Hey guys, we're halfway out the door (thus the relatively odd posting time) going to Yunnan and Guizhou for a couple weeks - y'know, "research" :) So forgive me for slacking on the notes a little... might edit some in later, but yeah. We did want to give you guys a heads up on where this historical information generally came from though, so I figured I'd at least copy our 'sources and further reading' discussion from over on the Substack here as well: 1. The recipe itself was adapted from “重庆菜谱” by The Revolutionary Committee of Chongqing Food and Beverage Service Company (重庆市饮食服务公司革命委员会). 2. Most of our historical bits were based on the writing of Lin Wenyu (林文郁). He wrote a book on Chongqing hot pot (火锅中的重庆) discussing the history and origin of Chongqing hot pot in detail, which is widely cited in other books and academic papers. This article in the Chongqing Morning Post is a very decent summary of his work: epaper.cqcb.com/html/202304/22/node_006.html 3. Lin Wenyu extensively cites the work of Li Jieren (李劼人), whose books are a very good source for understanding Sichuan around the first half of 20th century. On a similar note, Chengdu Tonglan (成都通览) by Fu Chongju (傅崇矩) is another good source about the life in (especially Chengdu) around the turn of the century... we actually cited this book in our recent Sweet Water Noodle (甜水面) video. 4. Unfortunately, the above is only available in Chinese. If anyone has any suggestions on further reading in English on the matter, I’m all ears. 5. The absolutely gorgeous historical map from the video can be downloaded here in all its 28075 x 13889 glory: mega.nz/file/QaMR0DQA#x_WXVtL-edE6UyhgWO1DNk4N3iIhclD4gxblOm8sL1A 6. Oh! And while it's of course easily google-able, the pair of Wang Gang recipes are here... the base: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J4qYnXnfm0Q.html and the pot: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-phjJnPjA0Jo.html Be sure to follow us on Instagram if you don't already, we'll be updating it quite a bit when traveling! instagram.com/chinesecookingdemystified/
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Ah sorry for not being more clear, I meant is there particular vegetables or cuts of meat etc. you're traditionally eaten with this recipe?
@@Balala_Silliness. On the Chinese internet, it's the right wing that cancels people. He was soft banned on Douyin - likely mostly risk aversion on their part - and stopped uploading for a spell. Most of the other major platforms are still kosher. Hope he comes back soon
I wish this came out sooner! I tried making my own hotpot base this holiday season with a homemade mala chili oil. It came out great, but was a bit more complicated than it could've been, nowhere near as complicated as Wang Gang's though. At least I was able to make my first homemade chili oil, and I don't think I'd ever regret having tasty hotpot!
The "Sichuan" style hot pot in Taiwan is very different from the actual ones in Sichuan. This recipe is actually very similar to the ones you find in Taiwan.
Korean sikhye isn’t really fermented rice. It’s usually a sweet barley water that has cooked rice in it. Most forms in the US are going to be the canned drink which is pretty sweet.
It isn’t “fermented” in the yeast sense but with Nuruk (aka Koji, aka Qu, aka Aspergillus Oryzae), a mold that produces the amylase enzyme that breaks the rice starch down to sugar.
Another fascinating lesson! I'm not sure I'll have the spoons to actually try this myself, but at least i have a better idea of the kind of dipping sauces I might want to try next time i go out for hotpot
Nice tabletop charcoal burner. I was given a Thai bucket charcoal burner for Christmas. I am looking forward to some outdoor cooking adventures in the coming weeks
You know, I like the recipes, but what I really like is how Chris and Steph talk... Pleasant tone and cadence, easy on the ear... they speak clearly and plainly, without distracting "up-speak"/"vocal fry"/silly new words/millennial mush-mouth syndrome that infect so many people under the age of 40... It's easy to listen to this guy, because he doesn't sound like a fool... (Yes, Steph has an "accent", but it's not ugly or annoying; we can understand understand every single word she says, and her accent is actually really nice and musical... this channel is really good, imo.
Steph has an "accent"? That's an understatement. While you are spot on about Chris, Steph's entire voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Impossible to follow and relax at the same time.
