies ? Versions here in the US often round out the heat from the ground pepper with a little dried hot red chilie, scissored into flakes, sometimes with a dash of sichuan pepper.
Aside: its interesting how in asian cuisines, beef broth is nearly always of the white variety (ex: pho), whereas in most western cuisines beef broth is usually brown (courtesy of pre-roasting the bones and trim to develop color and flavor) ... a notable exception being for borscht. Anyway, i found it interesting.
So glad Chris became a convert ;D Regardless of authenticity, hot and sour soup is one of my favorite things from American take out. No surprise that it is eaten with pot stickers, as that is how i instinctively enjoy ot too.
This is absolutely impossible to make in my country due to the lack of most ingredients, but if I could, I'd devour this like an animal. THIS LOOKS SO GOOOD
Man... you guys make the BEST damn videos on TH-cam when it comes to Chinese cooking, if not cooking in general. I never even knew how much I really wish I knew more about actual Chinese food until I started watching your videos. I just have two quick things to say/ask. 1.) Could you please do a video where you kind of discuss what exactly it is you are doing? I can tell that the guy is from America or Canada, and the lady is from China (or at least Asia). And you seem to be making videos for the English speaking world to see Chinese food that is real, and not just US take out stuff. But... I can't imagine that you moved to China just to do that. Are you two in a relationship, and that is how you came to China? Are you there on business, and decided to do this as a side-hustle/hobby? 2.) Has anyone ever told you just how much your voice identically sounds like Richard Dreyfuss when he was narrating the film "Stand By Me"? Every time I watch one of your videos, I think... "Holy shit! How did they get Richard Dreyfuss to narrate their video?!"
This is very authentic wuxi hot and sour soup, I grew up very close to where wuxi is. I tried many recipes online, even ones from top chinese chefs, and this one is the only one that was able to recreate the taste of hot and sour soup from my childhood. It's so good, I made it many times already and my parents love it and called it authentic as well. But Chris, you gotta visit Taiwan more when you get the chance, because food there is just *chefs kiss*. I remember one of my 老外 friends once said, Taiwan is what westerners want China to be like, if you know what I mean, I feel like this is very true. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing my home country, I honestly want it to become a better place.
Wuxi-style suanlatang contains more ingredients than henan style, and looks much lighter and healthier, it’s definitely much better! Greetings from wuxi native here
@@thisissteph9834 Yeah, it's easy to find all of the ingredients that you are mentioning in all of your recipes in London's China Town. Though I made a small mistake and bough dried tofu skins (sticks) instead of tofu sheet, but it wasn't a big game changer I think. I've been following your channel for a year already and you have the best English speaking Chinese cooking channel on TH-cam ! Thank you for your hard work and cool content!
This is an odd request but could you go through the famous cooking sequence in Eat Drink Man Woman and demystify the various dishes prepared in that montage?
As far as I recall, there is a cantonese variation of this in Hong Kong which involves a spicier blend and black vinegar. It also contains char siu instead of regular pork and may contain "fish lips" which is, I guess, a sort of crunchy mushroom.
My old local made a version - which everybody complained it smelt very strong - that tasted amazing. It didn't taste anything like the versions I've tried from any other restaurant and have always wanted to find the recipe. The shop is closed now but I think of it often. 😂
History note, in pre 20th century China, the majority of the population got most of their water through eating soup. Manchu policies made tea wildly expensive and as in Early Modern Europe most water was unsafe to drink unless boiled. So the Chinese made a fault a feature by creating incredible soups in vast variety.
Could you please make a tutorial of how to make 'WU CHI WU' soup. ( I'm not sure if that's how you spell it). But it is a basic chicken broth(thickened), chopped chicken livers or gizzards, egg whites, some green onions. Is super delicious. Thank you for your recipes. They are awesome!💕
One of the Wuxi's specialty is the seitan puff, or what we call it, deep fried gluten ball. The Wuxi version of this puff thingy is less dense than the regular one, and also lighter in color. Your puff thing looks more like a regular one. But why am I complaining? I couldn't even get the regular one outside of my hometown. Damn it.
Very nice and original and interesting Video! Too bad I can't cook this because I can't get most of the ingredients. I had to interpret the idea of suan la tang and make a version of it from where I live. It was quite a journey till I managed to get a similar flavour. Eventually I changed the recipe more and more until it wasn't even the same dish. The only thing that remained was the sour and the fire. And the soup of course.
