'Western' food in Asia: Fried Spaghetti across three countries

One of our favorite topics - Western food in Asia! This time, we wanted to show you stir fried spaghetti across three countries.
0:00 - Three countries this time
0:28 - The Chachaanteng Menu
2:00 - Recipe 1, Hong Kong Black Pepper Spaghetti
3:35 - Other Western Food Traditions in Asia
4:53 - Recipe 2, Naporitan
7:37 - Thailand's Modern Western Food
9:23 - Recipe 3, Dried Chili Fried Spaghetti
10:21 - What do they taste like?
RECIPES FOR OTHER THAI SPAGHETTIS
So generally speaking, my four 'go-to' channels for Central Thai/Bangkok food are (1) the ever-fantastic Hot Thai Kitchen (2) GinDaiAroyDuay (Thai, but description box recipes translated to English) (3) PlaoCooking (Thai, but ingredients/quantities are listed in English) and (4) COOKKIMAO. Of the four, Hot Thai Kitchen and GinDaiAroyDuai - the two more homecooking of the four - have Spaghetti recipes:
Drunken Spaghetti:
HTK - • Drunken Spaghetti Reci...
GDAD - • สปาเก็ตตี้ขี้เมา วิธีต...
Tom Yam Spaghetti:
HTK - • Tom Yum Spaghetti สปาเ...
GDAD - • Special EP.4 : มักกะโร...
BLACK PEPPER SPAGHETTI 黑椒意粉
* Dried Spaghetti, 100g
* Flour (面粉), ½ tbsp
* Onion (洋葱), ¼, sliced
* Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
* Shallot (干葱), ½, minced
* Black pepper, 1 tbsp, freshly ground
* Sauce:
Dark soy sauce (老抽), 1 tsp
Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tsp
Oyster sauce (蚝油), ½ tsp
Sugar, 1 tsp
Salt, ¼ tsp
MSG (味精), ¼ tsp
Worcestershire sauce (喼汁), 1 tsp
Water, 6 tbsp
* Ham (火腿), 30g
* Butter (牛油), 1 tbsp
Cook the spaghetti until done. If holding for a bit, transfer to a plate and jiggle in front of a fan or AC to vent out some steam. Reserve.
To make the black pepper sauce, first fry the ½ tbsp flour in 2 tbsp oil over a medium flame. Once combined, add in the onion and cook until slightly softened, ~1 minute. Add in the shallot and the garlic, and fry everything until the roux’s cooked through, 2-3 minutes more. Add in the black pepper and fry until fragrant. Add in the sauce, swap the flame to high. Once thickened, transfer to a bowl.
Same wok, add another tablespoon of oil over a medium flame. Fry the ham until slightly darkened, ~1 minute, then add in the spaghetti. Stir fry for ~30 seconds, then mix in the sauce, and finish with a tablespoon of butter.
NAPORITAN ナポリタン
* Dried Spaghetti, 100g
* Onion, 1/8, sliced
* Hot dog, 1, sliced
* Ketchup, 4 tbsp
* Seasoning:
Salt, ¼ tsp
MSG, ¼ tsp
Sugar, ½ tsp
* Kewpie Mayo, 1 tbsp
* Green bell pepper, ¼, sliced
* Butter, 1 tbsp
* Optional powdered parm & Tabasco to serve
For a Yoshoku restaurant style spaghetti… first boil the spaghetti until done, then thoroughly coat with oil. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 4-5 hours, or up to overnight. Re-blanch for 15 seconds to re-heat before frying.
For us, we simply boiled the spaghetti until done, and then transferred directly from the cooking pot.
Either way, first fry the onion in ~2 tbsp oil over a medium flame. Once slightly softened, ~1 minute, add in the hot dog. Once the hot dog begins to curl, ~1 minute, scooch up the side of the wok. Add in the four tbsp of ketchup, fry in the oil for 1-2 minutes. Add in the spaghetti, stir fry for ~30 seconds. Add in the seasoning and the mayo, mix well. Add in the bell pepper, fry for ~15 seconds. Add in the butter and mix.
DRIED CHILI SPAGHETTI สปาเก็ตตี้ผัดพริกแห้ง
* Dried spaghetti, 100g
* Bacon, 100g, sliced into ~1 inch sections
* Water, ½ cup
* Onion, 1/8, diced
* Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
* Spicy dried chilis, 8, sliced in half
* Seasoning:
Oyster sauce, 1 tbsp
Fish sauce, ½ tbsp
Sugar, ½ tsp
MSG, ¼ tsp
Black pepper, ¼ tsp
Cornstarch, ½ tsp
Water, 1.5 tbsp
* Thai basil (or sweet basil), 3 large handfuls
Cook the spaghetti until done, ala the Hong Kong spaghetti above.
To a wok or pan, add in the bacon and the water, and let it boil over a high flame. Once the water is evaporated, swap the flame to medium. After another 2-3 minutes, there should be a good bit of bacon fat to fry in. Add the diced onion and fry for 1-2 minutes, or until slightly golden, then add in the garlic. Once fragrant, add in the chilis. Once those are fragrant, add in the spaghetti and stir fry for ~30 seconds. Add in the seasoning and mix thoroughly to coat. Add the basil and mix for ~30 seconds to wilt.
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Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): • Live Stream: Favourite...

