Big Plate Chicken Noodles, from Shanxi (运城大盘鸡)

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Bit of a Mea Culpa - I know that we promised a full uncut video of the kneading process. We... didn't film one, apologies. I thought I remembered us recording one in our old Chenmian video, but apparently that was a step-by-step imgur album, not an uncut video. Really sorry about that, you can find it here nonetheless: imgur.com/a/ajYMI2a 2. Speaking of which though, really try not to be too obsessive about the hand motions there. Just think of it as a slightly alternative way of kneading. As Steph said in the video, 'good enough' is good enough. 3. A Xing's channel is here, in case you didn't follow the card in the video: www.youtube.com/@ChineseFoodTour Really excellent channel, definitely my favorite food travel content on KZbin - smart content, well researched, respects the audience (though also hat tip to our friend Adam with his channel OTR, who also has some great videos!). A Xing's English subtitles are a touch spotty in parts - they obviously get someone on the cheaper side to do it - but it's understandable enough. They're just two people, so I'm not judging in the least - after all, we don't bother paying someone to make ZH subtitles either. 4. Re flour for noodles, again, you can use whatever bog standard AP you have around (though you might need to add a little more water to King Arthur). We tested with Bob's Red Mill. That said, good flour for turns the dish to easy mode. The very best flour for noodle pulling is that brand Sai Bei Xue Steph mentioned in the video: it’s (1) fresh, usually (2) bleached (3) reasonably high gluten and (4) finely, finely milled. A flour available in the west that behaves very similarly is Caputo Chef Pizza Flour, which ticks all the boxes except the bleaching. Other 00 Pizza flours are pretty good, but don’t seem to be quite as sturdy as Caputo. Lastly, ‘whatever random Chinese AP flour’ you can find at your local Chinese supermarket will also likely perform better than Bob’s Red Mill or whatnot, as it’s bleached and seems to be more finely milled (works roughly as well as a random 00 pizza flour - slightly less extensible, but slightly more sturdy). That's all I can think of for now. Steph's off in Yunnan dealing with the move again, so we might be a little slower in getting back to comments than normal :)

[@KL005]

BOOM

[@briartongue]

Just as a heads up, at 5:23 the subtitles say to "dissolve 2g water in 100g water" (instead of 2g salt)

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@briartongue Thanks

[@artistlovepeace]

The references are insane. I love your channel like I love reality. Thank you for creating, sharing and researching. You make fantastic and honest and factual content. I am very content with your channel.

[@JellykaNerevan]

I'm pretty sure I remember that uncut kneading video as well, how weird, it was unlisted/private iirc

[@foodwishes]

Nicely done! :)

[@Christopherhlee]

Yes Chef John! 🥰🥰🥰

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

[okay chris, don't panic, just say something nice...] love your work, you've been a huge influence on us! :)

[@liuqmno3421]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified No wonder I love your videos just as much!

[@AntoniusTyas]

Oh God the master is here

[@thegrabbler622]

🐐🐐

[@Lee-in-oz]

Extra points for the Chef-John reference. 😅😅😅

[@Anton-yx5fi]

I can't even 😂

[@swansonnnn]

@@Anton-yx5fi shout out to everybody's uncle John!

[@user-ig2uj9kn9n]

Finally, my food wish came true.

[@ChryskylodonInstitute]

that’s so awesome when other youtubers make their Chef John esque rhyme

[@TheCentripetalForceOnOurPlanet]

1. See delicious noodle. 2. Desire delicious noodle. 3. Research delicious noodle. 4. Make noodle, because we just want to eat noodle. 5. Feel like we had to tell you about it practically immediately because it was just that delicious.

[@joetran8798]

The wink to Chef John and A Xing.... wow.

[@abracadaverous]

And Andong!

[@blond-diver9998]

always appreciate a chef John reference. clearly a lot of us have an love for the OG

[@Cynbel_Terreus]

I see I'm not the only one who loved the Chef John/Food Wishes reference

[@2s2bs]

Trinidadian here. This recipe definitely looked familiar. We have a dish called "Stew Chicken", where the process is somewhat the same. Heat up the oil, brown sugar, make a caramel, add in onions and spicy peppers, then the chicken. Usually its sautéed and cooked till tender and served with rice. We did have a lot of people shipped before we got our independence from the British so maybe its a recipe that came from China?

