Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to classic Americanized Chinese cuisine with a shot at a stir fry that I imagine (if you're like me) many will have heard of, but few actually know what it really...is? Which is the popular Chinese take out dish known as Hunan chicken. Upon further research, I found that Hunan chicken is as expected, a veggie stir fry combined with a wok seared and fried piece of chicken, characteristically defined by a bright, tangy, and rich umami forward sauce base. The more Americanized versions of this dish rely heavily on a classic Chinese "brown" sauce (which is in other words, a soy sauce based sauce element that's been thickened with corn starch to create a saucey stir fry quality).
For our version today though, we'll instead be using an approach courtesy of the woks of life that I find myself using more and more frequently with stir fries lately, wherein we'll be aggressively reducing our sauce base (rather than thickening it) to create a rich and reduced sauce that more clings to our proteins and veggies, rather than coats it. This in turn creates a somewhat uniquely savory quality to our veggies and proteins, without a sauce left behind to coat our rice bowl. Finally, as we dive into the mystery of what actually is Hunan Chicken? We'll also take a closer look more specifically at how does it differ from its contemporaries, like Sichuan chicken, or Kung Pao chicken? Hope you try it.
Homebase (Recipes, Livestream Schedule, Music, and More):
WooCanCook.com
Music: Woo Cooks Beats (lofi beats to cook to):
• a song I wrote In Marc...
Instagram (pop-up schedule and beats):
/ woocancook
TikTok (short recipes):
/ woocancook
Woo Can Cook Fried Rice Pop Up (Sundays @ West Oakland Farmers Market): WooCanCook.com/eats
RECIPE (written version):
www.woocancook.com/hunan-chicken
0:00 Hello Hi Everyone!
2:00 Mise En Place (veggies)
3:01 Mise En Place (chicken)
4:00 Mise En Place (sauce)
4:42 On The Stove (sear)
5:30 On The Stove (stir fry)
6:18 On The Stove (sauce)
7:05 Let's Eat!
8:25 Thanks For Watching!