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. So - sort of inadvertently - the concept here was definitely inspired a bit by Beryl Shereshewsky’s videos. One of those times when you see something, it goes deep in your brain, and months/years later you think you had an original idea when you… totally didn’t lol (like, our original title for this video was going to be “How Asia Stir Fries Spaghetti”, which obviously had to be changed once the similarities dawned on me). She’s got five pasta oriented ‘around the world’ videos, so you can definitely check those out too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmnJqaarZrFsjc0 2. At the same time, the topic of Western food in Asia is something that we’re (1) super passionate about and (2) something that lends itself quite well to this sort of ‘comparative study’. So long as y’all are similarly interested, we definitely don’t want this to be our last video on the topic. Cookshop fare, Haipai stuff, Hainan western, all the fun concoctions from the Philippines… if we’re going to step out of Chinese food at all, this is the one area that we feel could be in our wheelhouse. 3. But yeah, any Japanese or Thai people out there? Definitely let us know how we did. Luckily between studying a bit of Japanese in college and being *quite* well versed in Kanji haha… Steph can navigate written Japanese somewhat well. But still - we’ve never been to Japan, and our love of some of these dishes come from frequenting Japanese expatriate run restaurants in Shenzhen, Shunde, and Bangkok - none of which happen to, like, actually be in Japan. And similarly… we’ve only lived in Bangkok for a bit over a year (and our Thai is still rudimentary), so there’s bound to be blind spots as well. We definitely WANT feedback, so if we screwed up anywhere, tear into us! We want to learn. 4. Re the origins of Naporitan, like most food history there’s a lot of various theories/arguments. The most commonly cited origin is that it was created in the 1940s at the Hotel New Grand in Yokohama by a chef named Shigetada Irie. And the Hotel New Grand *does* play an important role in the Naporitan story - it’s said that he (1) was the first to list the name ‘Naporitan’ (i.e. the Japanese-ified spelling) on the menu and (2) was the inventor of the ‘softening’ trick we went over in the video. However, the Hotel’s version reportedly did not use Ketchup. The chef at the Center Grill is supposed to have studied under Shigetada Irie, and then adapted this recipe to use Ketchup. 5. There are some threads that pre-war there may have been some ketchup-based spaghettis in Japan. Not knowing Japanese, this proved to be a much more difficult space to navigate, and the Center Grill Theory seemed well regarded enough. 6. Originally, for the ‘Thai Spaghetti’ we were going to cover how to make that Drunken Spaghetti that I mentioned in the video. Super fun dish, but a big difficulty that I have when making Central Thai/Bangkok food is that it ends up being *so* tempting to apply a bit of Cantonese technique. Like… if I’m making a Drunken Noodle for myself, why *wouldn’t* I marinate and prep the seafood in the Cantonese style (ala the recent shrimp video). Why *wouldn’t* I fry in lard, and thicken my sauce with starch? While I think in these videos it’s ok to make a slight personal adjustment here or there, by my final test I realized that this recipe wasn’t “how Thailand stir fries spaghetti” but rather “how Chris stir fries spaghetti with a Thai flavor”. There didn’t seem to be much in English on Dried Chili fried spaghetti, so I figured that one might be a fun (and tasty) one to cover. 7. Still, I couldn’t help but add a little cornstarch to the sauce. Many Thai spaghetti dishes keep the sauce much thinner, so do note that that was my personal addition. 8. One other personal touch that I quite like - if possible, in this sort of dish I really like adding deep fried basil in addition to adding fresh basil. It’s a cool technique - the basil seems to ‘hold up’ quite a bit more in the final dish, especially visually. 9. If you're interested in the topic of Thai Cookshops, I'd definitely recommend our buddy Adam's video on the topic kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIKtmq1reMuHrrM And while I'm the epitome of biased (known Adam since we both moved to China in the late 00s), if you're generally interested in the nexus of food and culture, I honestly think especially their recent videos are among the best English language food/travel content I've seen on KZbin. That’s all I can think of for now. Hope y’all enjoyed this one, swinging back to some solidly Shunde cuisine next video :)

[@TVOme]

As Thai, You doing fine with the Spaghetti. For addition, you might need to add big chunk of big chinese galic, because this recipe is made famous by a restuarant name "Kratiam" it kinda Thai western fusion food. Fun fact, the owner is also a "Kratoey". So the name resturant is kind of a pun, too.😊

[@kaizerkoala]

My 2 cents is that you don't need cornstarch for Thai Spaghetti. It's basically Aglio e Olio with bacon fat and stearoid. If you feel it too dry, just use pasta water.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@TVOme Oh cool! Was trying to poke around to see where this dish could've came from, but couldn't find much (except some old Pantip posts reviewing a couple in Pattaya). Is this the spot? goo.gl/maps/G5oYLcb1RyX3RvKK7

[@jamesheng1878]

As someone who lives in Japan I do find the spelling tends to be more ‘Napolitan’. Obviously Japanese lacks much of a differentiation of ‘l’ and ‘r’ but when it is romanized, it’s mainly with the ‘l’ which I assumed is taken from the city of Naples or how in Japanese you would say it, ‘Napoli’. This might be why the name stays this way.