[@celianeher7637]

Same in Jamaica.

[@2s2bs]

@@celianeher7637 Do you add ketchup in place of the tomato sauce? Some people here do, some don't. Also, sometimes I add the bottled Jerk Seasoning from Walkerswood to my stew LOL

[@celianeher7637]

@@2s2bs Yes , I do.

[@Athrunwong]

Where it came from doesn't matter, the important part is it's delicious and brings happiness.

[@2s2bs]

@@Athrunwong I think its actually pretty cool to know the origin of the dish, but to each their own. No worries

[@AntoniusTyas]

2:53 THAT IS A CROSS I DID NOT EXPECT I CANNOT :'))))))) Love Chef John, he basically taught me to not be afraid of making mistakes when cooking. You two and Chef John are now my go-to places to learn how to cook.

[@tylerkeating3784]

This recipe is rad as hell, and ive got 99% of the ingredients. 1000% making it this week, we finally have some cool weather perfect for a spicy soup. Y'all are literally the best channel on KZbin, thanks for making this one

[@ReapTheWhirlwind]

I love how much of an influence Chef John has had on home cooks of several generations. ❤

[@cowdoc123]

See, desire, research, post, segment was golden! Love how y’all keep evolving in style.

[@csongorkakuk5871]

OMG the Chef John reference! I literally came here to watch this video DIRECTLY after watching a Food Wishes video lmao.

[@brettito]

I really enjoyed the tag team recipe! Such a good date night idea!

[@Koenigg99]

Watching A Xing go to my hometown historical restaurant in a video a few years ago was awesome, he's great.

[@UsaraDark]

I made this today following the video. It's quite delicious. At first I thought it was kind of bland, but the more I ate it the more flavor I got from the dish, and my last few bites and sips were the most flavorful. I might be because the spices all settled to the bottom of the bowl, but that's what makes eating it varied and interesting. This is probably going to be a signature dish considering how simple it is and how interesting it is when eating. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Cheers! Definitely season to taste, too - if it's not salty enough, do add salt :)

[@MrFishlipp]

simply love the memes here 😂 those are nearly as high quality as your cooking lessions

[@RobertLoh-nx1qc]

Hilarious to see Steph so excited! I feel the same way when I see noodles, too.

[@bilz0r]

Pumped for this video. I found your channel looking for biang biang noodles, (which I've made 100s of times now) and this is kinda like the next level of noodle making.

[@patrickstanley8655]

thanks for the tip about the Caputto flour. This looks delicious

[@artistlovepeace]

You two make a great team, make beautiful cinema and I love your channel.

[@jacobnoble5869]

My favorite part was the shot of your dog sniffing at the food with the classic posture of a cheeky pet who knows they're stealing someone's recently vacated seat, truly universal small pet behavior (spoken as a cat parent myself)

[@davidwilliamsimpson]

You are the Chef John of your Noodle Xinjiang - take my upvote!

[@ginx2666]

2:50 what an awful pun. Chef John would approve.

[@vanathema]

2:16 Love how enthusiastically your dog is sniffing the food, while being a Good Dog and staying seated!

[@ellenspn]

Great to wake up to see a new video this morning.

[@arampan]

Dear Steph and Chris. There are Chinese everywhere on the planet now. My Grandfather originated from Fujian province and I’m born and raised in Singapore. I hope you have the opportunity to visit Southeast Asian places like Singapore, Penang, Melaka and Bangkok where’s there are Chinese majority areas to do videos examining how Chinese food evolved after leaving China. I think that’ll be so cool.

[@Stogryn]

it's nice having a video that you both narrate through

[@gibberishname]

I LOVE getting to see the dog have a tiny treat.

