The Sweet & Sour you've (probably) never heard of

Sweet and Sour Pork, Fujian-style. There's a bunch of different Sweet & Sour Pork dishes spread across China, but this Fujianese sort might be our personal favorite.
0:00 - Introduction
0:20 - What is Fujian food?
1:28 - Fujian vinegars
1:56 - Unstuffed Homestyle lychee pork
5:35 - Stuffed Banquet lychee pork
8:46 - Other approaches in Fujian?
As always, written recipe is also over here on /r/CasualChina if you prefer:
/ recipe_lychee_pork_a_f...
HOW TO TURN WATER CHESTNUT SHAVINGS INTO STARCH
1. Pound the shavings in a mortar, then add water and transfer to a bowl
2. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours, or up to overnight. The starch will settle on the bottom
3. Pour out the liquid on top, and the remainder is some starch-water that you can use from slurries and the like.
You can also choose to sun dry what you have left over to obtain a powder.
INGREDIENTS, HOMESTYLE VERSION
* Potatoes, 300g
* Pork loin (外脊肉), 325g.
* Marinade: 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/8 tsp white pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/2 tsp liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒)
* For coating: 45g cornstarch (生粉) mixed with 35g water, plus 1tbsp more water to coat
* For the sauce: 25g rice vinegar, 25g sugar, 50g water/stock, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉)
* Aromatics: 1 minced garlic clove, white part of two scallions cut into ~2 inch sections
* Slurry of 1/2 tbsp cornstarch (生粉) mixed with equal amount water
* 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (麻油) to finish
Optional julienned carrots for garnish.
PROCESS, HOMESTYLE VERSION
1. Cut the potatoes into about 1 in x 1 in x 1.5 in chunks. Rinse with water, then soak until you're ready to fry.
2. Mince the garlic, chop the scallion, mix your sauce and slurry.
3. Slice the pork into ~0.5cm slices, then briefly pound it with the back of your knife. Make some very shallow cuts in a criss cross pattern, then cut it at a ~30 degree angle to get something triangular-ish. Mix together with the marinade, set it aside.
4. Mix together the coating, so that you have a sort of oobleck mixture. Add in to the pork. Give a rough mix, then add in another tbsp of water to loosen it up. Mix well.
5. Shape the pork into a 'ball-ish' shape by pulling one vertex to the center, then pinching another on top. Wrap the remainder up and over the top, then slightly pinch the sides to get a ball (sort of).
6. Deep fry the pork once at 130C for 3 minutes. Then fry again at 195C for 15 seconds.
7. Remove the potatoes, dry off with paper towel. Fry the potatoes once at 130C for 5 minutes, then again at 195C for 30 seconds.
8. To stir fry - longyau, then add in the minced garlic. Quick mix, turn your flame on to high, add in the scallion white, fry for ~15 seconds. Add in the sauce. Fry on high until it's bubbling rapidly, stirring often, ~30 seconds, then hit it with the slurry. Brief mix, potatoes & pork in, another brief mix. Heat off, drizzle in the toasted sesame oil, out, garnish with julienned carrots.
INGREDIENTS, BANQUET VERSION
* Pork loin (外脊肉), 325g.
* Marinade: 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/8 tsp white pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/2 tsp liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒)
* Water chestnuts, 12.
* For coating: 60g cornstarch (生粉) mixed with 60g water, plus optional 1/2 tbsp of red yeast rice (红曲), pounded or 1/2 drop of red velvet coloring
* For the sauce: 5g hongzao red rice wine lees (红糟) or 5g liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒) + 1 drop of red velvet, 20g rice vinegar, 20g sugar, 40g water/stock, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉)
* Slurry of 1 tsp cornstarch (生粉) mixed with equal amount water
* 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (麻油) to finish
PROCESS, BANQUET VERSION
I'm running out of room here, so do click into the Reddit post for the full step by step instructions:
/ recipe_lychee_pork_a_f...
Huge thank you to My Name is Andong for providing the clip at 0:25. It's in his Peruvian Chifa video, here: • Chifa: The Chinese Per...
Peruvian Chinese also has an interesting Fujian connection. AFAIK, Peru's Chinese population came via the Philippines, which was predominantly Hokkien (south Fujian).
And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
/ chinesecookingdemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): • Live Stream: Favourite... ​

