Chinese Drinking Food (下酒菜)

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Huge, massive point of clarification that by ‘raw’ peanuts, we mean green/fresh - i.e. undried, those meant for boiling. Outside of the American south, I don’t believe that these are supermarket available, but can be sometimes found at farmer’s markets in season (summertime). There are various hacks online for how to use dried peanuts for boiling - most successfully involving a pressure cooker IIRC - but we having tested them ourselves. Figured that the smashed cucumber could be our ‘accessible’ dish out of the three. 2. Speaking of the smashed cucumber, you’ll notice that we didn’t do the ‘purge with salt’ step. I - Chris - am a believer in the purge, but Steph could go either way. She thinks that with saltier soy sauce heavy sauces like this one, sometimes it’s hard to control the salinity of the cucumbers. It’s definitely up to you in the end, but if you want to do the purging step, use a different recipe than this one, as the seasoning is based off the assumption that there will be some water released from the cucumber to form a sort of ‘base’ for the sauce. 3. I was thoroughly shocked at just how well the beef went down with the baijiu. We actually already finished our bottle of Ming River (nice baijiu), so for filming this I went down to our convenience store and grabbed a cheap little bottle of erguotou. If you’ve ever heard very bad things about baijiu, those cheap-o bottles are definitely the main culprit - I can best describe the taste as ‘hangover’ with a dash of self-loathing. But chased with the beef? Even *that* really went well together. 4. A quick reminder that the final seasoning for the beef was per 100 grams of *cooked* beef. The way to do this is to make a big batch of beef (again, up to a kilo of shin is fine and recommended), then slice & mix some of it up whenever you want some. 5. The ‘cooked chili oil’ (熟油辣子) also makes a larger batch than you need. It can be subbed with Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, if you prefer. 6. Quick mix up: at 6:06 it should be 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of the cooked chili oil. Sorry about that. 7. Regarding Narwal - another chapter in the long story of ‘Chris and Steph apparently aren’t good at the whole online marketing thing’ lol. I’m sure we were giving sponsorship space for cheap there, whatever (we don’t even make a dime from the promo code haha). We like the product. It’s undeniably a bit pricey, and so probably not for everyone. I figured that treating it straight up as paid promotion would be the most ethical way to go about things :) 8. This sort of dry braised beef is a super classic drinking food with a ton of variations. This is a Sichuanese version, but there's variants that go all the way back to the Song dynasty. 9. In the old times though, beef was a drinking food for the elite, not really the common people. Steph was doing some research on what the common people would eat together with their baijiu back in the day, and stumbled on one tradition that we just... had to share: rusty nails. Basically, what people'd do is place the rusty nail in their mouth, pound a shot of baijiu, and the alcohol would 'react' with the rust and provide some sort of sweetness? We uh... didn't want to try it, and felt like... even talking about it on camera would break some sort of KZbinr Hippocratic oath or something. But yeah. Rust nails + baijiu, who knew? 10. To answer a frequently asked question: you remove the shells of the peanuts before eating the peanuts. Sorry if the video is a bit misleading somehow. Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now. Might add some more notes in a bit.

[@onocoffee]

Chris - to your #1 - these kinds of peanuts can be found in the USA. My mom regularly sources these locally for boiled peanuts (and we tear it up). I'm thinking she gets them at the local Asian Market here in Maryland.

[@PhatTrumpet2]

I was going to ask about the cucumber "purging" step but of course you already addressed it. Cheers! Any advice for people trying to source baijiu here in the states? I.e. which brands to avoid or which brands to keep an eye out for?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@PhatTrumpet2 The aforementioned Ming River is Luzhou Laojiao's brand for export. It's a little on the pricy side ($30 IIRC), but even a bottle of erguotou is like 12-15 bucks abroad... so if you're in the market for something palatable, Ming River is pretty nice. Baijiu is a shooting liquor - you can use these sorts of mini shot glasses, which I think are a good way to enjoy it (otherwise it's quite easy to get over-drunk): www.amazon.com/REATR-12ml-Chinese-Baijiu-Glass/dp/B083TBJWT3

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

I've always wondered about boiling peanuts in a red sauce... is that a thing? I love red cooked chicken, and I think those flavors would go very well with peanuts for snacking.