[@11popk87]

I'm Thai here, and I cook Thai spaghetti just like your but with linguine instead. I prefer the dish to be closer to what Thai-Chinese called "Honk Kong noodle" So you shouldn't worry about how some dishes may come closer to Chinese and than Thai. I want to see your take on this too, per usual, one recipe from the local and another is your take on this recipe.

[@alexanderyerbich448]

I'm always mildly amused when chris says "I think everybody knows about..." and then describes a dish that I am hearing about for the first time in my life

[@EliTecapture-ru3vw]

I've never heard of any of these dishes in my life and I'm an Asian that loves spaghetti and Asian food. lol

[@treadnokash7598]

Hello my fellow orange

[@327legoman]

​@@EliTecapture-ru3vw I hadn't heard of it before Japan and here in Japan its a super super common side and sometimes main dish. Though being from the UK, I can't help but think if -we- tried to do that the Internet would roast us alive. But since its Japan they get a pass lmao.

[@magicjuand]

i love the direction this channel is going in. obviously, chinese cooking is always going to be at the center and i'm not looking for "asian cooking demystified", but it's interesting to see how chinese cuisine doesn't just stop at the chinese border but is shaped by a larger intercultural dialogue which has mirrors all over the continent and elsewhere. it's daring to investigate chinese food from this perspective but i think it will yield a lot of observations you won't find in more traditional chinese cooking channels.

[@newcamomile]

I would seriously love more diaspora cuisine content on youtube generally. Indo-Chinese food is incredibly delicious and Indian 'chow mein' is honestly not a million miles from stir-fried spaghetti.

[@Bunny-ch2ul]

I really appreciate that they acknowledge that "traditional" and "authentic" aren't really synonymous. Food isn't static. It's part of culture, and culture evolves. Only presenting the "traditional" is boring, and it doesn't really reflect how people in a culture actually eat.

[@AldonaDye]

Yes! Love when they go into food history and local foodways. People eat what tastes good and they work with the knowledge and resources in front of them, and CCD does a great job of showcasing that!

[@sgtjarhead99]

My late mother-in-law (RIP) used to make fried spaghetti for us whenever me and the wife were too busy to make dinner. A little bit of soy sauce and whatever leftovers from the night prior. It was quick to spin up, tasty, and filled you up. I really miss her.

[@aaronsakulich4889]

"but... Do what makes you happy" is an instruction I want to hear in more recipes!

[@penguinpingu3807]

My philosophy when it comes to cooking learn the recipe to the teeth first, then you can alter. (Unless of it is something that can harm your health like allergies) Because IMO you get the hang of it first, after making it a few times you would know what you want to alter in the recipe and you will feel a lot more happier in the end.

[@oldcowbb]

@@penguinpingu3807 my approach on learning anything. you can't claim it is an improvement if a) you don't know what the real deal tastes like and b) you just don't have the skill to make the real deal. Learning the real deal and altering it to tastes is true mastery

[@penguinpingu3807]

@@oldcowbb Very true. Altering a recipe is the most hardest part that most won't realised, it's not gatekeeping if your alteration isn't recognisable to the dish that you trying to alter. There are variations but they maintain the essence of the original. The texture and flavour are the most hardest to keep similar when substituting.

[@antonc81]

My favourite Japanese yoshoku pasta dish is mentaiko spaghetti… it’s not really an analogue of any western dish as far as I’m aware, but they do use “western” ingredients apart from the mentaiko. Highly recommend trying it if you haven’t.

[@nikobatallones]

If only it was easy to find in the Philippines, haha! Watching a lot of Cooking with Dog and that's a dish I've been craving unknowingly.

[@deadfr0g]

Heck yeah!! Mentaiko spaghetti is lit and legit.

[@oldcowbb]

mentaiko itself is just godly regardless

[@gmanjapan]

Cream mentaiko spaghetti > plain mentaiko spaghetti! 😉

[@PewPew_McPewster]

Well mentaiko is a seafood umami right? So when you think about it it's kinda like in the same ballpark as al tonno or puttanesca. I'm only half joking here.

[@Pyrmon]

I've been doing spaghetti stir fries for years whenever I run out of other noodles, so this is great inspiration

[@Ian-nl9yd]

Yeah, with enough seasoning and sauce, spaghetti, udon, and rice noodles are almost indistinguishable.

[@thelu1s]

Specially if you add some baking soda to the pasta water, that seems to add some additional bite to the pasta

[@julesverneinoz]

I've never seen these sold at restaurants, so I'm relieved they exist. Like you, I've been doing spaghetti stir fries for years when I'm in the mood for it and each time I thought the Italians would probably kill me for doing this to spaghetti 🤣 There's something about twirling your fork around spaghetti that's distinctly different to eating Asian noodles with chopsticks.

