Hey guys, a few notes: 1. I know that ‘fresh red medium spicy chilis’ are frustratingly difficult to come by in many parts of the West. Our suggestion of “Cayenne+Kashmiri” would need to be executed with dried chilis of course, so do check the description box for how to make do with reconstituted dried chilis. 2. After thinking on it though, path of least resistance would likely be to just ferment whatever medium-spicy fresh chilis you can get. Fresnos? Sure. Localize it. It’ll still be tasty, I’m sure. Just don’t use Thai bird’s eye for this (one of the fresh chilis available in the west, I know), unless you want to burn your face off. Though if you’re using something a bit on the mild side like red jalapenos, you could potentially toss in a few Thai birds eye in there to make up for the difference in heat (Guizhou Xianjiao are ~10-20k SVU). 3. Ok, so… in the latest installment of ‘Chris and Steph are weird as hell about sponsors’… Ming River. Basically, Andong put us in touch with them, and I’ve got a couple mutual friends with one of dudes that’s heading it up - Derek Sandhaus (he’s the guy that’s the author of “Baijiu: the Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits). Really cool dude, and honestly we felt like we could potentially just do a totally-unpaid collab with them once this plague was over and they could swing back to China. Ming River’s under Luzhou Laojiao, a very famous Baijiu distillery in Sichuan, so we thought it’d be cool to do a Baijiu video one day like we did for Shaoxing wine. 4. We did ask them if we could try a bottle of Ming River though in exchange for using it in this video, which they were happy to oblige. I quite liked it though (Luzhou Laojiao *is* solid as hell), so I wanted to be able to recommend them without having a disclosure. So I bought a similarly priced Luzhou Laojiao and gave it to my buddy Rob so that I could somehow rinse off the ‘stain’ of getting a free bottle. But apparently… somewhere along the way we also told them that we’d link them in the description box if we liked it lol. So I figured best practice would be to disclose it anyway. Notice the beautiful symmetry here. Somehow we ended up plugging Ming River without getting a dime, *while* still creating the appearance of a conflict of interest enough that I had to disclose it lol. 5. Anyway, if you’re in the premium baijiu market, grab a bottle. It’s good. I’ll respectfully disagree with their marketing approach for it as a cocktail ingredient though... IMO, you should shoot your baijiu, preferably on a cool, humid day washing down some fiery Chongqing hotpot. 6. So how to use your fermented chili sauce? There’s a bunch of classic dishes that use the stuff, notably Guizhou’s Guailu (‘Freestyle’) Fried Rice. The video for the fried rice was *supposed* to come out concurrently with this one (my bad, with the Kenji interview things ended up a bit busy this week), but we’ll be releasing that guy next week - in time for your ferment to be finished, no worries :) 7. If you want a sort of general ‘all purpose’ use of the stuff though, you can use it as a base for stir-fries. What I like doing is frying a bit of smoked meat (Hunan smoked Larou, you could alternatively use country ham or even a good bacon) in some lard (or caiziyou, or whatever), then adding the chili paste. Fry it on low heat for ~2-3 minutes until it stains the oil red. Up the heat to high. Add in some aromatics, if you like (e.g. I like adding scallion whites). Swirl some baijiu over your spatula and around the sides of the wok. Add whatever the hell you like - maybe some marinated pork belly, or some rice noodles, or some pre-fried cauliflower… season with soy sauce, salt, sugar, MSG, and optionally a touch of vinegar. Note that what I just described isn’t based in any dish or thing in particular, just something I personally do with it. Any Guizhou people reading this are more than welcome to share how their family uses it! That’s all I can think of for now. Both me and Steph are much happier with this Steph VO’d one than the previous one (the fermented rice). Next video will be back to the Chris-VO hands-only style. Maybe while BA’s still figuring their shit out, we can swoop in and continue with “It’s Alive! With Steph” lol.
@@webadu9689 Haha yeah, we did a bit of a collab with him. Super nice of him, obviously. Right now he's moving (so we'll need to wait to get the footage from his side), but you should be seeing some sort of CCD+Kenji interview within the next couple weeks :)
I know right ;) So yeah... we filmed it over one day. The clear one was our previous batch. Now we've got two fermenting along there... if anyone happens to live in Shunde, you're welcome to grab some lol
Yeah fermentation's definitely something that we definitely should've started earlier with. It's such a basis for the cuisine here. It's just so easy to pick up bottles of stuff, haha
Heads up that if you're using a sealed mason jar then you'll probably need to burp it regularly to release the gas generated by fermentation - it would be awful to waste hard-earned chilli paste by mixing it with broken glass 😬
Don't even waste time with trying to ferment in Mason/Ball jars, let alone trying to drill them with a hundred diamond drill bits. Save your time and money and just get some of those cool Weck fermentation jars and lids.
Yeah I think we're starting to get the hang of it (Steph from a VO standpoint, me from an editing/filming standpoint) - much happier with this guy than the Laozao vid. It's definitely something that we're gunna continue to play around with :)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified It's obvious Steph is an ESL speaker, but she has a lovely voice and excellent fluency with English. I wouldn't mind at all to hear more of her.
