**The Art of Szechuan Cuisine: A Culinary Journey**

Sometimes, when I'm cooking, I need to just sharpen my knife quickly and get on with it. I was thinking about how chefs like Ken do things, and how they have these knives that can cut through bone easily. I don't have one of those knives in my life, but I'm okay with that. Not having the heat of a high-temperature wok doesn't disadvantage me, and I think it's actually helped me develop my own cooking style.

As I was cooking, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous about how my dish would turn out. But then I remembered what Chef Ken had said about learning from mistakes and taking risks in the kitchen. He reminded me that cooking is all about experimentation and discovery. And that's exactly what happened when I decided to try making Szechuan twice-cooked pork for the first time.

I started by preparing the ingredients, including scallions, star anise, and a type of fermented bean paste that Chef Ken had used in his dish. I then added some garlic, sugar, vinegar, and chili bean paste to the pan, and began to cook the pork belly in simmering water until it was tender and flavorful. Next, I chilled the pork and sliced it thinly, ready to be cooked again in a hot wok.

As I watched Chef Ken cooking, I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by his technique. He seemed to have a very particular system that he followed, and it was clear that he had spent years perfecting his craft. But at the same time, I found myself mesmerized by the movement of his hands as he stirred and flipped the ingredients in the wok. It was like watching a dance, with each move carefully choreographed to bring out the best flavors in the dish.

**A Comparison of Cooking Styles**

One of the things that struck me about Chef Ken's cooking style is the way he uses heat to achieve different textures and flavors in his dishes. In contrast, my own cooking style tends to be more gentle and low-temperature. While I don't have a high-heat wok like Chef Ken does, I've learned to adapt by using lower temperatures and longer cooking times.

In terms of the ingredients used, there were some interesting differences between Chef Ken's dish and mine. His use of fermented bean paste added a depth of flavor that I didn't have in my version, and the addition of coarse pieces of chili gave his pork a nice texture contrast. However, I was happy with how my own dish turned out, and I think it has its own unique strengths.

**The Joy of Cooking**

For me, cooking is not just about following a recipe or mastering a particular technique. It's about experimentation, discovery, and taking risks. When I'm in the kitchen, I feel most alive and creative. And that's exactly what happened when I decided to try making Szechuan twice-cooked pork for the first time.

As I worked on my dish, I couldn't help but think about how much I had learned from Chef Ken and his cooking style. It was a reminder that there's always more to learn, even for experienced cooks like myself. But at the same time, it was also a celebration of the joy of cooking and the creativity that comes with experimenting and trying new things.

**Conclusion**

Making Szechuan twice-cooked pork was a culinary adventure that taught me a lot about the art of Chinese cooking. It was a reminder that there's always more to learn, even for experienced cooks like myself. But it was also a celebration of the joy of cooking and the creativity that comes with experimenting and trying new things. Whether I'm using high-heat woks or low-temperature stovetops, I know that the most important ingredient in any dish is love – and I try to put that into every bite.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enand I'm supposed to do this hey guys I'm on an assignment to where I'm gonna be learning about new regional foods around the world Chinese food I think it's probably my favorite food that is the food I want to eat all the time I'm really excited to just thing about it because it really is my favorite food what we're gonna do is focus on the Szechuan province what are the essential ingredients what are the essential equipment what that kind of kitchen looks like I'm just trying to learn along with with you guys okay so to begin I'm gonna be talking to Liz mo she is kind of an authority figure about Chinese cuisine she is a native of Flushing in Queens New York and she gives food tours all around and she's gonna be a big help and understanding I was it's in your face it opens up your nostrils like it might make you cry a bit what are the things would that make it I guess the last pillar strange is that the fermented ingredients I haven't had breakfast and just pink Shahada I'm just so hungry I'm hoping I learned so much from you I'm gonna go to mala project and I'm gonna try my best I'm gonna eat a lot get cooking and I'm hoping I'm gonna be able to kind of bring that to the Test Kitchen and bring those flavors and do some justice this is mala project this is the menu and this is the kitchen so chef Andy this is chef Sal of my love project hi so I'm very curious in what dishes are we gonna make today in the kitchen Oh fine you man welcome everyone we're gonna we're gonna make husband and wife long pieces okay a five-spice duck head okay black fish fragrant eggplant we look twice cooked pork these are