- Yellow cow meat. - Yellow cow meat? - Yeah. - And then of course the hot
pot just keeps simmering away and as it keeps simmering
more and more flavors build up and you can see that kind
of layer of fat on top. (upbeat music) Good morning, I hope you're
having an amazing day. Its Mark Wiens. I am in Dali, Yunnan, China. As you can see it is a very, very cold and very, very rainy day today. But we're in ancient town. And right now we're
gonna go for breakfast, and then after that we'll
be going to the market. And then after that
we'll be learning to cook at Lu-Shi's cooking school. And then finally for dinner
we'll be having an amazing beef copper hot pot. Its very, very quiet. Probably because its quite early and also because its so rainy outside. Its about eight a.m. This is the restaurant here. Its warm and cozy in here. And let me just, I'm ecstatic right now. Because let me show you
what this place serves, mutton vermicelli. I don't think I can think
of anything better to eat on a rainy, cold morning,
than mutton soup. (speaking Chinese) I desperately want to just
douse this entire bowl in the chili oil, but before
I do that I got to taste the broth as is, first. (slurping) Oh, mmmm. Oh that is, you can definitely
taste the mutton in there and then you can taste the mint. Mmm, the mint comes in there so nicely. Oh, that's a clean, muttony broth. But it would be even better with the addition of that chili oil. (music) Oh yes and also, I forgot to mention that it is quite loaded
with Sichuan pepper as well. Just on that first scoop
of soup I could feel that and it is beautiful. Oh, okay I'll start with
that amount of chili oil and may need to add more. (slurping) Oh its so good, it just falls apart and the noodles are really, really soft. You can really taste
that mint, you can taste the Sichuan pepper, you can
feel that Sichuan pepper. With that chili oil you've got
that smoky, dry chili flavor. Garlicky. That will just warm you to your core. Oh that broth, its like
a subtle mutton flavor and then with that dry chili. And I love that zing
from the Sichuan pepper and that chili oil. Oh and that mint. Oh what a beautiful, beautiful broth. Think I would go in for a
little more chili oil though. (music) Okay, nothing makes me more
happy than another scoop of chili oil. In addition to the noodles,
we also got a mutton salad. The same slices of
mutton and he mixed it up with all the herbs, the mint
in there, the spring onions. And then he made a dressing
that includes chili oil, Sichuan pepper, vinegar and soy sauce. Oh, that salad is insane too. That mutton is so tender. It tastes like its been maybe salt cured so the flavor literally
goes all the way through each piece of meat. And then its like complimented
so well by that mint. (music) Let me tell you a 100%
successful way to warm you up when its cold outside. Have a bowl of mutton noodles. We're walking through old town Dali and we're on our way to a tea shop. Tea in Yunnan is famous
worldwide actually. They produce some of the finest tea and so we're gonna go drink some tea now. And again what a perfect, rainy, cold day. If its gonna be rainy and cold outside drinking tea is not a bad activity to do. Alright that was a bit of a
wet walk but we have arrived. They specialize in Yunnanese black tea as well as pu-er tea. Which I think we're just gonna sit here and start drinking some tea. (speaking Chinese) Have many different black
teas as well as pu-er teas which are only from Yunnan. Pu-er teas, there can be a raw pu-er tea as well as a manually
fermented, aged pu-er tea. So right now we're starting
with a type of pu-er tea which is raw. And its from a tree that
is over 400 years old. And so he's doing the whole process. He's first awakening the leaves and then just washing the cups. The first one, the raw pu-er. Oh that's good. Fresh tasting, slightly earthy. Really smooth, really, really smooth. - [Woman] Taste like
honey, taste like flower, taste like sweet potato. This one is orange. - The next tea that he's
making is a fermented pu-er tea and you can immediately see
how its a much darker color. We had a smell of it and it smells earthy. Mmmm, oh that one's amazing. Oh, yeah, its almost like
a bacony, smoky flavor. It has this huge depth of flavor. He was mentioning that it almost
has an orange flavor to it, which it does, it does. And they say that these pu-er
teas, they age with time, its like a fine wine. And it really is, there's
such a complexity of flavors. (speaking Chinese) There's so much to learn about tea. Something that's fascinating
to me is that every, every tea tree is accounted
for and known about. So certain teas can come from