Just to add to ur dried chilli guide, i use yogurt whey to activate. I made my own yogurt starter with the green pepper method, so its a perfect cycle :)
1:16 I like how you prepare the ingredients with natural home clothes and in an available space at home. It looks like a mom prepares it and it feels extra cozy and authentic.
Wow, the fermentation process is so powerful, your pot turned clear :D Anyway, I've been wanting to find a crock like that but I've only heard of the local name around here, so THANK YOU.
Great stuff! I was actually making some lacto-fermented habanero hot sauce when I fired TH-cam up and saw this. Great timing! Now I’ll need to go get some more peppers and start a batch of this too!
Kaifeng used to house a small Jewish community,so is there such a thing as Jewish-Chinese cuisine? If I'm not mistaken Kaifeng Jews are originally from Persia, hence I would imagine a mix between Persian and Chinese culinary traditions.
Bro that's because neither of them celebrate christmas and chinese restos are the only ones left open... American thing, not persian influenced chinese thing. Smh Americans 🤦♂️
@@EricLeafericson Wdym bro that makes no sense whatsoever, Ethiopian jews have different culture to american jews have different culture to sephardic. Man some people.
I have never seen a jar with an airlock like that. What a great invention. The only thing I can think of that's similar that I've seen is the airlock for homebrew beer/wine, I guess it's the same principal.
This video is perfectly timed for me. Have a ton of peppers turning red in the garden (also inspired by your channel, but sadly not Chinese varieties because I couldn't source the seeds) and have wanting to make some kind of fermented sauce out of them. Thanks!
I’m so glad you posted this - have wondered about whether it’s worth buying this chilli sauce or how to make it. I have so much more faith in your recipes for these things than in most blogs or books. With summer approaching in Australia, this is very timely! Are the continuity bloopers a hint? The ‘dried’ chillies at 2:08 have the stems back on them! And the earthenware jar turned into a glass one at 3:56.
haha we just forgot to film a shot of the chilis drying, so I used a bit of footage from the 'chili show'. Completely blanked that they we're stem-on until I was mostly done editing the video. We figured, 'eh, whatever, I dunno if anyone'll notice' :) For the jars... yeah the clear one was from a couple weeks back. I'm eating the one from the clay jar now, I promise it's just as tasty haha
Excellent, good to see this one! I make my own fermented chilli sauce and it's finally nice to see a recipe rather than just blundering along with what I think should be in there.
A friend used to take me to this awesome Cantonese restaurant and the one thing we used to get was a variety of fried potatoes and taro tossed in this salted egg yolk sauce. We have also gotten the same sauce on shrimp and lobster. Unsure if it’s a traditional Hong Kong food but if it is I would love to see your take on it!
This is probably closer to the Hunan version (spicy af) , but in the U.S. I used Thai peppers for the heat and Red Jalapenos for color and sweetness. 75% Thai is very hot even for me and I can eat almost any native Hunan food. You can mix different percentages, but if you want to cut some of the heat, you can remove the seeds from the Thai peppers. Or if you want something very mild, you could just use Red Jalapenos (sometimes referred to as Anaheim chilis) and throw in about 10% Thai. Both of these are pretty abundant in the U.S. in the Summer. I had about a bushel of different chilis on trays around my kitchen drying and the smell in the whole house after couple hours was really awesome. Piece of advice, unless you are doing a very small amount, you want to do the blender/chopping part outside. I would also spring for the Ming River BaiJiu because it is absolutely amazing. They ship to the U.S.
I use vodka or some other strong alcohol in my fermenter. The only down side is that it evaporates pretty quick when open to air, but in my top that only vents when under pressure it is perfect. It never gets slimey, I never have to worry about contaminating the batch during refilling, and you will not taste it at all. Also in all of my ferments it will just disolve without issue, because water does not always mix well with what I am fermenting. I do not know what you experiences are with that, but I can recommend it, if you have the correct top on your fermenter.
I am a new subscriber to your channel, but have to say, you are both wonderful and you are appealing to my love of all things "Chinese" food related! Thank you!!
I make something like this with hot/spicy garden peppers and sweet red bell peppers. 40/60 hot to sweet. Just salt no sugar as the peppers are sweet. What I love is both the smell (fruity) and the taste, perfectly spicy, salty and slightly sour. I freeze the excess and it seems to be fine when defrosted. This sounds great! If I get any chance to try any of those peppers I will love to try.
Ha we read all the comments in the first 24 hours of posting. We used to read/get back to everyone, but... just gets a bit hard after a while. (plus, we're STILL getting racist comments under the wet market video and the Wuhan reganmian video...)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified for every racist comment, there's someone like me who is really happy i got to learn about a new culture or food or even just see a marketplace i've never seen before. If anything you're fighting racism by showing foreigners how cool chinese people and their food are.