very indicative of very traditional dishes what are the ingredients that make up these dishes I'm curious to know this is citron peppercorn it has Sichuan peppercorn star nice it's a mixture it's it is really spicy super fragrant bitter undertone red oil because it's red in color you put all these different ingredients and it spice it a little bit spicy not too spicy this is called the triangle peppercorn it's not spicy no it's not supposed to be this tip of my tongue is gone now probably thinks I'm a wimp fermented bean paste no I think you'd like please wait a little bit less it's so delicious it's very pungent salty so this is Chinese black vinegar it's so distinct it has this like nutty fragrance and flavor really beautiful acidity to it I'm curious how it's using other in many of the dishes and I see that chef Tsai has a cleaver so you might even use about all you Cola you're good to go with just one knife so one knife to rule them all kind of yeah okay all right I like that it's really the all-purpose knife and they have system of dividing the blade into three different kind of areas it's definitely like seemed to serve the purpose as a chef's knife I see that it's kind of rounded at the tip compared to kind of squared off well before it was a lot bigger but because I sharpened it every day it's become this small oh wow yeah so he's kind of shaved half the blade a little bit year by year she have to sharpen it he's using a plate pusher can we get that can we just see that that was absolutely can I use this knife and give it a try yes yes yes I feel you judging night it's hard to scrape so is that you own Timmy and yes baby you use the front of my phone ate it just a little bit more into the front of the plate oh yeah yeah yeah be careful though this is definitely a little bit harder I have pretty good knife skills like I feel very confident now I just you just knocked all that confidence house so now we're gonna cut the meat for the twice cooked pork you cheat up with him all the strip's you can't make it to a toothpick we sweep why can't we put a sword he's like forward and then back forward okay I push and pull wow you're really making me question my ability as I got not only a cook but a human being so you didn't hope it's a little bitty thing that's a little bit too thick yeah his paces are a lot nicer I have to admit well he left me the bad piece that I had to practice a lot more okay so we're gonna start cooking this is a cold dish correct mhm it's called husband and wife long pieces spice mixture little sugar salt chicken powder it's just one peppercorn vinegar soy sauce citron peppercorn oil now it's the red oil that you tasted before there's a lot of different forms of heat and layering white sesame fresh scallion okay okay it's all done so why is it called husband and wife there are many different stories one story is husband and wife they were very poor so they used all the waste pieces so sage cheaper like long awful and then that's how the dish became famous stuck with its name that's so good oh yeah please some more I had that numbing flavor and then the fragrant and also just like it's one of those things that I think just benefits from sitting and marinating so it's a strange flavor that's the actual literal translation but often people just also call it spicy sesame what is it in Mandarin quite wait why wait and the first thing he picks have is peanut butter so far not so strange to me tofu chili paste tribes spice mixture chicken powder sugar the black vinegar soy sauce red oil now we mix full so this is a typical all-purpose sauce they can put on any types of very bland protein so like chicken pork belly YUM oh yeah YUM you get the occasional like crunch of the nut the crunchy peanut butter is so good it's salty it's sour there's even like some sweetness to it but it's very all around it and it coats your whole mouth we're going to be doing the braised five-spice duck head there's a little em'ly you all so this is like a stock marinade if so you know that somewhat as you know there are ten different types of ingredients that go into it yeah that's most important is hungry isn't quick oh this is an extremely expensive ingredient and gelatin because it's very fragrant oh it's hard to paradise of any montana yeah most of the time people won't take this out to let you see okay so we got these duck heads so we're blanching it in hot water yeah - oh man coming out so tender loosely so this is what we talked about a stock marinate broth we're putting in the duck heads in there so about 40 minutes we'll put in there nice jawline over there George Clooney asked crack it open the cheeks out of the meat I need it that's it that's great we got the five-spice fragrance differently shark look at me he's impressed like he's not going at it though hey you agent but just enough Tommy so wouldn't I watch you need it I'm very satisfied already oh good I grew up eating like lamb's head oh and it's a bigger animal and it's a lot it's it's fatty too so it has a little more but this still has the kind of different textures you get from the head that should compared to the rest of the body we're now doing a fish fragrance so he's got high heat letting it rest ginger scallion garlic too much not too little water great a sauce now all the other ingredients below tell me this is