The Art of Adapting to Unconventional Flavors: A Personal Journey with Sichuan Peppercorns and Century Eggs

I must admit, I knew I was going to say that. What are you not like? What do I not like? Sichuan peppercorns it's a weird personal thing. I wish I liked them. I like the flavor of them, but it feels like it's taking away like a portion of my sensory experience. So, I'm gonna make you Mapo tofu. We're gonna try to convince you to maybe reconsider using Szechuan peppercorns in our dish. This is Szechuan peppercorns. They look kind of like a smaller black peppercorn that's kind of been cracked open. What I like about Mapo tofu is the way it balances flavors. The ground pork, scallion, garlic, fresh green chili, and ginger all come together to create a harmonious whole. By using a cornstarch slurry for thickening, we add a depth of flavor that elevates the dish. A tablespoon of tomato paste double concentrated adds an extra layer of complexity. The paste darkens a little bit as it cooks, and I love watching this process.

Oh god, I love that! It's like magic. To make our Mapo tofu, we need to put together some ground pork, scallion, garlic, fresh green chili, and ginger. Then, we add a cornstarch slurry made with tomato paste, chicken broth, and black bean sauce. This combination of flavors creates a rich, savory taste that's both familiar and exciting. A half pound of ground pork is just enough to give the tofu some texture without overpowering it. Silken tofu is used at the end because I don't want to break it up. Instead, we let it cook for a few minutes before adding it to the pan. This way, the tofu absorbs all the flavors and textures of the dish.

One ingredient that can be tricky to work with is Szechuan peppercorns. While they add a unique flavor profile, they also have a strange effect on my senses. It's like a portion of my sensory experience is being taken away. However, I'm willing to give them another chance because I want to explore their full potential. A simple recipe for Mapo tofu can help me achieve this goal. To make it even more interesting, we're going to add some peanuts as well. The peanut butter adds a creamy element that complements the spicy kick of the Szechuan peppercorns.

Now, let's talk about century eggs. I'm not a huge fan, but I'll admit that I've grown accustomed to their unique taste and texture. Century eggs are fermented with clay, ash, and rice husks, which creates a chemical reaction that turns the outside gelatinous. This process can be intimidating, but it also makes them incredibly flavorful. The smell of century eggs is pungent, like ammonia, but when combined with other ingredients, they become more palatable.

When eating century eggs, it's essential to balance their flavor with other elements. A little bit of chili oil and sesame seeds go a long way in masking the strong taste of the egg. By combining the century egg with scallion, cilantro, and sesame seeds, we create a harmonious whole that showcases each ingredient's unique qualities. The nuttiness of the sesame seeds complements the richness of the egg, while the scallion and chili add a fresh, crunchy texture.

My beef with peanut butter is real. I know it sounds strange to dislike something as iconic as peanut butter. But for me, it's just not my cup of tea. When eaten on its own, peanut butter can be overwhelming. I prefer its rich flavor when paired with other ingredients or used in sauces and marinades.

Food is a journey of exploration and adaptation. As food writers, we're always seeking new flavors and experiences to share with our readers. It's not about forcing ourselves to like certain ingredients but about understanding their unique qualities and using them to create something beautiful. Whether it's Szechuan peppercorns or century eggs, each ingredient has its own story to tell. By embracing these stories and experimenting with different combinations, we can discover new flavors and textures that will enrich our lives as food enthusiasts.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyes what are we doing the Test Kitchen today today we are here talking about our most disliked our V's like like most dislike the Mo's oh that's the radical disliked ingredient we're talking about ingredients we don't like ingredients we don't like yeah I mean goat cheese I don't like the whole peanut butter bananas I'm not a fan of raw carrots I don't like kidneys mayonnaise base salads Brittany can't stand alone I strongly dislike liver think about your body right uh-huh the liver filters out all of this that's terrible for your body or you can think about it like everything's gone through it you know it's gotten that's what gives it character filtering out all that alcohol oh that whiskey that those cheeks I'm gonna make you something and you're probably not gonna like it I'm assuming it's gonna be liberated there's gonna be liver in it okay let's do it we got the squishy white bread Smuckers and then a little bit of onion it's not weird it's not weird don't worry about it all let's go so I've got a really hot cast-iron here yes I want to get a good sear I'm gonna sear it in some clarified butter good I want that high smoke point