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. So I hope that I made it clear enough in the video that the Fujian -- > American-style takeout connection is more of a… hypothesis? It’s just the feeling of going to a neighborhood restaurant in North Fujian *feels* and *smells* like a takeout joint in a way that’s a little difficult to describe. I do think that a big part of it is that corner of China’s love of everything sweet and sour. 2. Someone over on our Patreon was asking if we could expand on what we felt like some of the ‘philosophical similarities’ we felt were, because they had the same sort of feeling eating Fujianese food in the Philippines (where they’re from). To articulate what’s currently in our brains, we’d say that the similarities are (1) lots of deep frying (2) lots of thick sauces (3) lots of sweet and sour. We didn’t expand on that in the video, because at this stage we just plain don’t have a very deep understanding of Fujian food, so didn’t want to paint it with too broad of a brush. A note like this can be edited away if I put my foot in my mouth, but videos are written with permanent marker :) 3. That’s of course not to say that *everything* in Fujian fits those… criteria. For example, probably the most famous food in Fuzhou is their fishballs, which’re these baseball sized balls of deliciousness stuffed with beef. Also, Hokkien food (i.e. the food of south Fujian) seems to be a bit lighter/almost closer to Teochew (Chaozhou) cuisine. 4. But, of course, the Fuzhou population in the United States only started to balloon in the 1980s, after the re-establishment of diplomatic ties. So while there was certainly *some* immigrants that came from Fujian before the exclusion act, in the 19th century most immigrants in the United States/elsewhere in the west came from Guangdong, particular the Sze Yup counties like Toishan. 5. So if there actually is a Fujian -- > takeout connection, my best guess is that it’s probably via Taiwan. There was a large wave of Taiwanese immigrants in the United States in the 1970s, and certain takeout dishes (e.g. General Tsos) were developed during that time. This is also likely when Hot & Sour soup was introduced - the takeout version likely coming via Taiwan. A large chunk of Taiwan’s population is Hokkien (south Fujian) or Hokchew (north Fujian) or Hakka (west Fujian), and the island’s cuisine can sort of be thought of as a fusion of a number of different Chinese cuisines (together with some unique home grown dishes, of course). That said, we know even less about Taiwanese cuisine than we do about Fujianese - it’s sort of impossible for Steph to travel there because of stupid… laws. 6. Another possibility is that perhaps *historically* Cantonese food might have resembled something closer to what modern Fuzhou food is like, but in Guangdong changed over the years as cuisines tend to do. Or, last possibility - maybe we’re just over thinking this, and takeout food was takeout food because saucy sugary deep fried meat just… sells well. 7. In the video, for those Chinese speakers that are tripped up by the ‘xiangcu’ (香醋) we mention in the vinegar section… yup, it’s a different xiangcu, promise. For the unaware, that’s also a common name for Zhenjiang (Chinkiang) vinegar. 8. We didn’t add aromatics in the fancier version basically for looks. If you don’t care, a bit of garlic or scallion whites might be nice - you could even crush them instead of mincing them so that the sauce remains smooth. 9. The name ‘lychee pork’ obviously refers to the dish sort of looking like a lychee. I’ve seen a couple fancy restaurants include lychee in the dish, but in our personal opinion there’s better ways to enjoy lychee than smothering it in sweet and sour. 10. Lastly, a habit we want to try to get into... if you're in Fuzhou, check out the restaurant 安泰社区食堂 that we grabbed footage of, it's quite delicious. Dianping link: www.dianping.com/shop/k4G2iZkZMEiAQgXZ Order their fried liver... I (Chris) am not even the biggest liver fan, and it's the best non-Foie Gras liver dish I've ever had in my life. That’s all I can think of for now. Will edit this with more notes, maybe/probably.

[@Obscurai]

Alternatively, you could use lychee juice as the sweetener for a different kind of sweet. As for the historical musings, number 6 seems closer to reality regardless of the origin since foods and preparation styles do travel well.

[@svyatoslavrurikovich8831]

Surely red yeast rice would be an acceptable substitute for hongzao?