[@trashraccoon2635]

in indonesia we also have something similar to this. some are straight up fusion, and i've seen spaghetti topped with sambal matah (a style of sambal that's basically sliced chili peppers and a fuckton of sliced shallots, and depending on the style you can get it drenched in oil or in lime juice), usually with some chicken. another type is what restaurants often call aglio olio, but it's basically just oily fried spaghetti with slices of fresh chili peppers, mushrooms, chicken, and/or hot dogs, usually with slightly charred garlic slices. it's interesting how dishes from around the world get translated into another culture. edit: interestingly, there's also a version of spaghetti that's basically just spaghetti tossed in ketchup and meat and that's called bolognese. the italians are frothing in the mouth probably

[@maxebanana6143]

our carbonara is also just straight up cream/milk with diced ham slices, lol

[@ssrbgangimaribotan6thofthe12]

@@maxebanana6143 didn't even use egg on the sauce lol

[@tjay1305]

@@maxebanana6143oh, yeah… that’s trashy carbonara I’ve eaten far too many times…

[@renzanfortineri196]

@@maxebanana6143 I have talking with friends that loves cooking Basically Carbonara got introduced to majority of Indonesian people in Java is from Pizza Hut And Pizza Hut is from America So "italian food" that we knew, is actually American version of it

[@Tombombadillo999]

“Alio e olio” is a typical italian dish, and its lovely!

[@zalibecquerel3463]

Re: The double-boil style of the Japanese version: I know of a trick when making ramen, if you can't find any decent fresh ramen noodles locally is to use spaghetti, and adding perhaps half a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when boiling. It's hard to describe, but it makes the spaghetti "springier". I don't have any more info than that, but perhaps someone in the comments will.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ha, I tried that trick before too, only with Lye water. It's definitely an... interesting texture. Wasn't a fan of how the noodle 'puffed up', but I might've overdone it with the sodium carbonate haha

[@zalibecquerel3463]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Heh, the number one science thing I learned from this channel are the chemical and culinary differences between sodium bicarbonate, and sodium carbonate... and how to make the latter from the former.

[@kaitlyn__L]

The dough for ramen noodles needs an alkali in there for the texture, so this is basically just trying to substitute it in at a later stage. As to why it affects the texture like that, it’s to do with how the chemical reaction cooks faster and retains water. Another good example is traditional pretzels, which are very well cooked on the outside but stay just barely cooked and fluffy on the inside. Compare that to a regular bread roll, and the difference is the same as ramen against other non-alkaline noodles :)

[@curbyourshi1056]

​@@zalibecquerel3463Sodium Hydroxide is a whole new beast compared to those Carbonates.

[@deadfr0g]

Yes!!! Was this video made for me?! The ways that different cultures around the world have adapted spaghetti are FASCINATING. Like, just, right off the bat, it’s already suuuper interesting that the quintessential spaghetti bolognese isn’t really a traditional thing in any part of Italy. Shoutout to Filipino spaghetti for adding condensed milk and/or banana ketchup to their tomato sauce. And hotdog wieners show up in this one too!! Shoutout to Cincinnati-style spaghetti for using their take on chili con carne-which is actually more akin to a Greek meat sauce with _cinnamon_ in it-as a starting point, and then putting American cheddar and raw onion on top. Shoutout to Somali spaghetti for throwing in basically every single spice they have. I grew up in western Canada with a Japanese-Canadian mom, and the dish that _I_ knew as “spaghetti” throughout my childhood is a variation that I have never seen anywhere outside of this specific generation of Japanese-Canadian families. I’ve wondered my entire adult life how widespread this version is, and where it came from, or how it even came to be. Funnily enough, the closest thing to it that I’ve ever encountered in the wild (i.e. outside of the Japanese-Canadian community bubble) was at an otherwise-very-typical western diner in Vancouver that was run by Chinese cooks… but/and I have this intuitive suspicion that the similarities may actually be due more to convergent evolution (techniques, sensibilities, and available ingredients) than any specific shared ancestor recipe.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

This is the first time I've heard of Suugo Suqaar... looks *awesome*

[@gregorsamsa5561]

Not to be that kind of Italian(i like every recipe you mentioned and i'm commenting under this video so.. :)) but spaghetti Bolognese is a traditional recipe in Bologna, we just call it differently: Ragú.(also what in america is called Bologna we call it "mortadella")

[@Default78334]

​@@gregorsamsa5561By "spaghetti Bolognese" they're referring to the Commonwealth-style "spag bol", not a ragu alla Bolognese.

[@newcamomile]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified East African-Italian fusion food is fantastic. Eritrean-Italian food is a big thing.

[@Jumpoable]

So what is your mom's Japanese-Canadian pasta dish like? Recipe or description please.

[@porkcheeks]

Having never heard of this I went to a Hong Kong cafe on a work trip. They started me with a bowl of sweet thin tomato soup and wonder bread toast. They recommended a cheese covered Shepard’s pie type dish. I got beef tongue pepper flavored spaghetti. Weird but amount the most memorable meals of my life.

[@GentleCrank]

The moment I read beef tongue, I got hungry

[@Jumpoable]

Oh you had Chinese borscht. Created by Russians who escaped to Shanghai when their empire fell, then when Shanghai fell, some Russians & Shanghainese went to HK with those recipes. It's basically watered down borscht LOL but we love it.