You guys are amazing! Such a wonderful channel - I could watch your videos all day. One little thing; shiitake mushrooms are pronounced "she talk eh?" and not "shit talk eh?" ;)
Hey lovely foodie people, I've just recently discovered your channel, and I believe you guys show the most authentic in-depth Chinese recipes available on the Tube of Yous. Thank you very much for your time and passion. Also, I assume that you know of her, but just in case check out Liziqi for the cinematography and the international appeal. Totally different style to yours, but somehow inspiring and someone who knows their traditional food as well. All the best with the move to Shunde, greetings from New Zealand.
Good hot and sour soup is amazing, one of my favourite things, unfortunately not every restaurant has a good recipe and serves what is basically a bowl of brown, thickened with cornstarch and as appetizing as my mother in law's scallop stew (she thought salt was a spice)
I love great Chinese take-out and was looking for a great chicken wing recipe. I have never been to China and have no idea whether chicken wings are popular over there or not. I really enjoy watching your video. They are always full of awesome ingredients. Please can you do a traditional Chinese chicken wing recipe for me.
Hope you guys can move to different places(cities) every year or every half year, so you may introduce different local cuisines by regions. Looking forward to your ShunDe series.
Haha if we ever make enough money from this (huge if, we'd need like double what we're doing now), our dream/goal is to use Shunde as a base, and do 4-6 months out of the year in other cities around the country.
Just the moment I'm busy learning Mandarin (refreshing) and daydreamed about hot n sour soup this video comes up. Oh what a coincidence. I'm going to Taiwan in march 2020!
Looks amazing. I'm excited to find ways to veganise your recipes for myself at home. It would be amazing if you could show more 'accidentally vegan' dishes or had more tips on how you can make things more veggie friendly, I really appreciate it when you do it already. :) So excited by your channel!
Always feel free to ask us how to make things vegan in the comments! I know we need to get back to some veg dishes but unfortunately next three videos won't fit that bill :/ For this one though you could absolutely use a Chinese veggie stock and skip the beef.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thanks for replying! I was thinking of doing it that way. Love this channel, real Chinese food and recipes are so hard to find!
I'm surprised you would think a dish where 3 of the common ingredients are bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, and day lily buds are American takeout. Maybe it's my love of mu shu, but I would've assumed it's from Shandong because of that. I'm surprised American Chinese takeout places didn't replace those ingredients with cabbage, carrots, and shiitakes.
[Insert the Number of the Comment I am Here.] I love your narration and clear explination of the history/origins on these dishes and their ingredients!
It's a little known fact that to successfully master the Wuxi Finger Hold technique (cousin of the Five-point-palm Exploding Heart technique), it is mandatory to consume a bowl of this Wuxi hot and sour soup every other day at lunch and dinner, in addition to a daily workout regime of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10k-run, all without ever using an air conditioner.
My favorite soup with Peking duck soup. Though the recipe I have is different. Probably because lot of these things are not available here. I got the recipes from a Chinese cook.
My absolute favourite Asian soup. Bar none. I've made it myself a few times~but not like this, 😋. But considering the lack of authentic ingredients I had to use, it wasn't terrible, lol. This looks like a winter's night warming, comforting soup. Question if I may Steph and Chris~ What do taro root and lotus root taste like cooked or raw? They have it at a local specialty grocery store but w/out knowing what its like to cook with and the flavour profile I don't want to buy it~it's not cheap~with no idea of the taste. Thank you. Hope your move is as stress free as possible and you love your new home! Maybe a tour when you're settled? Jenn 💖 🇨🇦
Taro root's actually poisonous raw! Both are best cooked :) Taro is basically... potato but different. Bit firmer. Slightly different flavor, but like potato is used to absorb other flavors. Lotus root is kinda crunchy, sorta akin to radish, only it doesn't lose that crisp texture as easily after cooking. Those're probably terrible descriptions, I'm really bad at describing flavors. Hearting your comment so hopefully it gets a bit of visibility so someone else could answer better. And sure! We'll take a pic of the new balcony for Patreon at least once we're there ;)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified As usual~thank you! I'm excited for you because of your move! New experiences. New places to go and do new things. Best of luck.
