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San Francisco: Get Your A$$ To Mission Chinese Food Right Now!
Biking over towards 18th and Mission to check out the much-hyped Mission Chinese Food, there was one thought going through my head: "This is gonna be really great, or it's going to suck," as is usually the case when a group of young upstarts (OK, we can call them hipsters) get their hands on a restaurant space and a heretofore un-hipsterfied cuisine. The third option (which turned out to be the reality) hadn't occurred to me: That it was going to be freaking awesome. Bon Appetit just named Mission Chinese Food the second best new restaurant in America, which makes me wonder how freaking awesome must the number one be?How The Best Mapo Dofu is Made
I'm here to set the record straight: tofu is emphatically not a meat substitute. It's an ingredient in its own right, and a delicious one at that! Indeed, in many traditional Chinese and Japanese dishes, it's prepared together with meat in a single dish. I grew up on the sweet-and-salty, heavy-on-the-beef version of Mapo Dofu that my mom used to make for us, sometimes with her own seasoning, but often just thrown together from a packet. When paired with her handmade beef dumplings, it was far and away my favorite meal.Seriously Asian: Red-Braising with Chili Bean Paste
Red-braising for the Sichuanese is not soy-sauce based but rather, relies on chili bean paste as the main flavoring agent. The bean used in the paste is labeled as "broad bean" on the jars, but we know it better as the fava bean.11 Sichuan Peppercorn Recipes
We at SE are big fans of the Sichuan peppercorn. Real big. Though most commonly found in Sichuan cuisine, the spice has such depth and appeal that it really should have farther-reaching applications. Sichuan peppercorns give off a tingly, fizzy feeling on the tongue and when used sparingly, they're incomparably delicious. And addictive. Here are 11 ways to use them.8 Cities and the Dishes They're NOT Known For (But Should Be)
New York is a legendary pizza town. New Orleans has some serious sandwich credibility (po' boys and muffulettas). Check and check. But when searching for the best bites all over the country this year, we found some surprises—mind-blowingly tasty foods thriving in regions we didn't really expect at first. Breakfast pastries in Salt Lake City, hot dogs in Tuscon, and more.Seriously Asian: Dan Dan Noodles
As far as famous noodle dishes go, there are few that rival the complexity of flavor of Dan Dan noodles, a staple of Chinese cooking from Sichuan province. The sauce for these noodles possesses a combination of spices that never gets old. There's the heat of the dried chili peppers, the oiliness from the sesame paste and chili oil, the savoriness of Tianjin preserved vegetables, and best of all, the mouth-tingling feeling that could only come from Sichuan peppercorns.Sichuan Garden in Brookline, MA: Is Great Sichuan Food Without Sichuan Peppercorns Possible?
The problem with most Sichuan restaurants is that they don't use Sichuan Peppercorns. How important could a single spice be to a cuisine, you ask? Very. The Sichuan peppercorn is not hot at all in the conventional sense. Rather, it is extremely floral and aromatic with a unique tongue-numbing ability. Unfortunately, the list of restaurants that have already reincorporated Sichuan peppercorns on their menu don't necessarily line up with the list of restaurants serving the best Sichuan food. Case in point: Sichuan Garden in Brookline, Mass..Blogwatch: Sichuan 'Popcorn' Chicken
Beijing-based blogger and cooking instructor Diana Kuan, of Appetite for China, shares her recipe for Sichuan favorite laji jiding. Chicken pieces are shallow-fried for some serious crunch, before being stir-fried in a pungent sauce containing—yikes—eight to ten dried chilis and a handful of Sichuan peppercorns. Diana describes the crispy, spicy chicken dish as a "more sophisticated version of kung pao chicken"; my cohort Tam calls it "a lip-numbing form of popcorn chicken." Kung pao popcorn chicken—how can you go wrong? (KFC, take note.)...Why Isn't Chinese Food Hip?
Crispy lamb filets with chili cumin from Szechuan Gourmet. Photograph taken by Kathryn Yu Wall Street Journal food writer Raymond Sokolov poses this very question as he decries the dearth of both high-quality, high-end Chinese restaurants in America and contemporary non-Chinese chefs in American kitchens who rarely look to China for inspiration. Is he right? I have an opinion, but I'm sure many other serious eaters do as well....Hot Topics: Technique of the Week | The Food Lab
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8 Delicious Chocolate Cakes and Pies for Valentine's Day
Some might say that chocolate on Valentine's Day is about as unoriginal as you can get. We all remember the first heart-shaped box of overly sweet chocolate bonbons from grade school Valentines. But chocolate gift-giving needn't be a cliché. This year, let's bake our sweethearts chocolate cakes and pies instead! Here are 8 delicious recipes perfect for celebrating your love (of chocolate.)
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