[@WanderTheNomad]

Yikes, that -last- ninth point

[@bandols]

Your English has always been good. But I've noticed over the past year or so you speak much more confidently and with more clarity. Love the videos, been subscribed for several years and look forward to many more.

[@eriksunden4704]

Yeah, she is getting really good! The only thing really making her sound non native now is putting plural S in more places than warranted

[@WXRBL666]

confidence is always the key. speaking from my own experience before and after a few drinks

[@traviswonders]

The part at 10:35 XD "So because Chris is very weird and likes his cucumber SUPER cold" had me rolling. Haha. Subtle shade from Steph ;)

[@Bear-cm1vl]

Well, color another American as weird, but I like to ice bowl my smashed cucumber for really hot weather, putting a smaller bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice to keep the cucumber very well chilled. Sitting in the shade on a very hot day with friends, cold beers and a bowl of smashed cucumbers sounds a lot like heaven to me!

[@jefffarley9223]

cold cucumbers are the best :)

[@devensilvers6256]

I prefer room temp

[@maripbc]

I just harvested peanuts from my backyard yesterday and was wondering how to prepare them! This is perfect timing! 😁

[@AC-qz3uj]

Where do you live climate wise?

[@maripbc]

@@AC-qz3uj Hi, I live in the south of Brazil, temperate climate... so I plant them (directly in the soil bed where they'll grow) in the beginning of spring and harvest it in the beginning of winter before the first frost.

[@AC-qz3uj]

@@maripbc oh okay, I live in the northern hemisphere and I was utterly confused if peanuts would make it through the winter! How did you get your plants? I have husked non-fried/non-baked fresh peanuts from the asian store.... perhaps I will give them a try!

[@maripbc]

@@AC-qz3uj I grew them from seed, got some shelled raw organic peanuts from the grocery store (the ones originally meant to roast and eat at home) and planted them directly in the soil.

[@Yeahapple]

we also dry the fresh peanut in the sun or boiling the fresh peanut with spicy chili . salt. chinese peppers…. boiling ways is chinese drinking food

[@AianaRaven]

I'm obsessed with your puppys air licking. I adore him.

[@erinb4237]

So, does this mean we'll get a series on baijiu? Is that what Steph was implying about 2 minutes into the video? Dare I dream?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

One day, one day. We chatted with Derek from Ming River a while back and we *totally* want to go to Sichuan with them & chat with the Luzhou Laojiao folks. They do these trips to Luzhou where they bring a bunch of bartenders from the States... we've been wanting to check out the food in Luzhou for a while (our favorite Sichuan restaurant in Shenzhen is run by people from Luzhou, and the tofu rice we did was the Luzhou style), so we think it'd be fun to time a Luzhou trip together with when they're doing that. They've been stuck outside of China for a while due to COVID though, so it'll be a while.

[@soyekinthehideaway6763]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I would totally trust your guys on the proper way to enjoy some Baiju! Not many good infos out there about these matters.

[@YH-ne9lt]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified any space for Andong on that Luzhou tour? 👀

[@Apocalypz]

10:33 "Because *Chris is weird* and likes his cucumber very cold..." Ah, how I enjoy these lovely passive-aggressive YT videos. 😊

[@RaymondSandoval123]

I haven’t watched this channel in forever, but Steph is doing so good. The narration is still amazingly well done. Y’all kickin ass.

[@RandomButtonPusher]

The best part of this video is the instructional on making Sichuan chili oil. Crucial for many Sichuan dishes. A very familiar fragrance from my year in Chengdu.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

There's... so many Sichuan chili oils, haha. We really do need to make a video clarifying all the different varieties.

[@RandomButtonPusher]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified As we were told of Sichuan cooking, 3 ingredients (chilis, garli & ginger) - 10,000 flavors.

[@Miguel-ez6sh]

Coincidentally, I had almost everything needed to make the beef at my house! I used the sugar like you said, but substituted the chili and sesame oil, soy sauce, fagara, MSG, salt, peanut, sesame, cilantro, and scallion with nothing. The beef ended up a bit sweeter than I would have liked, but still great!