@@FR33Willi haha I know. the vast, vast majority of all comments - under new *and* old videos - are really good. It's just... I've learned that with social media it's really important to curate the stuff you see. Starting your day with a bunch of stuff that makes you angry ain't good for the mood :) And even if four out of five comments are cool, the remaining one tends to stick in your brain. Human nature and all that. If you ever need to get in touch with us, Reddit and Patreon are usually the mediums :)
Steph does a great job VOing. I'm not a video producer but present regularly at large conferences and lectures. As a small tip and in my opinion. If she slows down just slightly, it'll come out clearer. It sounds like she's trying to rush a little to get everything in, in a time-frame or that she just wants it over and done. I could be way out here but it's just my opinion. As I said, it's way better than the earlier version and she did a great job.
Tossing a pair of headphones on her made an *enormous* difference. It's always difficult to balance energy and clarity in a VO - we've both got a ways to go, but I think the more of these style of videos we do, I think the more natural she'll be at it :)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified I totally agree, it's like presenting to crowds. It's just about getting confident and comfortable and she did a great job. I think the pooch helped too to feel more comfortable. It's why you see people jiggling rings, holding coffee etc. Thanks for the videos.
A cultivar refers to plants that are propagated via vegetative tissue i.e. cuttings, grafting, layering etc. A variety refers to plants which are seeded but maintain their genetic characteristics eg maize, peppers.
😂 TQ for that, i wondered what a cultivar was but too lazy to search the term so my mind pasted a picture of a *cultivator* just bcoz it sounded similar
Hi Chris and Steph, lovely recipe...I wanted to ask whether I can use green chillies instead of red (even though you have suggested dry chilli recipe I think fresh chillies will taste different)as in my city we get the red chillies once in a while and also instead of baijiu and gin which is not easily available can I use vinegar ( have rice vinegar)or shaoxing cooking wine,thanks...
note, that baijiu is probably far stronger proof than is legal for anything in eg UK, so maximum for gin/vodka would be far less alcoholic and might not preserve the sauce or it might even go rotten? Best to keep it cold!
Awesome video! I just preserved tomato sauce. Can you pressure can this sauce in mason jars? Is refrigeration necessary when you take a portion out to use or can it sit on counter like any pepper sauce? What is the shelf life most foreigners do not put chili sauce on their food.
Wondering if you could take this recipe and spin it into a Mexican style sauce (pepper availability where I'm at is almost strictly Latin American) with a blanco tequila instead of Baijiu (which is impossible to obtain here, and with nut allergies most gin is off the table).
That seemed like a lot of headroom for lacto-fermenting - I would suggest making a bigger batch or using a smaller jar. As a bonus, this should also solve the problem of mould on the walls of the jar.
It was basically full when we started, we've been using it and when filming, it's like 1/3 gone. Should've use the other one as the final shot but then you can see what's like inside.
Need help - is Moutai Prince Baijiu from Kweichou any good? This seems like the only baijiu that is on the market in Bulgaria. Tnx in advance and keep up with the good work, we love your channel!
Perfectly fine for this specific application (even cheaper Baijius would also be totally ok too), mediocre to drink but still fine. That said, I'm a cheap date.
What's the ABV of the baijiu you used? 45%? Vodka or Gin normally have an ABV of 37,5 % and you'll have to modify the recipe if you use them in stead. You'll need to increase the booze quantity (to get the correct ethanol content) and the salt (to compensate for the extra water).
I had recently seen a clear glass chinese pickling jar from my local store (which I was deciding upon), But, will that work that way? as I know it will need to be fermented in the dark, rather then creating heat by sunlight. or should I order it from a different supplier for the clay pot? and I'm sure I can buy from Ming River Baijiu. either way, I just love Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, and I love to "cook" chinese food thus I follow both of you Chinese Cooking Demystified and MyNameisAndong.
I'm moslem, not drink alcohol Can I replace "Baiju" with something else ? I'm really curious with this condiment. Thank you for the recipe easy to understand
I can get shaoxing wine for about $2, do you think i'll be able to find cheap baijiu as well? Find out next episode on 'going to the grocery store during quarantine'
Is this the homemade version of the sambal chili paste? That’s the stuff every Asian store and a lot of Chinese/pho restaurants have have in the states.
Wow! Fantastic video as always! I know Chef John of Food Wishes has a sriracha video that's very similar to this. It's awesome that it's a technique that has a lot of wiggle room for new flavors and ingredient inclusions :)
Please do recipe for Hong Kong style Portuguese chicken w potato and rice. The place I used to go to changed owners and its been discontinued:( I can’t figure out how they make the creamy sauce. I seem to always end up just making hong kong curry instead.
Do you think this fermentation would work in a vacuum sealed bag as well just like lacto fermentation in the Noma guide to fermentation? Big fan of your videos :)
Thanks for all the great content! I had a quick question as an unfortunate English-only viewer. When you give the names for regional variants/manifestations of dishes, are you generally giving them in Mandarin/pinyin romanization or in the regional language/pronunciation/romanization?
If you're talking about the written parts, that's pinyin. When they pronounce stuff I'm not sure, but I think it's plain (well, with their accent) mandarin too.