[@mintysingularity]

Why did you decide to use food coloring instead of red yeast rice? Either from a jar of red fermented tofu or the red rice itself, both are available in the US.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@mintysingularity The red yeast rice would definitely be a possible sub! You can absolutely grind some up and use that to color. That said, from what we've heard via feedback from the Char Siu video, it's apparently difficult in many places to purchase red yeast rice in not-capsule form? I just have zero confidence in the quality of red yeast rice that's meant to be swallowed like a pill. I could absolutely be wrong though! Re nanru, we tested with the liquid from red fermented tofu and we strongly felt that it was not an acceptable sub. The amount that you'd need to arrive at the same color would give the sauce a very tangible funk. While that funk is aggressively awesome in alot of dishes, it would definitely unbalance the sauce here.

[@yurik4]

Firstly, thank you for the video, I will definitely try to surprise my wife with the wrapped-up pork once I cook for her again. Now, I personally think that the dominant flavour in that region is bitter rather than sweet and/or sour. At least that was my experience with the cuisine in Taiwan, they do love their bitter flavouring - bitter melon etc. Otherwise the flavouring there was pretty mild with the exception of the area where I was living with a larger percentage of foreigners (the flavouring was a bit adjusted to our taste). So, in my opinion, the takeaway in America does not have any specific regional origin in China, rather than collected multiple recipes from all over to fit the American taste buds. And connection to immigration from Taiwan makes sense - many people there came from different places after the civil war and once they moved further, they took their background with them.

[@arp6225]

Instead of using red food color, we use the juice from Cantonese red fermented tofu 南腐乳 which is made exactly from red yeast rice!

[@swansonnnn]

Hey, do you think that I could combine that red fermented tofu with glutinous rice and choujiu yeast balls to make choujiu? I've yet to find a red rice that won't spoil when making rice wine.

[@arp6225]

@@swansonnnn hmmmm. If the yeast is still alive then perhaps yes? But then red fermented tofu is extremely salty so.... it might change the chemistry/taste...

[@kayem2565]

wow that's really smart especially for savoury dishes it just bumps up the umami IMO. cheers aaron!

[@hejiang9551]

You can also directly buy 南乳汁, the juice from fermented tofu in bottle. A lot of Chinese supermarkets will have this one.

[@glitchedgod]

Also you can buy the red rice thingy (lees?) prepackaged in a chinatown grocery store. If you live in a place that has a fuzhounese restaurant then the owners might make their own and can sell you batches of the stuff. That's how my family gets there's. If you live in Chicago, the park to shop supermarket next to the chinatown branch chicago public library will have the prepackaged stuff and for the homemade stuff I think it's this restaurant: New chinatown restaurant. 209 W Cermak Rd maps.app.goo.gl/36eEdWU3SPVwfEeJA

[@michellec8522]

First gen ABC here, parents were from Fuzhou, Fujian and had a Chinese takeaway. Every relative I know in the US works/worked in and around the Chinese restaurant business. Aside from Cantonese, Fujianese are the largest community of Chinese overseas/in diaspora. Because of the economic situation in the region, large numbers of them came over in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. They set up their home base in NYC and gradually spread westward and southward. Most of the American Chinese restaurants on the east coast are owned by Fujian immigrants from Fuzhou in fact, so it totally makes sense that the food would be very similar to Fujian (and I believe more specifically Fuzhou) cuisine.

[@jasonreviews]

we were here in 1800s way before that. My great uncles made the railroads. I have cousins that sound like cow boys...

[@Xeggs]

My parents were from ther as well n we own a restaurant. Recently we visited philly tho and ther most of the chinese r from guandong

[@cczsus6513]

Yep especially in NY I believe we are the largest Chinese group gotta represent! Though most of the younger generation can't speak our mother tongue so that's sad.

[@larry_yang]

Yeah, kind of have to differentiate FJ from Fuzhou area and Hokkien.

[@aka-bo6ej]

@@larry_yang yeah the difference is huge tbh

[@fz5656]

Would love to see more Fujian food on the channel! That's where my family is from and I feel like the region is rarely spotlighted outside of the province so I really appreciate this video.

[@kayem2565]

yes i concur please enlighten us steph and chris thanks in advance

[@cczsus6513]

Ya our region is like the cousin you never knew existed

[@glitchedgod]

Plus one to this comment.

[@elguero9279]

Water chestnut shavings are also terrific as a dumpling filling. With prawn and chili oil is real nice. Or with mushrooms for those vegetarian friends 🙂

[@Bentheriault1]

man, the more i watch your videos, the more i see how friking complexe and diverse chinese cuisine is. it's just awsome

[@killianmotto2684]

Considering the size and the numbers of biome in China. It seems normal to me.