[@joostin123]

bruh

[@WanderTheNomad]

Me with all the recipes I see online:

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

We still have a bunch of aged basmati from the rice tofu video, so I was thinking "hey, maybe I can finally try one of /u/ObiEff's (Middle Eats) recipes!" Decided to do his yellow middle eastern rice recipe. This one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bISYoIqiZ7eLgKM Didn't have Luomi, but Cantonese cuisine also has preserved lemons, so I figured 'close enough'. Didn't have cardamom, so I figured I'd skip the spices. In Cantonese cooking, sometimes preserved lemon is cooked together with douchi (fermented black soybean), so I figured maybe I'd lean into that. A can of the fried dace with black bean was staring right at me, and I mean, some fried fish might be fine too? Didn't have any stock on hand, used water + chicken powder + a bit of soy sauce and fish sauce. Used lard instead of butter, and the oil from the tinned fish instead of olive oil. Steph doesn't like when her starches themselves absorb acidity, so we skipped the lemon juice in the liquid. Once it was done cooking, I took out the Cantonese preserved lemons, diced them up, and mixed them back in.

[@Miguel-ez6sh]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Amazing! I can't believe nobody in all of the Middle East had thought to reach for their douchi when making this dish!

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Coming from Wales, it always sounds strange when I hear Welsh onions. To us they are just Leeks but I know lots of folk do call them Welsh onions. Thanks for sharing your recipes again. Love the channel

[@Dockhead]

literally was just thinking "wait, that's just a leek" XD

[@Popeadod]

that's not a leek bro! Somehow the welsh onion isn't a leek... dunno why

[@MBKill3rCat]

I've sometimes heard people refer to spring onions as 'welsh onions' too.

[@nickypoo52]

Thanks for including the ad at the end - feel like a lot of the channel will keep its integrity if it keeps coming towards the end

[@cromorne]

I second the notion of doing a video (or even series!) on baijiu. As someone who has recently become familiar with baijiu (a Chinese friend gave me a bottle of Luzhou Laojiao Bainian) I would love to learn more! Love your channel and your videos, keep up the awesome work!

[@christianwertman54]

This channel is the best. All three characters are fantastic.

[@glorygloryholeallelujah]

Baijiu is like *genuine moonshine* -it’s only “too strong” on the first or second shot… after that you won’t remember how any of the other shots taste. 🤣❤️

[@BloodRose123100]

So nice to hear Steph narrating for once 💕 i can't drink but i still watched the whole thing anyways, super enlightening

[@tonybova7360]

That beef makes me want to try the baijiu!

[@DH-be4ur]

Well make sure you only drink it on a Friday night, because you won't be able to do anything for the following two days.

[@Marss13z]

Tell us what you think. I'd rank it with soju for palatability but results may vary.

[@swansonnnn]

Baiju is great

[@sam510938764]

If you can't get baijiu in your area just get vodka or even soju/whiskey instead. Spicy braised beef goes well with pretty much every type of alcohol.

[@sam510938764]

@@Marss13z It's highly dependent on the "fragrance type" of said baijiu. Some are not any more pungent than gin/vodka but others will taste like rubbing alcohol.

[@kilometersperminute4113]

More youtubers should do ads in this format lol.

[@geraldstepp5723]

the love I have for this channel can’t be explained with words

[@fealubryne]

I know in the US you can sometimes find the dried plums as li hing mui on Amazon, imported from Hawaii. It's a little pricy, but the leftover makes a really good snack if you enjoy sweet/salty/sour things.

[@gretahardin1392]

Yes! Just did an episode on 17th Century Salt for my History of American Food podcast. And recommended trying li hing mui as a way to try a salt preserved fruit. They are super available in Asian groceries. (The wet Japanese umeboshi are a bit of a different animal - so might not work as well as a sub). But I also bet the Latin Saladitos would work too.

