Chinese Pantry Essentials - What to Buy at a Chinese Supermarket
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- So this's a video that a lot of you've been asking for... a basic overview of the most common ingredients used in Chinese cooking. While what we got here is by no means exhaustive, I hope it's a decent overview of some pantry essentials to have on hand.
What we talked about, for reference: salt, sugar, cornstarch, garlic, ginger, green onion, cilantro, leek, white onion, Chinese celery, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white vinegar, dark vinegar, liaojiu/Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, Pixian Doubanjiang (Chili Bean paste), stock concentrate (chicken and scallop/abalone), five spice, Sichuan peppercorns, the braising spices best bought on an as-need basis (cinnamon, clove, dried bay leaf, star anise, fennel seed, black cardamom), fresh mild paprika chili (difficult to find), fresh erjingtiao (difficult to find), dried erjingtiao, pickled erjingtiao (difficult to find), fresh chaotianjiao, dried chaotianjiao (difficult to find), pickled chaotianjiao, dried shrimp/scallops, dried shiitake mushrooms, and laoganma chili sauce.
The /r/cooking post has unfortunately been deleted, but it's all over here in a public Patreon post:
/ 20192128
Outro Music: "Add And" by Broke For Free
/ broke-for-free
ABOUT US
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Learn how to cook real deal, authentic Chinese food! We post recipes every Tuesday (unless we happen to be travelling) :)
We're Steph and Chris - a food-obsessed couple that lives in Shenzhen, China. Steph is from Guangzhou and loves cooking food from throughout China - you'll usually be watching her behind the wok. Chris is a long-term expat from America that's been living in China and loving it for the last nine years - you'll be listening to his explanations and recipe details, and doing some cooking at times as well.
This channel is all about learning how to cook the same taste that you'd get in China. Our goal for each video is to give you a recipe that would at least get you close to what's made by some of our favorite restaurants here. Because of that, our recipes are no-holds-barred Chinese when it comes to style and ingredients - but feel free to ask for tips about adaptations and sourcing too! 
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Before you mentioned Philly, I saw the supermarket and was like "man. All chinese supermarket looks the same. That looks like one I go to" then bam- realization that it's the same underground supermarket
same! That was my go to market when I lived there.
Same!
lol yessss love this place
I literally had the exact same thought. It clicked seconds before he said Philadelphia (when you see the street level)
I did a double take rewind and thought... that looks so familiar. Then I see the highway scene I was like yep..thats 676
Ok, this guy knows what he is talking about.
yeah, for real. It's super refreshing to find a channel like this that actually understands and appreciates the culture instead of the normal "american sexpat" variety.
you guys are the most professional and authentic chinese cooking channel i ever found... love all of your videos... please continue making more!
t H agree
yeah, i love this channel too
Totally agree!
Agreed. They are phenomenal
You typed my thoughts.
I love how helpful Richard Dreyfus is about Chinese food.
Totally 😂😂
Love the videos, it would be great if you would document the brands you prefer, since I don't speak mandarin/cantonese or read hanzi and you pass over them rather quickly.
I agree.
your videos are concise, energetic, and informative. I often watch them in strings of three to six at a time. I take notes, read the recipes, and work towards making them myself. I actually feel as if i am going to Chinese cooking school, because I am learning a lot - and the homework is delicious.
EDIT: Holy shit guys, I think I might've finally figured out what "Erjingtiao" are. I'm not certain, but their similarities to cayenne made me go down a bit of a rabbit hole.
I'm 90% sure that Erjingtiao are a variety of cayenne that you can find in the West as "Joe's Long Cayenne". It's apparently also used in Cambrian cuisine in Italy, though I can't seem to find any more information on that front. So - if you need a sub, cayenne pepper or certain varieties of peperoncino might be what we're looking for! God that's a relief off my shoulders lol
_______
Hey, so apologies for the insane shakiness in those Chinese supermarket shots. You can uh... tell I'm not exactly a vlogger lol. Unfortunately I only had one crack at it, so I used some stabilization wherever possible. Still very far from ideal though.