Gosh I miss China😭! Your videos are awesome Chris! And the way you talk is so engaging 🤩. Wish I could get Eric to talk on my videos but he’s clueless about cooking lol
Whenever we actually get around to doing merch, we'll definitely have to have a t-shirt with just the words FUCK MYOGLOBIN Thoroughly confusing anyone that works in medicine
Best of luck on your move. Fortunately THAT is all behind us THANK GOD. There is/was a place that made something like this in LA that I adored with a 'fried bread' in it and all manner of ingredients I can not recall. It spoiled me but then you can get exceptional Chinese food in Los Angeles.
hot and sour soup in taiwan is very light in color, whereas most hot & sour soups in the US are dark if not almost black. Probably due to the vinegar used.
![BETTER THAN TAKEOUT - Authentic Hot And Sour Soup Recipe [酸辣汤]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D78r9jvLliA/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey guys, a few notes:
1. Ok, so… Taiwanese Hot & Sour soup. I’m 97% sure that Hot & Sour came into the West via Taiwan, and it’s undeniably a popular dish there. So why not show the Taiwanese version? Honestly, recreating the food from Taiwan is something that we’ve kind of been uncomfortable with. I (Chris), have been to Taiwan for a grand total of four days, if Steph wants to travel to Taiwan it’s mandatory that she goes with one of those tour groups (so… nope), and importantly, finding a proper Taiwan restaurant here in the mainland is… bloody difficult. I’m not saying that we’ll never do any, but that’s where the reticence comes in.
2. So besides Taiwan there’s four places Hot & Sour can be seen - (1) Wuxi, and to a lesser extent the surrounding areas (e.g. Shanghai) (2) in parts of Shandong (3) in Shaanxi and (4) sprinkled around the North. So why did I think that this was an American takeout sort of thing for a long time? It’s… a big country, and even up north (lived in Beijing for a bit) it’s far from a staple. Spent my first ten years here without even bumping into Hot & Sour soup; Steph (being Cantonese) was only vaguely aware of its existence. But that’s what’s so damn cool about the food here - you’re always learning new stuff.
3. Culinary history usually isn’t so cut and dry, because while China seems to have been better than most places in the world at this… people seem to be less inclined to scribble down what the common people were eating for dinner than wars and kings and so forth. This dish is an *old* dish - I always wax poetic about how 90% of dishes worldwide were invented between the years 1800-1950… this dish is in the 10%. From what I can tell, Henan Hulatang is the oldest soup of the bunch, which may or may not have been derived from an even older - like, historical - soup called “latang”. One source cited the fall of the Northern Song (and the subsequent migration of Henanese to Wuxi) as the impetus for the creation of Hot & Sour, which made sense to me. But there’s also a Hot & Sour soup from Cao country in the Shandong province too, which may or may not be just as old as Hulatang.
4. I’m not a historian. Take everything that I say ever well salted. If you pushed me, I’d probably venture that there were two fundamental styles of Hot & Sour - the Wuxi version and the Shandong version. The Shandong version likely made its way up North as Beijing food is basically a cross between Shandong and Northeastern influences. The Northwestern version was likely also derived from the Shandong version due to the migration of the Shandong people westward during the Ming dynasty (who also repopulated Sichuan as an aside, thus the Shandong-Sichuan connection with a lot of Sichuanese dishes). I think the story of the Wuxi version being derived from Henanese Hulatang makes sense. In Taiwan it *appears* to be primarily the Wuxi style, but please… someone from Taiwan can correct me. Then from Taiwan it made its way to the West.
5. If anyone from Taiwan, Shandong, the NW etc wants to share a brief recipe of how they/their family makes the soup, toss a comment and I’ll “heart” it for visibility.
6. Quick clarification: if you’re making a big pot of the stuff, use ~1.4L of the beef broth, then multiply all of your seasoning & the slurry by four. In the reddit post, I won’t assume you’re making individual servings with a claypot or whatever. That claypot just looks real nice, and, y’know… TH-cam thumbnails and all.
7. FYI Zhenjiang vinegar = Chinkiang vinegar. Should’ve tossed some “i.e. Chinkiang” on the screen when I was saying it, but forgot. As an aside… jesus, pinyin is so much better than Wade-Giles lol. Basically all you need to know is that “Zh” is more or less a “J” sound and “X” is more or less an “sh” sound and congrats, you can pronounce most Mandarin words in a not cringy way (still doesn’t stop newscasters from screwing that up though…).
8. So right. Off next week, will be back the week after with Steph’s Dad. I think we might want to try to do something a little different with this next video of his though… I think we’ll have him do the talking while he’s cooking, and Steph’ll make the subtitles for it. Dawei’s got a lot to say, and especially for a super old-school almost-extinct street food from the 1920s… I think it’d be best to let him say it. At least… that’s the plan, but we’ve never done that kind of video before so… could be a disaster haha. Worst comes to worst we’ll just do the normal style with me (Chris) doing the VO.