[@porkcheeks]

@@Jumpoable that’s awesome. What a great bow to put on this story for me. Thank you.

[@komnoms4359]

I was so surprised to see how the last one turned out! It actually feels really similar to an aglio e olio that I make at home when there's no parsley - I add fish sauce to it and thai basil and bird's eye chilis that we grow in our backyard.

[@AldonaDye]

Yum!!

[@oliverhees4076]

Honestly, I would be curious to see the Chachaanteng white sauce version. It seems like the most ostensibly Western of the bunch to me and I'm curious to see how that deviates from a normal Béchamel and what makes it Cantonese/Chinese.

[@Jumpoable]

Oh a Hong Kong style "Western" baked creamy seafood rice is to die for. It's just a mild béchamel, not as nutty as a well made European one, I guess. But I think some cooks add in a bit of cornstarch or potato starch. Maybe a dash of light soy sauce or Shaoxing wine for extra umami. Cheap industrial cheese on top. LOL loves it. Some "fancier" versions of baked rice even use EGG FRIED RICE as the base, so it's extra fragrant & UNCTUOUS.

[@ChungshanStory]

Wikipedia: 港式白汁 … 以白湯底（沒稀釋的罐裝忌廉湯）煮成... ie. Campbell Soup kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipPMk6hqiZ6XgJY 用麵粉與黃油拌勻，用慢火煮約3分鐘成「麵糊」，再拌入白湯底煮成汁

[@David_Alvarez77]

The Thai recipe looks pretty good and I think the description of a high ease of preparation to deliciousness ratio seems accurate.

[@AP-yt4oo]

I love making a dry Tom yum angel hair stir fry, made with Tom yum paste, kaffir lime leaves, finely minced lemongrass, galangal, minced beef, and canned tomatoes. Saucy, tangy, deliciousness. Thank you for bringing a different interpretation of pastas to the masses

[@tristanc3873]

I was wondering if you all could do a breakdown of Chinese cleavers and cooking knives and some suggestions of what brands are the best to aim for. Generally in the West, the companies CCK/Chan Chi Kee and Shibazi/Shi Ba Zi Zou, are seen as the most reputable and most popular. Partially just because they come up first in search results when you look for Chinese cleavers to buy, and partially because they make solid knives. Curious if we are missing some great options that are on the market. Along with any other info you all can give.

[@shigemorif1066]

Doria is such a nostalgic pleasure! Loved it since I was a kid. The creaminess of the bechamel pairs so well with Japanese rice.

[@AntoniusTyas]

You guys expanding your scopes to Asian culinary culture in general is something I would love to see... Also that Shokugeki no Soma insert is **chef's kiss**

[@sethjchandler]

These all look sooo good! And so doable! Thanks for sharing.

[@danielwerger5641]

Nice touch throwing in a touch of Pai Lin... She's great, as you guys are...!!!

[@VoltaDoMar]

You two are such a generous and unique source of information. I appreciate you

[@acerrubrum5749]

You two are a treasure ❤ Thanks

[@ianthecytokineiv3161]

can't wait to try these recipes! I really appreciate how much effort went into researching the history of each dish

[@GoatyForever]

i love love love seeing other cultures' takes on foods/ingredients i'm familiar with, great video!

[@martj.1350]

I saw your video this morning and HAD to make Naporitan for dinner today! We’ve just finished our plates and I’m so happy about how this turned out that i will definitely add it to the regular meals!! Thank you so much for the inspiration!

[@Playdude5]

incredible history and research. i love your content. thanks for sharing

[@THEZH09]

i was looking for some asian styled spaghetti recipes thats easy and straightforward ... you guys delivered them in style !!!! Thank you

[@RottenPotatoeFarmer]

Another great video!

[@abracadaverous]

"Easy-to-Make : Deliciousness ratio" seems like a really useful metric. Thank you for that!

[@vital20]

You guys are just so awesome

[@hcs8789]

These videos are so fascinating - the cultural/historical insights mixed with clear, easy to follow visual recipes. A lot of this is totally new for me and I'm just really enjoying learning about everything! Looking forward to trying to cook some of these dishes at some point

[@jeffwatkins72]

Thank you, these look like fun fusion dishes and packed with flavour. I'm excited to try all three, as they're so different. The fact that the Thai one is served with basil (albeit a different kind) is a fun touch and I always found the dried chilli stir fried Thai dishes to be my favourites, even over more popular dishes like red curry. What stands out is the robustness of the spaghetti in each finished dish, which I guess is part of the charm of them over softer noodle based dishes.