I also had to cut a bunch of ingredients I wanted to talk about from this video so that it wouldn't run super long or anything. I focused on what I'd consider the *very most* essential ingredients, with an obvious bias towards Cantonese and Sichuanese cuisines. Because of those limitations, wrote out a pretty in-depth reddit post, which's here: www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/82enyj/guide_chinese_ingredients_how_to_use_buy_and_some/
Now even that post isn't quite as detailed as I would've hoped. In the end, I just ran out of hours. If you got anything to add, lemme know and I'll edit it in!
Thanks a much needed video. Since it was hard to see the labels in this video, any chance you could also include the list of ingredients spelled out in Chinese characters with English? The grocers at the two Chinese grocery stores I frequent don't speak English well, so having a list in Mandarin might bridge the gap between me and them. Though I understand the difference between light and dark soy sauce, what I haven't been able to figure out is the difference in Sichuan bean pastes and cooking wines. There seem to be so many types.
Sure!
So the brand of light soy sauce we recommend is called 'yipinxian' (一品鲜). Our favorites are actually some of the smaller more local names, but that's a pretty good one. I'm not 100% if it's available everywhere, but it was in that place in Philly.
In the discussion on the cooking wine, 'liaojiu' (料酒) is the cheaper grade, and 'shaoxing' (绍兴酒 or sometimes written 'shao shing') is the nicer stuff. Abroad, it seems almost all of these sorts of wines are confusingly labeled 'shaoxing'. If you want to make sure it's a nicer one, try to pick up something that says it's 'huadiao' (花雕, sometimes written 'hua tiao'), or at least make sure it doesn't have any add salt.
For the doubanjiang, make sure it's labeled 'Pixian Doubanjiang' (郫县豆瓣酱), or at least otherwise states it has chilis in it. There'll be a more detailed discussion on that in the reddit post. That brand that I was holding was called 'juanchengpai' (鹃城牌) - it's not a nice one, so if your grocer has any recommendations go with that, but I've used it before and I know it's fine and not not overly salty.
The Oyster Sauce was Lee Kum Kee. They're a huge brand - generally their Cantonese ingredients are pretty trustworthy.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified I realize this may rankle a few expats out there, but in my experience I've NEVER ONCE had good results with italian peperonchino ... it's invariably in flake form, stale and oxidized to some degree, and without much flavor, savor or heat. Italian cuisine is a beautiful thing, but one area it clearly suffers with is when it comes to availability, proper storage, and proper use of good quality chilies, particularly dried chilies. There are exceptions, but they are sadly rare. It is nearly always best to buy chilies from an ethnic market whose shoppers knows quality chilies when they see it, and use it with love and respect in their cuisine. That means sichuan and hunan provinces, mexico, central america, jamaica, the south western region of the USA (ariz, new mexico, texas), southern india, malaysia and reputable online purveyors with high turnover specializing in same.
Always look for dried chilies vaccum packed in cryovac, that are as whole and unbroken as possible. They should be bright red (not brown ... unless they've been hot smoked), slightly pliable (not brittle), and have a decidedly fruity and peppery aromatic.
Thanks for the excellent video. I just had one question: you say that the sichuan peppercorns in the store didn't look good to you. What is it one should be looking for?
abydosianchulac2 If you want really good sichuan peppercorns and other ingredients check out TheMalaMarket.com please. Excellent sichuan ingredients and excellent service
1:22 "Down in Philadelphia..." You're local! Next time you are in the area we would be happy to host a dinner. As a homebrewer and winemaker for 20+ years, I promise a good selection of beverages.
When I was looking for Sichuan Peppercorns in a big Canadian city, I could find them as I couldn’t read the Chinese. The English said Prickly Ash. Now I take a screen shot of what I’m looking for, that way I can match the characters or ask for help. I love your channel. Thanks!
