**The Art of Hunan Cooking: A Deep Dive**

Hunan food, originating from China's Hunan Province, is known for its bold and spicy flavors. When it comes to cooking with Hunan ingredients, one must approach with caution, as the dish can be unforgiving if not executed correctly. In this article, we will delve into the world of Hunan cuisine, exploring the techniques and ingredients that make this style of cooking so unique.

**Quick Mix and Remove**

The first step in preparing a classic Hunan dish is to quickly mix all the ingredients together with minimal stirring. This approach allows for even distribution of flavors and prevents the ingredients from becoming overworked or mushy. In our kitchen, we start by tossing in another two tablespoons of oil into the wok, followed by the shredded meat. The goal here is to give the meat a chance to brown without being overly aggressive with the stirring. We want to create a single layer, allowing each piece to cook evenly and developing its natural flavors.

**Frying the Meat**

Once the meat has been seasoned, we proceed to fry it in hot oil over high heat. This process requires patience and attention to detail, as we need to give the meat enough time to brown without burning or becoming too dark. After about three minutes of frying, we add in some aromatic spices – two cloves of garlic, a centimeter of minced ginger, and two hot chilis – to add depth and complexity to our dish. The key here is to not overcook the meat; it should still retain its texture and juiciness.

**Adding Aromatics**

With the meat nicely browned, we then proceed to add in more aromatics – a centimeter of minced ginger, two hot chilis, and a teaspoon of soy sauce – to create an aromatic and fragrant base for our dish. We sauté these ingredients over low heat, allowing them to infuse their flavors into the oil. This step is crucial, as it sets the tone for the rest of the cooking process.

**Adding Egg and Chilis**

Next, we add in some fried chunks of egg and fresh chilis – sliced heaven peppers or Thai bird's eye chilis work well – to create a harmonious balance of textures and flavors. The eggs provide creaminess, while the chilis bring heat and spice. We combine these elements with a quick mix, allowing them to meld together seamlessly.

**Seasoning and Final Touches**

With our dish now in its final stages, we season it with a sprinkle of MSG, a quarter teaspoon salt, a quarter teaspoon sugar, an eighth teaspoon white pepper powder, and a dash of soy sauce. This combination enhances the overall flavor profile of the dish, balancing sweet, sour, salty, and umami notes.

**Adding Green Garlic**

The final step in preparing our Hunan dish is to add some green garlic – or scallions for those who prefer – which we chop into one-inch sections. This ingredient brings a fresh, oniony flavor that rounds out the overall taste experience. We mix this final addition with a quick stir, ensuring everything is well combined.

**Braised Tofu Puffs**

In contrast to the spicy and savory Hunan dishes, braised tofu puffs are a milder and more comforting option. These bite-sized tofu puffs are a staple in many Asian cuisines, particularly hotpots. We begin by blanching them in boiling water with a teaspoon of salt for two minutes, then strain and rinse them to remove excess moisture.

**Frying the Tofu Puffs**

To prepare our braised tofu puffs, we start by frying them in oil over low heat. This process requires attention to detail, as we need to ensure the tofu is golden brown without burning or becoming too crispy. We add in some aromatic spices – two cloves of minced garlic and a centimeter of minced ginger – to create a fragrant base for our dish.

**Adding Flavorings**

With the tofu puffs nicely fried, we then proceed to add more flavorings – one tablespoon of duojiao, Hunan chopped chilis, half a tablespoon of chili powder, and two fresh chili peppers – to enhance the overall taste experience. We swap the flame to high heat for a brief thirty seconds, allowing the flavors to meld together.

**Seasoning and Final Touches**

We season our braised tofu puffs with a spoonful of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, water, and a pinch of salt. This combination creates a harmonious balance of sweet, sour, salty, and umami notes that complement the earthy flavor of the tofu.

**The Hunan Cuisine: Rice Murdering and Delicious**

Hunan cuisine is known for its bold flavors and delicate textures, often combining seemingly disparate ingredients into a cohesive whole. Many of these dishes are designed to be consumed with rice, which serves as an excellent base for soaking up all the juicy flavors. In our opinion, Hunan cuisine can be easily adapted to other cooking styles, making it an exciting and dynamic culinary force.

