[2 - 2] Avery once Kenji I'm here at my
[2 - 4] restaurant worst hall in San Mateo and
[4 - 8] today I'm making some kung pao chicken
[8 - 10] you've probably I've made a couple
[10 - 11] videos of this before but you know this
[11 - 13] is like a new format I guess completely
[13 - 15] new world so we're gonna do it again
[15 - 17] starting with some chicken thigh this
[17 - 19] time I think the recipe I have written
[19 - 20] calls for chicken breast but you can
[20 - 21] really do it either way I happen to have
[21 - 24] some chicken thigh here I'm just gonna
[24 - 28] trim off some of this excess fat this is
[28 - 29] one of those dishes that actually really
[29 - 31] works quite well with chicken breast cuz
[31 - 33] it uh chicken breast you know I find it
[33 - 35] absorbs flavors really nicely and so
[35 - 36] long as you don't overcook it it can be
[36 - 40] really nice and tender I don't know if
[40 - 41] it's I'm just getting older or what but
[41 - 42] I tend to actually prefer chicken
[42 - 44] breasts these days to chicken thigh most
[44 - 45] of the time at least one is well
[45 - 46] prepared so we're gonna dice this up
[46 - 49] into mmm maybe like half inch to 3/4
[49 - 53] inch dice doesn't have to be too precise
[53 - 57] the goal really is just even size so
[57 - 58] that it all cooks evenly you don't have
[58 - 60] to wait for like a big pieces to cook
[60 - 62] while the small pieces cook this is a
[62 - 66] it's a classic Sichuan dish it has some
[66 - 68] of that mala flavor the UM the spicy and
[68 - 69] numbing flavor because I used a citron
[69 - 72] peppercorns and dried chilies but it's
[72 - 74] not particularly spicy you know it's not
[74 - 78] it's not like like Lhasa gee like the
[78 - 80] Chongqing style chicken with chilies
[80 - 83] which is really spicy kung pao chicken
[83 - 85] is a little bit more mild so we got our
[85 - 89] chicken I'm gonna get into this 6th pan
[91 - 94] here look it's not the restaurant we do we do
[94 - 95] look it's not the restaurant we do we do color-coded things - red is for meat
[95 - 98] white is for vegetables and stuff so
[98 - 99] that you don't cross contaminate
[99 - 101] at home you don't really have to do that
[101 - 103] just be careful about how you wash it
[103 - 110] I'm gonna wash my hands people sometimes
[110 - 112] ask me whether it's important to wear
[112 - 114] gloves or not or whether you're supposed
[114 - 116] to wear gloves at a restaurant
[116 - 119] well gloves are optional in the state of
[119 - 123] California they're optional and actually
[123 - 126] a lot of the research shows that people
[126 - 127] who don't use gloves actually tend to be
[127 - 129] a little bit cleaner because they wash
[129 - 130] their hands more frequently whereas when
[130 - 132] you wear gloves you tend to forget to
[132 - 135] change them frequently enough and so you
[135 - 139] end up hearing more pathogens around
[139 - 140] than you would if you just washed your
[140 - 141] hands without wearing gloves all right
[141 - 143] so now I got my chicken this is a little
[143 - 145] bit of light soy sauce you could also
[145 - 147] use sure you that's about a teaspoon or
[147 - 151] so and this is about 12 ounces of Jing
[151 - 154] a little bit of cornstarch it's tiny you
[154 - 158] be the shush in wine you could use dry
[158 - 159] sherry if you don't have shouting wine
[159 - 162] judging line is a oxidized rice wine
[162 - 169] Chinese rice wine and some salt
[174 - 174] I'm just gonna mix it all up if you want
[174 - 176] to really go kind of all out on this and
[176 - 180] one extraordinarily tender chicken what
[180 - 181] you can do is wash it which I sometimes
[181 - 183] do with my meats I don't usually don't
[183 - 184] do too much a chicken I might do with
[184 - 186] chicken breast which is you wash the