[@markmou5464]

Hi Chris! long time fan here. I would like to give you my two cents on the origins of the big plate chicken. I am from Gansu province. Actually another version of Dapanji can also be found in neighboring Gansu province as well. According to some anecdotes I saw on some forums, the origin of Dapanji were created by the demands of truck drivers during the 70s-80s. At the time, China was just opened up to the free market. The goods from the eastern provinces could sell huge in Xinjiang and vise versa. Even my mom recalls that wearing a "Shanghai" brand trainer shoe is equivalent of wearing Jordans nowadays. Some even says you make your money back in one trip. That was the scene back then. However, as you can imagine, the highway robbers were also rampant due to this. especially after the break-off of soviet-China relationship, a lot of guns were distributed to civilians and weren't retrieved. In places like suburb Gansu and Xinjiang, if you get killed nobody would know until days later. Thus, the rich truck drivers would have guns on their passenger seats. and whenever they stop at a place, they would demand a big plate chicken (cause you never know if it's a one-way trip or not) Think about it, it would only be the rich truck drivers who could afford a whole chicken at that time. Also, the drivers tends to ask chefs use the materials that they brought. Thus this is why many dapanji has sichuan peppercorn, gansu potato. Also, Check out the Gansu style dapanji: www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Fw411t7yE/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=77b23a160d0d90691185e0e61078ec8d

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Interesting! Honestly, truck driver food is its own whole world, it feels like so much of what we know of today as Chinese food comes from that scene in the 80s and 90s. Really want to learn more, but it's all so intimidatingly... amorphous. If some publisher decided to give us some big advance to go research something for a cookbook, Truck Driver food would be a prime candidate.

[@pieterkolen8656]

Asked chatgpt to give me a link for real authentic chinese food recipes and it gave me this channel

[@marvelousjefferson7272]

Love the Chef John reference. That dude is a legend!

[@ThePelitin]

Always love to see a Shanxi recipe. Such an underrated cuisine.

[@youmaboi5279]

You get an extra like for the Chef John word play. Kudos.

[@nikobatallones]

Great, you triggered a long-recessed Overcooked trauma that most likely contributed to the break-up I had to endure. 🤣

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Me and Steph made it through our Overcooked run - I wouldn't do it again, but our relationship is stronger for it

[@nikobatallones]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Yeah, somehow actual cooking is better. :p

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@nikobatallones But sometimes you get slightly tired of your job, and want to play a simulacrum of your job instead. See: Zachtronics games

[@maisatanel]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified new factorio dlc is out soon. good luck

[@nicholasberry5766]

Love the Food Wishes reference. :)

[@hikingpete]

That Chef John callout was amazing!

[@VoltaDoMar]

You guys are just the best, thanks for all the information you bring us. I'm going to try making these (maybe with the help of my partner)

[@Magic-Man]

Black Myth Wukong was awesome and I waited 3 years for it to come out. The food is probably nice too.

[@HugoFirth]

I made this as a week night meal (with a few alterations) and it was delicious. Honestly one of the best things I've made in a while. First change I made was using store bought noodles over making them. I've made hand pulled belt noodles before and I would definitely like to try the noodles from this recipe as well. However, I didn't plan ahead so store bought Lanzhou style noodles definitely did the trick. Second, I added some English leeks with the scallions. Definitely not traditional but it added a bit more veg. Along with some green beans at the end. Definitely tasted good. Third, I tried to speed up the cooking process by starting to boil the potatoes while cooking the chicken. I would not do this again. The chicken wasn't as tender as it should have been when the potatoes were done

[@TizonaAmanthia]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for doing a Chef John name pun! it was PERFECTION!

[@delyar]

yeah, chef john has got it going on

[@Nebesus]

It's always good to see the research process!

[@ZosynPipTazo]

After all, you are the Foodwishes of your adapted Chinese dishes.

[@instasis]

huh, didn’t realize this was a dish with such a unique/interesting history - anyone who likes Chinese food in NYC is familiar with because of Spicy Village (which rules). Big tray spicy chicken, cucumber salad, and BYO six pack on a chilly day is one of the peak downtown experiences

[@stormobsession]

Im excited to try this! I make a braised chicken stew with broad bean paste that we normally have with rice so i imagine this should be fairly similar and easy (except the noodle part, which I'll probably use store bought)

[@Magius61]

Chef John shoutout made me giggle and gave me warm fuzzies.