[@Xeggs]

@@killianmotto2684 i mean based off that u wuld assume american cuisine would be as diverse and complex

[@jhoughjr1]

@@Xeggs In some ways it is, it just doesn't have a history.

[@QuestionYourWorld]

As populations become separated, so grows the diversity of their foods, especially in preparation. I'd imagine those living at the northern tip of Japan prepare their meals differently than those at the southern tip.

[@QuestionYourWorld]

@@Xeggs What would you consider to be American cuisine?

[@Qingthings]

Thanks for featuring this classic Fujian dish! There is a whole world of home style Fuzhou cooking that is very unique and not often exposed to the public because they either require very fresh seafood that can only be procured around Fujian (like mantis shrimp, clams, oysters or “water fish” I’m not sure the exact name…). Much of home style FJ cooking is very clear and clean. There is a dish that my mom makes that can be described as tiny mochis in either salty or sweet broth. You are right on the vinegar, we love putting vinegar in wonton soup and other dishes. Sometimes meat would be simply cooked and dipped in fish sauce but that is too homey and rustic for restaurants. Anyway, I do love the deep fried FJ snacks as well, such as the oyster pancakes someone else mentioned and the taro triangle cakes. I’m really enjoying your channel and how educational it is. Keep up the good work!

[@ribbontoast]

There was a massive influx of immigrants from Fujian to the east coast of the US (mainly based around NYC) and many, many, many of them opened up restuarants outside cities with major Chinese populations, taking over what used to be a mostly Cantonese run business. It was wild seeing the shift happen (and the cultural tensions between established Toishanese immigrants and the new Fujianese folks) when I was growing up there. My favorite thing though is that during the week of Thanksgiving (the ONLY time the restaurants serving non-Chinese populations would close) every Chinese restaurant in NYC is packed with Fujian restaurant workers heading home for a reunion and a meal that they didn't have to make!

[@chrisko-pelago8753]

Am I the only one that thinks that this man's narration bear a really close resemblance to Nilered's? It's like he's the alternate cooking version of him. That thought aside, I'm definitely gonna cook this. Tasted a similar style of cooking at a local restaurant, and this ticks the boxes. update: I made it, it was really easy and tasted _real_ good. If you want a quick but fancy looking dish to show off, this here is for you.

[@423adriana]

you're right, he does kind of sound like nilered.

[@superchroma]

I was certain when he said "non-newtonian". You can't hide forever!

[@jotarokujo3603]

Omg yes, I was thinking they sound really similar the whole time! lol

[@alvinkatek2150]

That white rabbit shirt though :) White rabbit candy brings back a lot if childhood memories :)

[@GovernorPemulis]

In September 2008, there were more than 52,000 reported cases of children made sick by melamine-tainted dairy products in China, including White Rabbit. ^ Hopefully not those kinds of childhood memories.

[@elsalisa146]

More Fujian dishes! I am completely taken by the lychee pork balls. I haven’t watched your videos for a while and I’m so happy to be back to learn from your excellent ideas and recipes!

[@Carloshache]

Some recipes actually add real lychees to this. I'm not sure how they process it first. But what's the harm, fresh lychees are delicious so I'll probably do it next time. Love that you made Fujianese food. It's indeed really influential, especially in the food of Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Hope you will make a Fujianese spring roll in the future. Too good.

[@deadfr0g]

Oh!! Very informative. I just assumed that “unstuffed” is how you feel before you eat it, and “stuffed” is after.

[@UraniumFire]

I shop from five different online Asian food vendors here in the U.S. After you two introduce a new ingredient, it is likely to sell out. Time to go vinegar shopping!

[@rhubarbpie8709]

Which would you recommend for ease of use?

[@synapses13]

So happy seeing Fujian food on this channel! It's a lot closer to the food of my family. I'd love to see you guys do misua and oyster omelettes

[@CookingwithYarda]

Hi, if you like cooking, feel free to check out my recipes ;-)

[@JennFredrickson]

Just found your channel and I love it. Very educational as well as recipes I feel like I can follow. Your voice and pacing in the narration is flawless.

[@razzbazle1582]

Love this channel! My best friend immigrated to the US from Taiwan and exposed me to the wonderful world of flavor that is traditional Chinese cooking. Now you guys are helping me create amazing dishes for my American family. Thank you!