what's gonna give it the fish fragrance that black vinegar the wok gets so hot and bubbling so quickly those flames you won't find that in regular kitchens and so you feel a bit of cornstarch luring a little little well we put back in the eggplant then I put a little bit of scallion and then just coating it and then done it's like this perfect glazed eggplant now the thing is that dish came together in five minutes not even not even that looks so good I didn't get too much chickens I get this kind of like a sweetness and then you get the black vinegar it's the black vinegar that makes me want to go back to it and try it more and over and over it okay so much y'all yeah that's that's the fragrance the fish fragrance is really from that black vinegar and the sugar that mixed together and it makes that particular flavor so right now we're gonna make citron twice quick pork so the oil is for to cook the pork the water is to simmer to boil things the other wok custom assemble things the toss is exactly pop okay so I'm gonna start now got the heat on see so I'm testing it out it should rise to the top yes so now I know I put it all in so now I'm stirring it this technique is using the stir to kind of make sure it's coating and oil but also getting very crispy so you're moving it it's a very quick process now to rest how does he not have any burn marks you're the chief of us experience and it's experience so I just put a little bit of oil in there I'm just coating it garlic and a little jump go stirring it around seeing the service area of coating needs a pork sweet bean paste now I put the veggies in so for veggies it's very high heat or else they get to build it and then now I'm star I start crying now I put a little bit of sugar chicken powder soy sauce turn back the heat back up all set and I'm supposed to do this how we do the balance of the the the garlic to chili pay the fermented bean paste the sugar the soy it's just everything this kind of seems to be not nothing's fighting okay I want to try this out a so I have the hot oil here I got my clean walk here ya got the heat on and die over here yeah yeah you're gonna yeah you're gonna mix it mix it mix it now to rest a little bit very little very little very little put it back in bring out the wok mix I think I burned the garlic okay it's okay it's okay that's okay it happens fast now put the veggies in veggies what about the veggies okay first put the veggies again Jessa okay now you gotta make this okay put a little bit of sugar a little bit of salt very very little salt yep keep mixing it okay no keep mixing it okay I got to bring it into a big bigger claim okay so let's just be honest I burned this a bist so he didn't a little bit early burn yeah it was already good I don't even that just happened so fast I think I just need to be able to control the heat better and know how to do the first thing before I go to the next and the next you guys want to try this oh yeah fragrant little salty I'm so it's not bad like no there's the first time doing it he really did a really good job not bad yours is a little bit more delicate we'll see if I can do that any test can show okay so I have some goodies back from ala project and we're gonna have this a Test Kitchen hoping my station 3 buddy Chris Morocco goes around and feed him a few of the dishes that I had and then I'm gonna try to tempt round 2 of the twice cooked pork we'll see if I succeed or the way he worked the walks I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do that I think like that takes years of practice the big thing that surprised me was just using one knife the the cleaver for a variety of things that's kind of your go-to tool in the kitchen all the dishes they come together in minutes there was no weapons there was just the stovetop and the line with the three different walks seeing different layering of heat and salt the chili paste fermented bean paste and soy sauce it adds more kind of dynamic flavor and I kind of just jump around and dance on your tongue I love the sauce that he made with the crunchy peanut butter I'm never gonna forget the jiffy that I saw that jarred and I was like I see you the favorite dish was a dull full dish that was my favorite dish with the beef tendon I would say the big takeaway from learning about Szechuan food is that it's not just spicy food that's supposed to blow your palate out it's it's actually a lot more delicate than most people think I just got back from all our project okay I learned a lot I hope I absorbed at least half of it fresh chilli pulverized and added to the test run epic horn spiced red oil like cardamom not part of like the Western canon star anise pause super floral ACMA feels very well-rounded ginseng died no he had an ax to the who brought standard black anders if there was a little bit on the turkey year that I could try to convince people to just have all the time it would be best duck head give me what I'm tasting is the complexity of the bra my not so good actually it's really good eggplant it's just so gentle I just want like super sad chicken and then just drizzle that over with like sticky rice the twice cooked pork this one to me it's like let me pull up the chair get down with business because I just want to eat and eat this is a Chinese cleaver not chef sighs we couldn't take his I saw him