Steph's Dad making Bak Chit Gai if anyone's curious: th-cam.com/video/GADCrcagFh0/w-d-xo.html Dawei's an awesome cook. Love his ginger smashing technique - I'm close but I still can't quite do it as well as him...
Excited to have dad make an appearance!
What are those tour groups like anyway?
deathpyre42 they’re terrible. They just take you to touristy spots that are usually expensive.
@@charm1ng So, are the tour guides getting kickbacks from the spots then?
Chinese Cooking Demystified great i will be trying this suan la tang recipe!! Just wondering what you two think of the ccp? Im just recently learning about all the bad things done by ccp but i also want to know what are the goods about ccp? I have a friend in china and shes 22years old in ccp. I am confused about the ccp now. Thanks
For those looking abroad: the fried seitan puffs may also be just called "fried gluten", since seitan is basically just pure wheat gluten. I've seen such things many times in Chinese markets.
I've seen fried gluten puffs in tons of Asian groceries, shouldn't be hard to find in any major city!
In the US, it is also often called wheat meat.
ive never seen "seitan puffs" but i have seen fried gluten!
I can't see/hear the word 料酒 anymore without adding "aka shaoxing wine" in my head...
Now I know what to ask for at the store though. Helpful!
Lol I thought I was the only one doing that
His continued efforts have been successful!
Growing up in Taiwan 酸辣湯 is super common and one of my favourite soups of all time. However what you get in Taiwan looks nothing like what you made, though I would be keen to try the Wuxi style version as I've never had that.
Glad you mentioned the Taiwan version in your comment though.
I always wondered how those high-end cantonese restaurants are able to provide dozens of different types of soup in their menus
J. R. haha because that what we eat everyday. Cantonese won’t have a meal without soup.
they use alot of the same basic ingredients (wine, dried mushrooms, basic broths, green onions, vinegar, soy sauce, etc) just combined in different ratios and cooked in different ways. its like a sandwich place that has 50 different sandwiches.
@@XD-kd9ln Some of the best soups in the world too. Lol!
all soups are this easy to make. Anyone who graduates culinary school should be able to make at least 40 complexed soups from basic Chicken, Beef, Fish, and Veggie stocks.
Soup goes well with everything. A well-made soup with dumplings... ah, truly feels like Heaven!
Just wanted to tell you guys your channel has motivated me to get a lot more adventerous in my 'lets make something nice today' food choices and I've spent a decent amount of time in Asian food markets and Chinatown in Chicago since i've started watching this and a few other cooking channels.
Hot and Sour is my favorite soup in the world. I had to teach myself how to make it to fit our family’s tastes-extra spicy. Next time I have a chunk of free time I’ll be trying this version.
Hot and sour is my fav as well. Do you have a recipe for your version? I like mine very spicy and very sour. I'm only familiar with the americanized version, which has never been served with bread or cilantro. Not sure else is different, but this looks delish!
omg! Cried when I saw your video!! Thank your for making this! I am just so homesick and really missed this 酸辣汤…🥲
I grew up in Beijing and have always thought it as part of Jingcai, or the Beijing branch of Shandong cuisine. It probably shows that this is so widespread that everyone thinks it their local dish. However, the use of hujiao (peppercorns or piper nigrum) in China started in earnest when it was a common item of gift to the Imperial Court from SE Asia and at various times of difficulty at the court they gave their officials and civil servants these kinds of gifts as part of their salaries. Hence the two capitals Beijing and Nanjing and surrounding areas have long traditions of using this in cooking - you can only consume a small amount yourself so if you get paid in this you have to put it into the local food market for cash or barter, and that market will then find use for this thing, etc. The combination of peppercorns and spices made from them (e.g. white pepper powder) and vinegar is classic worldwide without national boundaries. What's special about hot and sour soup is what you described so well, the combination of ingredients and the process. Bravo and I think we will do this soon again having seen this video now. My son unthinkingly orders this every time in a Chinese restaurant and this will no doubt happen soon now that he has just started a holiday in Beijing. Or his grandma will make him one.
All the best with your moving to the foodie's heaven.
The Taiwanese recipe uses pork, carrot, bamboo, muer, mushroom, tofu, duck blood, and egg drop. We usually julienne the ingredients thinner than what's shown in this video. The vegetables and pork are stir-fried first, then we add soy sauce, and then water or stock. Then we add the rest of the ingredients, starch water, adjust the flavour to taste with black vinegar, white pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and top with coriander. Sometimes we'll cook some noodles serve it as a noodle soup.