By embracing the art of Hunan cooking, home cooks can explore a world of bold flavors and textures that will elevate their cooking experience. With these techniques and ingredients in mind, you'll be well on your way to creating authentic Hunan dishes that will leave your family and friends wanting more.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enBy popular demand, this is now our fourthxiafancai or ‘over rice’ dish video, butwith this one we wanted to focus on stuffspecifically from the Hunan province, whichwe think actually might just be up there withthe most rice-murdering of any cuisine anywhere.So, as we always do with these, we’ll beshowing you one basic, lazy college-dorm stylestuff in a jar that you can just pick up atyour local Chinese supermarket… which todaywill be in the form of waipocai a.k.a.‘Grandmother vegetable’.Then, we’ll show you one western-supermarketfriendly dish, today with some chili friedshredded pork and eggs, and finally one vegetarian-friendlydish via a bit of braised tofu puffs.So.First up – waipocai.Now, like pretty much all this sorta stuffthat just comes in a jar, if you wanted toyou could literally just take this guy anddump it on some rice.Waipocai is a combination of different kindsof dried and fermented vegetables - usuallysome sort of mix of daikon and mustard green,‘n seasoned with good bit of chili pepper.But.if you can’t find something that explicitlysays that its ‘Hunanese grandmother vegetable’,don’t worry all that much: there’s loadsof similar ‘eat-me-with-rice’ pickle mixesout there on the market – something likethis would also work great.So.while dumping and enjoying is certainly avalid enough option, usually in Hunan you’llsee grandmother vegetable whipped up intoa simple little stir-fry.To make it, as always when frying, first longyau.Get your wok piping hot, shut off the heat,add in the oil – here, about one tablespoon– and give it a swirl to get a nice non-sticksurface.Flame on low now, toss in two cloves’ worthof minced garlic together with about a centimeterof minced ginger and fry those til fragrant,about 30 seconds.Next, go in six fresh chili peppers cut intoone centimeter slices – these guys werefresh erjingtiao chilis which serranos wouldbe a pitch perfect sub for, but feel freeto use jalapenos, birds eye if you’re amasochist… really, whatever fresh chilisyou like.Then after another 30 second fry, go in with125 grams of your Grandmother Vegetable.We’ll want to toast out the sourness ofthe pickles, so swap the flame to high, andstir fry it for about three minutes.Once the vegetable is a bit dry and no longersour tasting, swirl in a teaspoon of soy sauce,and give it another quick mix.Now, this guy is completely ready to serveas is, but - you can also use this as a baseand fry up really whatever you want.Minced pork is a classic, ditto with cubesof smoked tofu, and today we’re gunna betossing in 150 grams of blanched edamame becausewe like it and want to eat it.So, swap the flame to medium and give thatanother quick fry for another minute or so.And because our edamame isn’t seasoned yet,we’ll also go in with a quarter teaspooneach salt and sugar, an eighth teaspoon whitepepper powder, and a sprinkle of MSG.Another quick thirty second mix, and… out.Grandmother vegetable with or without additionalvegetable…done.Next dish, chaigurou hebaodan.Now, the essence of this dish here is, atits core, repurposing and making use of leftovers.You see, often when you’re making Chinesestocks you tend to leave a little more meaton the bone than you would as if you weremaking a western stock.This dish is a way to use up that leftoverstock meat – you scrape the pork of thebone, shred it, and you’re gunna use thatstuff to fry.Now if you do want to make a Chinese stylestock, definitely don’t let me stop you,but - you can really use whatever shreddedmeat that’s convenient for you.I know that rotisserie chickens are cheapand popular in the West, so we tried shreddinga bit of that too and, also perfectly delicious,of course.So by whatever we really do mean whatever:shredded chicken thighs, maybe some beef shanks,leftovers from the barbecue joint, anythinghandy... just make sure that you got 150 gramsworth and you’re good to go.So, to fry, give your wok a quick longyauwith about three tablespoons of oil and overa high flame drop in three whole eggs.Let those puff up a bit, about one minute,then flip the eggs over