do something that I've never seen before he sharpened it using the back of a plate like unglazed raw ceramic I was just an emergency it's like sometimes when I'm what I need to just sharpen my knife quickly and I was just like holy like you are I am NOT gonna with you know okay so I'm gonna slice up you're gonna build a whole pork dish I'm gonna do the whole pork dish the whole thing so we're gonna have to eat it again I move I can taste like his versus yours Jesus now it's like saying this okay so we have the pork belly here this has been cooked in in simmering water you got scallions a little bit of star anise and then it's chilled it's it's cold still makes it easy to slice his whole thing was very much like it needs to be very thin so I can get a really crispy and quickly I do you know I don't have one of these knives in my life not one that you've necessarily used to like get through bone ever you know one that can kind of do it all this is pretty sweet I don't have the heat like he does I will say that but I'm okay with that not a disadvantage not a disadvantage I think like our high heat is nothing compared to his I'm gonna do the same approach I just want to make sure I don't get up again I'm sure it's all cool goals dreams Souls okay let me just remember boom I'm a little nervous he's not making me less nervous looming behind you I want you to observe vide making faces by my back I'm gonna get cooking I'm gonna test one pork out just like chefs out it'd feel like this is big oh here stupid spider we're good we're good we're good okay I'm gonna pull this out I'm such a Western trained cook I know you're putting onto my tongue you pull the tongues I don't want to like give them up you know stump right back in add the garlic scallions a bit of the chili bean paste cook that down I'm gonna add the poor regular sugar that's crushed bullion cube a little bit of vinegar so you kind of built it all together and then add some veg this took about three minutes and taking a little bit longer just because of the heat so I'm gonna pull this aside so if you look at his and you look at mine this one I think my porks the touch darker I think I had a touch too much vinegar but I didn't burn the garlic yeah hmm that's good the leeks are so satisfying I mean the red bell pepper can definitely take another minute or two the way things are cut I'm pretty proud of to me honest oh yeah I think it looks good and the look is right I think he has packed a little bit more heat we didn't bring the exact fermented bean paste that he was using he not only had the beans that she could make out but it had a lot of like big coarse pieces of chili I think that was the big difference between this dish in his it's so hard I'm not even gonna pretend like I am like yeah part of me is like I wish I like practiced more but then it's like the whole point of this shows that kind of just be throwing it and going cold and discover he has a very particular system that obviously is different from the system we use here you could definitely adapt it for the home cook but it would need to go lower and slower you gotta adjust the heat yeah you know just sound the same like dad kind of cooking it is mesmerizing to see the flames that high and to see the kind of this push-pull and turning and flicking the ingredients in the wok and it's pretty amazing hey Liz I'm back in the kitchen I just tried to make the twice cooked pork once more it turned out a little bit better than the first attempt here you look you want to see not too bad all right all right we didn't just say that so I just really wanted to thank you just learning about the three different pillars of what makes up Szechuan cuisine bringing us to chef salad mala project it's great and I'm so happy I'm definitely gonna be integrating more than a few of these ingredients to my cooking so I just want to thank you again everybody absolutely listen man like it's not even if you had walked it's not easy that's what I wanted not easy it's not easy and you know what your first day in a kitchen is never your best than the matter of what kind of kitchen it is sometimes it's just such a pleasure to be taken outside of yourself outside of your comfort zone or when we go out and get lucky enough to work with a chef and see what's in their pantry or in their repertoire what they're making and were able to learn from that yeah like that just makes our job that was generating excited it inspires you it gives you a fresh perspective you know stop taking things for granted you knowand I'm supposed to do this hey guys I'm on an assignment to where I'm gonna be learning about new regional foods around the world Chinese food I think it's probably my favorite food that is the food I want to eat all the time I'm really excited to just thing about it because it really is my favorite food what we're gonna do is focus on the Szechuan province what are the essential ingredients what are the essential equipment what that kind of kitchen looks like I'm just trying to learn along with with you guys okay so to begin I'm gonna be talking to Liz mo she is kind of an authority figure about Chinese cuisine she is a native of Flushing in Queens New York and she gives food tours all around and she's gonna be a big help and understanding I was it's in your face it opens up your nostrils like it might