Recipes

Fresh bird's eye chilies, garlic and ginger are all minced together and kept in containers free of oil and raw water, the two enemies of a clean ferment.

Thinly sliced pork liver blanched clean, then simmered in a spicy red chili oil broth with luffa and aromatics, ladled over noodles for a bold Hunan-style bowl.

Chopped shiitake mushrooms are slow-fried until fragrant, then joined by a whole bottle of pickled chili, crushed peanuts, soy sauce and sugar for a deeply savory hot sauce.

Wild small garlic bulbs are salted, rinsed, and massaged with Korean chili paste, sugar, and extra chili oil. Fiercely spicy and pungent, built to wake up a bowl of plain rice.

Red chilies are hand-chopped and folded into a pungent mash of garlic, onion, liquor, and salt, then left to ferment. This homemade chopped-chili sauce is the backbone of countless Hunan dishes.

Chilies are blanched briefly in spiced brine and left to ferment in clean, oil-free jars. A week later, tangy pickled chilies are ready.

Tiny bird peppers and garlic are minced together with salt and white liquor, then left a night to wake up. A fiery opener that primes the appetite.

Whole red chilies preserved in a crock of cooled boiled water with salt, ginger, and garlic, a set-and-forget method that rewards a few days of waiting.

Fresh bird's-eye peppers, ginger and garlic are minced together with generous salt, then sealed away to ferment into the fiercely hot, salty staple of Hunan tables.

Yunnan bird's-eye chilies are minced raw with garlic and ginger at a precise salt ratio, bottling pure, uncooked chili fire for months of use.

A rich jar sauce built from hand-ground beef, diced shiitake, and skinned peanuts, all fried slowly in spice-perfumed oil until intensely savory.

A budget-friendly imitation of Korean spicy cabbage that still gets the essentials right, with extra salt massaged into the roots for deeper, more even curing.