96% of the time, it's Mandarin. For places and ingredients names, it's (basically always) Mandarin. Though when we're doing a Cantonese dish (or referring to a Cantonese cultural institution like Dai Pai Dong), we like to use the Cantonese. If we were more familiar with other Chinese languages (e.g. Wu, Minnanese, Hunanese, Teochew etc etc), we'd treat them in the same way as we treat Cantonese.
HI, thanks for this! Could you also post some suggestions for how and where to use this sauce? I fermented some for a Hunan dish earlier this year and now am looking for other ways of using it
Awesome video. I love fermenting chillis and would like to try this next! I would like ask for your advice on 2 things: 1) what temperature is the environment that you maintain the ferment in? Since room temperature varies on the part of the world we live in. 2) how long do you let it ferment for? Is that a min/max/optimal period? Thank you!
Hi! The temp would be ideally room temp in a dry place where sunlight can get to it. It should be fermented at least 2 weeks and up to 1(2?). Chinese style fermented veggies can last quite long in a fermentation process, it just comes down to how mushy you want them to be.
Would this work with thai chiles as well? I often buy thai chiles from my local market but they give a bunch at a time so I wanted to try to ferment some.
Yeeeeeees it's 糟辣椒 time. I brought it all the way to Canada just to make 贵阳辣子鸡, just not the same without the local chillis - this version definitely help mitigate that craving.
@@UhlanPasta Ha I was about to say, but given that you're from Guizhou I started second guessing myself :) You should hook up with the commenter above that started growing chicken claws and now has way too much lol
It can keep fermenting for a year or even more. We have a jars that're ten and eight months old now and they're just getting better. Just keep it in the fermentation set up, keep it air tight. If you want easier access, you can scoop some up, put it in a mason jar and put it in the fridge for day to day use.
Hey guys, a few notes:
1. I know that ‘fresh red medium spicy chilis’ are frustratingly difficult to come by in many parts of the West. Our suggestion of “Cayenne+Kashmiri” would need to be executed with dried chilis of course, so do check the description box for how to make do with reconstituted dried chilis.
2. After thinking on it though, path of least resistance would likely be to just ferment whatever medium-spicy fresh chilis you can get. Fresnos? Sure. Localize it. It’ll still be tasty, I’m sure. Just don’t use Thai bird’s eye for this (one of the fresh chilis available in the west, I know), unless you want to burn your face off. Though if you’re using something a bit on the mild side like red jalapenos, you could potentially toss in a few Thai birds eye in there to make up for the difference in heat (Guizhou Xianjiao are ~10-20k SVU).
3. Ok, so… in the latest installment of ‘Chris and Steph are weird as hell about sponsors’… Ming River. Basically, Andong put us in touch with them, and I’ve got a couple mutual friends with one of dudes that’s heading it up - Derek Sandhaus (he’s the guy that’s the author of “Baijiu: the Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits). Really cool dude, and honestly we felt like we could potentially just do a totally-unpaid collab with them once this plague was over and they could swing back to China. Ming River’s under Luzhou Laojiao, a very famous Baijiu distillery in Sichuan, so we thought it’d be cool to do a Baijiu video one day like we did for Shaoxing wine.
4. We did ask them if we could try a bottle of Ming River though in exchange for using it in this video, which they were happy to oblige. I quite liked it though (Luzhou Laojiao *is* solid as hell), so I wanted to be able to recommend them without having a disclosure. So I bought a similarly priced Luzhou Laojiao and gave it to my buddy Rob so that I could somehow rinse off the ‘stain’ of getting a free bottle. But apparently… somewhere along the way we also told them that we’d link them in the description box if we liked it lol. So I figured best practice would be to disclose it anyway. Notice the beautiful symmetry here. Somehow we ended up plugging Ming River without getting a dime, *while* still creating the appearance of a conflict of interest enough that I had to disclose it lol.
5. Anyway, if you’re in the premium baijiu market, grab a bottle. It’s good. I’ll respectfully disagree with their marketing approach for it as a cocktail ingredient though... IMO, you should shoot your baijiu, preferably on a cool, humid day washing down some fiery Chongqing hotpot.
6. So how to use your fermented chili sauce? There’s a bunch of classic dishes that use the stuff, notably Guizhou’s Guailu (‘Freestyle’) Fried Rice. The video for the fried rice was *supposed* to come out concurrently with this one (my bad, with the Kenji interview things ended up a bit busy this week), but we’ll be releasing that guy next week - in time for your ferment to be finished, no worries :)
7. If you want a sort of general ‘all purpose’ use of the stuff though, you can use it as a base for stir-fries. What I like doing is frying a bit of smoked meat (Hunan smoked Larou, you could alternatively use country ham or even a good bacon) in some lard (or caiziyou, or whatever), then adding the chili paste. Fry it on low heat for ~2-3 minutes until it stains the oil red. Up the heat to high. Add in some aromatics, if you like (e.g. I like adding scallion whites). Swirl some baijiu over your spatula and around the sides of the wok. Add whatever the hell you like - maybe some marinated pork belly, or some rice noodles, or some pre-fried cauliflower… season with soy sauce, salt, sugar, MSG, and optionally a touch of vinegar. Note that what I just described isn’t based in any dish or thing in particular, just something I personally do with it. Any Guizhou people reading this are more than welcome to share how their family uses it!