make you cry a bit what are the things would that make it I guess the last pillar strange is that the fermented ingredients I haven't had breakfast and just pink Shahada I'm just so hungry I'm hoping I learned so much from you I'm gonna go to mala project and I'm gonna try my best I'm gonna eat a lot get cooking and I'm hoping I'm gonna be able to kind of bring that to the Test Kitchen and bring those flavors and do some justice this is mala project this is the menu and this is the kitchen so chef Andy this is chef Sal of my love project hi so I'm very curious in what dishes are we gonna make today in the kitchen Oh fine you man welcome everyone we're gonna we're gonna make husband and wife long pieces okay a five-spice duck head okay black fish fragrant eggplant we look twice cooked pork these are very indicative of very traditional dishes what are the ingredients that make up these dishes I'm curious to know this is citron peppercorn it has Sichuan peppercorn star nice it's a mixture it's it is really spicy super fragrant bitter undertone red oil because it's red in color you put all these different ingredients and it spice it a little bit spicy not too spicy this is called the triangle peppercorn it's not spicy no it's not supposed to be this tip of my tongue is gone now probably thinks I'm a wimp fermented bean paste no I think you'd like please wait a little bit less it's so delicious it's very pungent salty so this is Chinese black vinegar it's so distinct it has this like nutty fragrance and flavor really beautiful acidity to it I'm curious how it's using other in many of the dishes and I see that chef Tsai has a cleaver so you might even use about all you Cola you're good to go with just one knife so one knife to rule them all kind of yeah okay all right I like that it's really the all-purpose knife and they have system of dividing the blade into three different kind of areas it's definitely like seemed to serve the purpose as a chef's knife I see that it's kind of rounded at the tip compared to kind of squared off well before it was a lot bigger but because I sharpened it every day it's become this small oh wow yeah so he's kind of shaved half the blade a little bit year by year she have to sharpen it he's using a plate pusher can we get that can we just see that that was absolutely can I use this knife and give it a try yes yes yes I feel you judging night it's hard to scrape so is that you own Timmy and yes baby you use the front of my phone ate it just a little bit more into the front of the plate oh yeah yeah yeah be careful though this is definitely a little bit harder I have pretty good knife skills like I feel very confident now I just you just knocked all that confidence house so now we're gonna cut the meat for the twice cooked pork you cheat up with him all the strip's you can't make it to a toothpick we sweep why can't we put a sword he's like forward and then back forward okay I push and pull wow you're really making me question my ability as I got not only a cook but a human being so you didn't hope it's a little bitty thing that's a little bit too thick yeah his paces are a lot nicer I have to admit well he left me the bad piece that I had to practice a lot more okay so we're gonna start cooking this is a cold dish correct mhm it's called husband and wife long pieces spice mixture little sugar salt chicken powder it's just one peppercorn vinegar soy sauce citron peppercorn oil now it's the red oil that you tasted before there's a lot of different forms of heat and layering white sesame fresh scallion okay okay it's all done so why is it called husband and wife there are many different stories one story is husband and wife they were very poor so they used all the waste pieces so sage cheaper like long awful and then that's how the dish became famous stuck with its name that's so good oh yeah please some more I had that numbing flavor and then the fragrant and also just like it's one of those things that I think just benefits from sitting and marinating so it's a strange flavor that's the actual literal translation but often people just also call it spicy sesame what is it in Mandarin quite wait why wait and the first thing he picks have is peanut butter so far not so strange to me tofu chili paste tribes spice mixture chicken powder sugar the black vinegar soy sauce red oil now we mix full so this is a typical all-purpose sauce they can put on any types of very bland protein so like chicken pork belly YUM oh yeah YUM you get the occasional like crunch of the nut the crunchy peanut butter is so good it's salty it's sour there's even like some sweetness to it but it's very all around it and it coats your whole mouth we're going to be doing the braised five-spice duck head there's a little em'ly you all so this is like a stock marinade if so you know that somewhat as you know there are ten different types of ingredients that go into it yeah that's most important is hungry isn't quick oh this is an extremely expensive ingredient and gelatin because it's very fragrant oh it's hard to paradise of any montana yeah most of the time people won't take this out to let you see okay so we got these duck heads so we're blanching it in hot water yeah - oh man coming out so tender loosely so this is what we talked about a stock marinate broth we're putting in the duck