and fry for anotherminute.Once those are cooked through, break themup into about one inch chunks… and as youcan probably tell you really don’t haveto be too paranoid about this whole process.Just continue to fry those chunks for abouta minute or two til the pieces are good andblistered, then season with a quarter teaspoonof salt.Quick mix, then remove.Same wok, toss in another two tablespoonsof oil… and before you say anything, thisis Hunan food: fear not the oil.Over a high flame now, add in your shreddedmeat and let that fry.You want to give it a chance to brown so don’tbe overly aggressive with your stirring…lay it in a single layer, and giving it amix only about every 30 seconds or so feelsabout right to us.So, after about three minutes of frying, themeat should be slightly browned like so, soscooch it up the wok, and go in with anothertablespoon of oil.Then over a low flame we’ll add in somearomatics – this was two cloves of garlic,a centimeter of minced ginger, and two hotchilis – those were fresh heaven facingpeppers, but you can also use Thai bird’seye or any hot fresh chilis that you havelocal.Then, once fragrant, about thirty seconds,recombine with the browned meat, and add backin the fried chunks of egg.After another quick mix, pour about a teaspoonof soy sauce over your spatula and aroundthe sides of the wok, then go in with sixfresh chilis cut into slices.These guys were the same erjingtiao chilisfrom the last dish, mix of red and green forthe sake of good-looking, but again you coulduse serranos or really whatever.Then season that with a quarter teaspoon salt,a quarter teaspoon sugar, an eighth teaspoonwhite pepper powder, and a sprinkle of MSG.Quick mix, then go in with twenty grams ofgreen garlic cut into one inch sections…which we are aware is like a seasonal-farmers-marketsort of deal in the west so do feel free toswap that for an equal amount of scallioncut in the same way.Quick mix, and… out.Chaigurou hebaodan, done.Last up, braised tofu puffs.Now I’m pretty sure that most of you guysare probably already intimately familiar withtofu puffs, but just in case you aren’tthey should be available at basically everyAsian supermarket and love to suck flavorlike it’s their job.An absolute must for hotpots, for this dishwe’ll be cutting them in half and givingthem a quick blanch.So, to a liter and a half of boiling water,toss in a teaspoon of salt together with yourtofu puffs.Cover, and let those boil for two minutes– no more, no less.Then strain, rinse with cool water to stopthe cooking process, and once they’re coolto the touch, squeeze out the excess water.Then just toss those in a bowl and set thataside.Now, to fry, first longyau with a quartercup or so of oil, then over a low flame tossin two cloves of minced garlic together witha centimeter of minced ginger.Fry for thirty seconds until fragrant, thengo in with one tablespoon of duojiao, Hunanchopped chilis, but you could use pretty muchany fermented chili product in a pinch.Then go in with a half tablespoon of chilipowder and continue to fry that over the samelow flame.You’re looking for the oil to start to stainever so slightly red, about two to three minutes,then toss in two fresh chili peppers and swapthe flame to high.After a quick thirty seconds or so of frying,pour one tablespoon of liaojiu a.k.a.Shaoxing wine over your spatula and aroundthe sides of the wok, and after a quick mixgo in with the blanched tofu puffs.Give that another good mix, swirl in a teaspoonof soy sauce together with a half teaspoonof dark soy sauce, then dump in a quartercup of water together with the seasoning whichI’ll list on the screen.Then cover, let that cook for another thirtyseconds, then uncover and go in with fourmore fresh chilis cut into slices – thefirst two were to flavor the stir fry, n’these ones to basically munch on.Then toss in 20 grams of green garlic – orscallions, same deal – give it quick stir,and… out.Braised tofu puffs, done.So Hunan food is like this ultimate rice-murderingcuisine.Many of its dishes are cut into smaller piecesand more heavily seasoned and are just meantto be eaten with rice.I mean, devoured.And honestly, in our opinion, it feel likethe whole Hunan cuisine can just be fit intothis type of video.So right!Check out the recipe in the description box,a big thank you for everyone that’s supportingus on Patreon, and of course, subscribe formore Chinese cooking videos.\n"