Hey guys, a few notes: EDIT: The first chili oil, "Fried Chili in Oil", contains peanuts. Apparently in some countries (Canada I think?) the label says something along the lines of 'chili oil with peanut‘, or something like that. A *lot* of people are commenting that we didn't cover the peanut Lao Gan Ma - that's what we're describing at 0:50 :) Another common name variant is "Kohlrabi, Peanuts and Tofu in Chilli Oil" for the #4 'Hot Chili Sauce' at 5:02 1. Lots of fun trying to track down if and where some of these products are available online, lol. The description box got a little long there, so I wasn’t able to fit in my spiel that I always give when linking stuff online: use online purchases as your method of last resort. Support your local Chinese supermarket - the products will be a *fraction* of the price there vs online. 2. As a brief aside, if anyone can explain to me why Amazon is basically always more expensive than the supermarket in North America, I’m all ears. Always feels weird to me, because in China Taobao/JD are *cheaper*. Feels more intuitive, because no rent, right? 3. Most Lao Gan Ma products actually seem pretty available online if you do some digging. Lao Gan Ma’s online retailer in the USA is called “ihomehouseware”. Between them, Amazon, Yamibuy, and WalMart… you should be able to find like 75% of the product line if you’re in North America. Even Europe seems to have importers that carry most of the products. 4. The remaining 25% are the Lao Gan Ma products with meat inside. I assume that there’s some sort of import restriction on meat products in the West. There’s been a million copycat chili crisp products on the market as of late, so if you’re a NA or Europe-based condiment manufacturer… I suggest that you look into copying the *meat* Lao Gan Mas, instead of creating the nth version of chili crisp. The world needs the beef mince black bean Lao Gan Ma product. 5. If for some reason a condiment maker actually *is* reading this and thinks that’s a good idea, reach out to us. We’ve got some solid Lao Gan Ma copycat experience by this point, lol. 6. Proper recipe video will be out next week, then the Q&A video with Steph’s Dad Dawei will be out the following week. Apologies for the spate on non-recipe videos this month… I have to sort some visa stuff, and we’ve got some more intensive harder-to-crack dishes simmering on the backburner. 7. For our friends in Australia your products have different translations! Fun. Anyway, this was a picture that was snapped by one of our Patrons: i.imgur.com/iCg0Ng9.jpg . Going left to right - “Chili Condiment" = #1 = Hot Chili in Oil; ”Bean Chili Condiment" = #2 = Chili Oil with Black Bean; "Hot Tasty Bean Condiment" = #12 = Spicy Bean Paste; "Hot Pepper Condiment" = #3 = Spicy Chili Crisp; "Spicy Chili Condiment" = #4 = Hot Chili Sauce; "Chili Condiment with Diced Chicken" = #5 = Chicken Chili Oil; "Pickled Chili", same, #13; "Chili Fried Pork Flake" = #6; "Hot Chili Oil Condiment with Mushroom", same, #9. If anyone UK or EU based wants to go through the same exercise, I'd be happy to edit this comment with some answers :) CCs will be out in a bit. It’s always a bit harder to make CCs for this sort of video - usually my VOs and such are scripted, so it’s a simple copy/paste. This one we gotta go through and type it out, and just couldn’t finished in time. It’ll get done today (our time).
In case anyone else is confused by the naming differences: in the EU variant #4 (Là sān dīng yóu làjiāo) may be called "Kohlrabi, Peanuts and Tofu in Chili Oil". (My personal favourite!)
Regarding Amazon being more expensive when it comes to specialty food products, my experience has largely been because Amazon itself is not the seller. It's third party sellers on Amazon (even when it's "fulfilled by Amazon") who charge those higher prices. I guess people are willing to pay for the convenience?
@@Tannhauser42 Right! But that's the thing - why would 3rd party sellers be, like, 2-3x the price of a grocery store? I assume it has something to do with the way distribution is in the USA (exclusivity contracts or something?) In China, Taobao sellers are small businesses or individuals, and tend to accept a narrower margin than grocery stores, which need to pay for rent/staff/etc.