[@ETamJP]

I usually avoid the store-bought beef in pepper oil side dish, truthfully, because the restaurants tend to use too much MSG. It is great of you to provide the recipe for it so that I can make my own! 🙏🏻

[@GabrielGRohr]

Oh i missed you so much. Even tho im a vegetarian, i love your videos haha

[@AC-qz3uj]

I am going to try to do the beef with my homemade seitan, just use the broth to cook your seitan!!! And pack the seitan tightly in cheesecloth! Will be tasty I am sure!!!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@AC-qz3uj Cut the salt to 2 tbsp or even 1 1/2 tbsp if you're doing seitan as it absorbs salt faster than beef. I'm worried that it'll be too salty if you sub seitan directly in this brine.

[@AC-qz3uj]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I did not know that! Thanks!

[@devensilvers6256]

Baijiu is underrated, love love love it, especially Moutai!!! Anything from Luzhou tends to be good too..

[@kirbyculp3449]

Hell no. Do not trust the purity of any liquor from the PRC. Drink only spirits from Singapore or the ROC.

[@devensilvers6256]

@@kirbyculp3449 your joking, right? I drunk liquor in the PRC for two years without issue, no health problems found by my doctor in the US. It seems your info is outdated, as fake alcohol used to be a problem.

[@n.sykes.pharmd]

"There's some kind of black magic in there" Made me smile! Thank you guys for sharing so much 😍

[@jeffersonderrickson5371]

My local chinese place has a cold braised beef with pickled cucumber, peanuts, and cilantro and it is one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life. So comforting

[@ehrichweiss]

I have a strange pairing that I learned when I worked at a Vietnamese restaurant about 30 years ago. We used to like to play poker after hours with some of our friends. At some point a couple of the girls and myself decided we wanted to drink and we somehow settled on margaritas. Then one night I hadn't gotten a chance to eat so I made myself a huge bowl of hot & sour soup with some extra hot added. Come to find out, that is a PERFECT pairing with margaritas. The heat in the soup makes you want to cool down with the margaritas and the sour in both really makes it a great pair. Too bad you'll never find those two being sold at the same restaurant.

[@kevincooksit]

What kind of hot and sour soup was it? Sounds like an awesome idea 😋

[@kevincooksit]

@ehrichweiss What kind of hot and sour soup was it? Sounds like an awesome idea 😋

[@jackoh5134]

7:03 Chris pounded the little glass cup on the table after drinking the Baijiu.

[@UraniumFire]

Serendipity! I was just reading a blog post over at Mala Market that mentioned drinking food. Also, perfect timing with the chili oil redux; I just got my caiziyou oil today.

[@SurfistaCamad]

You guys have a great channel, currently going through your many cool videos - I can't get any good Chinese food where live, hope to make some

[@TheElijahKings]

I didn’t even know I was curious about this topic until I saw this video 🤣 thanks you guys! Y’all rock🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@Septhim]

Just ate, but that braised beef looks amazing and I'm hungry. Also the idea to put giant plants in the background makes the whole video feel very rustic.

[@theelectricant98]

Based anarchist penguin

[@deadfr0g]

He spells it “Anti-arctica” because it better matches his rebellious ideology.

[@hiera1917]

Lfgggg 🏴🏴🏴

[@glorygloryholeallelujah]

?

[@rw42000]

Great video! Would looove an in-depth look at different kinds of baijiu sometime though!

[@YezaOutcast]

拍黄瓜 tastes awesome. its one of my favorite salads of all time. :D

[@ccabalar]

'Black Magic Baijiu and Beef' would probably be my favorite restaurant.

[@erinhowett3630]

I made the yuxiang pork slivers for dinner tonight! So delicious! I've decided I like this flavor profile even more than I like mala.

[@savvanaheve]

As an indian this reminds me of "chakna" which is the word for foods consumed with drinks and it includes peanuts (and its variations like salted, or with onions, tomatoes, chillies, and coriander), fried chickpeas, corn, tandoori, and many more

[@ShaneBurkle]

I really need that video about all the types of Baijiu, please and thank you!

[@rishikowalski6484]

Not gonna lie I mainly use those dried plums for snacking. Cool to see another use for them can't wait to try!

[@nlpascal]

I LOVE this concept. Almost like tapas. Can you name a few more dishes that are good to enjoy this way please?

