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In this cold winter, there is nothing better than sharing a spicy Sichuan hot pot with your friends and family. For the uninitiated, Chinese hot pot, a.k.a. huo guo (火鍋), is a group dining activity where a pot of boiling broth is shared. Friends and families cook the raw ingredients of their liking in this communal pot of broth while chitchatting, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company by the table-side. This recipe is for a popular regional hot pot from Sichuan (Szechuan). The broth is infused with lots of aromatic spices, fiery chili oil and tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorn so it is very fragrant and spicy! This is a make from scratch recipe that I first posted on my blog. If you like to learn visually, I'd recommend you to visit my blog (link in my profile) for the step by step pictorial recipe. Enjoy! Ingredients: For Master sauce (adjust to your own spiciness) 3 tbsp Sichuan Spicy Bean Paste 5 Dried chili, soaked until soft. 1 tbsp Chinese Black Bean 4 slice Ginger, 4 glove Garlic ½ cup Cooking Wine 1tbsp Rock Sugar Dry Spices: 3 star anise, 1tbsp Sichuan Peppercorn, 1 black cardamom, 4 green cardamom, 2 sand ginger, 1 piece cinnamon stick, and 1 tbsp fennel seeds For the stock: 2 lb Beef or Pork or Chicken bones. 3 slice Ginger 2 Scallion 3 Bay leaf 1 gallon water Instructions: The recipe is for half of a 12 inch special pot. Adjust the amount accordingly. 1. Make the base stock by combining beef or pork bones or chicken skeleton with water, ginger, scallion, bay leaves. Broil and simmer for 3 hours. Can be made in advance. 2. The master sauce is the soul of Sichuan hot pot (and is guarded by restaurant owners as top secret but today you’ll get it for free). I recommend making this in advance. To make the aged-spicy paste: chop the Sichuan Spicy Bean Paste, soaked dry chili, ginger, garlic, and black bean. Combine 4 tbsp of oil and all the chopped ingredients, cook in low heat for 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the rest of the dry spices and cooking wine and sugar to the paste. Continue to cook in low heat for another 30 minutes then turn off the heat. This is your aged-spicy taste and can be made in advance. 3. Before serving the hot pot, combine the aged-spicy paste with base stock and bring to boil. Add additional ginger, dried chili, and salt to taste. 4. To make the special peanut butter sesame dipping sauce, combine the peanut butter, sesame paste, and fermented bean curd. Mix into a paste. Add oyster sauce, sugar, chopped chive flower and mix well.

Truffed Egg Toast - truffle oil, egg yolks, fontina cheese.

For those of you frequent Sichuan (Szechuan) eateries, you probably know that Dan Dan Noodles is arguably one of the must-try dishes at any Sichuan restaurants. In fact it’s so popular that this spicy, sweet, and tangy noodle dish has often used to measure how authentic a restaurant is! This is a recipe I learned from growing up in Sichuan and imho it's so much better than the restaurant version. If you like to learn with pictures please check out my blog for step-by-step pictorial recipe! Ingredients: 6oz fresh Chinese noodles (can substitute with dry noodles) Handful of fresh leafy vegetables such as spinach Dan Dan Meat Topping: 4oz ground pork 4oz [ya cai (preserved mustard green from Sichuan), chopped 2tbsp soy sauce 1tbsp Chinese cooking wine 1tsp five spice powder Dan Dan Sauce: 2tsp garlic, grated 2tsp Chinese sesame paste 4tbsp soy sauce 1tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder 1tsp sugar 4tbsp chili oil (more if you can handle the heat) 1tsp sesame oil 2tbsp Chinese black vinegar 1cup hot chicken or pork stock, unsalted (can substitute with boiled water) Chopped scallions for garnish Instructions: To make the meat topping: sauté ground pork and ya cai in 1 tbsp of cooking oil over high heat. When the meat turns color, add soy sauce, cooking wine, and five spice powder. Cook for another 3 minutes. Set aside To build the Dan Dan Noodle sauce: combine the garlic and sesame paste in a bowl. Mix using a spoon until smooth Add the rest of the sauce ingredients except the scallions. Stir until well incorporated While building the sauce, cook the noodles in a pot of boiling water until al dente. If using fresh noodles, it should take about 3 – 4 minutes Cook the vegetable in the same pot. To get the best noodle texture, shock the noodles in ice water right after cooking to stop the noodles from cooking Drain the excess water and drop the noodles into the sauce. Add the meat topping and garnish with scallions. Feel free to add additional chili oil according to your own taste

I do realize this is an old post but I am curious to know where in Chinatown you saw the geese? I'll try to hunt down a goose and make one for the first time this year. Thanks.!

Not that I've noticed. Perhaps The style I have come across and was referring to was what is commonly referred to as Chinkiang vinegar which is the only one I come across in the local shops.. Chinese vinegars are, I find, generally less acid and more mild in taste than what we may find in the west, although I wouldn't go so far to call them sweet. The one that I use is actually called sweet vinegar. It is sweeter than balsamic, I cook that with ginger and sesame oil for dipping. dcarch http://img.21food.com/20110609/product/1305783273207.jpg According to your image, this is a specialty sweet vinegar used to make a traditional Cantonese dish called pig trotters in ginger and sweet vinegar. This is a dish that mothers eat right after giving a birth.

Since I don't see a pork jerky recipe on this forum I figure it'd be nice to share my Honey Glazed Pork Jerky recipe. This is one of my favorite snacks to serve in a party. Perhaps you can try to surprise your guests during this holiday season:) Ingredients: 2lb ground porkPork Marina 2tbsp soy sauce2tbsp fish sauce2tbsp dark soy sauce½ tsp salt2tbsp sugar1tbsp cooking wine2tbsp honey1tsp five-spice powder½ tsp freshly ground pepperCayenne pepper powder to your own taste (optional)For Basting2 tbsp honey1 tbsp cooking wineInstructions: In a mixing bowl, combine the ground pork and marinade ingredients Mix with a spoon or by hand until the pork turns into a paste. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour Preheat the oven at 375 F. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Put a few spoons of pork on a sheet of parchment paper then cover the put plastic wrap Gently run a rolling pin over the wrap to flatten the pork and form a thin layer of pork. Prepare the basting glaze by mixing the honey with cooking wine Bake the pork for about 12 minutes on each side. Carefully flip it once in between Coat the pork with the honey glaze on both sides. Bake at 400 F for 5 minutes each side. Repeat this step one more time Cool down the pork jerky on cooling rack. Cut into bite sizeThe pork jerky can be enjoyed both warm and cold

Great find! I love reading redcook as well. Just for comparison purpose, here is a generic dipping sauce I make for almost everything. The only main difference is the amount of sesame oil. I prefer to not overpower my sauce with sesame oil fragrant so I only use small amount. Also, the quality of hot oil makes a difference as well. Hope you figure out the sauce you had in Chengdu!! 1 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar 1 – 2 tbsp hot chili oil (or to your own taste) ½ tsp sesame oil 1 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorn (or to your own taste) 1 tsp garlic paste 1 tsp green onion, chopped

Hi Dejah, I've made this with honey before and it came out pretty good. Just a suggestion if you still can't find maltose in your local stores. Good luck!

Agree with what Liuzhou and hzrt8w said. The typical Sichuan dumpling sauce normally invovles hot oil, soy sauce, chinese black vinegar, few drops of sesame oil, garlic paste, scallion, and cilantro. If you feel like getting some ma (the numbing effect from sichuan peppercorn), you can also add some ground sichuan peppercorn powder. Good luck!