[@chichibangbang3667]

Thanks. I've never heard of this dish, but it does look tasty

[@isjajo]

this looks completely crazy amazing!! :O

[@yozerr]

The edits are on point

[@Jhud69]

This looks heavenly.

[@JustinHilltheAuthor]

So interesting! I lived in Yuncheng in the early 1990s, and this was not a thing. The night market was big on fried noodles with cumin and chilli - with a beaten fried egg laid over the top in one piece. Still make it for the kids.

[@Alexlalpaca]

Hand pulled noodle recipe yipeeee

[@FortunateJuice]

A Food Wishes reference! Very nice.

[@grggr18]

every YT food vlogger needs to a Chef John ref!

[@louisparry-mills9132]

i love ur channel so much

[@CuffyDrogo]

I have a local chinese restaurant hole in the wall that has Big Plate Chicken on the menu and I love it, I always assumed it was just a bad translation. The version they serve doesnt have potatoes and they sub the leaks for brown onion.

[@MedalionDS9]

Chef John/Food-Wishes reference/shout-out!!!

[@ricardogao8147]

Swear to god I spent the whole last week looking at big plate chicken vídeos. And you guys upload a new one today. Right in time

[@celianeher7637]

Much like Jamaican stew chicken. The noodles are replaced with ' flour dumplings ' which is simple wheat flour salt and room temperature water .

[@changvue83]

Look delicious ill have to try this dash soon

[@JeredtheShy]

The Chef John reference

[@1024div]

Great .

[@stefantsorn]

When is the cookbook coming? 🤓😊

[@cbleslie]

😭Dem noods look so good!

[@deathsheadhawkmoth1]

yoooooo, the Chef John reference

[@WJA709]

I made this tonight, was a transcendent bowl of noodle soup. 12 year old declared it a last meal.

[@Exaris79]

Reminds me of Philippines' Chicken Calderata without the Szechuan chilli spices in it. There are braised&non-braised version of the chicken depending on the island/region.

[@Tenshi6Tantou6Rei]

see delicious noodle, desire delicious noodle, research delicious noodle is how I tried jia jia myeong in college lol the only local Korean place was a fauxthentic korean bbq and didn't have it lol. I saw it in a Manhwa and the character was inhaling it by the platefuls he made it look so good, and I mean it is absolutely delicious, it's just very funny

[@desu38]

And, as always, enjoooy!🎵

[@cowdoc123]

A question regarding cleaved meat that I have always had, doesn’t it leave small bone shards? Always been afraid to try the it in my US family. Is there more to know in how to perform the technique beyond just chopping?

[@teddycheng2244]

I'm wondering if this is somehow related to the Korean dish of Andong Jjimdak, which is also a braised chicken dish with vegetables.

[@igiveupfine]

ok, your videos are great, but you need to do more "made up story summaries" like you did 1/3rd of the way in, like you did in this video. that was awesome.

[@Digital-Dan]

Looks like Udon noodles would work well for this dish?

[@Lamefoureyes]

Oh man I can't remember the last time I saw the 'Nam flashback Australian shepherd meme

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

You are after all the Chef John of your homemade udon... I know, not udon. Not Japanese. Just go with it! 😂

[@PsychoEkan]

I always enjoy the "if your in the west" comments, that always only seem applicable if your American

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I mean, I'm American so that's what I know best ;) Never been to Europe, but presumably Caputo (Italian brand) is available around there too?

[@Daniel-yn8ez]

2:50 The babish referancing chef john referance my mind is explosively boggled

[@briannamorgan8548]

Not too long. It was delightful.

[@rabiesbiter5681]

Closest Italian equivalent to Chenmian is Umbricelli. Similar in shape and size as well as technique, but always uses warm water and sometimes a little bit of egg as well. Can use semola di grano duro, farina di grano tenero or both. For chenmian, I like to buy Korean noodle and dumpling flour whenever possible, just because they carry it at my local Asian markets. Bear brand is my favorite but you can't really go wrong with Beksul. I've personally had no luck making chenmian with Gold Medal AP flour unless I add vital wheat gluten to it. If you happen to live in Canada, you will probably have a much easier time finding good AP flour to work with than here in the US. Guess Canada has to be good at something besides hockey and passive aggression.

