Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom

Mention the name Chengdu, and what comes to mind?

Two thousand years of history, art and culture.

But wait.

Chengdu is also one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.

It has a thriving high-tech sector and high-speed trains that connect China to Europe.

A second international airport is coming soon, and so is Tianfu, a satellite city that is green and energy efficient.

The future?

No.

Welcome to today's Chengdu, next on "Yan Can Cook."

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The long stretch of highway behind me is Tianfu Avenue.

It is the major highway that connects Chengdu to the Tianfu new area.

The new Tianfu area lies 18 miles south of Chengdu, launched back in 2011.

The goal is to develop an area of over 600 square miles into a futuristic urban zone for residents, industries and high-tech businesses.

This is a multi- multi-billion-dollar project, but it will serve as a prototype for future cities, not only in China, but all over the world.

Imagine -- none of this was here only a few years ago.

It is true that things happen in China on a totally different scale, but it is even more true that they happen at a totally different pace.

The exterior of this new expo center looks like a spaceship, but actually, it's really designed to reflect the scenic natural landscape in Sichuan.

[ Indistinct conversations ] This building is massive.

It has close to 6 million square feet of floor space, in addition to dozens of exhibition pavilions, indoor as well as outdoor.

This place houses many offices and convention facilities.

I hope I can remember where I parked.

Oh, good, a furniture show.

I can really use a new chair after all this walking.

I know what you're thinking.

"Oh, this is nice, but where are we going to eat?"

Instead of asking, "Where do I eat?," I asked, "Where do the locals eat?"

The answer is right here.

In the shadow of all the many Chengdu high-tech companies, you find typical lunch crowds right here, and there's all fans of this interesting concept called Mao Chai.

I call it, "You pick.

They cook," and then, you sit down...you eat.

You might call it a little quick-y hot pot.

No time?

Hey, no problem.

Whatever you call it, however you define it, you cannot argue with success.

This place is growing faster than a young bamboo shoot.

There are over 80 locations on the planning board.

It's amazing.

You know, China's high-tech crowd might be young, lean and ambitious, but they won't go hungry for long.

All this cutting-edge stuff in Chengdu is inspiring.

Let us see what I can do back home.

Sous-vide cooking is all the rage these days.

Guess what!

It's also gaining a great deal of popularity in China.

Sous-vide is actually the French word for "under vacuum."

That means it is cooking food inside a sealed vacuum pouch placed in a water or steam bath for an extending period of time, so the food is cooked so evenly inside and out.

So duck is actually like a wild game.

It's very, very intense flavor.

I have somebody that really knows duck.

They've probably eat and serving duck and preparing duck for years.

Chef Daniel, thank you so much for coming, and another good guest, my good friend, Vivienne.

Now, the first thing I'm going to do is put a tiny bit of salt.

I use sea salt.

Now, I'm going to put a tiny bit of oil, oil, oil, and a tiny bit of Sichuan peppercorn.

Okay?

Let's put some Sichuan peppercorn.

This is mixed in.

In fact, I enhanced the flavor.

I even put a tiny, tiny bit of chili right here.

This is pickled chili, Sichuan, Chengdu-style pickled chili, so this is not only spicy, but a very rich, fermented taste.

Put just a tiny bit, okay?

And then I put fresh bay leaf.

I grow this in my backyard, okay?

I put a couple piece here.

This is really good.

I wash it, and I put it right here.

This is a so beautiful.

Then I put it in a bag.

Beautiful.

And then I put in this water and get the vacuum out, and then, when this is done, I squeeze the air out, and I seal it.

Now, you have a vacuum.

Pack it like this, and then, sous-vide.

All I have to do is put it right here, and I use this to clip it, and I use to clip it.

Now, this is the probe.

It synchronize the temperature, control the temperature with this little Bluetooth.

All you have to do is put this into the water and this, and you are ready to cook.

Right now, we're cooking about 155 to 158 degrees for about, maybe, 13 hours.

That means you can take maybe 20 coffee breaks.

Now, while I'm doing this duck, I'm going to show you get the salad dressing and the salad ready.

Here I have some heirloom tomatoes, beautiful tomatoes, different colors, and I'm going to cut this up.

Different color, nice and yellow and green, and I will slice it in half right here.