@@DisdainusMaximusI can see how her accent could be harsh, but I grew up around Chinese people speaking English as a second language, so I'm used to it, and her English is actually VERY good, compared to others... I am an "accent bigot", I admit... I'd rather listen to "Chinese Stephanie" than "South African Stephanie"... "South African" accent is the one that horrifies me. I want to pierce my own eardrums when I hear it.... Even Trevor Noah is too much for my ears.
Hi, I really love your content. I was at the china for the 9 weeks at Thaicang and I really loved three dishes: frist three fortunes made of eggplant, potatoes and peppers. Second it was some sort of appetizer it was some cucumber with garlic. Third was beef with pepper and onion and it always came in aluminum foil still warm. Don’t you have some recipes of this dishes ? Or do you know them? I will really like to make this dishes to my father because he is really big fan of Chinese food.
I guess you're talking about these three? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uFxKxAlLCCc.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X5Acm8_Ti5c.htmlsi=lVUJ2dqbnKeoLmCb&t=585 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MAJK_Ir6wt4.htmlsi=A2MbNNJY9jOakmug
It was a very good hotpot ... but next time we put the peppercorns into some kind of tea sack, to remove them from the broth after cooking. It was good at the beginning but in the end it wasn't fun anymore. The spicyness level was really good and the broth had such a good aromatic but the peppercorns were a burden in the end. Next time we consider the tea bag or filtrate the broth ... even though I liked the broth except for the corns.
Yeah, we love biting into Sichuan peppercorns but I understand not everybody does. Do use a spice strainer if that's what you want to avoid, and you can let it boil alongside like brewing a tea. Don't strain the broth just because of the peppercorn though since there're a lot more other flavoring agents in it.
This is also why I like a seasonal stall serving curry fish balls is because they can afford to let the curry simmer and let the fish cakes take in all the spices. Most curry fish balls you see are made to order or oil based curry
@@PeaceLoveHonor Lamb/goat brains and pig brains are generally safe if you prepare them correctly. Cow brains are not. Chicken brain is safe to eat, but IMO it's bland and its texture is not that good so I wouldn't recommend it even if you have the opportunity to try it. Lamb brain is pretty good though. A few of my local restaurants do it as a dish called Bheja Fry while I like. Of course, with enough spices, you can make basically anything taste good so long as it's safe to eat.
@@TheGhostFart please don't go to Asia gutter oil Is present on China and Taiwan, mouse chopped bread IS present on Japan, so please just stay in home
You devotion to the anthropology of chinese food is amazing!! It is not a monolith or even a two cusine place. It is thousands of diverse ways of existing together!
Truthfully, no cultural or national food is really a monolith or two spot deal, & likewise for the martial arts realms as conflict & warfare has existed alongside humanity
I've never tried that style (I think), but for the more Chongqing restaurant style, I definitely second your recommendation of brain. I also love quail eggs and lotus root in it.
Now I understand why you have to tell people how to “properly” eat Chinese food or they would just do it the western way which would appear “silly” but Since only the cooking needs to be authentic, the correct way of eating is not strict, millions of Chinese residents (young people especially) can’t hold their chopsticks right, old recipes won’t tell you exactly how much ingredient to add but “add appropriate amount” one dish has many way of eating and cooking with same result. No Chinese would judge you from enjoy food your own way.
I really appreciate videos about hot pots. If you follows Chinese social media in any capacity, you'd know many, especially the cheap restaurants don't use chef wong methods, they just use some a mixture of chemical known as one drop of incense that don't contain any beef. Making your own is the best way to get a good product
Thank you for both the culinary history lesson and the appreciation for home cooks being unable to replicate some restaurant food at home. Sometimes “close enough” may have to suffice, but can still be delicious. Thanks also for your entirely reasonable stance on spiciness. Somehow we’ve arrived at a place where eating extremely spicy food is a flex, which is just silly.