That’s all I can think of for now. Both me and Steph are much happier with this Steph VO’d one than the previous one (the fermented rice). Next video will be back to the Chris-VO hands-only style. Maybe while BA’s still figuring their shit out, we can swoop in and continue with “It’s Alive! With Steph” lol.
Would support an "It's Alive! With Steph" haha
Do I see the words Kenji interview right now? Did I miss something? Hmm
@@webadu9689 Haha yeah, we did a bit of a collab with him. Super nice of him, obviously. Right now he's moving (so we'll need to wait to get the footage from his side), but you should be seeing some sort of CCD+Kenji interview within the next couple weeks :)
What other liquor could you use? I would never be able to find the ones in the video.
@@jmicjm Vodka or gin.
Really amazing how in just 15 days your fermentation jar became see-through
I know right ;)
So yeah... we filmed it over one day. The clear one was our previous batch. Now we've got two fermenting along there... if anyone happens to live in Shunde, you're welcome to grab some lol
@Kim-un-jong NK whooooosh!
Oops, I think I have to whoosh myself
That moment when you refresh TH-cam and get a CCD video fresh out of the oven, bliss.
Next time Steph does the narration, Chris should do the ending bit. Should be fun.
I was waiting for that too :)
Role reversal.
Or have Steph's dad do it with no explanation.
Really love these recipes! I has no idea about so many of these fermented Chinese recipes and it’s great to see Steph doing narration.
Yeah fermentation's definitely something that we definitely should've started earlier with. It's such a basis for the cuisine here. It's just so easy to pick up bottles of stuff, haha
Heads up that if you're using a sealed mason jar then you'll probably need to burp it regularly to release the gas generated by fermentation - it would be awful to waste hard-earned chilli paste by mixing it with broken glass 😬
Assuming if we do it oldschool manually burping the jar, after what days fermenting do we let the air out? Weekly?
Brad Leone who hosts It's Alive mentions that you should use a fermentation strength jar. He didn't and it obliterated the jar.
The water seal shown in this video can not hold any pressure. There is no concern of explosion.
Don't even waste time with trying to ferment in Mason/Ball jars, let alone trying to drill them with a hundred diamond drill bits.
Save your time and money and just get some of those cool Weck fermentation jars and lids.
@@michaelcarey9359 he was referring to drilling the lid - which should be plastic for fermentation or acidic foods as opposed to the thin metal lids.
It's really great you guys are alternating narration!
Yeah I think we're starting to get the hang of it (Steph from a VO standpoint, me from an editing/filming standpoint) - much happier with this guy than the Laozao vid. It's definitely something that we're gunna continue to play around with :)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified It's obvious Steph is an ESL speaker, but she has a lovely voice and excellent fluency with English. I wouldn't mind at all to hear more of her.
Yeah, I love that Stef is narrating more. She's a natural.
Just to add to ur dried chilli guide, i use yogurt whey to activate. I made my own yogurt starter with the green pepper method, so its a perfect cycle :)
1:16 I like how you prepare the ingredients with natural home clothes and in an available space at home. It looks like a mom prepares it and it feels extra cozy and authentic.
Steph seems so much more confident with her VO even just compared to a few videos ago. I really like the new format, keep it up!
Wow, the fermentation process is so powerful, your pot turned clear :D Anyway, I've been wanting to find a crock like that but I've only heard of the local name around here, so THANK YOU.
Aaaaah, the amount of dog petting in this video is wonderful!
playing with the food
So right... all killer no filler on this channel, for sure. Great job on the presentation, Steph!
Great stuff! I was actually making some lacto-fermented habanero hot sauce when I fired TH-cam up and saw this. Great timing! Now I’ll need to go get some more peppers and start a batch of this too!
Great recipe for chili sauce. Additionally - that is a cute dog.
Love the videos! Always look forward to more videos from you guys! Keep em coming Steph and Chris!!!
idk what's different abt the audio in this one but it's so much better than usual. chris's VO usually tries to absolutely blow my headphones
Kaifeng used to house a small Jewish community,so is there such a thing as Jewish-Chinese cuisine? If I'm not mistaken Kaifeng Jews are originally from Persia, hence I would imagine a mix between Persian and Chinese culinary traditions.
In America, Jews often celebrate the day they get off on Christmas by eating at Chinese restaurants. So I'd imagine so
Bro that's because neither of them celebrate christmas and chinese restos are the only ones left open... American thing, not persian influenced chinese thing. Smh Americans 🤦♂️
@@daBuzzY90 Yes, I know that. But culture is culture
@@EricLeafericson Wdym bro that makes no sense whatsoever, Ethiopian jews have different culture to american jews have different culture to sephardic. Man some people.