[@blabby102]

Just made the smashed cucumber salad. Had all the ingredients except the cilantro and it was pretty good!

[@armenianzombie]

anarchy penguin knows no fear

[@yorkaturr]

Ever since Duolingo taught me the sentence "他喝了三瓶中国白酒现在在睡觉", I've wanted to try out some Chinese booze. Thanks for telling the basics.

[@XiaojunMa]

Pop the cucumber into the frig made the green color pop a little. Just looks more vibrant

[@jakubgrabowski6293]

Your channel inspired me to finally take Chinese classes, after many many years of planning ;) 你们可以是用中文字幕还是用食谱，怎么样？

[@donnap6253]

Totally agree with the black magic part. As a Chinese I never used to enjoy baijiu until one day I had it with pork skin jelly.

[@ckim1992]

“I guess I don’t need to tell you what beer is” I sort of disagree. that’s no ordinary beer, that’s Tsing Tao! You could do a whole episode on just this landmark name and all the delicious dishes that pair with it

[@alexanderfo3886]

The question is: is there any dish that doesn't go well with it?

[@galren208]

Usually when I have boiled peanuts they are just with some salt in the boiling water. I wonder if you could get crazy with the kinds of flavors you can incorporate with the peanuts.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Totally! The classic ones here are five spice, red fermented tofu, plum, cream (yeah that cream, 奶油), spicy... there's some more but I'm blanking. Then a cool thing to do is after you flavor them? *Then* dry them :)

[@erinhowett3630]

I live in Alabama and there's a peanut company here that does 2 roasted flavors and at least 3 and sometimes 5 unique boiled peanut flavors a day! My favorite is spicy dill pickle!

[@BinManSays87]

Chris....cold crisp cucumber sandwich with a touch of salt on a crunchy loafed bread is all you need on a hot day but to be fair cold apples and grapes are good too

[@lucaalbertorizzo4114]

"China has food", great now all Chinese cuisine has been demystifyed to me. 😁

[@LivingLife128]

that cucumber dish is a favorite, with or without alcohol. bai ju is what my northern chinese friends love to drink till they are on the floor. omg its strong . as a southern chinese i only see the real old guys still drink it.

[@fourtii8707]

马上要到吃虾的季节了，如果你们有计划出一期经典麻辣和蒜香小龙虾的做法再带一点介绍中国吃虾文化的介绍就太棒啦😋👍

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

制作成本很高的样子，哈哈哈哈哈

[@RusselNotSCP]

In japan there's a saying that goes something like "Foods that go well with rice also go well with sake" and vice versa. does china have any similar ideas in terms of the overlap of xia fan cai and xia jiu cai?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

No, there's no direct correlation between xiafancai and xiajiucai. But very interesting Japanese saying and definitely makes a lot of sense.

[@leocao505]

I want to point out that, bar (a place where people mainly enjoy alcohol) is a 100% foreign thing in China. Chinese usually enjoy alcohol (strong one, like Baijiu) and food at the same time. Most Chinese go to a restaurant for a drink, and go to a bar for a drink is a new thing (usually for young generation).

[@christopheryeh9436]

A video on luosifen? Also, had an idea about fusion cuisine eating tortilla chips with instant luosifen, luosifen pozole.

[@firenter]

Oh man, I've always loved any sort of baijiu, so I'm deffo taking notes here :D

[@manfaitang5577]

It might be more of a Cantonese/Southern China thing, but cognac (XO Remy Martin, VSOP Henessy) seemed to be the hard liquor of choice there as I've never seen my dad and uncles touch baijiu. I remember I didn't like cognac at all until I had it with THE pairing of choice: 'raw' peanuts with shell fried in the wok with oil and lots of salt (like egg fried rice!!!). Me and my family are weird and use our teeth to crack the shell, but that way it turns into something like drinking tequilla: -You crack the shell and get a decent hit of the salty and smoky flavours (I even lick my shells a couple of shots in :D) -You eat the slightly bland and sweet, chewy peanuts with a soft core and wash it away with a shot or sip of cognac. It's incredibly addictive, but unfortunately freshly fried peanuts this way take alot of work/strength and store bought are deep fried in oil first so that the peanuts are hard. But I take what I can get ;)