Slice it right in half, okay?

Okay.

Right in half, then I put it in a bowl, okay?

And then we will crush some garlic.

When you crush it, crush it.

All of this is crushed.

Look at this, all crushed, and I have mustard, French Dijon mustard.

Chinese also have mustard, but they normally in powder form, so when you do mustard, you basically mix it with a tiny bit of water, but this, mm, I love it.

I put this much right here, put a tiny bit of salt, not much, just enough sea salt.

Put a tiny of olive oil, okay?

And then a tiny bit of Chinese-style aged vinegar, just like the balsamic vinegar, but this is about one quarter the price, okay?

And then I put this in, and I emulsify this.

Emulsify.

And then for making this unique Sichuan, I have Sichuan fermented, salted, pickled chili.

Look at that.

I use the juice.

Look at this, the juice, and this is going to make it really, really Sichuan, and it's going to be beautiful.

Now, see, emulsify.

Beautiful.

And then a tiny bit of chopped garlic into it.

This is our salad dressing.

You know what?

I have been doing this, mixing this salad dressing, for exactly 13 hours.

[ Laughter ] Now, it's done, and I'm so happy that they're still awake, 13 hours.

Sous-vide is so good, and supreme quality.

And this is done.

I'll take it out.

Take it out.

This is so good.

Look at that, and I don't want to waste some of this juice, basil, duck fat, and I put this right in here to enhance the flavor, and then, this is going to be so good, worth the wait for 13 hours.

When this is done, we'll set it aside, and then we pan fry this a little bit with just two drops of oil, okay?

And nice and golden brown, just brown it.

It's already cooked.

In the meantime, while we're waiting for this, here, I have a lot of beautiful lettuce here, and I put this right in here, and this is nice and golden brown, beautiful.

That's all I need.

I don't want it to be too dark brown, okay?

This is perfect.

I put the tomato, a lot of tomato, and then I place the duck, one over here and one over here.

It is so moist.

It's going to be so good, and then, finally, this wonderful dressing.

Look at this.

Ah, voil!

You have it.

This is the sous-vide duck, cooked, and it's so beautiful.

Two servings, one for Chef Daniel, one for Vivienne, and then thank you, Chef Daniel, and thank you, Vivienne, for being my guests in my humble kitchen.

Absolutely out of this world, it's the sous-vide technology.

The technology brings us a lot of convenient and also, precision.

This is precision cooking with sous-vide.

[ Applause ] [ Horns honking ] Chengdu is a modern city of 14 million plus people.

Not surprisingly, traffic can be a challenge.

Here is high-tech and low-tech solution.

Hey, rent a communal bike.

Rent a bike, very simple.

Get your cellphone out, scan and unlock.

Now, you can ride anywhere you want.

It is low-tech because it is people powered, and also, it is high-tech because it works on your phone app.

These are actually competing companies, each one painting their bike in a different color, yellow, blue and orange.

They are parked anywhere in town.

Need a bike?

Find one.

Pull up your app.

Scan the bike's number and get the combination of the lock.

Unlock the bike, and it is yours for 2 yen an hour, which is about 30 cents US.

This system works well because of the vast scale.

Each day, thousands of bikes are in use.

And when you're done, just lock it and scan it, and you can leave the bike anywhere in town.

The company actually has a GPS that tracks every single bike, and your account will be electronically charged automatically.

It's that simple.

In front of me is a wonderful, enterprising, very talented and socially conscious lady, Lulu.

Ni hao.

Ni hao.

[ Speaking Chinese ] The flavor exploded in my tongue, in my mouth, and I can feel the savoriness, the spiciness, the aroma, and then, the fresh herbs and spices, the fresh garlic, locally.

It's truly amazing.

Not only I'm impressed with her style, her value and philosophy, I am most impressed that a simple meal can give you that kind of sense of appreciation of good food.

In Chengdu, all the ingredients, simple ingredients, yet from eating, she share her philosophy.

She share her value.

[ Speaks Chinese ] [ Speaks Chinese ] I know that everybody lives on their phone these days.

Social media is the best world.

We are in touch with everyone except our 90-year-old grandmother on social media, and in Chengdu, you can include all the 90-year-old grannies.