heads in there so about 40 minutes we'll put in there nice jawline over there George Clooney asked crack it open the cheeks out of the meat I need it that's it that's great we got the five-spice fragrance differently shark look at me he's impressed like he's not going at it though hey you agent but just enough Tommy so wouldn't I watch you need it I'm very satisfied already oh good I grew up eating like lamb's head oh and it's a bigger animal and it's a lot it's it's fatty too so it has a little more but this still has the kind of different textures you get from the head that should compared to the rest of the body we're now doing a fish fragrance so he's got high heat letting it rest ginger scallion garlic too much not too little water great a sauce now all the other ingredients below tell me this is what's gonna give it the fish fragrance that black vinegar the wok gets so hot and bubbling so quickly those flames you won't find that in regular kitchens and so you feel a bit of cornstarch luring a little little well we put back in the eggplant then I put a little bit of scallion and then just coating it and then done it's like this perfect glazed eggplant now the thing is that dish came together in five minutes not even not even that looks so good I didn't get too much chickens I get this kind of like a sweetness and then you get the black vinegar it's the black vinegar that makes me want to go back to it and try it more and over and over it okay so much y'all yeah that's that's the fragrance the fish fragrance is really from that black vinegar and the sugar that mixed together and it makes that particular flavor so right now we're gonna make citron twice quick pork so the oil is for to cook the pork the water is to simmer to boil things the other wok custom assemble things the toss is exactly pop okay so I'm gonna start now got the heat on see so I'm testing it out it should rise to the top yes so now I know I put it all in so now I'm stirring it this technique is using the stir to kind of make sure it's coating and oil but also getting very crispy so you're moving it it's a very quick process now to rest how does he not have any burn marks you're the chief of us experience and it's experience so I just put a little bit of oil in there I'm just coating it garlic and a little jump go stirring it around seeing the service area of coating needs a pork sweet bean paste now I put the veggies in so for veggies it's very high heat or else they get to build it and then now I'm star I start crying now I put a little bit of sugar chicken powder soy sauce turn back the heat back up all set and I'm supposed to do this how we do the balance of the the the garlic to chili pay the fermented bean paste the sugar the soy it's just everything this kind of seems to be not nothing's fighting okay I want to try this out a so I have the hot oil here I got my clean walk here ya got the heat on and die over here yeah yeah you're gonna yeah you're gonna mix it mix it mix it now to rest a little bit very little very little very little put it back in bring out the wok mix I think I burned the garlic okay it's okay it's okay that's okay it happens fast now put the veggies in veggies what about the veggies okay first put the veggies again Jessa okay now you gotta make this okay put a little bit of sugar a little bit of salt very very little salt yep keep mixing it okay no keep mixing it okay I got to bring it into a big bigger claim okay so let's just be honest I burned this a bist so he didn't a little bit early burn yeah it was already good I don't even that just happened so fast I think I just need to be able to control the heat better and know how to do the first thing before I go to the next and the next you guys want to try this oh yeah fragrant little salty I'm so it's not bad like no there's the first time doing it he really did a really good job not bad yours is a little bit more delicate we'll see if I can do that any test can show okay so I have some goodies back from ala project and we're gonna have this a Test Kitchen hoping my station 3 buddy Chris Morocco goes around and feed him a few of the dishes that I had and then I'm gonna try to tempt round 2 of the twice cooked pork we'll see if I succeed or the way he worked the walks I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do that I think like that takes years of practice the big thing that surprised me was just using one knife the the cleaver for a variety of things that's kind of your go-to tool in the kitchen all the dishes they come together in minutes there was no weapons there was just the stovetop and the line with the three different walks seeing different layering of heat and salt the chili paste fermented bean paste and soy sauce it adds more kind of dynamic flavor and I kind of just jump around and dance on your tongue I love the sauce that he made with the crunchy peanut butter I'm never gonna forget the jiffy that I saw that jarred and I was like I see you the favorite dish was a dull full dish that was my favorite dish with the beef tendon I would say the big takeaway from learning about Szechuan food is that it's not just spicy food that's supposed to blow your palate out it's it's actually a lot more delicate than most people think I just got back from all our project okay I learned a lot I hope I absorbed at least half