[@anthonybutler6123]

A delicious recipe (as always). I would like to share, however, that seeing as I was disappointed that there was no actual lychee in the recipe, I purchased a can and used the lychee syrup instead of the water with a little sugar (because it was light syrup) and I cut up some lychee chunks and it was a very nice addition to the flavor profile.

[@BestofChina]

Chinese food is amazing! So diverse and so much related to cultures as well! ❤️ Thanks for the detailed explanation!

[@Andrew-nu8ez]

Thank you for telling the history of my favorite Fujianese dish. More Fujianese dishes pleaded.

[@adedow1333]

Thanks so much for putting up the recipe cards in the video!!! That's how I cook from KZbin. So much more convenient. Thanks again!

[@VaalanHei]

Every video is a delight, I don't even eat meats anymore but I think I learn a little bit woth every video I watch. Thanks guys :3

[@jenniferfong5606]

You're part of my pandemic KZbin binge list. I wish I could cross that boarder and eat all this yummy food!

[@PeteofHartainia]

This really reminds me of the Lychee Plum Duck at my favorite Chinese place. It's a pressed duck that's breaded and fried with a dark brow sweet/savory plum sauce. The lychee are simply mixed into the sauce.

[@C4LLM3G0D159]

I would love to see more videos about Chinese pickles, or preserves. Mustard greens are good but you’ve mentioned a few others that sound delicious 🤤

[@ro0ster648]

Thanks for making a video on one of my my favorite dishes and you guys are awesome for making both versions. I would love to see if you guys make a video on Fuzhou Fried Oyster Cake in the future.

[@oz9680]

Thank you for sharing your videos.I learned so much new things.👍👍

[@zerkla]

glad to see the love for fried potato is world wide :) love the channel, such fantastic insights. love from ireland! (you may find "boxty" interesting, potato dumplings that are cut up and fried)

[@suublib]

Made the homestyle one, and it was delicious. Thank you!

[@AmbisinisterSSBM]

would love to see more Fujian cuisine featured on this channel! really enjoyed this video

[@gab.lab.martins]

My suggested sub for the red yeast rice/rice wine lees: -Ground up red or barley koji for flavour -Urucum ("annatto") for colour. Yes I'm brazilian and urucum is the correct name.

[@christanice]

Thanks! I have annatto, that would be perfect!!

[@gibbontakeit9098]

Good lord! Credit to you, good video/ explanation. Thank you for the effort.

[@katherinelandreth2191]

This might never be seen since I'm late to watching this video but I have a tip for shaving the water chestnuts - try using a **melon baller**. You can get them in all kinds of sizes. It would make the process of making a ball a one scoop affair instead of spending minutes shaving down each ball.

[@jpan379]

Thanks for making! My grandparents are from Fujian, and my grandma would make a bootleg version of this with ketchup, pork, and potato. She would always call it "Li3 Ji1 Rou4" and I never understood because it wasn't chicken... Now I'm thinking she might have been saying "lychee" in Fujianese. Will definitely try out this recipe! My grandma also has talked about a similar batter for fried eel using red yeast rice lees. You would need fresh red yeast rice lees still with the rice wine and mix with cornstarch until you got the "newtonian" consistency, fry, then season with salt. Eel pieces would curl up. I love cooking eggplant and napa cabbage with the same exact homestyle sauce ratio you use. I will often wilt the cabbage/eggplant first in a wok, then add oil to stir fry slightly, then add sauce to slowly simmer - adding cornstarch at the very end.

[@OfficialFidget]

It's so much work, but well worth it when you watch the fam enjoy it.

[@thoughtguardian]

I love American Chinese food but it’s so nice to learn how to make more authentic recipes! Thank you

[@Bedlam66]

Pro tip use a tiny melon baller on the water chestnuts it works wonders

[@eduardochavacano]

Beautiful Video! Definitely worth a sub.

[@bradmachell]

I dunno about other countries, but in Australia, the only water chestnuts I've ever seen are small and round - pretty much the same size as the balls you made them into. So that would make the process a LOT quicker, they're already ready to wrap in the pork! Looks delicious as always :)

[@tofuhao3153]

wow! im chinese n loves gu lou yok but never seen this method before! will try it out.. thanks!

[@shakiMiki]

Excited already.