I’ve been an ardent subscriber for awhile but this ranks as my favorite of your videos simply because I finally got to see the face behind the voice. Awesome!
Haha I'm certainly not shy or anything, I make cameos in a couple videos we got here. It's generally Steph on camera because I feel these recipes already have a lot of 'Chris's voice' with my narrating and writing the Reddit posts :)
I love your channel. Very helpful for someone who's interested to learn how to cook different types of Chinese dishes.
The content of this channel is just amazing.
Honestly one of the most professional RUclips channels
I'm part Chinese and I cook a lot of Chinese food at home (to my American husband's woe LOL--j/k, he loves them), the content in your videos seem to be on point (based on my home 'education' by my mom and grandmom). I just found your video a few days ago in my recommended. This video is so educational and great :D Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for these series. I am a culinary student and I really want to learn more about the different cuisines of the world besides my own home cuisine. I started with Chinese cuisine and your videos are helping me understand the basics which is the most important part. Thank you!
Excellent and concise. You guys rock. Have a great vacation.
Its really refreshing to hear you speak Chinese.
Thank you for sorting this out. The knowledge from this is like my Chinese grocery shopping tool box. We have a very comprehensive Asian market here in Tucson and once you learn it by trying new ingredients and the brands of such ingredients, shopping becomes a valuable learning experience. A point to this: There is a wall of different fish sauce but no Red Boat. After "learning the store" through experimentation shopping, the expensive Red Boat is kept on the coke machine next to the lead cashier where it can be guarded against shop-lifting. There is no one in the store that can tell you that because of the "Bable effect". You just have to know it.
Oh my god, that Chinese supermarket you went to is the first one I ever entered! My friend Katie took me in college and opened up a whole new world of cooking for me
You covered most of the "essential" things I see my family use, but I'd add in the Chinese "Worcestershire" sauce as well - Kimlan Oriental Worcestershire (Balsamic Black Vinegar). Tastes great in fried dumpling sauce :)
And Mirin and Sake
This video is so useful!!! I live in Chengdu but I can't read Chinese well so I always wondered what all those stuff in the local market were!
me too! Im in Chengdu and walk around the market like a lost sheep!
THE most useful content on this subject & accessible in a context that makes sense for my location. Subscribed. :-) Thanks tons...
You came up in my recommend. I quickly subscribed Midway this video. Thank God English speaking directions on authentic Chinese cooking. Yes I'm Chinese but of decent not native. I love my descendants food however I am clueless about all the spices and ingredients they are so wide and varied and I am so very very lost I'm looking forward to creating some authentic dishes with you guys in time.
Hope you had a great time in Philly! Never been but I've heard it's a very interesting city.
Enjoy your vacation and we'll be here when you get back.
Jenn 💖 in Canada 🍁
Very useful! I just put dried shrimp and Black bean chili sauce in my amazon cart because of this
I used to shop at the underground market every weekend when I lived in Philly! Loved seeing the footage...I was like, wait...is that THE same supermarket?? LOL Just down the street two blocks are my favorite restaurants: Shiao Lan Kung and 4 Rivers Szechuan. Such great memories, and very informative video!
I’m glad I finally found this video! I’m heading to find these ingredients soon!
Wow! I just found your channel and am an instant subscriber. I look forward to going through all your videos and also seeing more from you in the future. Thanks!
Oh hey, I know that supermarket!
Thank you so much, I really enjoyed this quick rundown and will definitely be coming back to it for reference!!
This is exactly what I needed!
This is really authentic stuff ......Wow Philly..... lots of memory......
Ton of useful information, thanks a lot!
Great list. Thank you.
Really enjoyed this. Thank you.
Good video - practical and very useful.
pulls up at chinese market "bout to blow em away with my chinese."
Thanks exactly what I am looking for. Last two trips to Asian market, I spent 30 mins staring at the different options, totally confused. Providing some easy to use recommendations will be very helpful
I've been to that exact super market and the restaurant right next to it when I used to work in Philly. That was awesome to see again! I need to go back there and get some sate beef ho fun.
