Author: Kathy Yuan

How to Cook With Chinese Black Vinegar / How to Cook With Sesame / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Plant / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Foolproof Sichuan Tofu Pudding (Douhua, 豆花)

From Soy Milk to Douhua Tofu Pudding in Minutes (No GDL/Gypsum!) If you’ve eaten street foods in China (or Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and many others I’m missing!), there’s a good chance you’ve had 豆花 (dòuhuā), tofu pudding—or 豆花儿 (dòuhuā’er), as it’s called in Sichuan. Jiggly blocks of soy “pudding” cleave readily with just a spoon, each douhua bite as tender as the silkiest tofu. Fresh, just-barely-set douhua is backdrop to savory sauces and pickles in the North, sweet syrups in the South and spicy dressings in Sichuan....

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Chinese Black Vinegar / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Jiujiu’s Sichuan Tangcu Paigu (Sweet and Sour Spareribs, 糖醋排骨)

Not Your Strip Mall’s Sweet and Sour Pork Everyone has That Dish they dream of reverse-engineering for themselves from a favorite restaurant or dinner party: Mine is this one, my dajiujiu’s 糖醋排骨 (tángcù páigǔ), or sweet-and-sour spareribs. I recall the vinegar-blackened, syrupy-sweet pork of a kind I’d never tasted in my mother’s economical, health-conscious cooking. I didn’t know ribs could be like this, glazed and decadent and sour-bright from the tang of aged vinegar. You’d be at a loss to find a gastrique as storied as my jiujiu’s in Paris....

How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Doubanjiang / How to Cook With Douchi / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / Noodles / Plant / Pork / Sichuan Pantry Compatible / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Mapo Eggplant Noodles ft. Dried Knife-Cut Noodles

Mapo Eggplant Ragu for Your Noodles Mapo eggplant noodles came to me in the dark of COVID yesteryear, when many restaurants were still shuttered and even outdoor dining required proof of vaccination. My roommate had generously invited me along to sample the hype of a long-time Sichuan establishment in Manhattan—my initial cause for skepticism. “It’s supposed to be good,” she assured me. “I just want to try it out.” In our rustic COVID cabana (that staple of hastily-assembled wooden sheds replacing sidewalks and bike lanes with bare-bones seating for undaunted...

assemble tomato egg noodle bowl

Non-Spicy / Noodles / Plant / Poultry / Vegetarian

Easy Tomato Egg Noodles ft. Dried Knife-Cut Noodles

Pan-China Comfort Food You may be familiar with the classic Chinese tomato egg stir-fry, but have you ever tried it with noodles? This kid-friendly dish uses just a handful of fresh ingredients, making it perfect for last-minute meals. In the olden days (that is, pre-pandemic price inflation), one could look to the fridge and invariably find at least one egg and a tomato ripe for sacrifice. With egg markups so high now, I’m far more selective about what I’ll crack an egg over. Bored quarantine baking = out. Quick, easy...

Beef, Lamb & Game / How to Cook With Sesame / Noodles / Plant / Restaurant Classics / Soups & Stews / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Malatang Recipe: DIY Personal Hotpot

Making Malatang Personal Hotpot at Home Malatang (麻辣烫, málàtàng), “spicy hotpot,” is an easily recognizable food trend from Sichuan beloved by on-the-fly diners, especially during the cold, damp winter. Whereas regular hotpot around a communal broth requires assembling whole groups for a 1-3 hour self-cooking affair, malatang vendors cook ingredients to order for you, then serve everything in a personal serving bowl with the piping hot hotpot broth. Notable for operating out of cramped stalls and carts on narrow streets, malatang shops allow you to choose ingredients (pre-skewered, for speed...

Non-Spicy / North (Shanxi, Beijing) / Plant / Pork / Soups & Stews

Healing Century Egg and Pork Congee (Pidan Shourou Zhou, 皮蛋瘦肉粥)

Congee, An Old Buddhist Remedy When you find yourself tired or ailing, let this 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pídàn shòuròu zhōu), century-egg and lean-pork congee, restore you. A thick suspension of pearl rice made creamy by time and preserved egg yolk, pidan shourou zhou is the most lavish of peasant (and monk) fare. The benefits are manifold for those who consume and proffer zhou—in ancient 10th-century Buddhist texts, the monk 義楚 Yichu describes the blessings of both eating and giving the gift of congee¹. Although my parents both grew up eating what they...