History behind Lao Gan Ma for those curious: The person on the jar is Tao Huabi, who first created her chili sauce in 1984 and is a deputy of the National People's Congress in China. She opened a restaurant in 1989 in Guiyang the capital of Guizhou, and she was known as a godmother who helped poor students by giving them discounts and extra food. When people would come to her restaurant to purchase her sauce, she took notice. Then when there was highway construction by her restaurant, truckers would stop by her restaurant, and she'd give the sauce to them for free. She turned her noodle restaurant into a sauce shop in 1994 and her business just grew from there. The spicy chili crisp is most definitely the good stuff. I thank Mikey Chen for making me want to put chili oil on everything.
now I want this "is it good on rice" segment to become a recurring thing... every dish should be followed with an "is it good on rice" segment! noodles: are they good on rice?
I did not expect a Lao Gan Ma tier list...but I'm also not complaining. The choices are definitely overwhelming! I have at least three jars of Lao Gan Ma in my pantry as we speak and have tried quite a few over time...the San Ding one is definitely my fave. First time seeing your videos and I absolutely loved this. You have a passion for food that clearly shines through when you talk about all of these varieties! I also canNOT believe you did all of this in a white t-shirt. Mad respect!
Thank you for this! Brings back a memory - I was living in Houston - large city in USA, which has a very large area with lots of Asian markets. I went to one of the grocery stores there to pick up some ingredients from a cooking video - two of them were the Lao Gan Ma Fried Chili in Oil and Chili Oil Beancurd. They had so many jars, and none with English. I asked a few people for help (I had pictures of what I needed - and was really struggling). Nobody spoke English. Then an older woman saw me staring at my phone, and staring at the shelves. She took my phone, looked at the pictures, and proceeded to pick out all the products for me. So helpful! I was finally able to make my recipes with the right ingredients (not just these, but different soy sauces, vinegars, etc) - such a difference!!!!
There’s two ways to get these jars open pretty easy, I find. The first is to just bang the side of the lid against the countertop a few times, then to try opening it. If that doesn’t work, get a bottle opener and take the bit you’d use to puncture cans (that hooked top of it) and lever of the lid just a little, not enought to totally deform the lid. That’s how I do it anyways.
What I do is try to pry the edge of the lid with a sturdy little knife. This lets the air in and loosen the lid. But don't force it too hard the blade might slip. If this fails I'll wrap a rubber band around the lid and just twist with all my might. If it still doesn't open, hot water usually does the trick.
I do the same knife trick but with a spoon. You do need a crappier spoon to do it with (it will be thinner to be able to slip into the gap). My mum swears on banging it upside down on a hard surface (cover the jar with a cloth towel) - but this has never worked for me
Funny thing, when my friend first told me about Lao Gan Ma, I thought he said "lagad mat" (=swedish for "cooked food") in an extreme scanian dialect (sounds like "laogad maud"). We call it "laogad maud" now.
Thank you for this comprehensive explainer! I actually CAN read Chinese but was still overwhelmed by the selection at the store and wasn’t sure which variation is appropriate for what uses. This was super helpful.
Best "We bought one of everything and tried it" video ever! No clickbait, no long spiel, just showing us the food. I love it! Also we took delivery of 6 jars of Lao Gan Ma today ^_^
@@infallibleblue 2x crispy chili oil 2x beancurd in chili oil 2x chili chicken (I'm in UK so this is vegan friendly) 2x peanuts & tofu in chili oil So actually 8!
@@MTMF.london It has crispy soy bits I think, and then chicken flavouring. It seems in some regions they use chicken bits, but for Europe they have a different product.
i hate how many cooking shows and recipes start off with 20 minutes of the cook giving their life's story. I watch/read them to find out about food and not because i want to find out about how the cooks great grandmother learned the recipe while working as a servant in the Archdukes manor house.
I have fond memories of my mom making "spicy green beans", which was just stir fried green beans with the black bean Lao Gan Ma and maybe some ginger and garlic. I still make it sometimes but it's never as good.
I'm embarrassed to say that I've been living in China for nearly five years, have purchased and used Lao Gan Ma numerous times, and am just now learning that there are so many variations. I even have a bottle in the cabinet as we speak and couldn't tell you what kind I bought. I sort of just grab whatever I see in the supermarket and go along. Time to start paying attention to what I buy.