Incredibly interesting learning about the origins and this style of hot pot. Up until seeing this, i always thought hot pot was "all about the dipping sauce" so this showed me another way of how it can be enjoyed. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Interestingly enough, the recipe I had been following for a Sichuan style hot pot base that I got from Omnivorous Cookbook is fairly similar to this, though it might have more spices and chilies in it
I was not prepared for such a casual "try it with brains" recommendation at the end of the video. Love it! (not sure it's available in markets in the Netherlands though...) Cheers!
Just so you know, I have not been able to stop thinking about this video since I watched it. I'm not even a huge fan of Sichuan hotpot! The recipe is great and I'm looking forward to introducing it to my family, but you have to know you BLEW my mind when you used the laozao/jiuniang this way. I've never seen it used like that in all my years of being a Chinese person and watching my family cook Chinese food!
my local large Asian Grocer has 'instant hot pot' mixes. I haven't tried them, mostly because I'm unemployed. I just go there for the inexpensive ramen and occasionally spices.
Same here, they are quite good. I’m not into chilies as much as other people are, but the tomato and golden soup bases are great. But yes, eating hotpot can get very expensive, especially if you want to replicate restaurant versions or the curated versions on social media. It adds up fast, especially if you are going meat heavy. It can be economical if you focus on cheaper vegetables, like cabbage, carrots, potatoes instead of the pretty ones like king oyster mushrooms and some fancy greens. Same with meat, just buy the cheaper cuts instead of the wagyu you see everywhere. You also don’t need a million different items, just a meat or two, some tofu, a handful of vegetables, and rice and/or instant noodles and you’ve made a tasty dinner to share without breaking your budget. Once in awhile you should splurge if you can. Best of luck to you.
I used to love spicy food, but it seems like after taking antibiotics my stomach became unable to handle anything spicy so now I'm stuck with mild. Wish there was a way to fix this.
Omg brains... xD that's a bit to much for my Swedish standards! I gonna make this dish at home at some time, but I would never consider eating tripe or Brains unless I was starving😂
Thank you for this. I avoid making mala or sichuan style hot pot at home because it's a pure pain in the ass to eat at home. But this approach is literally making me want to try it at home! :)
Not trying to be rude, but it just sound weird to me when he said bai jiu liquor. All because Bai jiu （白酒）means white wine and the way how it was said bai jiu liquor (white wine liquor), me listening to this just sounds weird.
So, and this is a weird question I know, what does each step in the complicated modern hotpot base actually add? Like, how does the base taste if you just use fried whole chilies or just a fried re-hydrated chili paste instead of a mix of both? What happens if you add the aromatics later or don't use tallow, etc?
Not a Chinese cook of any kind, but I can answer the tallow question. It's basically cow-lard, so it has a lot of the properties of lard with a different taste.
I think the idea is that you layer up the flavors by using different ingredients at different stages, kinda like using several temperature steps and several crushed chili sizes for tastier red oil. Both recipes will taste the same overall, but the complicated one will have more going on. Of course, for some ingredients timing matters, for example you should only add Sichuan peppercorns at the end, because the aroma is very volatile and you boil it off if you cook them for too long.
Always wonder that, why don't you put your gas plate starter towards you instead, rotate it 180 degree? Isn't that bit dangerous when you have bend yourself towards the fire when turning the gas plate off each time. Also why dont you use a wider table when you cook, seems bit too small, at least a table twice wider would do it.
What do you guys think of the recent boom of the mala hotpot trend in Thailand as Chinese expats in BKK? I wonder how authentic or different it is compared to the original 🤔
It’s fun! Like, if I had to be a critic or whatever, I’d say that often the bases seem to lack (1) depth and (2) are sorely missing quality Sichuan peppercorn. But not all cuisine needs to strive to some sort of aesthetic ideal. Sometimes you just want to hang out with your friends in front of a conveyor belt and some bubbling broth. I do think though that there’s inspiration that could maybe be taken from Lanna cuisine to potentially make a Mala hotpot using cheaper Thai ingredients - e.g. maybe leaning on Ma Kwaen, other spices you might see in a Northern Laab, etc?
If you have chance in Shandong, i hope you will visit Master Chef Chen陈宗明. He keep promoting Lu Cuisine in China, which is theoretical and historical. Maybe he have interest in promoting to the west.