[@BobHJr]

Also! Stringozzi, sometimes Strangozzi. The method is so very similar to handpulling! so interesting.

[@aprillen]

Are waxy potatoes the same as firm potatoes (the kind that don't disintegrate when you boil them) or does it mean something else? We have completely different variants of spuds where I live, so the ones you referenced mean nothing to me... I'm a single person household so I don't see myself hand-pulling noodles any time soon, but at least I can easily get ahold of fresh udon noodles so still a pretty okay cheat. 13-spice powder might be a bit of a problem, I'll have to check my local Asian supermarket.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

>13-spice powder might be a bit of a problem, I'll have to check my local Asian supermarket. If it's a Chinese supermarket, there would be a high probability they have it. Perhaps not general Asian, but you can also totally use 5 spice >Are waxy potatoes the same as firm potatoes (the kind that don't disintegrate when you boil them) or does it mean something else? We have completely different variants of spuds where I live, so the ones you referenced mean nothing to me... I mostly want people to avoid super starchy potatoes that could break down and cause the soup to thicken. Use what you think makes sense :) Even then, for starchy potatoes they could work so long as you do a good job rinsing them & take care not to overboil

[@aprillen]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thank you! It's a Thai supermarket, but they do have some ingredients from China as well. If they don't have it there I'll check online.

[@stevethetenorbass9834]

黄凤岭～呀八百里～

[@pnukka]

"Tag in your noodle puller" 😏😏😏😏 okokok

[@Mariobrownio1989]

Braised with beer for the big plate chicken is WILD

[@archiekleung]

Tks

[@ctsilva45]

What would be a good western equivalent for a medium green chile?

[@lisacastano1064]

I like hatch or poblano

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Italian Long Hots, which might actually be the same exact thing as Chinese screw chili Hatch or Poblano would also be tasty, as per the other commenter. Jalapenos could also be nice too

[@ctsilva45]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I am glad I asked since to me, jalapeno is a medium hot chile. Being Mexican and all, my heat meter is calibrated differently than others. Now if only I could get Italian long hots here in my part California. I'll try poblano or maybe Anaheim

[@私気に成ります]

Nice video! Can you also do the version from Xinjiang? :D

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

We have one :) There's a couple things that could be improved from that one, so it's possible we might circle back to it

[@私気に成ります]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Oops; searching for it now!

[@Twisted_Logic]

Is it bad that when I read "Shanxi" all I can think of is the first and only human colony successfully invaded by an alien force in the First Contact War/Relay 314 Incident in Mass Effect?

[@johnn26]

any chance you could do an updated version of the mapo tofu video? the old one + reddit post was so hard to follow.

[@robertleung4221]

... but granulated sugar is also fine. But not as fine as caster sugar.

[@Dude_Nice]

Love dapanchi! always thought it was uyghur.

[@MedalionDS9]

Black Myth Wukong!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

[Me staring longingly at my 2070...]

[@MedalionDS9]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I have the same graphics card, and this game really struggles on it at decent graphics and frame rate

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@MedalionDS9 Yeah as soon as I saw some tech reviews, I knew I had to wait. In a year or two I'm going to be rebuilding my box, will have to pick it up then. Couldn't help but watch some of the cutscenes though, they did such a good job with the visuals

[@Drwendydearborne]

Chef John! LOL!

[@aaronsakulich4889]

Yooooo! If the Chef John reference gets enough love in the comments and we get guest appearance crossovers? :)

[@chipdenman863]

Chef John😁

[@gab.lab.martins]

There's no quantity in grams for the flour in the written recipe.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Thanks, good catch. It's in the recipe itself but not the "Ingredients and Sourcing" section. Just updated it

[@christianhansen3292]

new-doughs = noodles

[@wendyward2585]

折耳根 - I hope you can make this cold dish salad because global warming makes the warm autumn uncomfortable.

[@skiptoacceptancemdarlin]

Looks more like a small bowl to me

[@RicardoGarCeb]

Chicken bouillon powder I know what you did there 😉