Yeah at first I didn't really like this brand, like it was good but not amazing . (only found 2 type in Asain store) Then I found the chili crisp at Walmart and OMG I fell in love with this brand lol I love the chili crisp so much. Didn;t even know their 16, figure there a few and the one I got at walmat.
@@bobbysmith8095 I thought I bought the same thing here in Europe when I bought Crispy Chilli in Oil, but it appears not to be the same thing. All these different names are quite confusing. 😵💫
Guys, I'm digging all the "meat with chili oil in a jar" options. They seems like things I can keep at work for lunch where I can just bring a bowl of rice and call it a day 😋
Careful with the smell, some of them have a very potent chili aroma, and some of them can sting the nose; and it'll linger in the room for a while. You can see the example by the way the dog was licking the air for a long while
This takes me back to 2014 during my first business trip to China. Our Chinese counterparts introduced it to us during lunch time and we couldn't get enough of it and it goes well with almost anything. It took about 5 years later to be available in my country and it's now a staple condiment in my house.
I lived in China for nearly ten years. I couldn't live without LGM balck bean chili sauce...not only on rice but in measured amounts in soups or as a dipping sauce. Thanks for reminding me. Now that I am back in the US, I struggle to find good Chinese food products. Thanks again!
As much as the subject matter and educational aspects of the channel is a treat, I have to say the production and personalities involve create such an easy to understand and enjoyable food education experience I’m always happy to watch hours of content for the sheer brain stimulation you guys provide.
Instead of sleeping beacause i have classes tomorrow at 8:00 am, i am watching a video about the breakdown of the categeries of lao gan ma chili products. Good life choices 👍
As for the Chicken flavour chilli oil (sold in EU market), I realized today that there is no chicken in it, not even chicken flavour! It's just soybean oil, chili, tofu, garlic, salt, flavor enhancer, sugar and Sichuan pepper powder. It's actually vegan. I was so surprised!
The "Kohlrabi, Peanuts and Tofu in Chilli Oil" @ 5:02 is one of the best Asian condiments I've ever tasted. The texture and flavor it adds is on another level. Highly recommended.
Kohlrabi is the freaking best, it's unbelievable. This almost hard nougat-y chew really gives me a kick, best one in my opinion. Maybe if there was something that imitated the (mala?) beef sinew snacks I can't for the life of me find outside of mainland China, that might surpass it for me - but as it stands, I'm going with kohlrabi.
Tbh I don't really like it, it was just the first kind my supermarket stocked, and I thought it was just the fried chilli oil lol. Tho later I tried it with homemade hoisin and it was so good. I'll have to try it on rice for lunch tomorrow!!
I got the chilli oil with black bean a few months ago and although it's probably very non-traditional I put it on top of eggs on toast, sometimes with avocado. It's definitely not traditional but it's delicious!
i discovered the spicy chili crisp recently and had no idea they had such a wide range. i put it on my rice or some type of tofu with a stir fry. i've just never had the others! i'm gonna go find them a few and try them! thank you!
This is genuinely so helpful, as an English speaker the aisle of similar looking options can be a bit overwhelming and in the past I'd usually grab one at random 😅
Yeah, we've been enjoying the combination. Steph felt a little burnt out after this video and the last one though, so the next ~month or so (minus the Dawei Q&A video) will be back to me (Chris) doing the VO :)
A series of these videos would be wonderful. Every time I go into my Asian market I try to get something completely new, whether it be a sauce or pickle or canned fish. This has yielded very mixed results, and I sometimes fantasize about going around with a tiny spoon to taste everything. Having a primer on the many variations of some common Chinese condiments--what exactly they are, flavor profile, and how best to use them--would be extremely helpful!
wow! thank you for this. my girlfriend is Chinese and she introduced me to Lao Gan Ma. I used it often, especially in braised pork and my own pork fried rice recipe. often add it for dipping sauce when we cook our own hot pot, etc. I did not realize there were more than 2! My local Asian market has some and I'm always trying to figure out why I think I'm buying the same thing and sometimes it has peanuts in it and sometimes not. She prefers without. I like them both. I had no idea there were this many other versions. I will have to be sure to bring my reading glasses next time and be sure to read all the bottles more carefully. So far the two that I seem to keep coming home with (and far cheaper in the Asian market than online fyi) are the Fried Chili in Oil and the Spicy Chili crisp versions. I cannot believe there is so much more to learn about it than just the 2 I am familiar with!! haha. thank you for this video! xiexie!
