♪ >> Chengdu is hot because it is a dynamic and happening city, hot because Sichuan is hot and humid in the summer, hot because chili is prominently featured in much of Chengdu's dishes.

It is a permanent fixture in this culture.

Alert your taste buds.

Things are getting hot on "Yan Can Cook."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> "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.

>> Mention about Chengdu and Sichuan cuisine, and what comes to mind?

Hot and spicy dishes.

Hey, what makes them so hot and so spicy?

One word -- chilis.

In Chengdu, the best place to find chilis is right here at the spice market.

To show me around this morning is my pal Chef Qiao of the Green Leaf Restaurant.

Chef Qiao is a local chef and have plenty of training.

He work in the south of France, among other places, but Chengdu is his root.

So chili is a very important, vital part of his repertoire.

So today I'm going to learn something about chili.

Most of the chili that we find are all whole chili.

And this is a chili powder.

But I notice that you got the fine powder, the crushed powder.

This is finely crushed.

This is less finely crushed.

Tell me the difference.

>> Yeah.

There are all kinds of the chili and chili powder.

Yes, first off, we look at the chili, the whole chili.

This one is good for cook the hot pot.

This one... >> Yeah?

>> ...is good for cooking the Sichuan dishes, very traditional dishes, and making the sauce, very special sauce, such as chili sauce.

>> Also you have -- And this one is totally different.

Now, this has got a wrinkle.

>> Yeah, maybe it -- flavor.

It's different.

This is hotter.

>> This is much hotter.

>> Yeah.

>> This is just aromatic.

>> Yeah.

>> So, different dishes using different type of chili.

>> Yeah, this type of chili is cooking for -- for making the hot oil for the chili oil.

>> Oh!

>> Yeah.

>> There's a lot of chili powder.

And then I noticed that this is finely crushed.

But this is less crushed.

So what's the difference?

>> Yeah, this, the aroma and the flavor, it's different.

Totally different.

This one, I think it's better for cooking the chili oil.

>> Oh, chili oil?

>> Yeah.

The crushed one, you look.

There contains a lot of skins because the aroma is better than this.

>> Oh, the aroma is better because of the skin and everything.

And how about the less crushed one?

>> It's a different chili.

>> Oh, different chili.

>> Yeah, the aroma is different.

>> Oh.

So that means it's not only the size of the crushed powder or finely crushed.

It is actually from different type of chili, maybe from this or this or this.

Oh, I learned something.

Let's go inside and check out the inside, the chili.

How is this for an interesting fact?

Red chili peppers are not native to Chengdu or even China.

They're originally from Mexico.

Yes, Mexico.

Also from South America.

They were brought back to Europe, and there are actually two theory on this.

One, it came on a silk road, and in two, on ships sailed from Africa by the Portuguese sailors.

However they came, it didn't take long for the local to fall in love with this magical spice.

Hot and spicy foods seems to be most suitable for hot and humid climate in Sichuan.

Spicy food makes you sweat, and sweat cools off your body.

And not only that, it stimulates your appetite.

So the more chili, the more hot pot, the more Sichuan cuisine, the merrier, and that's the way to go.

>> Yeah, that's true.

>> Oh, very true.

Mmm.

Smell.

Amazing.

>> Yes, amazing.

>> I never, never see so much Sichuan peppercorn before.

>> Yep.

>> Look at this.

It's all red.

How do you tell the difference?

What are the criteria?

>> Okay.

I will show you how to choose the best Sichuan peppercorn.

>> You use your nail to squeeze it out, and you see oil come out.

Wow, see oil.

Oh, I see oil come -- That means this is a good quality.

>> Yep, that's a good quality.

>> So, this actually, the same red Sichuan peppercorn with different quality because the price is also different.

One bag of this probably costs about 1,200 to 1,300 U.S. >> Wow.

>> What is the difference between the red one and the green one?

There are all kind of green one.

>> Yeah, the green one is different.

The different color means a different quality and a different class.

>> Oh.

How do you use the red one and what do you use the green one?

>> The green one is good for cooking stir fry.

>> Chicken and fish.

>> Yep.

>> A little bit milder than the red one, right?

In fact, there's little chance you'll miss this place.

You can smell it literally 10 blocks away.

Sinus problem?

Come here.

It will clear it up right away.

Boom!

Gone.

Sinus gone.

Mmm.

Smell.

Mmm.

Numbing.

>> Yeah.

Ah!

When I said I wish you could smell this place on camera, I really mean it.