I want to get good color but I want it to still be like medium-rare on me so here are our livers nice and hot so we can get some good color on the outside doesn't smell bad that liver oh no oh look at that color come on Ali beautiful here come on this is gonna be awesome livers are so good for you and you're killing the bird anyway sometimes I'll eat them are they so good for you loaded with iron sure I don't know what else if you learn to love liver it is such a cheap and fast dinner when I think of liver I think of like deli you know how to be like Oh like gray glob in a terrible been in a reach-in like glass deli case yeah oh so when I think of liver I just think of like my liver and I'm like that's not what anyone should you think about your liver a lot huh yeah are you and the drinks editor at this red it's a coffee so cherry so I'm gonna deglaze with that coffee there are these carries in here it's gonna add some like sweetness and tartness and a bitterness is gonna kind of help with that mentality liver taste okay alright that's good and now we're going to blend this up I love usually I've never seen this anxious because I'm comfortable so excited alright so that it doesn't taste like liver until I swallow it and that my tongue like pushes up against the roof of my mouth and I feel like the leftover chocolate is good I do not prefer gamey lamb you don't like grass-fed lamb I don't like grass-fed I don't like nice lamb just the mean ones yeah yeah so what kind of lamb are we mean that some grass-fed lamb chops go to dieto garlic rosemary parsley olive oil a little red wine vinegar which will like tenderize but also gives it like a brightness and maybe will also like cut some of that funky fat yeah yeah I don't like I use everybody's cheap I was in 4h it was on a farm I would go visit it once a week and take care of it yeah very like in-your-face this is lamb I'm like I'm eating my baby that's why I don't eat funny but I also feel like rabbits and cats are like half steps so you're gonna get a weenie dog are just like rabbits Whitney dogs yeah like a weenie dog when I look at tunas like composition yeah her body I'm like you are a rabbit okay Siri what does go to deep toe mean watch your fingers I bet ya burned fingers but what's finger burning about these there you eat them right when they come off the girl anyway eating with your hands so you burn your fingers on the hot little rib bones alright if you were stranded on an island would you eat tuna nice what is a monster would eat your children no but that's different it's not you're gonna want solid a little bit boink thanks for cooking for me oh my god I find that delicious okay that's you successfully masked the game mm-hmm which if that was the goal here welcome I think the goal is like to get you in a place where you might be able to enjoy the exposure instead of dreading and then over time like maybe you would nibble a little of the fatty bit and have it with the meat and then just you know in ten years that's how long it took me with del definitely I'm committed to liking lamb because I know that like I'm enjoying it right now mm-hmm especially when you're cooking up for me hmm what a gal so the best way to get over a food aversion is a constant gentle pressure these rules apply to whatever you're avoiding there is one ingredient that I've definitely never really liked both raw or cooked for that matter and that's green bell peppers hi I'm I'm the I hate green peppers I'm gonna make you eat green peppers and love them for speeding you hold me no I am gonna try to recreate sort of like a green pepper paste soy sauce we'll see I never done it just came out of my kid okay you're my guinea pig these peppers were roasted in the oven he'll opinions we're done on a cast iron and same with the garlic I'm just gonna throw everything in the Cuisinart I'm gonna add the garlic in the beginning and I'm gonna go ahead up with like just one jalapeno oh good a minor Foley we're all good amount of soul for a little bit of pepper because you know peppers and peppers go together little bit of cilantro I wanted to read a little to Moodle Shanna pesto but I wanted you to see that pieces of my stuff there's some lime juice No one jalapeno why not I think I'm good Mira wants all it's just for the admission and then a little more pepper Wow I'm gonna your nickname is gonna be Amalia soon we're so yeah I don't use that so I'm doing it just for you I home sometimes I don't even use soap oh that's ridiculous I put salt in everything why she puts stalled in the car smoking hey nice ship its salt in our cereal nope yeah well subpoena like no when I got over tying the world know that because you know you couldn't have a high blood pressure your cereal how would you describe it it's an eagle pistol what would you put it on pasta is it smoky I want I mean I want to try it you can have a little more about me hey I ordered I only have much garlic was that with a six close but I will add the garlic a little more it's okay six grow something I don't have a date garlic is good for you I don't have a ring on this finger but I let you drive first okay well I'm gonna go with the cucumber okay oopsie he