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Haha *definitely* a super Cantonese thing. To me, one of the most 'Shunde' sights is seeing middle aged dudes chilling at a Dai Pai Dong downing some expensive Cognac or Scotch that they brought with them. I (Chris) need to lose some of this 2020 gut fat so have been trying to cut down on the beer, and have also... taken to the practice. Not made of money or anything so I just bring around a bottle of Talisker 10 haha

[@manfaitang5577]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Hahaha, yes that! I was so surprised when they pulled out their own bottles, WTF. Cognac does go surprisingly well with lots of Dai Pai Dong and Hakka dishes I'm also more a whisky guy myself (esp Balvenie Rum/double casks), but I like to slowly sip instead of downing it like those crazies :D

[@miloe4314]

Love Steph videos!

[@miabobeea2644]

I LOVE YOUR PLUSH PENGUIN AND EVERYTHING HE STANDS FOR

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

No orca, only fish.

[@boomwad]

I love this channel so much

[@emilyjaneschmidt6567]

I wonder as someone who doesn't just love cucumber if I could sub a large white onion or perhaps a korean radish? It wouldn't be the same for sure but I think it might still be tasty. Hmm, worth a shot.

[@ninekain3475]

Could you make a video defining the chinese flavour profiles and how to combine them? Thanks!

[@damianstawinski8430]

Sichuan-style dry-braised beef goes very good with vodka and can be used even without sauce as a great addition to the sandwich.

[@No-xr7vx]

Dark vinegar & soy sauce! I will have to try that instead. I've been making my smashed cucumber with rice vinegar, garlic, LGM chili crisp, peanut oil, and MSG, but it's always felt like it was missing something. The cilantro is a great idea too.

[@TylerGotAYTAccount]

That was a tasteful advertisement. Just think that needed to be said.

[@nathaliej3768]

Amazing video but to be honest, I was focused more on PUPPY 😍

[@tt-ew7rx]

Hot chilli with baijiu, only makes sense on a summer day in Sichuan at 40C and 98% humidity.

[@Tbehartoo]

"...because Chris is very weird and likes his cucumber very cold..." XD didn't know you were roasting Chris in this video, too. Thanks for the smile.

[@valkyrieocean]

Very informative videos and I have learned a lot from this and other videos, thank you!!! 👊🏼 Only thing is; would it be possible when incorporating Chinese words to slow down a bit? 🙈😅

[@fruitylerlups530]

I luv ur puppp!!! Are they a mini schnauzerr????

[@antonc81]

You guys should totally do an in-depth look at baijiu. I got into it during my last trip to China.. It’s a completely unfairly maligned beverage in my humble opinion. Anyone who’s into different strong flavoured liquors like Islay whisky or mezcal should be able to appreciate a nice baijiu.

[@Mukawakadoodoo]

They got me at “can be up to 70% ABV.” I’m an absinthe drinker, so this could be up my alley

[@antonc81]

@@Mukawakadoodoo start with the more pricey stuff is my recommendation. My father in law opened an expensive bottle of Moutai the night I first met him and the two of us polished it off over dinner. I held my own but (I’m told) I passed out the moment I hit the bed. Unexpectedly, I woke up fresh as a daisy the next morning, no hangover to speak of. That was my intro to baijiu.

[@Mukawakadoodoo]

@@antonc81 that sounds like my experiences with absinthe. I prefer a brand called La Cascade Rouge, which is 70%. I’ll drink a glass or two of it, go tipsy, have the best sleep of my life, wake up feeling fresh as a daisy. Also, thanks for the recommend. I’ll hunt it down.

[@devensilvers6256]

@@Mukawakadoodoo Moutai is my families go too, but it's expensive. Interesting connection in that I love Baijiu and Absinthe as well. I think more than anything it's that some people like the taste of liquor and some don't.