In the FWIW category, 酸辣湯/hot and sour soup in Taiwan (and in the style that you showed) is considered to be a “northern” dish. It is commonly eaten along with pan fried dumplings or scallion pan cakes, and thus you can see the “northern” connection. The dish was most certainly brought to Taiwan by those who left China circa 1949 and was brought to the United States by Taiwan immigrants post WWII. The addition of more local ingredients such as pork blood in the Taiwanese version came way later as the dish localized in Taiwan. In the “northern style” restaurants in Taiwan, however, the soup still is very much identical to what you may find in Beijing and Shandong.
May your move go as smoothly as possible. I am learning so much from you two. From an "expat mainlander" living on Maui, mahalo nui loa! Your lessons bring a smile to my heart and inspire me to learn and COOK. Aloha.
Best of luck on your move. Stay safe and welcome to your new home. Keep up the great videos.
Freaking LOVE hot sour soup !
praise from the soup master!
Great recipe! These are great videos to watch. That hot pepper soup at the beginning looks amazing as well
Hot and sour soup from Chinese restaurants here in Britain usually contains shiitake mushrooms, chicken and shrimps. And is often thickened with egg. I love it. And the genuine version in this clip looks awesome.
Lives in Wuxi for one year. Loved three foods there: this soup (thanks!), 无锡排骨, and shrimp from Lake Tai.
Wow. I have virtually zero resources to use half of these ingredients in my small town in the middle of nowhere. But this channel is 100% motivating me to spend some time in China.
You might be able to find a lot of the dried ingredients online! Since they're dried, they wouldn't spoil while being sent in the mail.
Holy crap ... you're moving after fixing the 5-yr old leaky faucet. We'll all be dissecting every new video for something about which to complain. 😉
The best cold remedy ever: Hot and Sour soup
Absolutely !!😆😍
That feeling when you can't get 3/4 of ingredients anywhere you live...
Yeah, hard to call this demystified when most of the ingredients are extremely mysterious.
There's a site called Amazon.com, they sell books, cd's, ATV tires, brake pads, dried shrimp, shoes, umbrellas, fishing hats,...I'm just guessing that maybe these items are on there too
@Nick Hiltz yes sir, they do
Amazon
All the ingredients can be found at a Chinese supermarket or on amazon if you don't live anywhere near a Chinese supermarket.
Am I the only one who expected you to say:
“To get started with hot and sour soup you’ll need...”
*SOUP*
Haha that was almost the idea ;) Did a slightly different transition this time - if I ramble in the intro like this one I've been trying to make it flow better into the cooking itself
We love you guys!! Good luck with the move; excited to see your dad and what he will teach us 🥰😘💝😽
Thanks. Have had an addiction to tom yum for many years, and was eating that whilst watching.
Will probably make : )
I love that fact that at the end of the videos you guys give some info about how it's eaten and alternative dishes which are still authentic. Good luck with the move!
This is the expensive version of French onion soup. Don't get me wrong , they taste mighty delicious during the cold winters
Thank you for the historical perspective! I've been making wantanmien's hot and sour soup recipe for years, and everyone loves it! I always just sort of assumed hers was "authentic Chinese", even though I knew how big and varied China and outlying areas are.
It's 4 am here, I can't sleep, and I want in life is noodles. But the awesome Chinese grocery store near me has shut down temporarily and rice noodles from Publix just aren't cutting it. So, I'm obsessively watching your videos.
I actually have every ingredient for this and its my husband's favorite SOUp... i can even make the wheat gluten bread puffs... well except for the clay pots im drooling over... eventually 😉✌ Thanks for sharing your recipe, def saving this one in the Library 👏🥰👏
Generally a silent viewer 👌👌
I studied in Taiwan for 2 years but never took liking for the hot and sour soup until the few last months.. Slightly too late and been craving since! Great video as always👍
I know, right? It's a bit of an acquired taste. But once you like it, you love it.
I'm going to miss your balcony! I hope you bring all the plants with you.