Couldn't imagine watching RU-vid with commercials haha. Gotta hop on that RU-vid Premium train. (or barring that, AdBlock & support the creators you like by sharing or Patreon-ing)
@@mobile_ingou install base for chinese apps is kinda a lul subject... It's not like there are typically many alternative for Any one particular service.
i always kinda assumed they gave him some peanut butter or something bc hes always enjoying some kind of treat 💚 i love how nice this woman is to her dog he seems very happy and very well trained
I swear, I've bought three different kinds of laoganma already. None of which were the of "classic" aka "internet hyped" variety. All of them were really nice, don't get me wrong, but maybe now I'll be able to finally buy "the one". Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this video! Here in Brazil all lao gan ma chili oils are translated generally as "chili seasoning", so I get totally lost buying them in the grocery store. I've been eating the three dice one for the last months and had no idea there was tofu jerky in it 😂 Now I wanna try all of them.
Wow! This is why I love this channel, that you explain and background the various Chinese ingredients/products. I've also been trying to figure out the various dried herbs that are paired in Chinese soups. I love the brothy style soups they have at the start of meals.
The other day I was in the big supermarket in town and was SUPER EXCITED to see jars of Lao Gan Ma on the shelves... and then realised there were like half a dozen kinds and I wasn't sure which one was best. So thank you for your excellent timing in putting this video out! I'll go back this afternoon. :D
This was a lot of fun. I'm vegetarian, so I haven't had any of the meat-based sauces. My go-to is the one is a chili crisp style with fermented black beans. My second favorite is the mushroom one. I also get the fermented tofu sometimes and I like the fermented chili one (fermentation is like magic). I buy Lao Gan Ma most of the time, but I have recently found Fly by Jing and that product is really good (the chili crisp with fermented black beans is, anyway).
This is an enormously helpful video. My local Asian market is *huge* and well-stocked, but poorly labeled and almost none of the employees speak English, so navigating subtle variations with certain products can be tricky. I have absolutely stood for five minutes staring at four different Lao Gan Ma jars wondering which one is the type I wanted. 😅
As someone who frequently shops at an asian grocery store but knows very little about traditional chinese food (and absolutely nothing about chinese languages) you have no idea how helpful this is!
So, first off, I *ADORE* this channel!! It has opened me up to so much that I was unaware or only superficially aware of, and provided further clarification into things that I was aware of. I also love the "west meets east" meeting of cultures that we have here! a-MAZing channel! I've never not had a good time here! Also, for a medium-sized metropolitan area in the middle of the US Midwest, the city in which I live, Des Moines has a surprisingly robust selection of ethnic grocery stores, including some very respectable multi-culture Asian groceries, and I'm the kind who will go in there and blow $100 when I was supposed to spend $10, and as much as half of it on things I've never even heard of, or at least never had a chance to try. And as such, I've had the opportunity to personally try seven of these Lao Gan Ma products (four of which I presently still have on hand): On hand, I have (using the English language names): Fried Chili in Oil Fried Chili Crisp (of course) Hot Chili Sauce and Tomato Chili Sauce. I have also previously had Chili Oil with Black Bean Chili Oil Beancurd and Spicy Salted Cabbage I also recognize a handful of the others from seeing them on the shelves at the markets. I'll make it a point to try them. Of the ones I've had, I love them all. But my personal favorites are the Chili Tomato Sauce, and above all, the Hot Chili Sauce. I work to incorporate them in as many things as I can, and sometimes I'll even just sneak a little straight from the jar. What I really want is a better idea of the best times to use the right ones in authentic cooking. This video gives me some idea of that! So, thank you! :-) Lastly, I may well be the only guy in America to actually have a Lao Gan Ma sticker on my laptop! I got a hold of some label paper, a color laser printer and went crazy making my own from images off the internet, and decided Lao Gan Ma needed to be one of them! :-) Since I'm afraid that a link will cause this comment to be blocked, I'll "reply-to-self" with a Google Photos link to a picture of my laptop. :-) Anyway, thank you SOOOOO much for this channel! Keep up the good work, and I'll keep watching! Cheers! p.s. re: my opinion on LGM Chili Crisp: the first few tastes are absolutely revelatory! Bright, sharp, crisp, frgrant, mildly spicy, and impossibly vibrant. But get too many bites in, and the hua jiao begins to overpower a little bit. At least for me, anyway. I can taste the hua jiao in the other LGM sauces that I have which contain it....but it never seems to take over on those sauces like it does with chili crisp. I wonder if anyone else feels the same way. :-)
Thanks for introducing all the different types of lao gan ma and including both the english and chinese names for them! Here in Singapore we mostly import lao gan ma straight from china and they come with the chinese label so it's easy to use this video as a reference for the different labels
Perhaps your room temperature is too cold? Oil emulsify with the solids if say u put it in the fridge. Some places are warmer so the oil breaks down easily in the jar but that's just me.