[@Mukawakadoodoo]

@@devensilvers6256 I agree. I think it’s because liquor prolly has a bad rap in the US. I don’t drink very often, once or twice a year. And I make my absinthe last atleast the whole week or so. Also liquor is usually much much stronger than say, beer

[@大疯狼]

I live in Nova Scotia and have tried BaiJiu, actual Chinese JianZhuang at the NSLC, I actually like it and think about it as a "Drinkable Colonge". Very pungent yest but is a nice smell. Helaas, we no longer have it because it was not in big demand, despite my area being more Asian populated than most regions in my province, they tend to like Canadian alcohols, while us locals are curious more about THEIR liquors and are more likely to buy them

[@garthgoldwater5256]

tbh i would’ve liked to hear more about what y’all liked about the vacuum

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

You just wanted more anarchist penguin footage, don't lie :) I dunno, I wanted to avoid doing *too* long/opinionated thing on the vacuum, because while we do quite like it... how does it compare against its peers? Is it worth the premium over Roomba? We do recommend products on this channel, and I want people to be confident that when we recommend X soy sauce or Y vinegar, that we're doing so because we feel like it's the best on the market - not because we're somehow getting something from the company. It's one of the reasons why we don't really do sponsorships, you know? Anyway, we've really liked having a robot vacuum, and I think some of the features of this particular vacuum are pretty cool... but just take the ad read at a similar level that you would some other KZbinrs talking about raycon headphones or some courses on Skillshare ;)

[@e.lycopersicon9720]

I searched the comments for the reason sodium was added to the peanut boiling water but did no find it. Can you expand. I am also looking for the link about the shaoxing wines since it was not on the screen where you pointed. Thank you.

[@jaxongrant1]

That vacuum was insane.

[@Iluvrocket]

At my local Asian mart, there’s an aisle of little individually packed mock meat & seafood snacks. Are these meant to be xia jiu cai? I don’t eat them with alcohol, but since many are low-carb, I buy them as keto snacks!

[@rowluxillusion5235]

Can you do some other recipes with the salted plums I love them

[@Ferrousbull]

Those plums look exactly like what Mexicans call "Saladitos" (roughly "little salties"). If somehow you can find all the other ingredients but not the plums, these might work in their stead. When I head down to my local Chinese market (to get ingredients for that beef), I need to buy some of these salted plums to see if they are indeed the same thing.

[@gretahardin1392]

In a pinch I bet they would work. I'd wonder if the different kind of plum would matter. And the ratio of salt and sugar in the cure might be different. But in the big picture - I bet its a good sub.

[@evp.2641]

From what I can tell from a quick google, saladitos are really similar but with tamarind and a couple other spices added, and preserved wet instead of dry? It also seems pretty similar to Japanese umeboshi, which are salt brined plums - it would be cool to hear from the channel what the exact differences are! Saladitos might be a nice substitution for fusion cooking, or for people like me in the southwest where legit Chinese ingredients are harder to find than Mexican ones.

[@gretahardin1392]

All the saladitos I’ve every seen are dried very hard... much like the hua mei she shows.

[@AianaRaven]

I like the small dig at Chris liking his cucumber cold

[@sissypissyrapper23]

Maybe it’s a North American preference to eat cold cucumber, because I adore chilled cukes.

[@yoinkhaha]

I think Baijiu is kind of one of those love it or hate it things. We love it, a couple of my friends love it, and a few of my friends absolutely can't stand it. I wonder if some people taste it differently, like they say sometimes about cilantro. I only have one friend that's indifferent on it. Fun taste testing for sure. Interestingly, more women loved it and more men did not, FWIW. Baijiu is also awesome as a base for marinating fish for a spicy Chinese fish stew.

[@tomtaylor3721]

So is the time for me to break out the Lushui liquid I reserved from making Wuhan Hot and Dry Noodles ? Say, freshen it up with a few more spices and then reserve again after making the shin? I’ve had mine waiting patiently in my deep freeze, but I wasn’t sure if this was a specific Lushui that needs to be fresh.

[@mohamedabbas4546]

thanks for the awesome videos, is there any recommendation on a local Chinese knives brand? it would save me loads of money buying the local brand than buying Japanese imported products

[@kennethtam-chinesecookingc1201]

I remember my grandpa used to have roast goose head as xiajiucai (which I think is gross, no offense people). The xiajiucai I like to have are the sichuan spicy ox tripe, shanghainese cold dishes and the Nanjing brined duck!