ordered up lines here on a juice I'm gonna do a problem I love any sticks on him I will you send I saw some can you tell it again pepper oh yeah it's green pepper forward if anything it still has the kind of lasting lingering vegetal flavor that I don't still don't fully care for I mean I don't hate it that's for sure I knew I was going to say that what are you not like what do I not like Sichuan peppercorns it's a weird personal thing I wish I liked them I like the flavor of them but it feels like it's taking away like a portion of my sensory experience so I'm gonna make you Mapo tofu we're gonna try to convince you to maybe reconsider a Szechuan peppercorns okay this is Szechuan peppercorns they look kind of like a smaller black peppercorn that's kind of like been like cracked open what I like about Mapo tofu is like you really don't need that much meat the kind of like flavor the tofu so that's a half pound of ground pork I'm just breaking it up a little bit I want to get a little bit of color in there that's our scallion our garlic fresh green chili and ginger Mapo tofu often uses a cornstarch slurry for thickening so a tablespoon of tomato paste double concentrated going in on top of our ground Szechuan peppercorn just looking for that moment where the paste darkens a little bit oh god I love that gonna put our low-sodium chicken broth in and then this is black bean sauce honestly like black bean sauce magic tell me about your beef with peanut butter you put peanut butter oh it's like beef with peanut butter that sounds horrible all right silken tofu putting it in at the end because I don't want to break it up I'm just gonna kind of lit it and quit it come back in a few minutes hmm you nailed it there's like a decent amount of the fresh green chili too and that that changes it for me it makes it like much more vegetal and fresh and just like provides another dimension to it I will definitely be giving Szechuan peppercorn another chance because I want to make this yeah you should I know where to find the recipe peanut butter is still dead to me but yeah it's great this is great for you you're not a huge fan of century eggs I sadly I am NOT well I'm gonna make you eat century eggs I had a feeling I kind of love that these century eggs we unfortunately did not make our own come in this little carton but also individually wrapped like it's it feels like they they seem dangerous the shell is really pretty why don't you do the honors you want to crack it this is the part that I find so amazing that an egg can get that like gelatinous texture like are you not like intrigued and excited by this I mean like maybe if I if I'd like truly the first time I ever had one I was beyond intrigued and excited but now I know what it tastes like I believe that it gets sort of buried with clay ash like would hustle rice husks and that sort of causes a chemical reaction that turns the outside gelatinous the insides are so you smell it's like very it smells very like ammonia like thank you for this heavy duty knife all right just like that is that's awesome so I'm gonna put a little chili oil it smells so good on the sesame seeds scallion like now we're talking let's do like yeah yeah that's enough she's like three pieces what you should do is get a bite that's got scallion cilantro sesame and chili with the century egg just to taste all the components together cuz maybe by itself it's too much but combined with other things it's delicious I dig it I'm a I'm pretty good experience there like they've lost of the ammonia the stallion is really helping because the flavors cow it's so strong you know it's like the mild starchiness I feel like and the sharpness of the scallion a little bit of the chili I feel like they're just like a lot of different sort of flavors I feel like also kind of like the nuttiness of the sesame seeds works with the egg you know I think that like century egg plays nice with other flavors in that in the like Irby bright Irby toasty family yeah Thank You Pam all the foods that I don't like I'm like I'm just I think I don't like to think of it as I don't like it I'm just searching for the way to eat it that would make me like yeah is there a point where you give up no no I'll never give up so I like about ups we're food writers yeah this is our job that you were about to say the F word I think we're like we're foodies so my beef with peanut butter peanut butter just on its own it's just like eating like fermented black bean sauce on its own it's like what you don't like fermented black bean sauce on its own no of course not it's like a howitzer of flavor it means friendsyes what are we doing the Test Kitchen today today we are here talking about our most disliked our V's like like most dislike the Mo's oh that's the radical disliked ingredient we're talking about ingredients we don't like ingredients we don't like yeah I mean goat cheese I don't like the whole peanut butter bananas I'm not a fan of raw carrots I don't like kidneys mayonnaise base salads Brittany can't stand alone I strongly dislike liver think about your body right uh-huh the liver filters out all of this that's terrible for your body or you can think about it like