Thank you for this list.
You are amazing guys :) I feel like I will hang around your channel for a while!
Great video - very helpful content! Thanks!
That 2018 sign gave me the chills. If you only knew back than how awful things are going to get.... Great guide. I wish we had an Asian grocery store where I live. I have to work with subs and be very cleaver when I cook.
Thanks, enjoyed.
Kewl Video !!! Use most everything you mentioned. Fortunately we have a Chinese Supermarket here in Orlando.
Thought I recognized that supermarket sign in the beginning! Small world. Been watching your videos for the past few months. Keep it up they are great. I'm born and raised in Cherry Hill. Still here and I always go to philly.
Cheers! Family lives (and I went to high school) on the other side of the river... around West Chester, if you're familiar with the area.
Last year me and Steph were cooking a little Chinese New Year meal for my family, and we were honestly surprised and how much that little Chinese supermarket carried - produce excluded, really like 95% of what you'd find here in China. That place's sorta been our 'mental map' of sorts for the kind of things that'd be available outside of China - I'm sure there's better Chinese supermarkets, I'm sure there's worse, but that one was decently solid enough.
nice! I have been waiting for this.
Thank you for the video. I have been missing the foods in BJ.
Very nice learning
Wow I just noticed that that's the exact grocery store I always go to. I live in Philadelphia and that's my go to Chinese grocery store. So cool!
Nice, I was pretty surprised at the selection of stuff that was available the first time I went there. That store's sorta been our 'mental map' of what ingredients are available outside of China, so if you shop there you should be able to source stuff for 90%+ of stuff we use in these recipes.
FWIW, people more knowledgeable about Philly than me've been saying that they prefer other places. Another commenter who used to work sourcing stuff for restaurants was saying that he greatly preferred "the First Oriental" on Washington Ave between 5th and 6th streets. Never been there myself, just passing along info :)
This was very useful for USA shoppers, but it’s a different experience here in Italy. There is by law a label in Italian pasted onto the container, but it’s pretty spare, consisting of the ingredients and sometimes a description such as “cooking sauce” or “spice/flavor mix”. It leaves one trying to gather any information already known to figure out what it is. The presence of soy is always marked, however. These items are not sold in supermarkets, but if you’re lucky enough to live close enough to a big city, there may be a Pan-Asian market. The one closest to me sells some things from almost every Asian country, but never all you find in genuine recipes. The one I can reach also sells some, but not all, ingredients for South American dishes and the same for African dishes. The net result is that you can almost, but not quite, cook from three continents, and it’s a challenge. Of course the stores exist to serve immigrant communities who can read the original labels, but I’m just trying to cook what I used to eat in restaurants, or what I’ve found in cookbooks.
More tips...please!....love you guys!
Am also a Chinese chef from Uganda Kampala,am glad get more highlights 🙏
Great info! Thanks!
Shanxi black vinegar kicked up my dumpling sauce to an unbelievable level!
thank you for this videos!
thank you. ..very interesting and informative xx
Delighted to see the screenshot of that spice shop in Montreal. :)
Really helpful, thanks
Good Job.. Learned
Amazing video.
I definitely prefer the Lee Kum Kee douban jiang to the one shown in the video. I found the one shown to be super salty and not quite as deep as some of the other brands. Qiao Niang Fang is the brand I go for generally, but Lee Kum Kee is more readily available in the States. LKK has some extra garlic in it, but I put more garlic in most dishes so it works fine with my taste.
as always, an informative video. im in tiny village 8510 near Jixi today, and i can confirm that my girlfriends mother has all these things in her cupboard
So glad I had this video recommended to me after subbing a while ago. I need to find a Chinese Grocer and see what I can see.
I have virtually everything on your list on hand in my kitchen, except for the dried scallops, dried shitake, and 3 of the fresh chilies.
As for the hot oil ...always best to make your own. I usually whip up a 12 fl oz jar once or twice per year. I also double infuse ... once for flavor (spices discarded), and again to reinforce the flavor (that time theyre left on).