[186 - 188] meat so you take the chicken you put it
[188 - 190] in a bowl of cold water you swirl it
[190 - 191] around swirl around with your fingertips
[191 - 194] um if you watch Chef one gangs YouTube
[194 - 198] channel W Aang space G ang he's a chef
[198 - 199] once from citron knows a great YouTube
[199 - 201] channel he shows you frequently how to
[201 - 203] wash meats like that and it helps him
[203 - 205] absorb marinades a little bit better and
[205 - 207] it also tenderizes them so I got a
[207 - 209] couple other ingredients here we got our
[210 - 213] scallions so scallions what I like to do so you
[213 - 214] so scallions what I like to do so you see how sometimes they get like that cut
[214 - 216] just kind of slimy outer layers just run
[216 - 218] them under a little cold water and
[218 - 223] basically slide those layers off
[235 - 235] and sometimes you want it sometimes like
[235 - 236] with things like this you want to pull
[236 - 238] off that entire outer layer and you'll
[238 - 240] feel like a kind of slimy in-between
[240 - 244] layer that you also need to slide off
[251 - 251] all right there you go Scottie and so
[251 - 252] the scallions we're also going to cut
[253 - 255] into chunks about a similar size to the
[255 - 257] chicken the goal here and in fact with a
[257 - 259] lot of a lot of stir-fried dishes the
[259 - 262] goal is to get all of your ingredients
[262 - 265] to sort of the same size you know kind
[265 - 267] of chopsticks size so these scallions
[267 - 270] want to cut into about you know 1/2 to
[270 - 277] 3/4 inch knobs
[279 - 279] just the white parts you can save the
[279 - 281] greens for something else
[281 - 283] or if they're looking tired like mine
[283 - 286] wears you can just discard them
[286 - 289] we got our scallions here we got our
[289 - 297] chicken we got peanuts and what are we
[297 - 305] got some garlic here garlic peeled
[309 - 309] trim off the tops and then you can you
[309 - 311] can mince it or you guide you I prefer
[311 - 318] actually sliced garlic for this so what
[318 - 321] I do is I get it lay it flat cut it not
[321 - 324] quite up not quite perpendicular to the
[324 - 326] grain but a little bit of an angle and
[326 - 328] what I do is I go half way like this and
[328 - 334] then turn it over onto 5pi doing some
[334 - 335] time serve over again if it's a really
[335 - 337] big club like that so I was cutting like
[337 - 338] that I can turn it over again so that
[338 - 342] the flat side is stable okay
[342 - 345] I mean let me show you slowly alright so
[345 - 354] fingers like this cut that cut that see
[354 - 356] slices and then you try to you take it
[356 - 358] and you turn it on its side like this
[358 - 367] you keep going see easy
[367 - 372] these are gonna go into here and some
[372 - 376] gingers I'm gonna take how much ginger
[376 - 379] do you want we want ya I'll use like
[379 - 383] maybe one of these smaller pieces spoon
[383 - 385] is the easiest way to peel ginger just
[385 - 386] rub it with a spoon and the peel comes
[386 - 390] right off skin I should say the skin
[405 - 405] yeah and if it's uh if it's really old
[405 - 407] ginger you might want to consider sort
[407 - 409] of micro planing it or really finely
[409 - 411] mincing it this ginger is nice and seems
[411 - 413] nice and tender so I'm just gonna slice
[413 - 417] it and I'm actually gonna sliver it so
[417 - 421] I'm a first slice into planks like this
[424 - 424] okay and then I'm gonna kind of roughly
[424 - 426] you can be very precise if you want you
[426 - 428] know like if I was doing this at a fancy
[428 - 429] restaurant I'd be very precise but I'm
[429 - 431] not I'm just cooking for myself right
[431 - 432] now so I'm gonna kind of roughly lay
[432 - 434] them out till they're perpendicular to
[434 - 438] oops and then go back along this way to