[@kaitlyn__L]

It has absolutely made my day to learn there’s a special way to make spaghetti in Japan which makes the texture more like Japanese noodles! After being skeptical of some of the 2010s-era performative outrage about local western restaurants not being authentic enough in the cuisine they sell, I started learning more about Japanese “Western” food and fell in love with the imaginative ways in which one country’s dishes get adapted to local palates and ingredients. (Omurice, which I had eaten long before I knew it was considered western, still seems very much not western to me except for the ketchup though. But I guess that’s the beauty of fusion food, it retains enough of both that both sides will view it as “other”!) This channel was introduction to non-Japanese Asian interpretations of western food and that love has just gotten deeper and deeper. Every culture chooses different things to keep and to throw away. I completely understand what they mean about the “hardness” of pasta though, as a child I actually demanded “Chinese” style instant egg noodles instead of spaghetti because my teeth were so sensitive back then. (The egg part made it taste pretty similar to Italian egg pasta so the rest of the dish would work.) That what I’m assuming is an English style cooked breakfast was also really fun. The egg, the bacon and the sausage makes sense to me. The broccoli, carrot, and corn less so! The heaping helping of chips was the jewel in the crown of it all - because of course it has to have chips 😂

[@StevenRayMorris]

Appreciate the In The Mood For Love shout out, one of the best films of all time. ❤

[@fish3977]

I love this sort of videos for ideas as they help with seeing common ingredients I have access to in different light and ease me into trying even more heavily bastardized versions of foreign food

[@KaingMusic]

Thanks as always…you guys are the best and your channel is so educational! Great to see a shoutout to Hot Thai Kitchen, I just discovered it and it’s fantastic. All the best guys! PS, my first dog was a mini schnauzer 😊❤

[@jts1702a]

Hi Chris and Steph; Great coverage this episode! I'm definitely seeing those Kra Pao basic techniques being applied to the Thai recipe. I'm finding that they rely a lot more on oil-sugar-water emulsification to thicken the sauce more than just starching it up? On a side note, I'd like to point out to you a recent research presentation I did at the University of Toronto R.C. Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library on a Hong Kong 1960's cookbook - and I concluded that Shanghaiese borscht came to Hong Kong, stayed around, and further evolved - into a slow-simmered Cantonese soup. Just wondering if you guys ever gave a pore-over on the CHAN Wing book, and if you guys would ever consider doing textual source analyses for your eps? Psst, said presentation is a video, on my channel. Should be right on top.

[@HazyGraves]

I made the black pepper spaghetti for my husband and I and it was amazing. Thank you

[@gergelykasza5351]

I just want ALL the Asian Western food videos, when I say all, I do mean it. Its fusion food before fusion became trendy. The previous one, the well done steak witch ketchup sauce spaghetti was so good I watched it 'bout twenty times and I salivate when I just think about it. It seems I just have to make it soon, luckily my wife approves. Quick note: locally, round costs just about the same as ribeye and its not cheap.

[@empatheticrambo4890]

This was super interesting!

[@JackTse]

Perfect timing

[@cookingwithmimmo]

感谢您的视频和出色的工作

[@marvelousjefferson7272]

Napolitan is what I practically lived on back during my study abroad. Excellent rendition!

[@Reinturtle]

Wow I just stumbled upon an amazing rabbit of Asianized western food! Fascinating!

[@huggledemon32]

My Malaysian housemate at uni used to stir fry spaghetti, because he said it was basically like “Hokkien” noodles, just dried!🤷‍♀️👍🏻😂

[@emilyjade3558]

Thank you so much! I love quick and easy noodle dishes and will give these a try, especially when I dont feel like doing a ton of food prep work for other dishes! Hope you all are doing well!

[@Booogieman]

fantastic qualty!

[@-_-----]

Lovely video 🙏

[@sweetshoez]

You just unlocked a memory for me. I had this delicious spaghetti dish in Tokyo at Yomenya Goemon in Shinjuku. I’m not sure what the dish was called but it was the best red sauce pasta I ever had. I remember it being sweet and having eggplant. It’s still on the menu today

[@Ciretako]

I'm veering off-topic from Asian-Western fusion, but I've had a dish from the restaurant Tiamo in Melbourne which sounds similar to that - maccheroni della zia. It had eggplant and mini meatballs in a Napoli sauce. Looking it up now I don't think I can find any recipes _exactly_ like it online (it's not a perfect match for any pasta alla Norma recipe I can find, at least), but I'd say it's the best red sauce pasta _I've_ ever had.

[@QuillTail]

I'm gonna make the Hong Kong one straight away, it looks like a super super simple dish to make but sounds absolutely delicious

[@Jumpoable]

Oh it is. Enjoy. Remember to use LOTS of quality black pepper for that wonderful, spicy warmth.

[@delyar]

all of these recipes look super fun to make

[@kurtisseid8361]

In Chiang Mai, Spaghetti Sai Ua is a great whole meal. You can get it in other provinces, but the sausage won't be as good.

[@keganwallace8753]

Funny I was looking at making spaghetti and wanted something different and stumbled upon Filipino spaghetti. Now I have even more options with these recipes 👍🏻👍🏻

[@kimberlydrennon4982]

3 things make a list 1) I finally have enough tools and ingredients together that my wife and I have been trying your recipes (we live 7 hours from a good Asian market) 2) we are going to do these this week 3) a technical note for both of you: that microphone is right next to Steph's face so she does not need to work as hard to project as she did in this video, and it might show up if you look at the sound levels. At the very least, her voice sounds stressed. Maybe she was just excited? Love your videos keep it up!

[@jgvtc559]

These all look super good

[@sexytomato100]

Love listening to this man say spaghetti

[@orfeasliossatos]

Fantastic video! I'm going to try the black pepper spaghetti today!

