Chinese Drinking Foods
Chinese Drinking Foods
Dry Braised Beef for Baijiu, Plum Peanuts for Huangjiu, and Smashed Cucumber Salad for Beer (凉拌牛肉/话梅花生/凉拌黄瓜)
China has food. And, of course, China has rice wine, so… the natural question: does China have wine pairings?
Well… the answer is, kind of, but not really in the Western sense. Here in China, speaking in really broad generalities, people usually don't choose certain wines to pair with their food, but rather going the opposite direction: They will choose certain foods to pair with their wine, and these dishes are called "xiajiucai" - food that goes down really well with alcohol.
You can think of them as drinking food. They're usually very light, snackable, won’t fill you up that much, and the flavor goes really well with your alcoholic beverage of choice. But just like food that goes well with beer is different than food that goes well with sparkling wine, what you eat as xiajiucai is probably going to be different depending on what you drink.
In China, the three most popular alcohols are:
Baijiu, a strong sorghum liquor;
Huangjiu, a sticky rice wine of which Shaoxing wine is most famous;
Beer, which is probably self-explanatory.
So, to be a little bit more comprehensive, in this post we're going to show you three kinds of Chinese drinking foods that would go really well with these three categories of Chinese drinks.
Sichuan Dry Braised Beef
Fantastic with baijiu, but delicious any day of the week.
Beef shin, 350g-1000g. Boil as big of a batch as you like.
For the lushui boiling liquid:
Water, 1L.
Star anise (八角), 3.
Bay leaves (香叶), 6.
Fennel seed (小茴香), 1 tsp.
Sichuan peppercorn (花椒), 1 tbsp.
Sand ginger (沙姜), 3 pieces. Optional.
Dried chili - erjingtiao (二荆条), cayenne, arbols, etc., 10g.
Spicy dried chili - heaven facing (朝天椒), thai birds eye, etc., 5g.
Ginger, 2 inches.
Welsh onion (大葱) or scallion, 2 inches or one sprig.
Salt, 3 tbsp.
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ½ tbsp.
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 3 tbsp.
For the cooked chili oil:
Dried chilis, 25g.
Caiziyou (菜籽油) or Indian mustard seed oil or peanut oil, 80g.
Ginger, ½ inch.
Welsh onion (大葱) or scallion, 2 inches.
Onion, ⅛.
To mix, per 100g of beef:
Soy sauce (生抽), 1.5 tbsp.
Cooked chili oil from above -or- Lao Gan Ma chili crisp (老干妈香辣脆油辣椒), 1 tbsp.
Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 2 tsp.
Salt, ⅛ tsp.
Sugar, ½ tsp.
Sichuan peppercorn powder (花椒粉), ½ tsp.
MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp.
Fried or roasted peanuts, pounded, 30g.
Toasted sesame seeds, 10g.
Scallion slices, 10g.
Chopped cilantro, 25g.
Note: The 'cooked chili oil' can be swapped with Lao Gan Ma chili crisp in a pinch. For the chilis in the cooked chili oil, Sichuan bullet head chilis (子弹头) are the most authentic, but we used erjingtiao (二荆条). You can use any C Annum chili pepper that's more 'fragrant' than 'spicy' - arbols, kashmiris, etc.
Process:
Place 350g-1000g of beef shin in 1L of water and bring to a boil. Skim if needed.
Add all the ingredients for the lushui boiling liquid: 3 star anise, 6 bay leaves, 1 tsp fennel seed, 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn, 3 pieces sand ginger, 10g dried chili, 5g spicy dried chili, 2 inches ginger, 2 inches welsh onion, 3 tbsp salt, 1/2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder, and 3 tbsp Shaoxing wine. Turn the heat to low, cover. Braise for 40 minutes, or until a chopstick can poke through the beef.
Remove the beef, let dry and cool down for at least 3-4 hours.
Toast 10g of sesame seeds (per 100g of beef) in a dry wok over medium-low flame for ~5 minutes or until the seeds begin to turn color. You can also roast in an oven if that's easier. We recommend doing a big batch and having them handy.
If using homemade chili oil: Cut 25g of dried chilis into sections, toast over low flame until it deepens in color, ~5-7 minutes. Let cool, then pound the chilis. Heat 80g of caiziyou (or Indian mustard seed oil or peanut oil) up until smoking (~220C), then shut off the heat. Once the temp drops to ~180C, add 1/2 inch ginger, 2 inches welsh onion (or scallion), and 1/8 of an onion. Low flame, fry aromatics until golden brown. Shut off the heat again, let the oil come down to ~150C. Add in the toasted chili flakes, mix well.
Thinly slice your beef, then mix it with the following ingredients per 100g of beef: 1.5 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp cooked chili oil from above (or Lao Gan Ma chili crisp), 2 tsp toasted sesame oil, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder, 1/8 tsp MSG, 30g pounded fried or roasted peanuts, 10g toasted sesame seeds, 10g scallion slices, and 25g chopped cilantro.
Plum Boiled Peanuts
Fantastic with Huangjiu, or a good Shaoxing wine.
Note: These are UNDRIED peanuts meant for boiling. Most supermarkets won't carry them outside of peanut growing areas (e.g. coastal China, the American south). There are various hacks online for how to boil dry peanuts, but they take will a long time.
Raw/green/fresh peanuts (新鲜花生), 350g.
Sodium carbonate (碱面)/kan sui, 1 tsp. For 1L of blanching water.
For boiling:
Whole clove (丁香), ¼ tsp.
Fennel seed (小茴香), ¼ tsp.
Licorice root (甘草), 4 pieces.
Dried plums (话梅), 20g.
Sugar, 3 tbsp.
Salt, 1 tbsp.
Rice vinegar, ½ tbsp.
Process:
Pop 350g of raw/green/fresh peanuts, then blanch in 1L of boiling water together with 1 tsp of sodium carbonate for ~5 minutes. Remove, soak in cool water for ~5 minutes.
Put the blanched peanuts in a pot with the boiling ingredients: ¼ tsp whole clove, ¼ tsp fennel seed, 4 pieces licorice root, 20g dried plums, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp salt, and ½ tbsp rice vinegar. Add 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and simmer on low for 45 minutes.
Soak the peanuts in the cooking liquid until you're ready to eat, at least four hours.
Smashed Cucumber Salad
The epitome of beer drinking food in China.
Asian cucumber, ~300g.
For the cucumber mix:
Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tbsp.
Dark Chinese vinegar (陈醋、香醋), ½ tbsp.
Cooked chili oil or Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, ½ tbsp.
Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 1 tbsp.
Salt, ⅛ tsp.
MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp.
Garlic, 2 cloves. Minced.
Cilantro, 1 sprig. Chopped.
Process:
Cut, smash, and cut 300g of Asian cucumber into 1 inch pieces.
Chill the cucumber pieces for at least 30 minutes in the fridge (or 15 minutes in the freezer).
Mince two cloves of garlic and chop one sprig of cilantro.
Mix the chilled cucumber pieces with ½ tbsp soy sauce, ½ tbsp dark Chinese vinegar, ½ tbsp cooked chili oil (or Lao Gan Ma chili crisp), 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, ⅛ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp MSG, the minced garlic, and the chopped cilantro. Serve immediately.