[@ChukkiSamayal]

Amazing recipe

[@davegrohl817]

Why do I watch these videos with little intention to cook it? I just do. Sometimes I fall asleep to them. This has been going on for a year.

[@ElJosher]

Looks amazing. I love sweet and sour pork.

[@skyOH7]

Me! My mom makes this for me because I'm allergic to pineapple.

[@bigredmarchingon3200]

That banquet version literally made me begin to drool!

[@michaelleeweinberger]

There's an extra sentence in the closed captions at 1:16 where it says "Waltz into a neighborhood restaurant and, like, one whiff'll immediately start to evoke memories of fortune cookies and oyster pails." This line is in the CC and not in the spoken dialogue in the audio.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Whoops. Yeah I edited that line out in the audio

[@pipsasqeak820]

It's funny how alot of the "westernised" Chinese food is really based in traditional Teochew/Hokkien dishes/traditions.

[@haruzanfuucha]

I don't think it's based on them since American Chinese cuisine is primarily of Yue Chinese origin. It's just convergent evolution.

[@pipsasqeak820]

@@haruzanfuucha probably forgot to mention Australian western food cause down here we had much heavier Teochew and Cantonese influence

[@haruzanfuucha]

@@pipsasqeak820 Even in Australia, the Cantonese formed the majority but I do understand what you mean by there being more Min Nan influences because a lot of Southeast Asian Chinese resettled in Australia.

[@pipsasqeak820]

@@haruzanfuucha yes especially Vietnamese who brought ALOT of the Teochew dishes

[@uasj2]

In my experience the “old school” Australian Chinese food is actually very similar to the “old school” American Chinese food. The reasons for this are probably at least as much to do with western tastes, trends, cookbooks, etc as they are to do with the ethnic origins of the chefs. From an old school perspective, the second or third generation Asian chef is going to cook the dishes that Aussies expect to see in your bad-to-average suburban Chinese restaurant, ahead of the cuisine he grew up eating himself. Thankfully this traditional Aussie view of “Chinese restaurants” has changed a lot in recent years and we can find a big range of different Chinese cuisines in diverse places like Melbourne.

[@amandalee2856]

I always grew up with people telling me that American Chinese food was nothing like real Chinese food, but thank you both for educating the world on the roots of all of this. It is fascinating to learn and I always look forward to your videos. It really bridges our worlds together. 🌎

[@jts1702a]

And the good thing is, now you can have both...in North America. The problem: American Chinese food is comparatively being overshadowed by the Chinese Chinese "authentic" stuff. It'll take nothing short of a revolution to make American Chinese food sexy again in the future.

[@ianslai]

I watch your channel to appreciate the cooking, but really you captured my heart with "non-Newtonian oobleck"

[@loganh2140]

Finally some good content

[@haileybalmer9722]

This is extremely interesting. In my hometown, there was a restaurant that had a lot of very experimental dishes. Strawberry emu, and oysters with asparagus, that kind of thing. The owner would hang around and talk to the guests at the restaurant, and he'd always recommend the Lychee Pork. It was like sweet and sour pork, but in a very light sauce, I'd guess primarily white sugar, salt, lychee juice, and white vinegar, boiled to thicken rather than thickened with starch. It had strips of candied peppers, and lychees. Kwan was extremely proud of it, so I usually got it whenever I brought someone new there. These ones are so different. I wonder if he always made it that way, or if he changed it for a small town United States pallet. It's not like anyone there knew was a lychee was, so I don't think he added them because people expected them.

[@CookingwithYarda]

Hi, if you like cooking, feel free to check out my recipes ;-)

[@haileybalmer9722]

@@CookingwithYarda Wow! Those are some great recipes! I can't wait to try them out.

[@arnoldussineamico498]

Love your videos I will try wrapping some lychee in the lychee pork lol

[@tervaaku]

i remember reading that fujianese hokkien was initially the lingua franca of american china towns so that makes sense

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I also remember reading how some of the earliest restauranteurs in the United States were from Fuzhou, and then... after hours of searching, I lost the source :/ I could have sworn I remember reading that in one of my obsessive egg roll deep dives. Had to totally edit the narration to cut that out haha. You happen to have a source on the Hokkien thing? Just out of curiosity

[@hannah-vv9ru]

really? that’s really interesting bc i thought it was taishanese at first since the first chinese immigrants were from taishan

[@noxwei]

Could you make more fujian food. It’ll help me reconnect with my childhood food. Thank you for this video.