everything's gone through it you know it's gotten that's what gives it character filtering out all that alcohol oh that whiskey that those cheeks I'm gonna make you something and you're probably not gonna like it I'm assuming it's gonna be liberated there's gonna be liver in it okay let's do it we got the squishy white bread Smuckers and then a little bit of onion it's not weird it's not weird don't worry about it all let's go so I've got a really hot cast-iron here yes I want to get a good sear I'm gonna sear it in some clarified butter good I want that high smoke point I want to get good color but I want it to still be like medium-rare on me so here are our livers nice and hot so we can get some good color on the outside doesn't smell bad that liver oh no oh look at that color come on Ali beautiful here come on this is gonna be awesome livers are so good for you and you're killing the bird anyway sometimes I'll eat them are they so good for you loaded with iron sure I don't know what else if you learn to love liver it is such a cheap and fast dinner when I think of liver I think of like deli you know how to be like Oh like gray glob in a terrible been in a reach-in like glass deli case yeah oh so when I think of liver I just think of like my liver and I'm like that's not what anyone should you think about your liver a lot huh yeah are you and the drinks editor at this red it's a coffee so cherry so I'm gonna deglaze with that coffee there are these carries in here it's gonna add some like sweetness and tartness and a bitterness is gonna kind of help with that mentality liver taste okay alright that's good and now we're going to blend this up I love usually I've never seen this anxious because I'm comfortable so excited alright so that it doesn't taste like liver until I swallow it and that my tongue like pushes up against the roof of my mouth and I feel like the leftover chocolate is good I do not prefer gamey lamb you don't like grass-fed lamb I don't like grass-fed I don't like nice lamb just the mean ones yeah yeah so what kind of lamb are we mean that some grass-fed lamb chops go to dieto garlic rosemary parsley olive oil a little red wine vinegar which will like tenderize but also gives it like a brightness and maybe will also like cut some of that funky fat yeah yeah I don't like I use everybody's cheap I was in 4h it was on a farm I would go visit it once a week and take care of it yeah very like in-your-face this is lamb I'm like I'm eating my baby that's why I don't eat funny but I also feel like rabbits and cats are like half steps so you're gonna get a weenie dog are just like rabbits Whitney dogs yeah like a weenie dog when I look at tunas like composition yeah her body I'm like you are a rabbit okay Siri what does go to deep toe mean watch your fingers I bet ya burned fingers but what's finger burning about these there you eat them right when they come off the girl anyway eating with your hands so you burn your fingers on the hot little rib bones alright if you were stranded on an island would you eat tuna nice what is a monster would eat your children no but that's different it's not you're gonna want solid a little bit boink thanks for cooking for me oh my god I find that delicious okay that's you successfully masked the game mm-hmm which if that was the goal here welcome I think the goal is like to get you in a place where you might be able to enjoy the exposure instead of dreading and then over time like maybe you would nibble a little of the fatty bit and have it with the meat and then just you know in ten years that's how long it took me with del definitely I'm committed to liking lamb because I know that like I'm enjoying it right now mm-hmm especially when you're cooking up for me hmm what a gal so the best way to get over a food aversion is a constant gentle pressure these rules apply to whatever you're avoiding there is one ingredient that I've definitely never really liked both raw or cooked for that matter and that's green bell peppers hi I'm I'm the I hate green peppers I'm gonna make you eat green peppers and love them for speeding you hold me no I am gonna try to recreate sort of like a green pepper paste soy sauce we'll see I never done it just came out of my kid okay you're my guinea pig these peppers were roasted in the oven he'll opinions we're done on a cast iron and same with the garlic I'm just gonna throw everything in the Cuisinart I'm gonna add the garlic in the beginning and I'm gonna go ahead up with like just one jalapeno oh good a minor Foley we're all good amount of soul for a little bit of pepper because you know peppers and peppers go together little bit of cilantro I wanted to read a little to Moodle Shanna pesto but I wanted you to see that pieces of my stuff there's some lime juice No one jalapeno why not I think I'm good Mira wants all it's just for the admission and then a little more pepper Wow I'm gonna your nickname is gonna be Amalia soon we're so yeah I don't use that so I'm doing it just for you I home sometimes I don't even use soap oh that's ridiculous I put salt in everything why she puts stalled in the car smoking hey nice ship its salt in our cereal nope yeah well subpoena