I have never seen a jar with an airlock like that. What a great invention. The only thing I can think of that's similar that I've seen is the airlock for homebrew beer/wine, I guess it's the same principal.
This video is perfectly timed for me. Have a ton of peppers turning red in the garden (also inspired by your channel, but sadly not Chinese varieties because I couldn't source the seeds) and have wanting to make some kind of fermented sauce out of them. Thanks!
I love whenever your dog makes an appearance in your videos. :)
Yesssss another Steph VO video!! So great! I learn so much from every one of your videos.
That glass pickling jar is awesome
I'm glad I paused the 'alcohol recommendations' bit. "remaining 660ml drinkable in a dark bender of self-loathing and destruction" 😂
I’m so glad you posted this - have wondered about whether it’s worth buying this chilli sauce or how to make it. I have so much more faith in your recipes for these things than in most blogs or books. With summer approaching in Australia, this is very timely!
Are the continuity bloopers a hint? The ‘dried’ chillies at 2:08 have the stems back on them! And the earthenware jar turned into a glass one at 3:56.
haha we just forgot to film a shot of the chilis drying, so I used a bit of footage from the 'chili show'. Completely blanked that they we're stem-on until I was mostly done editing the video. We figured, 'eh, whatever, I dunno if anyone'll notice' :)
For the jars... yeah the clear one was from a couple weeks back. I'm eating the one from the clay jar now, I promise it's just as tasty haha
I love seeing more fermentation recipes! Thanks for this!
Excellent, good to see this one! I make my own fermented chilli sauce and it's finally nice to see a recipe rather than just blundering along with what I think should be in there.
A friend used to take me to this awesome Cantonese restaurant and the one thing we used to get was a variety of fried potatoes and taro tossed in this salted egg yolk sauce. We have also gotten the same sauce on shrimp and lobster. Unsure if it’s a traditional Hong Kong food but if it is I would love to see your take on it!
Even though i'm vegan i love the way chinese food looks.
I love this channel so much.
A lot of these recipes could easy be vegan, just toss the animal products and add more veggies. The would still be just as delicious.
@@jeremiahmiller6431 so true
This is probably closer to the Hunan version (spicy af) , but in the U.S. I used Thai peppers for the heat and Red Jalapenos for color and sweetness. 75% Thai is very hot even for me and I can eat almost any native Hunan food. You can mix different percentages, but if you want to cut some of the heat, you can remove the seeds from the Thai peppers. Or if you want something very mild, you could just use Red Jalapenos (sometimes referred to as Anaheim chilis) and throw in about 10% Thai. Both of these are pretty abundant in the U.S. in the Summer. I had about a bushel of different chilis on trays around my kitchen drying and the smell in the whole house after couple hours was really awesome. Piece of advice, unless you are doing a very small amount, you want to do the blender/chopping part outside. I would also spring for the Ming River BaiJiu because it is absolutely amazing. They ship to the U.S.
I use vodka or some other strong alcohol in my fermenter. The only down side is that it evaporates pretty quick when open to air, but in my top that only vents when under pressure it is perfect. It never gets slimey, I never have to worry about contaminating the batch during refilling, and you will not taste it at all. Also in all of my ferments it will just disolve without issue, because water does not always mix well with what I am fermenting.
I do not know what you experiences are with that, but I can recommend it, if you have the correct top on your fermenter.
i think I’m going to try this for holiday gifts this year, Looks easy enough.
I am a new subscriber to your channel, but have to say, you are both wonderful and you are appealing to my love of all things "Chinese" food related! Thank you!!
Amaaazing! Must be most delicious. I had never seen a fermenting pot like this before.
Great recipe here. Loved your jar!
Thanks for sharing. Enjoying the content. Cheers.
Love everything about this video, it's a really good one guys, well done.
I make something like this with hot/spicy garden peppers and sweet red bell peppers. 40/60 hot to sweet. Just salt no sugar as the peppers are sweet. What I love is both the smell (fruity) and the taste, perfectly spicy, salty and slightly sour. I freeze the excess and it seems to be fine when defrosted. This sounds great! If I get any chance to try any of those peppers I will love to try.
Idk if you read comments but you guys are awesome. Keep up the good work !
Ha we read all the comments in the first 24 hours of posting. We used to read/get back to everyone, but... just gets a bit hard after a while. (plus, we're STILL getting racist comments under the wet market video and the Wuhan reganmian video...)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified for every racist comment, there's someone like me who is really happy i got to learn about a new culture or food or even just see a marketplace i've never seen before. If anything you're fighting racism by showing foreigners how cool chinese people and their food are.
@@FR33Willi haha I know. the vast, vast majority of all comments - under new *and* old videos - are really good. It's just... I've learned that with social media it's really important to curate the stuff you see. Starting your day with a bunch of stuff that makes you angry ain't good for the mood :) And even if four out of five comments are cool, the remaining one tends to stick in your brain. Human nature and all that.
