If you have a big saute pan and access to a typical grocery store, you can go from zero to Dan Dan noodles in about 30 minutes with this recipe. Get my favorite cookware from Made In with a 10% discount off your first order over $100 using my link - madein.cc/0624-brian
Question for you, my kids will not eat Broccolini....yet. I'd like to make this with spinach in place of it for now (once they like it, I'll make it with the Broccolini.) How would you introduce spinach to this instead??
Wanted to comment on your question on how we felt about your latest episode versus just choosing “did you like it or not” to justify my personal choice of “do less of this.” Content itself still felt great. The episode felt less polished/produced and slightly less formal. As someone in the photo/video production world I didn’t like it as much coming from you . BUT if that gets you a larger audience and/or is more efficient for you to produce I am ok with it because the content itself is essentially the same and what I expect from you.
@@kabel9357 I agree that it's not as polished, but this style takes much less time to film and edit so it could either mean more videos OR time that I could use to work on other projects (cookbook, etc...).
@@BrianLagerstrom I understand that's easier for you, and may make you more money, and I totally understand if you want to add more videos like this. If I may add a bit of feedback as a viewer, though, I would much rather have even just one recipe every two weeks with your higher polish-level than 2+ recipes a week like this.
I found this format a bit too slow for my liking. Normally I love how the recipes are not too long winded but still explain all the steps perfectly. This one seemed aimed more at real beginners.
@@Cubeforc3 I actually disagree. I kind of hate it when it just lists all the ingredients in about 2 seconds and then slams them all together. Let's chat about why they've been selected, how they work together, and what they bring to the dish. I'm not just interested in learning how to cook this specific recipe, but how to become a better cook in general-- and a deeper understanding of how and why Bri develops his recipes helps enormously with that!
Something about this new conversational style of video is capturing my attention way more than your older style of videos -- its like Kenji + smooth editing. Definitely will try this recipe in the future!
I like that Lorn is part of the banter and get's a little screen time. It makes the video feel a little more casual, just like weeknight cooking should be! Love the video Bri!
Chinese person here. I ate stuff like this growing up. I feel like these types of simplifications are great and really take the spirit of the dish and make it accessible. It’s something my busy-ass immigrant mom would’ve done.
Agree. The history of cooking anywhere is one of adaptation to local circumstances. He acknowledged the origin of the dish and that's sufficient -- I think we're over gatekeeping authenticity -- what matters is what tastes good to _you_.
On Chinese tahini: If you don't have access to the real deal, you can fry 1 cup of regular untoasted tahini in 1 Tbsp sesame oil over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes stirring constantly. You'll know it's done when the color changes to an amber color and the aroma is deeply roasted. Be careful not to overcook, as it can turn bitter quite quickly. Remove from pan and let cool before using. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 months. Learned about this from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt :)
Lauren interjections are gold! I do like the format, slowly we are learning we can just make delicious, healthier food ourselves for not that much effort.
You can cook a lot of simplified stuff within 15min even! Like bolognese (minced beef with spices and tomato paste/sauce), cubed chicken in a pan with a bit of oil and Greek yoghurt, spices and whatever you like - mustard, chilli sauce etc. Then there's minced meat prepped in a pan with some spices, which you roll up in tortillas with some condiments and chopped salad... I tend to boil pasta or rice parallel to my meat prep so it's all done at the same time. A personal favorite of mine is putting some bacon in a pan, crisping it up, removing it to cool and putting cubed chicken in that bacon fat (soak up excess with paper tissue if you want to), then when the chicken is almost done add some frozen spinach and cream and when reduced return that crispy bacon, flaked - I love it with pasta.
Like the recipe, but what's up with the new format? Editing is different, and you're cooking on a hot plate instead of on the stovetop. Preferred the previous style vids!
Appreciate you trying new things but I prefer the standard format. I think more of your personality comes out when you're not stressed about addressing the camera.
Did you upload the wrong version of the video? The sounds all messed up very minimal editing too. No voice overs or transitions. Still good recipe can I use rice noodles?
Chili crisp pro tip. After you use some you may be left with too much crisp in the jar. Add sunflower oil and let it sit and you can get a lot more out of your jar
“Dan dan” comes from the reference to a traditional street peddler’s shoulder pole (dan): a basket hanging from one end of the pole fills his pots, pans and bowls, while another basket hanging from the other end contains his noodles and garnishes, swaying and bouncing as he walks.
Fly By Jing is probably a bit expensive for this dish, nearly a whole $15 jar. LaoGanMa is def more affordable. Would use LGM for a dish like this, and save Fly By Jing for finishing or dipping use instead.
I love how your Weeknighting videos are pretty much just you cooking real-time. My almost 7 year-old wants to make this next week. Keep up the great work!
I know this is not an authentic version of Dan Dan noodles - which come from Sichuan in China. But I think this is _great_ ! I like the added veggies. It’s way more dinner like. The authentic version of Dan Dan noodles are more of a _snack_ or a _quick meal_ made on the go. What Bryan has made here is more of a nutritious evening dinner for the family. Which is okay with me. And it is more family friendly.