[@mgray999]

I love you guys

[@pauriusvalor4763]

this looks amazing!!! can you save & reuse the oil after deep frying?

[@Diana45251]

I speak Cantonese and also love your channel and videos

[@cameronschyuder9034]

My family is also from Fuzhou. Instead of the red coloring base, my mom would use strawberry jello powder to get the red color and slight sweet flavor, it’s different but I think it still tastes good :P

[@ainzooalgown7589]

there is also another version called gulao rou, a Cantonese style but is much simpler since it doesnt require all the specialized ingredients

[@jackyl110]

There are actually a lot of ways to use the water chestnut shred than making it into starch. My grandma loves to use chopped water chestnut in meat fillings and meat balls.

[@alex0917lfo]

If you are living in New York, you will see there have two huge building styles in Chinatown, Manhattan. To Grand Street, Mott Street, and Cancel Street, there is a Cantonese Site (The building are more modern). We even call it Little Hong Kong or Little Guangdong. To Bowery and East Broadway, is dominated by the influx of Fuzhouese(the building are older and have a lot of big signs.) So if you want to try Fuzhoues food, just go to Bowery (of course, they are cash only!)

[@daniellemos5364]

I don’t know if they’ve covered this before but I’d love to see what type of Western food they tend to make for themselves at home (if any)

[@crazygambler920]

I was a fan of White Rabbit 🐇 Candies……. They sell it in Asian supermarkets all over NYC. Brings back childhood memories

[@LayZeeChill]

I love your shirt Steph 😍

[@cyruskhalvati]

That looks so friggin good....

[@hinas_for_life]

Oh the fancy red version looks mouth watering but I could never round the chestnuts unless it was for a VERY special meal,LoL

[@ketanhein]

I love your channel and have tried a few recipes. I live in Korea so I can get my hands on a number of ingredients (or decent substitutes) here. I wonder if I can get that red sauce base here, or if you know of a substitute in Korea (or if the name is different in Korean)?

[@MaskedRiderChris]

Interesting hypothesis about the connection between Fujianese food and Cantonese/American style take away food! Like most Americans, I grew up on the latter and came to appreciate authenticity more as I got older. Especially Sichuan food, on my part. Good video, as always, guys!

[@idontlikecarseatheadrest9271]

looks fire

[@alexaez2946]

Hong cao can be found all over South East Asia - as long there is foochow people, there will be hong cao wine, the residue of the rice is hong cao

[@WuyuziYYDS]

I had one with pineapples in it and it was pretty good

[@PurpleHaze2k9]

This is the first ive ever seen lees used in cooking. I always wondered what uses there would be for lees, and there you have it.

[@shadowpapito]

Thank you ....

[@johnburke8337]

Do you know of any sources I could read from on the production of hongzao? I do home brewing, so any fun experiments with lees that isn’t flush it always get my attention. Sources in Chinese are ok too!

[@matthewl6700]

Great video as always! And great old-looking cookbook at 1:43. Would you be so kind as to tell me the name of it? I've been looking for these old-style type Chinese cookbooks and Min cuisine is one of those that's so underrepresented even in China. Looks like they even give some of the measurements in terms of its monetary value! What is the grams equivalent of 二钱五分 today?

[@heatherswanson1664]

Love the milk candy shirt! I have a purse with that design

[@jhoughjr1]

stuffed sweet n sour pork? sounds amazing.

[@mkz3r0]

You might want to use a parisienne scoop for the waternut balls. Same waste, less work, almost perfect spheres. Might take a bit of practice to get the hand motion required to cut the spheres out of the food, but in the end, you will still be faster than with a regular small kitchen knife.