If you ever need to get in touch with us, Reddit and Patreon are usually the mediums :)
can you teach us how to make pao cai? your video always easy to follow and to understand. thank you
Congratulations on 400K!!! I love this channel so much :D
Huge improvement than the first time, keep up the good work.
Steph does a great job VOing. I'm not a video producer but present regularly at large conferences and lectures. As a small tip and in my opinion. If she slows down just slightly, it'll come out clearer. It sounds like she's trying to rush a little to get everything in, in a time-frame or that she just wants it over and done. I could be way out here but it's just my opinion. As I said, it's way better than the earlier version and she did a great job.
Tossing a pair of headphones on her made an *enormous* difference. It's always difficult to balance energy and clarity in a VO - we've both got a ways to go, but I think the more of these style of videos we do, I think the more natural she'll be at it :)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified I totally agree, it's like presenting to crowds. It's just about getting confident and comfortable and she did a great job. I think the pooch helped too to feel more comfortable. It's why you see people jiggling rings, holding coffee etc. Thanks for the videos.
Thank you so much for the new video! Absolutely loved it! Can't wait for the next one :D
Pupper is best assistant.
But all joking aside, this was very informative!
Those fermenting pots are really cool! I'm going to look for one and do some experiments
A cultivar refers to plants that are propagated via vegetative tissue i.e. cuttings, grafting, layering etc. A variety refers to plants which are seeded but maintain their genetic characteristics eg maize, peppers.
😂 TQ for that, i wondered what a cultivar was but too lazy to search the term so my mind pasted a picture of a *cultivator* just bcoz it sounded similar
wonderful video, thank you for sharing.
Can I make a request for suantangyu? Thank you for these videos - they're really great!
Hi Chris and Steph, lovely recipe...I wanted to ask whether I can use green chillies instead of red (even though you have suggested dry chilli recipe I think fresh chillies will taste different)as in my city we get the red chillies once in a while and also instead of baijiu and gin which is not easily available can I use vinegar ( have rice vinegar)or shaoxing cooking wine,thanks...
Cute puppy (what kind is it?). Great recipe. Thumbs up
Congratulations u 2. Great job.
Hi, great Content. What's was your room temperature when u fermented
note, that baijiu is probably far stronger proof than is legal for anything in eg UK, so maximum for gin/vodka would be far less alcoholic and might not preserve the sauce or it might even go rotten? Best to keep it cold!
Steph is doing great! I love how she says “videos” for some reason lol
I love the pup!!! Ty great video
OOOOhhhh.... 15 days later... the terracotta becomes glass.....magic!
lol
I try and it is amazing and delicious to be added into my cooking
Awesome video! I just preserved tomato sauce. Can you pressure can this sauce in mason jars? Is refrigeration necessary when you take a portion out to use or can it sit on counter like any pepper sauce? What is the shelf life most foreigners do not put chili sauce on their food.
Wondering if you could take this recipe and spin it into a Mexican style sauce (pepper availability where I'm at is almost strictly Latin American) with a blanco tequila instead of Baijiu (which is impossible to obtain here, and with nut allergies most gin is off the table).
Looking forward to your baijiu video!
That seemed like a lot of headroom for lacto-fermenting - I would suggest making a bigger batch or using a smaller jar. As a bonus, this should also solve the problem of mould on the walls of the jar.
It was basically full when we started, we've been using it and when filming, it's like 1/3 gone. Should've use the other one as the final shot but then you can see what's like inside.
Need help - is Moutai Prince Baijiu from Kweichou any good? This seems like the only baijiu that is on the market in Bulgaria. Tnx in advance and keep up with the good work, we love your channel!
Perfectly fine for this specific application (even cheaper Baijius would also be totally ok too), mediocre to drink but still fine. That said, I'm a cheap date.
After 15 days the clay jar turned into glass jar. How cool is that hahahah
Just made this (using Gin) and the taste is fantastic! Couldn't wait 2 weeks so I has some on rye toast with soft cheese.
wow, almost at 400k subs. Keep up the amazing work with the videos!
What's the ABV of the baijiu you used? 45%?
Vodka or Gin normally have an ABV of 37,5 % and you'll have to modify the recipe if you use them in stead.
You'll need to increase the booze quantity (to get the correct ethanol content) and the salt (to compensate for the extra water).
I recommend gloves if you want to hand handle the chilis. Chili burns hurt a lot lmao
Yum, thanks for explaining the process
I had recently seen a clear glass chinese pickling jar from my local store (which I was deciding upon), But, will that work that way? as I know it will need to be fermented in the dark, rather then creating heat by sunlight. or should I order it from a different supplier for the clay pot? and I'm sure I can buy from Ming River Baijiu. either way, I just love Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, and I love to "cook" chinese food thus I follow both of you Chinese Cooking Demystified and MyNameisAndong.
glass works, just put it in a dark cupboard.
I'm moslem, not drink alcohol Can I replace "Baiju" with something else ? I'm really curious with this condiment. Thank you for the recipe easy to understand
I can get shaoxing wine for about $2, do you think i'll be able to find cheap baijiu as well? Find out next episode on 'going to the grocery store during quarantine'
Is this the homemade version of the sambal chili paste? That’s the stuff every Asian store and a lot of Chinese/pho restaurants have have in the states.