Your first ingredient was chicken stock and you poured it from 1 glass bowl to another identical glass bowl. Why not just start from the chicken stock bowl??
Thank you for making such a chill and relatable cooking videos. It is much closer to what cooking IRL is really about. It's getting more and more difficult to find videos that aren't just overly edited and full of memes.
I bought that mince masher after watching one of your previous recipes and it works brilliantly, no more clumpy ground meats! Will be making this one for sure. Chilli crisp? Maybe gochuchang. Thanks from Scotland.
I'm apparently in the minority, but prefer the original format. It was "original" in every sense. This is OK, but its now exactly like every other cooking channel on RU-vid.
Store-bought name-brand dried pasta is extremely consistent and predictable - you don't have to taste it for al dente-ness if you measure how long it takes to get where you want it, just once, and then just set a timer for that thereafter. Also, it was really disgusting to hear that slurp. Please don't inflict such things on us. Besides that, wonderful recipe, and I'll be making it soon.
According to Kenji, if you add some baking soda to your spaghetti water it will give the spaghetti a taste and mouth feel of Asian wheat noodles. I tried it with 1/2 tsp in about six-seven cups of water and it was delightful with this dish.
Hey, I have all these ingredients, and haven’t decided what to do for dinner tomorrow. (I’m making sheet pan shrimp & Brussels tonight, so this should pair well with leftovers)
Really enjoyed this one. Anything with chilicrisp is A OK in my book. But that is not very nice to slurp it in front of Lauren when she can’t have it. She is GF, correct. You keep doing the videos😂😂
Brian, have a question for you (and to every cook on youtube): do you scrape the rest of the tiny bowls when prepping stuff? It hurts me everytime someone takes like half of the measured stuff and leave the rest inside the bowl...
I loved the new format. It makes you much more relatable. I also loved Lauren's participation in commentary and demonstration of tossing ingredients in the pan. Question❓❓❓Are you not posting your recipes on your website anymore?
Loved the video! I think this is more of a Szechuan style dan dan noodle (which is with a dry sauce), the Hong Kong style is more of a brothy noodle. Both are super yummy!
When you erroneously represent all liquids in grams instead of milliliters, if their specific gravity is similar to water, no difference. But if you give, say, tahini in grams, it's not clear whether you're referring to its weight, or its volume.
Minor note (LOVE your content). Was listening to The Recipe podcast with Kenji and Deb. Deb was mentioning that recipes that don't use 8 or 16 oz of pasta make her twitchy, b/c she's left with an odd amount of pasta later. I feel the same way with 12 oz of ground meat. I'll be making with with a pound of ground pork (the common off the shelf amount if you aren't going to a fancy schmancy butcher) so that I'm not left with 4 oz of ground pork left over. Can't wait to make this.
🥳Woo hoo!! Monday bonus video!! -- You once asked for opinions about weights vs volume measurements. IMHO, bcs my scales do not measure small amounts accurately, I prefer teaspoon and tablespoons for small amounts and weights for everything else. Just my $0.02
Brian, I love your videos. I also love your wife. I’ve been married 47 years. We have literally been through Hell together, cancer (both of us) kids with addiction problems, a son seriously injured in Afghanistan and another son nearly killed when a car hit him. I’d marry my husband again tomorrow. Life brings grief and joy. I wish you more joy.
I’m going to make this tomorrow night. I was able to find every ingredient it my local meijer. I appreciate the attention paid to making meals with accessible ingredients and techniques. Meijer is within 5 minutes of my house buy other stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Costco, Sam’s etc… are almost a 30 minute drive away. Certainly they are worth a trip once or twice a month but 90% of my groceries are purchased at farmers markets and a chain supermarket.
Ngl I think it's easier for me to get Gai Lan. I'm not sure I've ever seen broccolini but I know exactly where to get Gai Lan. That and tung ho are my favorite Chinese veg 😅
Huh, I do not associate Dan Dan noodles that resemble Brian’s noodle dish with Hong Kong; I thought they were more famously associated with a different region that i cannot remember rn The more you learn
*Mantecatura:* an Italian word that describes the process of mixing ingredients or pasta to create a creamy sauce or full-bodied consistency. It's a key technique in Italian cooking that's often done towards the end of cooking to bind all the ingredients together.
Holy canole Bri, this is so good! I subbed oyster sauce for hoise since I didn't have any. Added grated garlic and ginger to the sauce with a 1/2 t cornstarch for the sauce and added 15g of sugar instead of 10. Used Gai lon, zucchini, and the white part of the green onion as my veg. Finished it off with some fresh garlic chives and OHHHHH MAN. 10/10 for a 30 min meal. I also had to make my own 5 spice since I didn't have the powder but I did have all the individual spices. Oh I also used nam prik pao since I had some homemade instead of chili Crisp. This and your 3 breads one dough are my favorite so far. Been making a loaf of bread every week for the last several weeks! Thank you for all the knowledge Bri!