Came here for this. It's labeled as Peanuts in Chili oil. It's my personal favorite - although admittedly that's partially just because it's the first Lao Gan ma I ever had
On the one hand, I love that you didn't just tier list this and went more in detail. On the other hand, seeing a tier list to pause on at the end would be an amazing resource.
THANK YOU! I've never seen any of the ones with meat in them in ANY of the Asian markets or supermarkets in my city. I would DEFINITELY try them. We are TOTALLY addicted to the Chili Oil With Mushrooms - ONE supermarket here carries it, so we stock up every time we go there. It's great on rice and especially adds a wonderful taste to most dark sauces (Hoisin, Mushroom Soy, and ESPECIALLY Black Pepper sauce!). Again, THANK YOU - your videos expand our horizons!
We encountered the 香辣酱 xianglajiang quite a bit in Yunnan-- used in chao ersi, chao erkuai, miantiao, etc. Of course it was not the LGM version, but the kind you get at the chili-bean-paste vendor at the wet market who has a dozen variations, and 2-3 dozen varieties of pickled everything. I find XLJ really useful in making Yunnan food here in the states, like Yunnan-style zajiang.
I tried buying a jar of chili oil from the Chinese supermarket but was completely bewildered by the sheer number of varieties. I didn't know which one was what I was looking for, and ended up leaving empty handed. Thank you for the comprehensive breakdown! (Turns out its the youlajiao I've been after)
The dog ❤️ I love watching him floss his teeth with the plant leaves 😆 He is sooooo adorable! Thank you for explaining the different LaoGanMa’s! It is very helpful when going to the markets and choosing which one that’s needed! 👍🏽👍🏽
Thank You! For Clarifying which is what! I buy at my local Asian Market, but often have no clue what something is, with the exception of a short English translation (if I’m lucky, but many times there is no English at all!😂🤷🏻♀️)… Thank You for clarifying because I’m always seeing People talk about and use “Chili Crisps in Oil “Spicy Chili Oil”, etc..😁👍🏻
this video makes me so happy. I tried one of these products for the first time, fell in love, then moved and thought I was buying the same thing from my new market. wrong, but a happy accident I have repeated enough times that I've had maybe 4 or 5 different kinds without trying. It is so helpful to hear the difference so I know which one to put with what
Hah. I live in Australia and we have a Chinese friend that often invites us over for Sichuan hotpot. One of the dipping sauces is a fermented bean sauce which we have nicknamed Chinese Vegemite.
Lao gan ma is my favorite way back 2017 when I was in Jeddah Saudi arabia, my colleague which is chinese introduced this to us and its very very tasty and delicious. Since my colleague went back to china, we haven't have this anymore. Now its available in Philippines online store (lazada) I will buy it and enjoy it again🥰 thanks for introducing the many other flavor of it.
Top 3 for us: 1a, Hot chili sauce, 1b, Hot chili in oil; Steph's #2 Minced beef with chili oil, Chris' #2 Mushroom in chili oil. Steph's #3 Pork slivers and soy bean with chili oil, Chris' #3 chili oil with black bean.