We may embrace new technology in the West.

In China, they are having one gigantic group hug.

Since coming home from Chengdu, people were texting me 24/7, and I don't recognize half of them.

See?

I remember an old Chinese saying, "For a much better view of life, we need to ascend another floor," and that's true in this case, literally.

Chef Wang's kitchen may not be on the tallest floor of Chengdu, but his culinary skills are definitely reaching great heights.

When one talks about molecular gastronomy, one seldom refers to Chinese cooking.

Well, Chef Wang is going to change all that.

In his rooftop kitchen, he let his imagination and creativity just take over, and the results are, to say the least, breathtaking.

Ah.

[ Speaks Chinese ] A lot of people probably don't know that Chef Wang is the third-generation descendant of this classical dish, the husband and wife delight.

[ Speaks Chinese ] After you cook this, it looks like this.

Look at that.

Beautiful.

Nice and firm, and then all the essence of the flavor is right in this rich broth right here.

This is a true test of culinary skill, the knife skill.

Thinly sliced, paper thin.

Look at that.

This is how thin this is.

First, look at this.

Secondly, look at that, paper thin.

Look at that.

It is so hard, so firm.

[ Speaks Chinese ] [ Speaks Chinese ] Look at this.

Look at this.

Translucent, you can literally see me right here.

Look at how thin.

Put the beef shank right on the side, on the bottom, and then the skin, and then, finally, the stomach.

Put it right on top.

First one is the rich braising sauce.

Use hand-ground Sichuan peppercorn, and then the hot chili oil, vibrant, red, vibrant chili oil, which is classic, which is a must in Sichuan cuisine, tossed, stir fried, crush peanut with five-spice powder.

You sprinkle on the top, and this will enhance the flavor.

This is the classic dish, the final product.

Now, this is the classical way to present, but Chef Wang said this is a studio.

It is a creative studio.

Use your imagination, so now, we're going to do it modern way.

Finally, the skin, roll it, so three layers.

Push it through this pin.

In the old days, they use bamboo skewer.

Beef stock, put it right on the bottom, hot, vibrant red chili oil on the side, and then a tiny bit of Sichuan peppercorn right in the middle, chopped peanut, flavored with five-spice powder.

Put it right on top.

[ Speaks Chinese ] And then, the husband and wife gourmet delight sitting on cloud nine.

This is how you eat it, okay?

Take it, and dip it into the sauce.

Yeah, and then, traditionally, you toss it around.

Let me taste.

Mm.

Texture contrast.

Chef Wang said, besides this wonderful dish we just showed you how to prepare, is a true classical dish, one of the most popular representatives of Sichuan cuisine is the red chili chicken with a lot of chili, and then served with a wonderful watermelon garnish.

This is molecular cuisine.

Traditionally, you had the whole fish.

Traditionally, you had the entire fish served with the bean sauce, okay?

They thought this was just a dumpling.

They thought this was dumpling.

Definitely not a dumpling.

Let me have a bite of this -- another classical, traditional dish.

Very popular.

Let me bite into it.

[ Speaking Chinese ] [ Speaking Chinese ] [ Indistinct conversations ] Hot pot is a wonderful dining experience.

You cook and share with friends.

Just think of it as a party at a dining table with friends.

Mr. Fen has a great idea.

Hey, why don't we make it a real party with music and dance?

Welcome to Rock N' Roll Hot Pot Chengdu.

You know what?

Eat all you can because you can always burn your calories away.

Whoo!

[ Singing in Chinese ] [ Cheers and applause ] Whoo!

Oh, you know what?

I just danced away all my calories, so it's time to eat again.

Let's enjoy!

Hey!

Yeah!

You can visit our website to learn more about Martin and his travels, get information about upcoming events, find and print selected recipes, provide e-mail feedback, and more.

It's all at yancancook.com.

"Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom" is brought to you by... Yeah, yeah Circulon cookware.

Circles for life.

Monogram.

A full line of professional appliances designed for food and entertaining enthusiasts.

By Melissa's.

The freshest ideas in produce.

By Lutian.

Tasting the essence of lotus.

By Granite Expo.

Offering a wide selection of cabinet and countertop solutions.

And by B&G Group of Malaysia.

Building Malaysia's tomorrow.