[438 - 441] get kind of thin strips julienne fine
[441 - 444] julienne matchsticks that's what they
[444 - 447] call them okay
[447 - 451] hmm all right so those are our aromatics
[452 - 455] aromatics peanuts scallions chicken Nellist your
[455 - 457] peanuts scallions chicken Nellist your spices so we got these dried chilies
[457 - 460] these are citron heaven facing peppers
[460 - 463] you can use arbol chili de arbol any
[463 - 464] kind of sort of small hot pepper will
[464 - 469] work snip off the stem end of all of
[477 - 477] now arbol chilies are quite hot and
[477 - 479] these systems these two chili is
[479 - 481] actually quite hot as well but most of
[481 - 483] that heat is in the ribs and in the
[483 - 485] seeds so what we really want is more of
[485 - 487] the chili flavor and less of the chili
[487 - 490] heat so we're going to take out the
[490 - 493] seeds I'm after after trimming these
[493 - 496] that guy's a little tired looking dried
[496 - 497] chilies by the way store them in the
[497 - 500] freezer and they last a long time and so
[500 - 501] I'm taking out taking out the seeds
[501 - 517] first like that do a little shake
[520 - 520] and flick like that of course if you
[520 - 522] really want this dish spicy which what
[522 - 524] you can is totally up to you you can
[524 - 525] leave those seeds right in there and
[525 - 533] it'll it'll make it fiery hot
[538 - 538] so Chili's provide the hot heat actually
[538 - 539] let's let's quickly
[539 - 541] so these we're also going to cut into
[541 - 543] about the same size pieces roughly the
[543 - 545] same size I'm gonna basically cut them
[558 - 558] this by the way is one of my favorite
[558 - 560] dishes of all time when I was growing up
[560 - 562] you know I grew up in New York and in
[562 - 565] New York Chinese restaurants the dish
[565 - 567] was sort of translated into something
[567 - 569] called diced chicken with hot peppers
[569 - 572] and peanuts and it usually had bell
[572 - 576] peppers and peanuts and celery so not a
[576 - 578] particularly authentic version but I
[578 - 579] like both versions you know this is this
[579 - 581] is sort of the more classic real citron
[581 - 583] version so we got our chilies some
[583 - 585] peppercorns this is too many of them but
[585 - 586] so when you get your stitch one people
[586 - 590] corns these are the husk event of the
[590 - 591] prickly ash tree a berry of the prickly
[591 - 593] ash tree and mainly you're looking
[593 - 595] you're looking just for the husk so if
[595 - 597] you look if you get your central
[597 - 598] peppercorns I buy mine online usually or
[598 - 600] sometimes at the Chinese market these
[600 - 601] ones came from the Chinese market
[601 - 602] sometimes they have these little black
[602 - 605] seeds which are the interior parts of
[605 - 607] the of the husk and you don't want those
[607 - 610] so if you can pick those out usually
[610 - 611] there aren't too many but it really
[611 - 613] really varies from brain to brain so
[613 - 614] there's a couple in here
[614 - 617] those get a kind of crunchy sort of
[617 - 618] sandy texture and they're really
[618 - 619] unpleasant to eat so you're looking just
[619 - 621] for the husk which is where the flavor
[622 - 624] and of course it's like some some brains
[624 - 625] also come with like a lot of twigs and
[625 - 627] stuff in them this one this brown looks
[627 - 629] really clean which is nice sometimes
[629 - 631] you'll see little twigs here's a tiny
[631 - 633] twig if you see little twigs like that
[633 - 634] get rid of them
[634 - 639] alright so peppercorns chilies and maybe
[639 - 641] a teaspoon or so of peppercorns doesn't
[641 - 644] he doesn't need to be too many this is
[644 - 644] what's gonna provide that sort of
[645 - 646] numbing heat as well as that you know a