Thanks for the video. Will pick some stuff on my next Taobao buying trip.
I would love to see more videos like this, maybe reviews for some other popular Chinese sauces\pickles in jars.
Also I think r/HotPeppers might be interested in more detailed traditional Chinese chili varieties review. Er Jing Tiao (二荆条), Deng Long Jiao (灯笼辣椒), Xiao Mi La (小米辣 C. Frutescens), Chao Tian Jiao (朝天椒), Bullet head (子弹头), Shizhu Red Pepper (石柱红), Indian Devil King something (王魔鬼), Yunnan Wrinkled Skin Pepper (云南皱皮辣椒) and even Yunan Shabu Shabu (云南涮涮) - it would be interesting to know in whish dishes they usually used and in what form (some are just for decorations, some in powder, etc).
THANK YOU
Good stuff!
ayyy I just became a fan of this channel...didn't know ur from philly!!! Now I'm a double fan ^_^
TWO SAUCES I LOVE FOR ONE PARTICULAR DISH BRAISED PIG'S FEET. I LOVE BEAN SAUCE AND FERMENTED BLACK BEAN SAUCE. ONE OTHER DRY SPICE MIX MY DAD ALWAYS HAD WAS EIGHT SPICE. I CANNOT FIND THIS ANYWHERE ON THE 'NET BUT FOUND THE THREE MISSING SPICES FROM 5 SPICE. THIS MIX I NEVER GRIND UP AS I USE IT IN MY DAD'S BBQ DUCK RECIPE. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!
You are great.
Go philly! I actually know those stores!
Ahhh, looking at this makes me miss home
1. White pepper
2. Aromatic : green onion, garlic, ginger
3. Another aromatic : white onion, cilantro , chinese celery, leaks.
4. Oil : sesame oil, peanut oil
5. Dark vinegar , white vinegar
6. Oyster sauce
7. Chilli bean paste
8. Spices : star anise, cinamon, cloves, sichuan pepper corn, dry bayleaves, ...
If you guys are ever back in Philly, it would be so awesome if you held a meet-up for all of your fans here
It would be helpful too if each component has Chinese word added to the screen so that we can show to the seller what we are looking for.
I've got them all, wow!
We have 99 Ranch here in the Bay Area, they have literally everything. So much fun.
I've heard people absolutely rave about 99 Ranch. One of these year's I'll have to swing by the west coast, see some old college friends, and see what exactly 99 Ranch has to offer. What's the produce situation there?
Great videos - perhaps you could occasionally slow down and close up pictures on some of the names/ingredients - my head is spinning with the Chinese names - but thank you so much for all your videos and an intro in an ancient culture of great cuisine 😀👍
Thanks for the channel, really helping to understand chinese cookin. And by the way you should do asmr vids your voice is great Haha
Thanks!!!
xie xie!
I love this channel
Top!
Thought you folks might want to know: I live in Philly and actually dropped by that market 2-3 weeks ago. They were closed, possibly permanently (the shelves on the ground floor were gone, and also it was like 2 pm on a Saturday). Whether this was the pandemic or the looting I don't know, and I suppose they might come back, but as of now they're no longer there.
What a coincidence. I am from Philly and I do go to that Chinese store sometimes.
Hooray!
Ha!! That's where I live! Cool!
I just gave this a like because you actually took a shot of Shaoxing wine lmao
often sichuan peppercorn is labeled as "prickly-ash" here in america, especially at non-chinese asian supermarkets
Nice video :)
Holy I absolutely lost it at the Liaojiu taste test...
Reminded me of when I first tried it :’D
And I know the pain of bad quality sichuan peppercorns all to well... Only brand that my local chinese grocer carries are filled with wood and seeds, makes the dish gritty and nasty :(
The only other option is a ‘luxury grocer’ that sells a pot of 1/4 cup of sichuan peppercorns for 10$. Atleast they are the most beautiful sichuan peppercorns I’ve ever seen.