Braises / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Instant Pot-Friendly / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics

Beer-Braised Pork Trotters (Zhuti, 猪蹄) ft. Dried Tofu Skin

Pig Feet, a Lip-Smacking Delicacy I took braised pork trotters for granted, once. This delicious phantasm of a previous life startled me into remembrance after an estranged adulthood. Its irreplicable mouthfeel transported me somewhere: that barely-there bite through gelatinized skin; the TempurPedic-like fat layers, soft and plushy yet bouncy with just a little give; oozing with juices and draped in a coat of dark, sticky soy sauce. Lip-smacking, if lip-smacking were a single dish. But where had I eaten it? Who made it? When? For the life of me, I...

Chinese New Year / Dessert / How to Cook With Huajiao / How to Cook With Sesame / Non-Spicy / Vegetarian

Sichuan Pepper + Sesame Oil Fat-Washed Cocktail Recipes

Sichuan-Inspired Classic Cocktails Look no further than these Sichuan-inspired fat-washed cocktail recipes for a new way to step up your hosting game. With a little 藤椒油 (téngjiāoyóu) rattan pepper oil and toasted sesame oil, you can use fat-washing to infuse your drinks—I’m drawing on the martini, gin fizz and Manhattan—with an unexpected savory hit rivaling the experimental chops of your favorite bar. For home cooks and serious chefs, the intense payoff of tengjiaoyou/rattan pepper oil (a variety of green Sichuan pepper) creates a bright, citrusy, mildly electric buzz unlike any other...

Chinese New Year / Cold Dishes / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Non-Spicy / Plant / Poultry / Restaurant Classics / Vegetarian

How to Make Chinese Tea Eggs (Chayedan, 茶叶蛋)

Marbled Tea-Boiled Eggs A skill I’ve gradually accepted as necessary in my life is learning how to make Chinese tea eggs. These fractured “tea leaf eggs”, 茶叶蛋 (cháyèdàn), continue brewing through an overnight marinade of black tea, aromatic spices and soy sauce that seeps into each crack, creating its beautiful stained glass veneer. Soy saucey and tea-fragrant without being overpowering, chayedan previously came to me by the dozen (if not hundred). Out of stockpots, massive vats of never-ending tea egg, volunteer aunties might dole one out on our post-service Sunday...

Bao & Dumplings / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Furu / How to Cook With Sesame / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics / South (Guangdong)

Chasiubao (叉烧包) BBQ Pork Buns: From Scratch

Red Chasiu Without Red Yeast Rice Powder or Food Dye Guangdong’s famous 叉烧包 (chāshāobāo/caa¹siu¹baau¹), aka chasiubao or “char siu bao,” are a dimsum staple!  Soft, fluffy buns envelop the chasiu—barbecue/roast pork—in these steamed bao that ooze with juicy filling. Although I didn’t grow up in a family that made or ate chasiu, we always bought chasiubao from Chinese bakeries. (Especially the “pineapple” bun version that took me 25 years to figure out had no pineapple whatsoever.) At home, Ma’s humble 包子 (bāozi) enclosed minced cabbage/chive and pork, a typical filling,...

How to Cook With Furu / Non-Spicy / Noodles / Pork

Chinese Sausage and Fermented Tofu Carbonara

If Carbonara Were Chinese (and Dairy-Free) This Chinese sausage and fermented tofu carbonara comes together with as little effort as the Italian original. Creamy fermented tofu (腐乳, fǔrǔ)—also known as fermented/preserved beancurd and “vegan cheese”—takes the place of Pecorino Romano to make a surprising non-dairy substitute. Furu’s tang and funk might be misplaced in such a simple dish, but the sweet, savory Kam Yen Jan pork sausage makes it a striking duo. Aged Pecorino has its own sharpness and pungency, after all. The only deviation to the original script, possibly...

Sichuan Steamed Pork Belly With Yacai

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Douchi / How to Cook With Huajiao / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / How to Cook With Yacai / Instant Pot-Friendly / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Steamed Pork Belly ft. Yacai (Xianshaobai, 咸烧白)

Sichuan’s Ninth Great Bowl I rarely eat in my dreams. Even when I have been capable of lucid dreaming, I never recall eating. I do daydream, however—constantly—about the creamy, succulent slices of pork belly layered like so many perfect pleats across a steaming bed of Yibin yacai in traditional Sichuan 咸烧白 (xiánshāobái). Xianshaobai is a prayer sung in pork fat (too much lean meat and the magic disappears): classic, class-defying comfort food. No one is above xianshaobai. Xianshaobai is regional, like dumplings and 粽子 (zòngzi): The exact composition and style...