HEY BRI. I am 55, been cooking since I was 6 years old at my grandma and mom's side. Absolutely love your content, especially weeknighting and last week's 3 quick summer dishes, the orange and grapefruit and fennel and red onion salad in particular. But did you just pour chicken stock from one glass bowl into another like sized bowl?
Holy shit!! -sambal must be really weaksauce in the US or something completely different to what we're used to calling sambal over here. It comes in 45gr jars and you use, at most, 1/2 tsp. at a time, because it's blow your head off spicy. This from someone who considers a Phal to still be within the good kind of spicy. I've noticed this before with American recipes: amounts of Garam Massala that, if you were to use them would leave you tasting nothing but Garam Massala, regardless of what else is in the dish. I usually half the recipe amount as a matter of course and then, often, it still comes out too "Garam Massala forward". Edit: practise tossing food in a pan with Cheese Balls in a cold pan. BTW: it's not push it forward, take it back. It's tilt it down, snap it back once everything slides forward and catch the food by shoving the pan back underneath.
I looked it up and the meat masher really is called that. A "Meat Masher." Or "Meat Chopper." Who is in charge of naming this and why do they suck at it? A few counter-suggestions: Spludger. Spleener. Scrobbler. Mungler. Just ridiculous I even have to do this.
I like both formats, sorry, know that's not helpful. You know what I would like? Meal prep for when it's STL HOT with no AC for the kitchen! I'm thinking get up early, use the grill, etc. your weekend meal prep is making a difference in my cooking - thanks!
Just made this, and wow! So good! I will definitely be making this again... Partly because my local Asian grocery store only sells Five Spice in massive quantities, and I have so much luck over, but also because the sauce is SO good and I feel like this is very customizable with veg/noodle ratios. Damnit, Bri, you've done it again!
yeah, its only about 50g of veggie per serve. considering you need 5 servings of veg a day, it works out to only 15% of your daily needs. definitely not heaps. but i dont blame him. people think that purposefully putting any amount of veggie into a meal makes it veggie packed. people just dont know how much veggie theyre actually supposed to eat
Excellent, Bri! I agree about broccolini being a fantastic weeknight veg. Oye, what "Asian Noodle" would you recommend if we COULD get an Asian noodle?
I made this today with some slight variations: 1. I used hot water instead of chicken stock (thought I had some; didn’t) 2. I used the alternate brand of chili crisp you showed 3. I didn’t use mirin (couldn’t find) 4. Didn’t use peanuts This was still absolutely delicious. I will be making this again. I had never had tahini before, I feel like it leaves a weird mouth feel (could be the brand I used) but other than that, this was very worth it. Just sucks my wife can’t do spicy food 😂
Really people don't own woks? 🤔 I've always had at least one they are super versatile. I tend to recommend 1 32cm stainless steel frying pan, 1x 1.5L saucepan, 1x 4L saucepan and 1x carbon steel wok then buy more items as you need or want. I guess in America it is more common to get a dutch oven rather than a wok to start with.
If you get a chance to stroll down to The Loop in University City, go to Corner 17 and try their Dan Dan Noodles. Absolutely amazing. Their homemade chili oil dumplings are next level as well. Keep up the amazing videos.
My husband and I lived in Hong Kong for five years and we really miss the food. I cooked this tonight and we loved it. It was so delicious. Thanks so much for making the recipes so easy to follow!
Got high praise from my crazy picky and demanding teenagers. This was a hit and I love the new format and how you're approaching the content. Fantastic dish, great video and you are always entertaining to watch! Keep them coming!
I'm really torn. As someone who has made authentic dandan noodles and is deeply passionate about this, I think this is a bad representation of the dish but not a bad dish, but it takes every shortcut to make it easy and accessible and I think it's absolutely delicious and anyone should try it who wants to try something unique. It uses spaghetti noodles because dandan noodles are hard to find easily and angel hair is too thin. It uses broccolini instead of bok Choi. Instead of making a spiced oil for the base it's a bunch of the same spices from five spice powder in a sauce mix. Roasted peanuts are easier to find than raw. Tahini is the same ingredients but the flavor from Chinese roasted sesame paste is different Texturally it's like a Chinese Bolognese and it doesn't have sui mi ya cai or Sichuan peppers in it and instead it uses chili crunch but this is probably damn good still, but it's like any Americanized Chinese dish in that it shortcuts all the things that makes the dish unique. Criticism aside I love this and my wife asked if we can use the broccolini in our next dandan noodles exactly how you prepped them. We love your dishes and this is the first one I've seen that I wish went a little more authentic.
Hey Brian, I really enjoy your videos and recipes 😊 (as do my kids) I was wondering if you've ever made or plan to make an Indonesian recipe like Rendang? (apologies if you already did but I missed it somehow) Keep up the great work! 👍🏻