one certain, specific tree that they know about and that's the tea. And it will have a different
flavor from a different tree. And so every tree is accounted for. There's so many different tastes. This one is the black oolong. Mmm, very light. It does have a fruity taste to it and a little bit of a natural sweetness. This one is from the very top buds. The very young buds of the tea. Oh, just a drastically different
taste from the other one. Its floral, its a little bit... A little bit smokey, but very, very light. The next tea is from a 600
year old specific tree. And this one is a very gourmet tea. That's great! It is, wait one more taste. It has that dryness, like a dry wine. There's so much to learn about tea. You could spend your
lifetime pursuing tea. But I had to buy one of those
blocks of the fermented. This is the same one that we sampled, but fermented, black
tea, aged to perfection. And this one cost me 300 yuan
so I'm gonna bring this home. And I'm gonna be drinking
this as I'm sitting at the computer for sure. We're now gonna go catch
a taxi to a market. And then after that we're gonna go over to Lu-Shi's cooking school to do a bit of cooking and eating. (music) - So this is all different types of tofu. Then you get the bell pepper,
together with this Sichuan and mix together with the tofu. - A huge, sprawling market. Just all the ingredients
you need for Yunnanese food. For Sichuan food. There are so many vegetables,
there are chilies, there are things steaming. Its cold and wet this morning. This is a great market. - [Woman] And this pickled chili, before he was pickled he was hard. - I always love walking around markets. We're off now to Lu-Shi's cooking school. And we have arrived to
Lu-Shi's cooking school, its called Rice and Friends. This is the little courtyard and we're going upstairs to start cooking. Oh, its so cold today. Lu-Shi just explained to
us all about the different seasonings that go into Chinese cooking. Now its time to start cooking. We are gonna make our own chili oil. So, I am very excited to learn
how to make proper chili oil. - We have over here,
this is the dried chili and roughly grinded the dried chili. Over here, what we have is
some toasted sesame seeds. So we heat up the canola oil. - [Mark] Does it have to
be canola oil or can it be? - Does not have to be, can be corn oil, or bean oil, or sunflower seed. Just any oil which can
bear the high temperature. The ginger, star anise
and a Sichuan pepper. So with the ginger, I just cut
it into big chunks like that. This is good. So I'm putting all the spice inside. We need to give the spice
a little bit of time to release the flavor. - You want to heat that
oil over a medium size heat until it is smoking point. Also monitor those spices cause
you don't want them to burn. That smells ridiculously good. - So I'm taking it out. So I've already turned off the heat. And now its a little bit too hot. We need it to be a little bit
burnt but if its too burnt, too hot, it will also burn a bit too much. So now we do the first time. You see only the top, the
surface, the color changes. The bottom is just now gets wet. So I mix it and second time I
will make sure all the chili is soaking in the hot oil. Okay, so now this is the
second time, as you can smell. So that is how we make the chili oil. - Its not immediately ready to eat. You have to bottle it
and wait at least one day before the flavors settle and mingle for it to be more fragrant, more aromatic. And that chili oil is one of the greatest ingredients of all. We gonna get started
cooking the wok dishes now. We're gonna make a fish eggplant, that's actually vegetarian,
which is a Sichuan dish. And also Kung Pow chicken. Pickled chilies, garlic. And this is pre-cooked eggplant already. Make sure you stir that up. Pour in the corn starch around. Take this over to the clay pot. (music) Put all of this, oh it
looks like that eggplant is just going to be melt-in-your-mouth. And then stick the clay pot onto the fire. Okay we're getting
started on the next dish which is kung pow chicken. This is cooking wine, corn starch. We're just cooking the
chicken halfway now, then its back into the bowl. The dry chilies and the Sichuan pepper. We're sitting down for lunch now. Got the kung pow chicken,
got the eggplant. Got rice of course. Oh, and got chili oil. Okay let me begin with
the kung pow chicken while its nice and hot. Got the peanuts in here, got the chilies. Oh, oh I got the Sichuan
pepper in that bite. Pair that with the rice. This would definitely be even more amazing with some chili oil. Its not spicy, but its so