[@krishnaskitchensupportid5910]

Delicious recipe

[@epischewurststullederverda1483]

I wish we had such a wide variety of dried chili here in germany. You can get barely any of those here. :(

[@pseudomonad]

At least for dried one can get online. Fresh chili is much tougher to find interesting varieties.

[@epischewurststullederverda1483]

@@pseudomonad Well, if you don't mind the shipping costs of an online shop located at other side of the world, sure. Usually I can't find the dried ones online either, if I want a reasonable price. But you're right about the fresh ones. You even rarely get fresh jalapenos around here. Just your usual "peperoni" (a small kind of chili, rather mild compared to other ones). What I see more often are habaneros, cayenne and birds eye chilis. None of those are really interesting for my purposes.

[@pseudomonad]

@@epischewurststullederverda1483 Fair point. I still haven't found the good places here in Belgium to buy chilis. Took a lot of looking just to find some decent-freshness habaneros for making sauce...

[@epischewurststullederverda1483]

@@pseudomonad In germany we have that asian supermarket named "go asia". It's a chain located in some major cities. They have everything possible and impossible but even there I couldn't find the err jin tiao. At least I got the dried facing heaven, if the employee understodd me correctly. Most employees are asian and barely speak german and the labeling on the packages is almost always chinese. But you get all possible and impossible stuff there, if you know what you are looking for. Your best bet is to take a screenshot of the stuff you want and just show them and hope they can help. The dried chilis there are mostly asian variants, though. If you want to make a chili con carne with a mix of dried chilis used in the USA you'll be left disappointed I believe. But, well ... shit happens. You can't expect to get everything everywhere and at a cheap price.

[@sameoldsteph]

Wow - your floor is super clean!

[@RangeTeaGaming]

Not particularly to this video, but is there anything within chinese dining that really frothes over cheese and hasn a decent amount of sauce prep too? I ask because I''ve been to a decent amount of places but never been to china and I would love to go visit but I dont know when that could really be. I'm very curious. Thank you! :)

[@UU-ww6hc]

Why always dried chilly instead of fresh ones?

[@mouseymedic]

Ever consider an episode on chinese cocktails?

[@writemeanendlesssong5122]

i am LOVING the videos. i might recommend seeking a captioner for them for accessibility for hearing impaired folk. this will help your videos reach and delight a wider audience. thanks for the lovely content and recipes regardless. i need to get a wok...

[@jakeniemiec8559]

I am a warm cucumber man, thank you

[@nofunatall4094]

Man Im going to have to make some spicy boiled peanuts.

[@marihagemeyer8166]

for the chili crisp starting at 4:24 - could you use something like a dried chipotle (smoked rather than toasted) for a similar flavor? or is it better to just start from dried chiles?

[@gretahardin1392]

I bet it would make a tasty oil... but lots of those smoke chemicals are fat soluble, so you'd get a smoky flavored oil. So just different.

[@rezalustig6773]

Is homebrewing huangjiu a thing with folks in China (not counting all the people out in the countryside)? Rice wine homebrewing recipes in general (including makgeolli and sake) look easier than beer.

[@marclange107]

was nice to have a change in voice :-).. but just one question, what knife were you using in the beginning of the video?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

It's Shibazi from Yangjiang. They have it on Amazon.

[@marclange107]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thank you and greetings from Berlin!

[@AJDiGregorio]

This is great! Any recommendations on US huangjiu importers or brands?

[@danielpirone8028]

Thank you!

[@SylviaRustyFae]

So, this is kinda like bar food prty much, but better and more likely to be varied based on what drinks folks tend to drink somewhere

[@sceptre1067]

but, is the plush penguin included? 😀

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Nope, but totally should be. Plush is NICI, btw

[@st0neape]

Beware lest you stare too deeply into the plush, for the plush may in turn stare back at you...

[@sceptre1067]

lol

[@tobiasopsahl6163]

Why do you heat the oil to 230C, then cool it to 180C when making chili oil?