[646 - 648] ton of aroma they have a very sort of
[648 - 651] lemony aroma which is beautiful
[651 - 653] let me any piney aroma and then they
[653 - 655] they numb your mouth and that's that's
[655 - 658] really one of the features of citron
[658 - 660] citron cuisine right I think that's all
[660 - 661] our ingredients so the only other things
[661 - 664] are the sauce let me get a little Bowl
[664 - 669] to make this awesome
[679 - 679] so a little splash of water or stock I'm
[679 - 681] just using water here a couple
[681 - 685] tablespoons we're gonna do a little bit
[685 - 690] of light soy sauce
[693 - 693] some shashing wine I'm just eyeballing
[693 - 697] this but if you go to I'll leave a link
[697 - 699] in the description which will tell you
[699 - 702] give you a link to exactly where a
[702 - 704] recipe with all the exact ratios of
[704 - 706] ingredients this is Cinque Kang vinegar
[706 - 709] I'm so it's an aged vinegar if you can't
[709 - 710] find chinking vinegar which you can find
[710 - 712] basically in any chinese market or order
[712 - 714] online if you can't get it or you don't
[714 - 715] want to order online you can use
[715 - 717] balsamic vinegar that's actually the
[717 - 719] closest thing to it a little bit of
[719 - 721] cornstarch so this is not like a super
[721 - 724] saucy dish the way like a Chinese
[724 - 727] American style kung pao chicken is so we
[727 - 729] don't want it to be like super gloppy
[729 - 731] and cornstarch is what makes that makes
[731 - 733] sauces that it gives Chinese sauces and
[733 - 734] shames American sauces in particular but
[734 - 736] Chinese sauces too that I sort of I
[736 - 739] don't know that sort of slick glossy
[739 - 741] texture which is not what we're going
[741 - 742] for in this dish we want it to be kind
[742 - 747] of dry finally a little bit of honey so
[747 - 751] sweet vinegary salty hot and numbing
[751 - 753] those are those are kind of all the
[753 - 754] qualities that were going from this dish
[754 - 757] oh that was probably bout a tablespoon
[757 - 761] or so of honey
[770 - 770] the highest seat you can get this what
[770 - 773] this burner is pretty hot so I'm lucky
[773 - 776] in that regard but you can easily do
[776 - 777] this at home if you're doing it at home
[777 - 780] on a home burner use the highest heat
[780 - 781] you can possibly get let your wok
[781 - 784] preheat and actually you know what I'm
[784 - 786] doing I'm uh this is a peanut oil and
[786 - 788] these peanuts are actually raw so I'm
[788 - 793] gonna be what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna
[793 - 798] give them a little fry so that they cook
[806 - 806] I'm gonna let those sizzle up a little
[807 - 815] bit let me get a slotted spoon go slotted
[815 - 823] let me get a slotted spoon go slotted spoon
[825 - 825] that was peanut oil by the way peanut
[825 - 826] oil is really great for stir frying it
[826 - 831] has a high smoke point it it's actually
[831 - 832] great for deep-frying it well so hot
[832 - 834] it's a highly saturated it's a vegetable
[834 - 836] fat but it's more similar to some animal
[836 - 838] fats fats in that it's highly saturated
[838 - 841] and generally things when you fry things
[841 - 845] and highly saturated fats they come out
[845 - 847] crisper than if you fly it fry them and
[847 - 849] lower saturated fats so that's why you
[849 - 851] know say like duck fried duck fat duck
[851 - 853] fat fried potatoes are really crispy and
[855 - 857] delicious whereas sort of all things you fry in
[857 - 860] whereas sort of all things you fry in olive oil tend to soften up a little bit
[860 - 863] faster all right we're just gonna let
[863 - 872] these sizzle a little bit good this wok
[872 - 875] I have by the way is a 14-inch wok that
[875 - 878] I bought in 2000 I think something