[@marks9444]

Hey guys, I’m a big fan of the channel and love your content. I’m really curious where you guys got the method for making this dish. I’m sure it’s authentic and that a lot of research went into it, but it’s curious to me that in 4 years living in Fuzhou, eating all over the place as well as at the homes of local friends, I’ve never seen or heard of a stuffed version of 荔枝肉. Also, it’s fascinating to me how different the 家常version was from what I personally know as 荔枝肉. It just goes to show how authentic is such a loose concept. My friends dad who is old school 福州人 took me into his kitchen to teach me how to make this, and hi version involves using ketchup for the sauce. He cooked other dishes with 红糟, but not the lizhirou. Again, this isn’t to say that your recipe is wrong or unauthentic, but it was a little startling to see how much a dish can vary within even a single city. Keep up the great content. 肉燕 is another dish totally unique to the region that would be interesting to learn about. Oh, and omg I miss the stuffed fish balls!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Haha, so our research comes in several major sources, old cook books from Fujian, eating there, reading extensively how people talking about the dish, and talking to locals. We first learned the debate about stuffed vs. unstuffed from locals, then went into further research and saw some chefs doing it. The old cook books we got use water chestnut in both the Fuzhou and Xiamen version, but just deep fried it along side with the pork and not stuffed, but then the book themselves also said at the very beginning that the method listed is only one version, it's totally up to the cooks and chefs to interpret. And I guess that's part of the essence of the dish, and by extend, cooking? LOL. As for ketchup or hongzao, I think as long as you get the color right, it works. Oh, and for the homestyle one specifically, we based ours off that particular restaurant we went (安泰社区食堂), you can go check it out too if you're curious. :)

[@dxrkyn1604]

I remember eating this with rice when I was still living in Philippines. this shiiit busssinnn

[@rubychen2635]

My childhood favourite dish!

[@frasersweeney7229]

Could you sub either red fermented tofu liquor, or red yeast rice for the red colouring in the banquet style?

[@henndawg42069]

When you did the "veggie-in-pork" plot twist I legit gasped and said OMG

[@joeblow2285]

Hey guys, I've been trying to find Chinese ocra-based recipes, but most of my Chinese friends mostly tell me to just stir-fry them. I figured I would as you two, as you are my go-to for Chinese dishes. Any ideas?

[@TheXavixavieri]

Hong cao is so unique in its flavor, I suggest to use koji as a replacement + the dye not just the dye

[@sohatyi]

You can buy red fermented tofu in the west, the liquid has much the same colour, I think the same rice wine lees is used in the marinading liquid. I use it for its colour in some dishes. Obviously, a little funkier than the powder, I'd imagine.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I tried testing it, and it just didn't have vibrant enough of a color. Hongzao is also significantly more mild of a flavor, it's sort of reminiscent of red wine.

[@sohatyi]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thank you! I always learn a lot from your videos and replies.

[@brianbedford-moisan3965]

I am really lucky found the red rice in the local Asian grocer in Richmond, Melbourne

[@jeffscheurkogel]

Wouldn't a melon baller work for the water chestnut shaping? It could shave off quite a bit of time (no pun intended).

[@jhoughjr1]

I also wonder if just using some shavings bound with starch would work also.

[@Levonshi]

My local restaurant has this sweet and sour food type sometimes with crispy chicken sometimes its fish

[@JSRLPadre]

Off topic: One of my uncles was originally from Fujian before immigrating to the Philippines. Sadly, cancer killed him young. While Filipinos are no strangers to fried rice, everyone who remembers his cooking, including me, modelled their fried rice after his. I'm looking forward to seeing what future Fujian recipes you interpret here!

[@Briguy1027]

I like potato, sweet potato, and taro, but I don't like water chestnuts, so I would probably make the homestyle version myself!

[@rynaro88]

idk about the rest of the peeps here but in singapore this stuff is semi common. While not all chinese takeout places have it i know of a couple that offer lychee pork. Tastes amazing btw.

[@lprichardson88]

Love the white rabbit top.

[@coldstone01]

what an interesting recipe. now to find some fresh chestnut but most places do have canned water chests already cut into small circles. :D I think I'll trial it out.

[@Anonarchist]

In Fujian, vinegar comes in bags.

[@arnauldbordes]

Hi, what kind of japanese rice vinegar should I use? Thank you.

[@kevinmiller1356]

Nice, more Fujianese would be awesome. Ban mian 拌面, shui jian bao水煎包, Fuzhou seafood fried rice noodles福州炒米粉, fish balls鱼丸, Xiamen style sha cha mian沙茶面, and Quanzhou style oyster pancakes 泉州蚵仔煎 are all great and, besides fish balls, pretty friendly to western pallets.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

We did a 拌面 recipe about 8,9 months ago, but it was Shaxian style~

[@kingofredlions8729]

What brand thermometer do you use to measure your oil with?

[@krishanmistry6372]

Most chinese people in my region are Fujian people. It's exciting to see fujian food showcased