[@orfeasliossatos]

I just tried it - holy shit it's good

[@wemcal]

Great video

[@rgwergegcx]

really interesting history

[@HealthylivingwithSaima451]

Good Work ❤ Good Luck ❤❤

[@user-rd7gf6jg5r]

Love the Soma Yukihira cameo when you explain Naporitan. If you know, you know...

[@andrewhcit]

I grew up in a Taiwanese-American family, and the spaghetti I remember from childhood turns out to be something like Naporitan, except with bacon and ground beef instead of the hot dog.

[@Jumpoable]

I make Naporitan once a month, but I have NEVER made my own HK style black pepper sauce spaghetti!!!!!! I rarely go to chachaantengs anymore (I always get a weird tummy afterwards... sorry I just can't stomach subpar ingredients or too much grease anymore!) so I can't wait to make it tomorrow. Thank YOU!

[@adamfong8132]

For thai basil, i usually have it stir fry with the minced meat and sauce till bit thicken then add in Noodle ... Pad krapao style ... Top with a soft yolk sunny side egg with crispy side.

[@queenofdramatech]

Love your Beryl shout-out! I also am subbed to her.

[@0bleach0]

2:55 you say compliment, but most likely mean component. Great video and channel! Cheers

[@miketan7222]

Been frying pasta and using it in asian-style noodle dishes for decades. Keeps longer than fresh or instant noodles, so it's handy to have in the pantry

[@taheerayousuf9135]

Like your content. Love from 🇮🇳

[@Bunny-ch2ul]

I made the Naporitan, and I'm rather surprised by just how good it is. On paper it's peak flyover white trash cooking (Ketchup, mayonnaise, hot dogs, and spaghetti. ew.) but it's surprisingly complex and interesting. Usually I'm more interested in your recipes that take six hours, but that was really rather good. A lot of Asian quick at home comfort food is shockingly good for what it is. (See: chapaguri, ketchup fried rice with Spam, Japanese curry from a box, etc.) The components would make pretty foul American food, but totally work. I guess the difference is that fresh vegetables are *always* included, whereas in the US you're lucky if the tuna casserole has frozen peas mixed in. Even if you're making food from a box, or pantry staples, you need to dress it up a bit and add some vibrancy.

[@327legoman]

I would argue its a mixture of cooking skill and perspective. The perspective one is a large part of it. Many foriegners that come to Japan for a week or so think the food is amazing. Whereas foreigners who have lived here for a long while usually start to think a lot of the dishes are actually a bit basic and bland. I've had many Napolitan spaghetti's which are just ketchup and pasta with 3 thin slices of green pepper and sausage and it's like damn. It's edible, but a major step-down from the beef-rich UK style bolognaise with garlic bread that I grew up eating in the UK. Japan does do bolognaise too but I've never had a good one.

[@Bunny-ch2ul]

@@327legoman I was really talking about home cooks, and mostly home cooks making more native dishes. If I was craving Italian food anywhere in Asia, I'd really only look at tippy top of the line restaurants. I feel like Italian food is to most of Asia what French food is to the West. You sometimes see middle of the road French food in the West, but it's always bad. If you want good French food outside of France it's going to be top dollar. I feel like in Asia, any Italian food that's not in a super high end restaurant is going to be Olive Garden tier. I always think it's funny that when you ask for the nicest or most luxe restaurant in town in a lot of Asia locals will frequently tell you it's an Italian restaurant. For me, unless Italian is like farm (like it would be in most better restaurants in Italy) it's kind of meh.

[@Tombombadillo999]

Try the italian “sugo al pomodoro” and imo its way nicer and tastes fresher. Apart from being the original “inspiration” for sauce napolitain.

[@Bunny-ch2ul]

@@Tombombadillo999 I feel like even if that's the inspiration, it's kind of a different beast. Like, sometimes you want to make a gourmet macaroni and cheese with four kinds of artisanal European cheeses from the cheese monger, and a beautiful gratin topping with homemade bread crumbs sautéed in butter with fresh herbs. And sometimes you want to eat a box of Annie's while watching Netflix. Both are equally valid for what they are.

[@brookechang4942]

I would love to see you guys do a collab with Pai on Thai Chinese food sometime!

[@ScottJPowers]

I've been frying spaghetti/fettuccini for a few years now, as an alternative to just dumping some sauce on it. after cooking and draining the noodles, I place them in a frying pan with oil already in the pan and preheated and then fry it with some sauce, spices, and sometimes, various diced vegetables. Sometimes, I just fry the noodles in tomato sauce and sometimes I fry them in other sauces, and sometimes I add a bit of soy sauce to enhance the flavor along with some seasonings.

[@brandon3872]

That's actually the authentic way of serving pasta in Italy. Once the pasta is cooked, it is drained and then combined with the sauce. This approach ensures that each strand of pasta is evenly coated with the sauce. They almost never pour sauce over pasta in Italy like people do in other countries.