fragrant and so aromatic. Then back to the eggplant. I put the eggplant right onto the rice. Scoop it out. (music) Its comfort food. Micah's having some kung pow chicken too. (music) That was a lot of fun. I especially am really
excited that I learned how to make Lu-Shi's chili oil recipe. I'm gonna be making that for sure. So from here, we're gonna
take a little bit of a rest this afternoon. And then for dinner tonight,
we have another special dinner. We're gonna be eating a
beef hotpot Yunnanese style that's served in a copper pot. - Frank told me you love meat. - Yes, I love meat. What's the name of this restaurant. - Okay, so here this restaurant is is a restaurant from Bow shan, and which like this city
is on the way to Burma, so its west to Dali. Yellow cow meat. - Yellow cow meat? - Yes. - And you've got to go the
front to make your own sauce. Which is the dipping sauce,
you can mix and match. So I'm gonna go up
front and make my sauce. Do you mix everything? - [Li-Shu] Everything. - A little bit of everything? Okay, so this is called, what
is this one called again? - [Li-Shu] Fish mint herb. - Fish mint herb. So it has a fishy taste
even though its an herb. Its a vegetable. And we've got some garlic. Some crushed chilies. This one is fermented tofu. How much of this should I add? A little bit? A little bit will go a long way. Soy sauce. (mumbling) - I'm going to put the
Shitake mushroom inside because this one gives a
lot of flavor for the broth. - Its really an incredibly
beautiful hot pot. Its beef, its full of beef
slices, its bubbling away. There's pumpkin in there. And then we just added
in the Shitake mushrooms and the radish. - It also dissolves the tofu. - Oh yeah and there's that
hunk of fermented tofu which almost looks like a block of cheese. And that's also in my sauce mixture here. Stir this around. Look at that sauce,
that sauce is beautiful. This is a sauce I just want to marinate in there for a little while. That is chunky, beautiful. Oh, wow! Oh that beef is tender and
stringy and so flavorful. And that sauce is incredible. All of those things we mixed together. That's such a depth of flavor,
so many things going on. Its a little spicy. You can taste that tofu, it
really does have a salty, almost cheesy flavor to it. And with that Sichuan, there's
a little bit of Sichuan pepper in there too, oh that sauce is, its remarkable, its
just loaded with flavor. (music) The mushroom's amazing, it has
a beautiful bounciness to it. Just so pure. - This is a special type of tofu. Only from Yunnan, not anywhere else. And in Chinese we call it au-jung tofu. - We're waiting for that tofu to cook but it just needs a few minutes. But I just cannot get over the beef and the shitake mushrooms,
that combination. And then of course the hot
pot just keeps simmering away and as it keeps simmering,
more and more flavors build up and you can see that kind of
layer of beef oil fat on top. And oh man, its just a beautiful thing. (music) What's interesting about
this tofu is that the more you cook it the more it becomes soft and it can actually completely
liquefy if you overcook it. So right now is the
perfect time to eat it, its been simmering for
about four minutes or so. And you can see these chunks of tofu. You dip it into the sauce and the tofu just soaks everything up. Oh look at that! And I'm gonna take some up too. It sort of dissolves and
its sort of like melty. And these are pea shoots. - Usually I put glass noodle
in the end of hot pot. (music) - Again, everything has
to go into the sauce. Mmmm. You're just looking at some
noodles from the hot pot. Oh wow, the pea sprouts
are amazing though. - [Woman] Its too long. - Oh let me help you. - [Woman] Thank you. - They have a natural sweetness as well as a natural nuttiness. Mmm, really really good. And then, since that's
been boiling for so long, it really has like an oily
beefiness to it now our hot pot. That makes everything even better. Mmm, hmmm, vegetables amazing. All I can do right now is
just sit back and relax. That was an impressively
delicious hot pot. We made it back to the hotel. That was just another stunner of a meal. That hot pot was sensational
and what a way to end another impressive day
and a sensational day of eating in Dali, around Dali and Yunnan. I want to say a huge thank
you to Lu-Shi for taking us around and also to Zouba Tours. Frank from Zouba tours,
he arranged everything. And I want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a
thumbs up if you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear from
you in the comments below and if you're not already subscribed, click subscribe right now. I'm gonna be sharing many,
many more food and travel videos with you. Thanks again for watching,
I'll see you on the next video.
