SETH: So looks like you're going to be packing a little bit of a punch here today with all these peppers.

DEVIN: Oh, for sure.

We're making the water-boiled fish today.

It's exemplary of Sichuan cooking and of the mala flavor.

SETH: So water-boiled fish, I know this dish is going to be a lot tastier than the name might imply.

DEVIN: Correct.

It's anything but water boiled.

And, you know, Sichuan cooking is about kind of, blending different chilies, blending different flavors, and really layering.

It looks super complicated.

But, uh, I assure you, it's not.

SETH: All right.

How are you going to get this dish put together?

DEVIN: First, we're going to flavor the oil.

So we're adding, uh, ginger and scallion, and a little bit of cilantro.

SETH: This is just to get these flavors into the oil.

DEVIN: Exactly.

This is the seeds from the chilies.

So this is for the extra spicy.

SETH: That's what you're giving me today, the extra spicy?

DEVIN: That's what you're going to get, the extra spicy.

Just a blend of spices.

Doubanjiang is fermented fava beans.

And then you can kind of smell... SETH: Oh, yeah.

DEVIN: We start with this.

We also end with this.

Once the oil gets a nice color and then we just strain it and then set it aside.

So now we're going to blanch these chilies a little bit.

And really it's to take the edge off a little and also prevent it from burning once we fry it at the end.

Now I'm going to cook the fish.

SETH: What kind of fish is this, Chef?

DEVIN: Branzino.

And then we marinate in salt and pepper, like, a little bit of gin, Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, scallion.

So first, we'll fry the doubanjiang.

This is the pickled chilies that we make in-house and then just pureed.

SETH: So there's a lot of fermented flavors going in here.

DEVIN: Exactly.

So fermented is kinda like the base flavor.

My oil is nice and red.

Ginger, garlic, scallion goes in.

SETH: That's kind of the holy trinity in Chinese cooking.

DEVIN: Of Chinese cooking, correct.

It's in everything.

Then this is the water part for your water-boiled.

Now we season.

So we do white pepper.

This is salt, a little bit of mushroom salt.

This is a sherry vinegar, soy sauce, and cooking wine.

We're just going to let that reduce a little bit.

Do you want to taste that?

SETH: Oh, sure.

(laughing) If that's the water the fish is going to boil in, I think we might need to rebrand the name of this dish.

That is so flavorful.

DEVIN: Once it comes to a full boil and reduced a little bit, we're going to start boiling the fish.

SETH: So you're kinda looking just to poach it a little bit here.

DEVIN: Exactly.

All right.

And then just let it kinda cook, do its thing.

Don't want to cook it too long.

SETH: You don't want tough fish.

DEVIN: Exactly.

Because we're going to pour like, boiling oil on top of this.

Once I think it's pretty good, about like, 90% there, put it on the dish.

And then we're just going to let this thicken up, reduce, come over, and add the broth on the bottom.

And then we're going to dress this fish.

So these are serranos and Thai birds.

SETH: Nice.

DEVIN: And then we also put cumin, Lao Gan Ma, 13 spice, and scallions and garlic.

We're just going to layer this on top, and we're going to put a little bit more garlic, a little bit more scallions.

SETH: Looking beautiful, Chef.

DEVIN: So we're going to come back to the oil that we've flavored in the beginning.

SETH: What a nice color.

DEVIN: And this is the chili that we were boiling from earlier.

So that comes in.

What we're going to do is we're going to fry it until the chili is going to start yellowing a little bit, and then they become crispy.

You're going to get some, like, uh, fried chili flavors and also to really pull out all that numbingness, and all the things into the oil because the oil part is the soul of this dish.

You really want to push it to like, just before they're going to burn.

SETH: Okay.

Yeah.

Everything about this dish is taking it right to the edge.

DEVIN: Extreme.

Exactly.

It's not as spicy as it looks.

It looks menacing.

And then we're going to just top with tons of cilantro, and that's it.

That's the water-boiled fish.

SETH: That is magnificent.

Let's go dig in.

DEVIN: All right, let's go.

SETH: All right, Chef, I'm ready to get beat up a little bit by this dish.

What are we going to be washing it down with though?

DEVIN: A classic tiki cocktail called The Zombie.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

That's the original tiki drink right there.

Got a super strong dish.

You got a super strong drink to go along with it.

DEVIN: Exactly.

SETH: Well, I love tiki drinks.

Cheers.

DEVIN: All right, cheers.

SETH: Oh, that's good.

All right.

So how do we get started with this?

DEVIN: So you definitely want to eat this dish with rice.

SETH: It's going to take the edge off a little bit.

DEVIN: Yeah, yeah.

Most Chinese dishes are meant for eating with rice.

SETH: Get my chopsticks here.

DEVIN: And then you want to just, you know pick the fish out of the oil, and there's some vegetables on the bottom.

There's some sprouts, and there's some watercress.

It's not as intense as you think it is.

SETH: Well, it might not be intense spicy right off the bat, but it's definitely intense flavorful.

DEVIN: Yeah, and it's going to build.

SETH: Got a little Sichuan peppercorn in there, too.

It's a little numbing already happening here, too.

Once your mouth gets nice and numb, you can just get going.

DEVIN: You can just keep going.

Exactly.

SETH: That oil just pervades everything with flavor and gives you a nice little coating on your palate.

And I always find it so fascinating with spicy food where you get started, you're in a lot of pain, your eyes start watering, but you just want more.

DEVIN: You just keep going.

And you crave that feeling, and you want more and more spicy.

And the numbing aspect is, like, uh, the same thing.

The more tingly you get, the better.