The smell of chili is so strong in that market that all my filming crews were wearing a mask behind the camera.

I wish I had one too.

I felt like sneezing every five seconds.

And, of course, that would be a disaster, especially when I was standing right above a pile of chili powder.

Ah.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This dish is dish number one.

Wow.

Hot chili oil.

Pepper.

>> Yeah.

>> Hot oil.

Wow!

This is important.

And then green onion.

Look at how important it is.

Hot pepper oil or red pepper oil is used in many, many dishes.

Very important.

So, appropriate question -- just how spicy is the right spice?

Sure, you can always say that it is subjective and it's up to individual, but there is actually a good rule of thumb.

You should feel a little numbing sense only in your tongue or mouth and never, never go to your stomach, all the way to the stomach, or your throat.

Otherwise it would be too much.

♪ Chengdu is the spice kingdom.

So it is not surprising that many restaurants in town lay claim to the title of Chengdu's hottest.

This place claims to be Chengdu's hottest midnight restaurant.

Spicy under the stars.

Let's check it out.

Believe it or not, all this chili just for one single dish.

I'm going to introduce you to a master chef.

[ Speaks Chinese ] Master Chef Wong.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Mm.

This is hot chili pepper local frog.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Chef Wong said there are so many people waiting, need a lot more chili.

So I'm going to get more chili.

Ah, look at the chili.

This is hottest.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] Chef asked me to go faster.

Ah.

Ah!

So hard.

You know what?

When you chop up, cut up chili, stay away from your eye.

Otherwise you will be crying for days or maybe weeks.

Oh, I can see it.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] A lot of ginger.

This is young ginger, pink.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] This is the pickled chili.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] This is pickled chili.

Chopped garlic.

A lot of chopped garlic.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Chopped ginger.

Put it in.

Wow!

Look at that flame.

It is hot, the hottest dish in town.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] >> Look at this.

This is what -- just chop it up.

Wow!

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ah!

Amazing.

If you ask me to grade... [ Coughs ] ...the restaurant in Chengdu, I would differentiate it mildly hot, hot, very hot.

This is unbearably, extremely hot.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] Ginger!

I've never seen so much spice in one dish.

You might have to dig up all this chili to find your frog.

The hottest restaurant in town.

And then you put the frog back in?

Now, one portion of main ingredient with four portion -- with four portion of chili.

Amazing.

>> [ Speaks Chinese ] >> The whole seasoning.

More chili.

Stay away.

[ Laughs ] Look at that.

You literally have to dig up your frog from all this chili.

[ Horn honks ] >> [ Speaks Chinese ] >> I'm speechless.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] [ Laughs ] [ Speaking Chinese ] >> I think everybody born in Chengdu never think it's too spicy we can't eat it, yeah.

>> Now, let us meet the best friend of a Chengdu chef -- the chili pepper.

Classic Chengdu cuisine run the full gamut of the flavor profile.

But there is no doubt that spiciness plays the most prominent role.

But what is the right degree of spiciness?

Is there such thing as too hot?

Most chef I know believe that degree of hotness should never overwhelm the other flavors of this dish.

So when it comes to the degree of hotness, let us just say there is American hot and the Chengdu hot.

Now we're doing the Chengdu hot.

We have a lot of chili.

So, it's fresh chili.

This is really hot.

So, I'm going to cut it up, cut it up.

This is the Chengdu hot.

Fresh chili.

Green onion.

Cut at an angle.

Okay.

And also have some wood ear, or cloud ear.

Spring bamboo shoot.

And I have beef here.

I call it the sizzling or singing rice beef.

Okay?

Cut at an angle like this.

One, two, and then an angle, an angle, an angle, an angle.

And you transfer it here.

And then you marinate this, okay?

Put a tiny bit chili pepper and a tiny bit soy sauce.

Okay.

And a tiny bit of sesame seed oil.

And, of course, always, always use cornstarch for marinate.

Sometimes when you marinate with cornstarch, they might stick, so you put a tiny, tiny bit of oil, and just like you add oil in your engine, okay, you marinate this, and this way they won't get stuck.

We heat this up.

And then I'm gonna have this garlic, ginger slices, okay?

And, of course, I'd like to have some chili.

This adds flavor, not the heat.

A lot of chili.

Okay?

It's gonna be so good.

And then let's stir-fry the beef.

I am gonna cook about this much.

Chopstick is a very, very good and functional tool.

Look at this.

More crushed chili.

Look at this.

Now crushed chili.

This is what it is, okay?

We add some broth.