Wow! Fantastic video as always!
I know Chef John of Food Wishes has a sriracha video that's very similar to this. It's awesome that it's a technique that has a lot of wiggle room for new flavors and ingredient inclusions :)
My soon to be mother-in-law from Shaanxi makes this herself, along with fermented tofu and pickles, it's absolutely delicious!
💗💓💋
Please do recipe for Hong Kong style Portuguese chicken w potato and rice. The place I used to go to changed owners and its been discontinued:( I can’t figure out how they make the creamy sauce. I seem to always end up just making hong kong curry instead.
That outfit is really cute!
Do you think this fermentation would work in a vacuum sealed bag as well just like lacto fermentation in the Noma guide to fermentation?
Big fan of your videos :)
Could you please list some of the recipes that use this Zao Lajiao in their preparation?
"Wear gloves"
Doesn't wear gloves
Chad move
That's what used to be/is called Hunan hand. Not a Kung Fu move!
I've handled plenty of raw peppers up to and including Naga Bhut Jolokias(Bhutanese Ghost Peppers and it didn't bother my hands.
@@jackwyatt1218 You just end up setting everything you touch on fire
looks so good!
Can we use a western or Korean fermenting jar? Asking since those don't need the water and don't get moldy.
Thanks for all the great content! I had a quick question as an unfortunate English-only viewer. When you give the names for regional variants/manifestations of dishes, are you generally giving them in Mandarin/pinyin romanization or in the regional language/pronunciation/romanization?
If you're talking about the written parts, that's pinyin. When they pronounce stuff I'm not sure, but I think it's plain (well, with their accent) mandarin too.
96% of the time, it's Mandarin. For places and ingredients names, it's (basically always) Mandarin. Though when we're doing a Cantonese dish (or referring to a Cantonese cultural institution like Dai Pai Dong), we like to use the Cantonese.
If we were more familiar with other Chinese languages (e.g. Wu, Minnanese, Hunanese, Teochew etc etc), we'd treat them in the same way as we treat Cantonese.
HI, thanks for this! Could you also post some suggestions for how and where to use this sauce? I fermented some for a Hunan dish earlier this year and now am looking for other ways of using it
I never knew that baijiu was a cheap kind. It's expensive here in the US.
Yeah in China you can get small bottles of erguotou for like... the equivalent of a couple bucks.
australians drink it because it's very cheap and high alcohol content, and its salted for cooking, getting it past alcohol taxes
@@nutritionalyeast7978 That's a ridiculous statement. I've never heard of anyone here drinking the salted Chinese cooking wine.
oh interesitng. gin might be a fun flavor to add to hot sauce. thanks for the idea.
Awesome sauce!
Awesome video. I love fermenting chillis and would like to try this next!
I would like ask for your advice on 2 things:
1) what temperature is the environment that you maintain the ferment in? Since room temperature varies on the part of the world we live in.
2) how long do you let it ferment for? Is that a min/max/optimal period?
Thank you!
Hi! The temp would be ideally room temp in a dry place where sunlight can get to it. It should be fermented at least 2 weeks and up to 1(2?). Chinese style fermented veggies can last quite long in a fermentation process, it just comes down to how mushy you want them to be.
Vodka is more neutral,but Gin has flavors comparable to Juniper berries or rosemary.
Would be interesting to try though.
Can you recommend any cookbooks for Guizhou cuisine?
Would this work with thai chiles as well? I often buy thai chiles from my local market but they give a bunch at a time so I wanted to try to ferment some.
Is alcohol a must.. I don't think I can get my hands on some.. can anything else be replaced with..I do have cooking wine..( ps... Non drinker)
Yeeeeeees it's 糟辣椒 time.
I brought it all the way to Canada just to make 贵阳辣子鸡, just not the same without the local chillis - this version definitely help mitigate that craving.
Just realized I confused Zao lajiao with Ciba lajiao , bah.
@@UhlanPasta Ha I was about to say, but given that you're from Guizhou I started second guessing myself :)
You should hook up with the commenter above that started growing chicken claws and now has way too much lol
Wouldn't you say, someone else brought Chicken Claw Chilli? I went to Dafang just to find that - and found more, as usual ;)
Yum making that tomorrow THANKS
Love Steph led videos! But I have to request Chris VO if a recipe includes cumin. The way he pronounces cumin is ludicrous and I love it 😂
If you add salt to the water at the top it won’t get slimy or get moldy FYI!
Haha I love your guys dog!
Your Red Star 二锅头 description is distressingly accurate.
Can you please teach us xiao long bao or soup dumpling?
When will this go bad? How long can it be stored if you do not eat it everyday? Thanks
It can keep fermenting for a year or even more. We have a jars that're ten and eight months old now and they're just getting better. Just keep it in the fermentation set up, keep it air tight. If you want easier access, you can scoop some up, put it in a mason jar and put it in the fridge for day to day use.