Damn, that sucks. Maybe use the crap ones for things like poaching and braising (in a cheesecloth if need be), and save the nice ones for things where Sichuan peppercorn's a primary component of the dish?
I can't vouch for the quality of that spice shop ("Spice Trekkers") that I browsed in the video, but I was talking to someone on reddit that was either working there or an owner, and they were quite knowledgeable on sourcing quality Sichuan peppercorns and the pains behind it. Theirs are ~slightly~ more reasonably priced at ~8 bucks for 20g. Still expensive though.
Quality ones in Shenzhen still aren't, by local standards, the cheapest things in the world. About USD $1.50 for 50g.
Yeah that's actually what I do. Quality stuff I use in Mapo Tofu, Kung Pao and Dan Dan Noodles, the bad stuff for the rest :)
OMG your videos are bomb!
It's amazing how many of the "I couldn't find..." ingredients are easy to find on the West Coast
Thoughts on peppers....
If you're having trouble finding a "red mild pepper" remember that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A RIPE GREEN PEPPER. There just isn't. Get mild green peppers and ripen them. Keep them in a paper bag with a banana to help them ripen faster.
Ah, makes sense of course, guess I've just never thought about ripening chilis off the vine! The mild chili that's used in Cantonese cuisine is *super* similar to an anaheim, so grabbing those and leaving it out seems like it's probably the path of least resistance (I don't know about you but often I prefer the taste of mild chili to bell pepper).
Mild chilies are definitely a step up from bell peppers
For sure. The difficulty comes in that many Cantonese dishes use a mix of red and green mild chilis for color + a little flavor... and fresh mild red chilis seem to be AWOL from a lot of Western supermarkets. So our best recommendation is to simply use a mild green chili like an anaheim in conjuction with a red bell pepper when ppl need that combination :)
I found everything minus abalone sauce and fresh veggies on amazon. Just make sure to compare pic in video.
Also a good idea to check out similar products from Japan, such as soy sauce and sesame oil, as they are of superior quality to the ones from China. Same goes for some of the dried seafoods, like dried shrimps and dried scallops.
While I can't speak to the Japanese ingredients, one important thing to note is that the really excellent/artisinal stuff in China is generally made by small workshops and thus can't be exported.
Like, I know that Japan has a reputation and all, but there's some absurdly excellent first press soy sauce that's produced here that I would confidently put up against Japan's finest. If you look at our Char Siu video, the Mianchi that's produced by the workshop in Zengcheng blew the mass-produced Japanese akamiso out of the water quality wise.
While a more fair comparison would be artisinal artisinal, I'd disagree with the statement that Japanese ingredients are universally better than Chinese. What I could give you is that perhaps it's more legal/possible to import high-end Japanese ingredients than Chinese ones.
Very true, and I am not trying to knock the Chinese ingredients. I am only comparing similar products from the 2 countries which are available in the Asian supermarkets in North American cities.
Japan also has high end stuff too (e.g. high-end soy sauce from Kikkoman, some of which are available online), rather expensive, and in very small formats.
Great cooking channel! Which was the video you elaborated on dark vinegar from different provinces?
Great video ☺. I don't read chinese, for authentic xiao shing wine, the "huwa geow", is that what I'm looking for? Or is it mostly in chinese on bottles?
Excellent ! Thank you. Especially nice you could shop in the US. I had some of the best Chinese food in Phillie. Checking Reddit now.:)
Your English is impressive!
Please tell me you didn’t just say that. 🤦🏽♀️
I know this isn’t the video you discussed it in, but....I’m trying to find the website you recommend for finding difficult to find items that people in the US may not be able to get. You mentioned it was all in English I believe??? I’m crying over here!!! If anyone knows what I’m talking about, please, please, please remind me of it. TIA
Nice video! Ich hereby formally request a recipe for Cong You Bing :-)
I will see on 2019 but very use full for hotel management student at international cookery 🍞🍞🍞🍞