like no when I got over tying the world know that because you know you couldn't have a high blood pressure your cereal how would you describe it it's an eagle pistol what would you put it on pasta is it smoky I want I mean I want to try it you can have a little more about me hey I ordered I only have much garlic was that with a six close but I will add the garlic a little more it's okay six grow something I don't have a date garlic is good for you I don't have a ring on this finger but I let you drive first okay well I'm gonna go with the cucumber okay oopsie he ordered up lines here on a juice I'm gonna do a problem I love any sticks on him I will you send I saw some can you tell it again pepper oh yeah it's green pepper forward if anything it still has the kind of lasting lingering vegetal flavor that I don't still don't fully care for I mean I don't hate it that's for sure I knew I was going to say that what are you not like what do I not like Sichuan peppercorns it's a weird personal thing I wish I liked them I like the flavor of them but it feels like it's taking away like a portion of my sensory experience so I'm gonna make you Mapo tofu we're gonna try to convince you to maybe reconsider a Szechuan peppercorns okay this is Szechuan peppercorns they look kind of like a smaller black peppercorn that's kind of like been like cracked open what I like about Mapo tofu is like you really don't need that much meat the kind of like flavor the tofu so that's a half pound of ground pork I'm just breaking it up a little bit I want to get a little bit of color in there that's our scallion our garlic fresh green chili and ginger Mapo tofu often uses a cornstarch slurry for thickening so a tablespoon of tomato paste double concentrated going in on top of our ground Szechuan peppercorn just looking for that moment where the paste darkens a little bit oh god I love that gonna put our low-sodium chicken broth in and then this is black bean sauce honestly like black bean sauce magic tell me about your beef with peanut butter you put peanut butter oh it's like beef with peanut butter that sounds horrible all right silken tofu putting it in at the end because I don't want to break it up I'm just gonna kind of lit it and quit it come back in a few minutes hmm you nailed it there's like a decent amount of the fresh green chili too and that that changes it for me it makes it like much more vegetal and fresh and just like provides another dimension to it I will definitely be giving Szechuan peppercorn another chance because I want to make this yeah you should I know where to find the recipe peanut butter is still dead to me but yeah it's great this is great for you you're not a huge fan of century eggs I sadly I am NOT well I'm gonna make you eat century eggs I had a feeling I kind of love that these century eggs we unfortunately did not make our own come in this little carton but also individually wrapped like it's it feels like they they seem dangerous the shell is really pretty why don't you do the honors you want to crack it this is the part that I find so amazing that an egg can get that like gelatinous texture like are you not like intrigued and excited by this I mean like maybe if I if I'd like truly the first time I ever had one I was beyond intrigued and excited but now I know what it tastes like I believe that it gets sort of buried with clay ash like would hustle rice husks and that sort of causes a chemical reaction that turns the outside gelatinous the insides are so you smell it's like very it smells very like ammonia like thank you for this heavy duty knife all right just like that is that's awesome so I'm gonna put a little chili oil it smells so good on the sesame seeds scallion like now we're talking let's do like yeah yeah that's enough she's like three pieces what you should do is get a bite that's got scallion cilantro sesame and chili with the century egg just to taste all the components together cuz maybe by itself it's too much but combined with other things it's delicious I dig it I'm a I'm pretty good experience there like they've lost of the ammonia the stallion is really helping because the flavors cow it's so strong you know it's like the mild starchiness I feel like and the sharpness of the scallion a little bit of the chili I feel like they're just like a lot of different sort of flavors I feel like also kind of like the nuttiness of the sesame seeds works with the egg you know I think that like century egg plays nice with other flavors in that in the like Irby bright Irby toasty family yeah Thank You Pam all the foods that I don't like I'm like I'm just I think I don't like to think of it as I don't like it I'm just searching for the way to eat it that would make me like yeah is there a point where you give up no no I'll never give up so I like about ups we're food writers yeah this is our job that you were about to say the F word I think we're like we're foodies so my beef with peanut butter peanut butter just on its own it's just like eating like fermented black bean sauce on its own it's like what you don't like fermented black bean sauce on its own no of course not it's like a howitzer of flavor it means friends\n"