of it fresh chilli pulverized and added to the test run epic horn spiced red oil like cardamom not part of like the Western canon star anise pause super floral ACMA feels very well-rounded ginseng died no he had an ax to the who brought standard black anders if there was a little bit on the turkey year that I could try to convince people to just have all the time it would be best duck head give me what I'm tasting is the complexity of the bra my not so good actually it's really good eggplant it's just so gentle I just want like super sad chicken and then just drizzle that over with like sticky rice the twice cooked pork this one to me it's like let me pull up the chair get down with business because I just want to eat and eat this is a Chinese cleaver not chef sighs we couldn't take his I saw him do something that I've never seen before he sharpened it using the back of a plate like unglazed raw ceramic I was just an emergency it's like sometimes when I'm what I need to just sharpen my knife quickly and I was just like holy like you are I am NOT gonna with you know okay so I'm gonna slice up you're gonna build a whole pork dish I'm gonna do the whole pork dish the whole thing so we're gonna have to eat it again I move I can taste like his versus yours Jesus now it's like saying this okay so we have the pork belly here this has been cooked in in simmering water you got scallions a little bit of star anise and then it's chilled it's it's cold still makes it easy to slice his whole thing was very much like it needs to be very thin so I can get a really crispy and quickly I do you know I don't have one of these knives in my life not one that you've necessarily used to like get through bone ever you know one that can kind of do it all this is pretty sweet I don't have the heat like he does I will say that but I'm okay with that not a disadvantage not a disadvantage I think like our high heat is nothing compared to his I'm gonna do the same approach I just want to make sure I don't get up again I'm sure it's all cool goals dreams Souls okay let me just remember boom I'm a little nervous he's not making me less nervous looming behind you I want you to observe vide making faces by my back I'm gonna get cooking I'm gonna test one pork out just like chefs out it'd feel like this is big oh here stupid spider we're good we're good we're good okay I'm gonna pull this out I'm such a Western trained cook I know you're putting onto my tongue you pull the tongues I don't want to like give them up you know stump right back in add the garlic scallions a bit of the chili bean paste cook that down I'm gonna add the poor regular sugar that's crushed bullion cube a little bit of vinegar so you kind of built it all together and then add some veg this took about three minutes and taking a little bit longer just because of the heat so I'm gonna pull this aside so if you look at his and you look at mine this one I think my porks the touch darker I think I had a touch too much vinegar but I didn't burn the garlic yeah hmm that's good the leeks are so satisfying I mean the red bell pepper can definitely take another minute or two the way things are cut I'm pretty proud of to me honest oh yeah I think it looks good and the look is right I think he has packed a little bit more heat we didn't bring the exact fermented bean paste that he was using he not only had the beans that she could make out but it had a lot of like big coarse pieces of chili I think that was the big difference between this dish in his it's so hard I'm not even gonna pretend like I am like yeah part of me is like I wish I like practiced more but then it's like the whole point of this shows that kind of just be throwing it and going cold and discover he has a very particular system that obviously is different from the system we use here you could definitely adapt it for the home cook but it would need to go lower and slower you gotta adjust the heat yeah you know just sound the same like dad kind of cooking it is mesmerizing to see the flames that high and to see the kind of this push-pull and turning and flicking the ingredients in the wok and it's pretty amazing hey Liz I'm back in the kitchen I just tried to make the twice cooked pork once more it turned out a little bit better than the first attempt here you look you want to see not too bad all right all right we didn't just say that so I just really wanted to thank you just learning about the three different pillars of what makes up Szechuan cuisine bringing us to chef salad mala project it's great and I'm so happy I'm definitely gonna be integrating more than a few of these ingredients to my cooking so I just want to thank you again everybody absolutely listen man like it's not even if you had walked it's not easy that's what I wanted not easy it's not easy and you know what your first day in a kitchen is never your best than the matter of what kind of kitchen it is sometimes it's just such a pleasure to be taken outside of yourself outside of your comfort zone or when we go out and get lucky enough to work with a chef and see what's in their pantry or in their repertoire what they're making and were able to learn from that yeah like that just makes our job that was generating excited it inspires you it gives you a fresh perspective you know stop taking things for granted you know\n"