This is beef broth.

And then tiny bit soy.

Tiny bit of sesame seed oil always.

Just a sprinkle.

I want to make it sweet and sour.

I have sugar.

Okay?

I have aged vinegar.

And then let it -- This is gonna be sweet and sour.

Very unique.

And then, to make it look nice, I'm gonna braise some of the spinach leaf on the side.

So we can cook two things at the same time.

Then I put the rest of these -- chili, green onion, and bamboo shoot, and wood ear.

Put it right here.

Oh, let it braise a little bit.

While I'm braising this, I'm going to deep-fry the rice crust.

Now, this called rice crust.

Some call it rice cake.

Just remember that it's not the same kind of rice cake that you gobble up as diet food.

It is full of flavor when it's fried and sizzling.

I put it over here and I put it here and I deep-fry this.

Okay.

When this is done, I remove the spinach, like this.

I put this on the bottom of the dish.

On the bottom of the dish.

And then this, I am gonna thicken it up a tiny bit with cornstarch solution, one portion.

Just enough.

This is sweet and sour.

It's going to be so good.

Mmm.

Look at that, ah?

And this is it.

I want you to hear the sizzling sound, okay, when I plate this.

This is done.

Drain the oil.

And then I put this -- lay it on right here.

Okay?

And then look at this.

Sizzling.

And I put this on the side.

Right here.

Put this on the side.

Make it look nice.

Look at this.

[ Sizzling ] Singing beef rice cake.

That's all.

This is a classic dish, very, very popular.

You can see there is rice cake, there is chili, and it's sweet and sour.

Absolutely beautiful.

The singing rice beef.

My recipe actually called for almost half a cup of chili.

Is it American hot or Chengdu hot?

You be the judge.

You got to try it.

Remember, not all chilis are alike, and not all red chilis are alike.

Some are hot, some are less hot, some are extremely hot.

So this today is the Chengdu hot.

Extra chili, crushed pepper.

Ha.

Now we have it.

This is the classic singing rice beef.

Of course, spice is an acquired taste.

We always have a saying.

Variety is the spice of life.

In Chengdu, spice give you the variety of life.

Trust me.

♪ ♪ [ Speaking Chinese ] This is a chili bean paste processing plant, and it is another destination in Chengdu that does not need a GPS.

You can simply follow your nose.

[ Conversing Chinese ] Wow.

This is almost 15 feet deep.

Much deeper than any of the swimming pools I have ever been.

And this massive vat here can hold 100 tons of chili, plus 20 tons of salt.

That means one of the single vats can hold 120 tons of pickled chili.

I smell enough.

I'm ready to get up.

[ Echoing ] Hello?

Anyone?

Hello!

Look at all this chili.

Filled to the top of this vat.

Over here, 150 of these vats.

That means they can hold a total of 18,000 tons of chili, all around here.

Chili bean paste is definitely one of the most popular seasoning in Chengdu cuisine.

And this place is not only the largest chili paste maker in Chengdu, it is probably the largest in the world.

We can safely say that some part of countless spicy dishes consumed all over the world today had come from right here.

This has been fermented for over eight years.

Look at the color.

Look at the consistency and the complexity.

It takes eight years to do it.

The difference is, three months or eight years.

My preference -- Master Jung's reserve chili bean paste.

Fermented for eight years.

And this is mine.

I just bought this from Master Jung.

This is the chili bean paste reserve from Master Jung with a personal touch.

Price tag -- 78,000 IMB.

U.S. -- $11,000 U.S. You know what?

Is it worth it?

I think so.

Because this is the best quality chili bean paste on Earth.

Prepared by Master Jung.

[ Speaks Chinese ] ♪ Welcome to the first annual Yan Can Eat chili contest.

These are the four finalists.

They beat almost a thousand others.

They're here today to compete finally to see who is the winner.

Ready?

On your mark.

Get set.

Eat!

Loaded with chili, chili powder.

Ooh!

You got to eat faster.

You don't have much time left.

How are you doing?

You okay?

You okay?

Huh?

Oh.

Eat.

Eat the chili.

Eat the chili.

Oh!

Final count -- 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2...

Finish!

Now let me check.

Two chili left and a lot of these noodle.

You finished your chilis.

Enough noodle.

You finish almost -- most of the noodle and the chicken with two chili.

Ah!

Here is the final champion.

Eat the whole thing with a little bit of chili left.

Winner!

>> Whoo-whoo!

[ Applause ] >> Ah, winner.

>> 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.

♪ ♪ ♪