[878 - 880] around there it's about 20 years old
[880 - 883] I got it I got it from Target I think
[883 - 885] it's typhoon brand I'd have no idea if
[885 - 886] they still make that brand I really
[886 - 888] doubt it I got it from Target but I have
[888 - 889] a couple other walks some I recommend a
[889 - 892] 48 for home I recommend a 14-inch wok at
[892 - 895] least and I recommend one with a handle
[895 - 897] and a helper handle some stuff some
[897 - 899] styles of walks have two handles like
[899 - 900] this for home cooking I find it much
[900 - 902] easier to use the kind that has a handle
[902 - 906] on both end a helper handle and then I
[907 - 909] do recommend a flat bottom wok for a
[909 - 912] home range if you have a wok burner
[912 - 913] setup where you have like your kind of
[913 - 915] ring with flames when we're all from all
[915 - 916] sides then the traditional wok with a
[916 - 918] round bottom is better but for a home
[918 - 920] setup flat bottom wok all right these
[920 - 927] peanuts are getting nice and golden done
[929 - 929] and the trick with any any stir-fry of
[929 - 931] course is that you want to have
[931 - 935] everything ready to go because once you
[935 - 938] start cooking it's fast I'll take that
[938 - 940] off you for second so I can remove some
[941 - 946] I don't need quite Bao much all to start
[952 - 952] all right so I got a couple tablespoons
[952 - 957] of oil in there
[960 - 960] we get my chicken here get my chicken
[960 - 964] ready I got my aromatics chickens been
[964 - 966] marinating what like 15 minutes or so 12
[967 - 971] minutes ideally you can let marinate for
[971 - 973] about 20 minutes so that it has time to
[973 - 976] the fattest sorry the protein is time to
[976 - 978] break down from the assault you've added
[978 - 980] which helps it's a juicier here
[980 - 982] aromatics in there gonna fry for just a
[982 - 986] few seconds just to infuse that oil and
[986 - 989] the chicken is going right in you don't
[989 - 990] want to let those aromatics cook too
[990 - 992] much because they'll start to burn and
[992 - 1000] first switch to my actual spatula I
[1000 - 1001] don't know I'm using this spoon in it
[1001 - 1004] burnt aromatics don't taste good they
[1004 - 1004] taste burnt
[1013 - 1016] [Music] so if you have a really weak stove at
[1016 - 1018] so if you have a really weak stove at home what I would recommend doing is
[1018 - 1021] cooking in batches so cook half the
[1021 - 1023] chicken take it out
[1023 - 1025] reheat just reheat your wok cook the
[1025 - 1028] other batch of chicken take it out
[1028 - 1029] reheat your wok add your add your
[1029 - 1032] scallions and peanuts back in cook them
[1032 - 1034] then add your chicken back in and add
[1034 - 1036] your sauce this burner is hot enough
[1036 - 1037] that I'm going to be able to cook it all
[1037 - 1039] in one go so once it goes in constant
[1039 - 1046] motion toss toss toss
[1057 - 1057] this one I'm going to add my aromatics
[1057 - 1063] in the garlic and my ginger blows my
[1106 - 1106] you're their sauce I'm gonna give it a
[1106 - 1108] little stir less one last time just to
[1108 - 1109] make sure that none of that cornstarch
[1109 - 1110] is settled to the bottom and it's all
[1110 - 1164] homogenized here
[1195 - 1195] that's how you make lunch I don't have
[1195 - 1197] any chopsticks here I'm gonna I'm gonna
[1197 - 1199] no pork I guess I'm gonna eat with the
[1199 - 1207] spoon well let's try this anyway
[1230 - 1230] shows hot a little bit spicy a little
[1230 - 1232] bit numbing a little bit sweet vinegary
[1232 - 1240] got those crunchy peanuts chicken is
[1240 - 1246] tender and flavorful
[1250 - 1250] have some good stuff sorry my dog's not
[1250 - 1251] here I can't Peter I'll bring some home
[1252 - 1257] bye bye guys see you tomorrow