My grandma would’ve loved this. She was a Chinese immigrant from the earliest wave and bean sauces weren’t something she could get in small town Texas, so I grew up eating this dish w just soy sauce, garlic, ginger powder, and American eggplant, but she made it work. Later on, oyster sauce was avail at Asian shops but it was expensive so she would only use it for meats, but gradually as Asian ingredients were made avail to her and she moved to Houston she became a lil more generous bc every ingredient she needed was at her disposal.
I have her books and this is my first time seeing her and hearing her. She's absolutely wonderful!! OMG! =) Truly someone who's committed to her craft and honors the authenticity of the origins of her dishes! Thank you for this!
I had the pleasure of eating fish-fragrant eggplant for the first time at Chengdu Taste, and I was blown away by how much I liked it. It truly is one of the great dishes not only of Chinese cuisine, but of the world!
Yes!! I have found this book in an antique bazaar and I fell in love with it right away. I know it's not an old book, but finding it in such a place gives it even more soul. I had no idea who Fuschia was before. Now I adore her recipes and knowledge she shares about Sichuan (&more). I make recipes from her book once in a while and they are just wonderful.
People salt eegplants not only to draw out some of the liquid but also to remove the bitterness from the seeds. Eggplants come in both male and female form and looking at the bottom of an eggplant can tell you which is which. The male eggplant is preferred because it has less seeds and at the bottom has a round dot while the female eggplant with more seeds has more of a slit. If I buy a male eggplant I do not typically salt it. Also the thin and long Asian style eggplants like she is using do not have as many seeds as the darker and longer European aubergines do.
When i lived in Suzhou this was my favorite. A restaurant near where i lived made it, but sadly went out of business. Never could find a place that made it better
Love me some Fuchsia. I've made fish-fragrant eggplant many times, and I'm eating her recipe for chicken slivers with preserved mustard tuber right now!
In the past, the story goes...as Sichuan is inland and fish is such a rare ingredient. Creative chefs use these special combinations of aromatic spices to create an aromatic fish dish without fish. Well done chef.
Good to have a western intermediary to chinese food. They know what we know, but also are skilled in chinese cookery and can explain it to us because she thinks like us.
get what you mean but the use of the term "us" is a bit problematic... just a bit dividing no? at the end of the day, people are people. No "us" and "them"
@@cpa314 The Chinese have absolutely no problem with "us and them" thinking. It doesn't mean anything offensive - it is just acknowledging that cultures are different.
Wow! What a lovely looking dish. Fuchsia you are amazing, thank you for sharing these amazing dishes with us. Does Fuchsia have her own channel by any chance? I’d love to subscribe to it and follow her. Thank You.
That looks fabulous. Question: I’ve used 2 different kinds of Douban Jiang, one which comes in a plastic jar, like you’re using there, and another that comes in a plastic bag, wrapped in paper. I find the latter to be earthier, while the one in the jar has more heat. Is there a re reason to choose one over the other, based on cooking technique, or recipe, or is more of a matter of flavour preference?
Matt Miller Audio I guess the paper wrapped one you mentioned is 鹃城牌（the brand). The jar one usually is 红油豆瓣酱（red chili oil douban paste）. Sichuan local ppl prefer the paper wrapped one, which is more original and traditional.
Another consideration is that the doubanjiang is a (perfectly valid!) substitution for the pickled chili sauce which is maybe more traditionally used in this dish, so whichever doubanjiang better fits that flavor profile might be the better choice? Depends also on your personal taste 🙂
Depends on how long they were fermented. Bottle is usually younger like a year and paper is 5 years so it's darker and has more depth in flavour. I suggest mixing half and half to get both flavours!
One of the well-explained hand-pulled noodle making...just subscribed. But what is the difference between that #Yeast than the usual one? Sorry but haven't heard of this #nutrional_yeast before😫 Is it easy to find? I've seen people using Alkaline water, wasn't it healthy? Or can that be a substitute to the yeast if it isn't available on the groceries store? Lye water was too common on our area🙏💖
Cultural lessons are often transmitted effectively abroad by enthusiastic foreigners. It should be a mark of pride that foreigners are traveling to China to study Chinese culture and finding so much quality in it that they want to disseminate it as widely as possible, especially with their native audience.
@@JaredGalbraith Have you read any historical literature or scholarship at all on Orientalism, colonial texts on China, and appropriation as it relates to Britain and Asia? Clearly not