Quick Personal Story: I really enjoy H&S Soup ... enough so that 20+ yrs ago I researched how to make a fairly decent version. It even became something of a benchmark dish for us that we'd order any time we (my wife and I) tried out a new chinese restaurant ... we'd order just the soup and an app or two, and begin reading the menu. If the chef's version of H&S Soup didnt display a reasonably successful 5-way balance between the hot, sour, salty, umami and sweet notes that are the signature of the dish, it factored large into how shallowly, or deeply, we'd like to explore their main menu for entrees. If the soup wasnt up to snuff, we'd pay for our appetizers and then go elsewhere for dinner ... and if the soup was excellent, we'd order entrees. 😎
EDIT: Nice recipe ... beef shank broth as the base is a definite "sunday" upgrade over faster versions. Never seen day lilies or fried saitan puffs in my area. Neat.
No chilies ? Versions here in the US often round out the heat from the ground pepper with a little dried hot red chilie, scissored into flakes, sometimes with a dash of sichuan pepper.
Aside: its interesting how in asian cuisines, beef broth is nearly always of the white variety (ex: pho), whereas in most western cuisines beef broth is usually brown (courtesy of pre-roasting the bones and trim to develop color and flavor) ... a notable exception being for borscht. Anyway, i found it interesting.
So glad Chris became a convert ;D
Regardless of authenticity, hot and sour soup is one of my favorite things from American take out. No surprise that it is eaten with pot stickers, as that is how i instinctively enjoy ot too.
This is absolutely impossible to make in my country due to the lack of most ingredients, but if I could, I'd devour this like an animal. THIS LOOKS SO GOOOD
Man... you guys make the BEST damn videos on TH-cam when it comes to Chinese cooking, if not cooking in general. I never even knew how much I really wish I knew more about actual Chinese food until I started watching your videos. I just have two quick things to say/ask. 1.) Could you please do a video where you kind of discuss what exactly it is you are doing? I can tell that the guy is from America or Canada, and the lady is from China (or at least Asia). And you seem to be making videos for the English speaking world to see Chinese food that is real, and not just US take out stuff. But... I can't imagine that you moved to China just to do that. Are you two in a relationship, and that is how you came to China? Are you there on business, and decided to do this as a side-hustle/hobby?
2.) Has anyone ever told you just how much your voice identically sounds like Richard Dreyfuss when he was narrating the film "Stand By Me"? Every time I watch one of your videos, I think... "Holy shit! How did they get Richard Dreyfuss to narrate their video?!"
This is very authentic wuxi hot and sour soup, I grew up very close to where wuxi is. I tried many recipes online, even ones from top chinese chefs, and this one is the only one that was able to recreate the taste of hot and sour soup from my childhood. It's so good, I made it many times already and my parents love it and called it authentic as well. But Chris, you gotta visit Taiwan more when you get the chance, because food there is just *chefs kiss*. I remember one of my 老外 friends once said, Taiwan is what westerners want China to be like, if you know what I mean, I feel like this is very true. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing my home country, I honestly want it to become a better place.
Wuxi-style suanlatang contains more ingredients than henan style, and looks much lighter and healthier, it’s definitely much better! Greetings from wuxi native here
What a wholesome channel!
Hey guys! Just made this recipe at home! It's absolutely great! Thank you so much ! You have an amazing channel !
Cool~ Glad you like it! Did you manage to find all the ingredients?
@@thisissteph9834 Yeah, it's easy to find all of the ingredients that you are mentioning in all of your recipes in London's China Town. Though I made a small mistake and bough dried tofu skins (sticks) instead of tofu sheet, but it wasn't a big game changer I think.
I've been following your channel for a year already and you have the best English speaking Chinese cooking channel on TH-cam ! Thank you for your hard work and cool content!
I'm totally making this. It looks like the perfect thing on a rainy day.
This is an odd request but could you go through the famous cooking sequence in Eat Drink Man Woman and demystify the various dishes prepared in that montage?
As far as I recall, there is a cantonese variation of this in Hong Kong which involves a spicier blend and black vinegar. It also contains char siu instead of regular pork and may contain "fish lips" which is, I guess, a sort of crunchy mushroom.
My old local made a version - which everybody complained it smelt very strong - that tasted amazing. It didn't taste anything like the versions I've tried from any other restaurant and have always wanted to find the recipe. The shop is closed now but I think of it often. 😂
As much as I like to cook I think I will simply go to our one and only Chinese restaurant in town and just order my favorite soup!!!
History note, in pre 20th century China, the majority of the population got most of their water through eating soup. Manchu policies made tea wildly expensive and as in Early Modern Europe most water was unsafe to drink unless boiled. So the Chinese made a fault a feature by creating incredible soups in vast variety.