[@MarshBrik]

flour and oil > onion and garlic > spices and sauces > pasta ketchup pasta: oil> onion>hot dog> ketchup. make sure there is enough oil for ketchup> peppers>pasta> mayo and hot sauce thai spag: bacon in water wait til fried> onion> garlic> oyster> dried chili> noodle> herb

[@UnCoolDad]

This kind of cooking reminds me of German curry wurst. Derived from what was in ration packs of foreign occupying forces (American and British in this case). It is practically a national dish now.

[@flourface]

Love the channel - my first ever "Meh" - still subscribed 🍻

[@dfwturtles105]

Not the Shokugeki clips XD These look so good to make!

[@Idkmanihatethis]

Finally a spaghetti video without angry Italian comments. So tired of people getting triggered because people don’t cook the same way that they cook.

[@georgecooper9766]

As an Australian who grew up on a rice farm the Asian-Western fusian food is my bread and butter, I love it so much. I'm gonna try all these. (may also be a bridge between my super British housemate who only like bread pasta and beans and my spicy Asian food lol)

[@MrAstygmatyk]

Very inspiring and looks delicious too. What really surprises is the use of....butter to round off the taste. Is it also part of "western" influence on Asian cuisine similar to incorporating Italian spaghetti? Strange if you remember how sparingly if ever Italians use butter in pasta dishes.

[@GabrielHawkPot]

Just made the naporitan with a few substitutions for what I had in my fridge. Hot dogs -> firm tofu and a few smoked lardons, kewpie mayo -> UK supermarket mayo with a splash of rice vinegar, sugar and msg, onion -> red onion, powdered Parmesan->pre-grated pecorino. It was really good!

[@GabrielHawkPot]

Oh and linguine instead of spaghetti!

[@StarKnightZ]

Will you ever do a recipe on flambé? I was gifted a bottle of heavy aroma Baijiu and am itching to try it out!

[@EddyCNAU]

Spaghetti works pretty well for Reganmian hot dry noodles. Been recreating it overseas with spaghetti for a while now. Alkaline noodles are hard to come by here.

[@n0etic_f0x]

Honestly, if this is what people falsely believe we eat perhaps we should make them wrong and just make it anyway because that sounds awesome. I have to say fried ham is an "I have no money but want good food" classic that I think people that do have money should make anyway.

[@zlatanonkovic2424]

As an Italian, I love everything about Naporitan noodles.

[@Jumpoable]

Grazie mille.

[@TheWhiteDragon3]

Re, the Japanese re-blanching method: it's also reasonable to believe that is a restaurant method to cut cooking times, since they're cranking out hundreds of dishes every evening. Charles Escoffier's own recipes often include implied steps like this, and even Chinese cooks have all their veggies prepped and cut well ahead of time.

[@cp1236]

I used to work for an Italian restaurant many years ago and they would parboil huge batches of pasta, cool it, oil it and refrigerate it in preparation for the lunch and dinner rushes the next day. They would do a similar thing where they would bake dozens of chickens, cool, refrigerate them. The next day, the chickens were quartered to order and then deep fried. The restaurant was famous for their authentic pasta , their fantastic chicken and the speed with which they’d serve the food. So yeah, precooking cuts down on loads of time.

[@onocoffee]

Where was this video when I was in Asia this past month! I would have totally hunted down the Thai joints. Did have a nice Napolitan at Galant in Tokyo. I will be making the black pepper tomorrow!

[@borby4584]

I have two questions: are there any other recipes that I can use that roux technique with? I loved how the black pepper spaghetti turned out, and wanted to try doing it with something else like scallion oil noodles maybe> and two, what does the Kewpie mayo do for the Napolitan spaghetti?

[@archiekleung]

Wow. What ta Research. Tks.

[@TimLewallen]

That Black Pepper Spaghetti is really talking to me. I will have to give that a shot.

[@DMSProduktions]

Yummo!

[@languagechefcorey]

hi these look so good (especially the third, thai one) - only question is, will the dish suffer in quality if we increase the quantity? i myself am a bottomless pit for noodles, and usually want at least 200-250 grams of spaghetti to myself...

[@vincently1995]

Yummy

[@robinstacpoole2667]

Thai fried spqg. This was good. Tried using some spag water instead of the cornflour - worked well and very Italian Asian fusion. Flavours somehow expressed themselves individually instead of coming together. Nice. Distinct. But almost as if Italy and Asia met but kept their distance

[@blackfyreroy3763]

I can hear the Italians screaming in the background and it sounds heavenly to my ears.

[@gabyk6469]

Hey guys, what are traditional soups that can be whipped up easily while dinner is cooking? I went through your egg drop recipes this week

[@kamilazaoldyeck7372]

Thaaaankkk you for this!!! Asian noodles are quite pricey in our country and also hard to find. The most available is spaghetti noodles 😊

[@jonathansacci2325]

I make neopolitan very frequently! Wife and I love it

[@brandon3872]

Could you make a video about Chinese-Western desserts?

[@shermich90]

I love reheating my filipino spaghetti on the pan till its kinda dry too. 😅

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

tried to replicate the chilli fried one with what I had and damn, new comfort food

[@higashirinchiah1013]

There is a Laksa Johor in Malaysia traditionally is prepared with spaghetti 😅 There recipe is extremely complex