Could you please make a tutorial of how to make 'WU CHI WU' soup. ( I'm not sure if that's how you spell it). But it is a basic chicken broth(thickened), chopped chicken livers or gizzards, egg whites, some green onions. Is super delicious.
Thank you for your recipes. They are awesome!💕
Over 300+ likes~zero dislikes. I've literally never seen that before! Good on ya. You're THAT good! 👌👌👌👍👍👍👏👏👏
One of the Wuxi's specialty is the seitan puff, or what we call it, deep fried gluten ball. The Wuxi version of this puff thingy is less dense than the regular one, and also lighter in color. Your puff thing looks more like a regular one. But why am I complaining? I couldn't even get the regular one outside of my hometown. Damn it.
国外没的吃，特别想做，当时既没有豆腐干，也没有黄花菜和干木耳，更没有油面筋，还没有镇江醋，只能买到酱油粉丝和牛肉，然后真的硬是用这三样加了白醋来回味无锡的酸辣汤😂😂😂回无锡的时候一般头两天都会吃的，就两个生煎包子，特别赞，这次从无锡专门带了油面筋过来，其他材料也齐活了，我觉得我明天可以做一个😀
Very nice and original and interesting Video! Too bad I can't cook this because I can't get most of the ingredients. I had to interpret the idea of suan la tang and make a version of it from where I live. It was quite a journey till I managed to get a similar flavour. Eventually I changed the recipe more and more until it wasn't even the same dish. The only thing that remained was the sour and the fire. And the soup of course.
That looks absolutely delicious, I'm going to give it a try!! Thank You
wow i will miss the balcony.. you even fixed the sink. :(
Love your videos, my recipes list is getting long! Good Luck in your move, it can be very stressful, so take care of each other!
Your meals look so yummy!!! Thank you for making me want to cook.
I like that this recipe is on the healthier side.
Made this today and it is delicious. Was surprised at how much the szechuan pepper comes through.
You guys are amazing! Such a wonderful channel - I could watch your videos all day.
One little thing; shiitake mushrooms are pronounced "she talk eh?" and not "shit talk eh?" ;)
Hey lovely foodie people, I've just recently discovered your channel, and I believe you guys show the most authentic in-depth Chinese recipes available on the Tube of Yous. Thank you very much for your time and passion. Also, I assume that you know of her, but just in case check out Liziqi for the cinematography and the international appeal. Totally different style to yours, but somehow inspiring and someone who knows their traditional food as well.
All the best with the move to Shunde, greetings from New Zealand.
Good hot and sour soup is amazing, one of my favourite things, unfortunately not every restaurant has a good recipe and serves what is basically a bowl of brown, thickened with cornstarch and as appetizing as my mother in law's scallop stew (she thought salt was a spice)
I love great Chinese take-out and was looking for a great chicken wing recipe. I have never been to China and have no idea whether chicken wings are popular over there or not. I really enjoy watching your video. They are always full of awesome ingredients. Please can you do a traditional Chinese chicken wing recipe for me.
Brand new viewer, and I love it..
I live that clay bowl with handles!
Hope you guys can move to different places(cities) every year or every half year, so you may introduce different local cuisines by regions. Looking forward to your ShunDe series.
Haha if we ever make enough money from this (huge if, we'd need like double what we're doing now), our dream/goal is to use Shunde as a base, and do 4-6 months out of the year in other cities around the country.
Love these guys.
Just the moment I'm busy learning Mandarin (refreshing) and daydreamed about hot n sour soup this video comes up. Oh what a coincidence. I'm going to Taiwan in march 2020!
Wuxi fried seitan puff is a fabulous invention. Maybe you can make a video on red braise pork-stuffed seitan puff next time.
Looks amazing. I'm excited to find ways to veganise your recipes for myself at home. It would be amazing if you could show more 'accidentally vegan' dishes or had more tips on how you can make things more veggie friendly, I really appreciate it when you do it already. :) So excited by your channel!
Always feel free to ask us how to make things vegan in the comments! I know we need to get back to some veg dishes but unfortunately next three videos won't fit that bill :/ For this one though you could absolutely use a Chinese veggie stock and skip the beef.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thanks for replying! I was thinking of doing it that way. Love this channel, real Chinese food and recipes are so hard to find!
Yooooo who else hyped af for another Dawei video
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.
I'm surprised you would think a dish where 3 of the common ingredients are bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, and day lily buds are American takeout. Maybe it's my love of mu shu, but I would've assumed it's from Shandong because of that. I'm surprised American Chinese takeout places didn't replace those ingredients with cabbage, carrots, and shiitakes.
[Insert the Number of the Comment I am Here.]
I love your narration and clear explination of the history/origins on these dishes and their ingredients!
I love your channel, kind of cool !
good luck with the move!!!!!!!! :-) love the videos
It's a little known fact that to successfully master the Wuxi Finger Hold technique (cousin of the Five-point-palm Exploding Heart technique), it is mandatory to consume a bowl of this Wuxi hot and sour soup every other day at lunch and dinner, in addition to a daily workout regime of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10k-run, all without ever using an air conditioner.
That looks amazing!!
My main way of evaluating any Chinese place is how they do hot and sour soup.
My favorite soup with Peking duck soup. Though the recipe I have is different. Probably because lot of these things are not available here. I got the recipes from a Chinese cook.
My absolute favourite Asian soup. Bar none. I've made it myself a few times~but not like this, 😋. But considering the lack of authentic ingredients I had to use, it wasn't terrible, lol. This looks like a winter's night warming, comforting soup.
Question if I may Steph and Chris~
What do taro root and lotus root taste like cooked or raw? They have it at a local specialty grocery store but w/out knowing what its like to cook with and the flavour profile I don't want to buy it~it's not cheap~with no idea of the taste.
Thank you.
Hope your move is as stress free as possible and you love your new home!
Maybe a tour when you're settled?
Jenn 💖 🇨🇦
Taro root's actually poisonous raw! Both are best cooked :)
Taro is basically... potato but different. Bit firmer. Slightly different flavor, but like potato is used to absorb other flavors. Lotus root is kinda crunchy, sorta akin to radish, only it doesn't lose that crisp texture as easily after cooking.
Those're probably terrible descriptions, I'm really bad at describing flavors. Hearting your comment so hopefully it gets a bit of visibility so someone else could answer better.
And sure! We'll take a pic of the new balcony for Patreon at least once we're there ;)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified
As usual~thank you!
I'm excited for you because of your move! New experiences. New places to go and do new things. Best of luck.
Good recipe!
wow how informative! great recipe!!
Gosh I miss China😭!
Your videos are awesome Chris! And the way you talk is so engaging 🤩.
Wish I could get Eric to talk on my videos but he’s clueless about cooking lol
Myoglobin has emerged as the biggest threat to culinary nirvana since the widespread use of iodized salt. 😂
Whenever we actually get around to doing merch, we'll definitely have to have a t-shirt with just the words FUCK MYOGLOBIN
Thoroughly confusing anyone that works in medicine
@@ChineseCookingDemystified I never buy merch but that might be edgy enough to warrant an exception. Luck and prosperity to you in Shunde!
Those seitan puffs look great, but as much as I love gluten my stomach disagrees XD
love it.
edit: could you please make video about some traditional teas?
TIL dangmyeon is sweet potato noodle. Ate that stuff all my life without realizing what it was made out of.
Thank you for sharing! Subscribed.
I've only heard soy tofu sheets called "Tofu Skins" and I buy them dried at an Asian Market.
Looks great but I guess I’ll just have to order again.
Wow, looks great! Thank you.
Could you please show us how to make the puffy things (Seitan puffs ???) please?
I can find “shaoxing” wine but it seems like a basic kitchen use version. Is there an original fancier drinkable version to ask about?
Best of luck on your move. Fortunately THAT is all behind us THANK GOD.
There is/was a place that made something like this in LA that I adored with a 'fried bread' in it and all manner of ingredients I can not recall. It spoiled me but then you can get exceptional Chinese food in Los Angeles.
That looks delicious! Yum. I am so lucky that I live close to an Asian market here in California.
Right??? We’re SO lucky we have access to any ingredient imaginable in californ
My favorite soup..ty!
This is my favorite chinese dish. 💜
Are you sure this dish is from Wuxi? I'm from Suzhou which is next to Wuxi. The two cities share mostly thr same culture but I have never heard of it.
无锡风雷酸辣汤 is such a classic there though, plus 玉兰饼~
This soup was a original medicinal soup!!
hot and sour soup in taiwan is very light in color, whereas most hot & sour soups in the US are dark if not almost black. Probably due to the vinegar used.
Wow. In the US I've always found it to be made with pork, not beef.
Actually, seitan puffs are available in many Chinese grocers in the US.
If you don't like the texture of starch-thickened soup, does this still 'work' as a dish if left out?
Totally