(upbeat music) - Today, we're making Dan Dan Mian. That iconic dish from the
Sichuan province of China. Noodles, pork, spice. "Does it get any better?", you ask. It sure does. Because Lan's here and she's gonna show us
how to make it at home. - Bridget, this is one of
my favorite noodle dishes. Every bite is a little
different, you never get bored. Let's get started with the sauce. I've got a quarter cup of vegetable oil and I'm adding it to a 12
inch non-stick skillet. If you've got a 14 inch flat bottom wok, that'd be great for this too. To this oil, I'm adding a tablespoon of Sichuan chili powder. (Bridget whistling) Don't worry, it's a chili
powder with a moderate heat. It's a little funky, little fruity. Next up I have two teaspoons of finely ground Sichuan peppercorn. - Okay. - These two ingredients combine to create one of the iconic
flavors of Sichuan cooking, it's called Má Là. And that translates to numbing heat. The Sichuan peppercorns have an oil that cause your tongue to tingle and the chili peppers
are just nice and spicy. Last up to just kind of
round out all the flavors, quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon. To infuse all these flavors into that oil, I'm gonna set this burner to low. - Okay. - [Lan] And give this a quick stir. And this is just gonna hang out at low doing its thing for 10 minutes. - [Bridget] Okay. - You could make this go faster but to do so you'd have
to increase the heat and that drives away a lot
of the volatile compounds that bring complexity to this dish. - That smells incredible. - Right? So much has happened in just 10 minutes. It's aromatic, that oil is vibrantly red. I will transfer this to a bowl. I'm gonna reuse this skillet. So I wanna get all the spices out, but I'm not gonna stress like
a little bit of oil in here. To wrap up our sauce, I've
got four little ingredients. First up, two tablespoons of soy sauce. This is pretty much the salt for the dish. Next, two teaspoons of
Chinese black vinegar. It's got a soft acidity,
it's a little bit fruity, really fantastic. - [Bridget] Just worth seeking out. - Yeah. Next, this ingredient is pretty cool. It's a sweet wheat paste
and it's not actually sweet, it's more of an umami bomb. It's made by fermenting
wheat flour and salt, and it packs a punch in the best way. So that's two teaspoons
of the sweet wheat paste. - [Bridget] Okay. - And last up, Chinese sesame paste. It's kind of like tahini, except it's made from
toasted sesame seeds, so it's darker in color. A little bit nuttier-tasting. - [Bridget] It has a
really deep rich taste. Oh, so good. - And that was one and a half teaspoons. I'll just give this a quick whisk and set this aside while
we move to the next step. - [Bridget] Sounds good. - All right, Bridget, we are
moving onto the pork topping. - Love this part. - It's so good. During testing, one of my colleagues
referred to it as Pork Panko. - That's really good
'cause it gets super crisp. - [Lan] Yes. I have eight ounces of ground pork here and I'm going to flavor
this with two teaspoons of Shaoxing wine and one
teaspoon of soy sauce. - [Bridget] Okay. - I'm just gonna get in here with my hands and give it a good toss. All I'm looking for is
to make sure the pork is as evenly seasoned as possible. - [Bridget] Okay. - That's looking pretty great. I'm gonna go wash my hands. - [Bridget] Okay. - [Lan] I've got two
teaspoons of oil here. Do you mind bringing it to a
shimmer over medium high heat? - [Bridget] I will do that. - Thank you Bridget, you nailed it. It's a gorgeous shimmer. - You know, I do what I can. - Now, I'm adding our pork. (pork sizzling) What I'm gonna do is a
little bit different, I'm gonna smear it into
the bottom of the pan and create one nice flat even layer. Our goal here is to make
tiny, tiny bits of pork that can cling to the noodles
when we go to eat this. And now that it's flattened, I'm gonna use the side of
my spat to break the meat up into little clumps. I'm looking for quarter of an inch pieces. It's just a lot of meshing
and cutting with the spatula, it takes about five minutes
to get this pork broken up and nicely brown. - [Bridget] Okay - This is looking pretty good. It's starting to pick up some color, the pieces are broken up, all that sizzling and popping means it's kind of drying out a little bit which is actually what we want. This pork is here to add texture. I'm just gonna push this off to the side, make some space. And we're gonna get our aromatics in. I've got a teaspoon of vegetable oil, three minced garlic cloves and two teaspoons of graded ginger. And I'm just gonna mesh
this around in the pan, and cook it until it starts to brown. - [Bridget] All right. - [Lan] This is looking pretty great, I'm gonna stir this into the pork. - [Bridget] Oh my gosh. - And we'll set this aside and finish this just before
we assemble the bowls. All right, bok choy is next. I've got two smallish
heads of baby bok choy, these are about three ounces each. I am just going to trim
the bottom from this and let the outer leaves
kind of fall away. - Ugh, they are so tender already. - Yeah.
- I love bok choy. The little baby bok choy, oh my gosh. - So tasty. And this core, I'm just gonna
split in half lengthwise and repeat with the second one. Now, people sleep on the bok choy because it's not kind of as
intense as the sauce or the pork but the bok choy makes
a great palate cleanser in between bites, I love it. How many dishes take
care of you like that? - [Bridget] That's true! - So I'm gonna give this a quick rinse just to make sure any
grit in here goes away. I've got four quarts of water here and I'm not gonna season
this water at all. We've got enough salt
going on with the dish. I'm just gonna pop this bok choy right in. And I'm just looking for it to kind of develop that jade green color. Usually a minute will do it. - Okay. - [Lan] What do you think? Nice and vibrant? - [Bridget] That looks beautiful. - So while we have our water going, I'm gonna use this to
cook our noodles as well. I've got Chinese sweet noodles. They're really simple,
nice and chewy in texture. And they're going right in. Gonna give them a quick stir so that they don't cook
themselves into one giant mass. This is a pound of Chinese sweet noodles. Now, if you can't find
Chinese sweet noodles, you can sub other fresh
noodles like ramen or Lo Mein or even dried Lo Mein. It's probably gonna
take about four minutes. - [Bridget] Okay. - These are looking perfect. Just cut through. So we're gonna drain these noodles. And before we walk away, I wanna make sure that I
give them a good rinse. There's a lot of starch on the exterior and if we left that in place, the starches would glue
the noodles together which would make eating really tricky. So just wanna give this a nice
toss, maybe a couple stirs. - It's hard for me to tell because of the steam, but
that's hot water, right? - It is warm water, yes. And this takes about a minute, really. Bridget, we're just
minutes away from eating. I'm so excited. - Assembly time. - Yes. So we're gonna reheat our
topping over medium heat and I'm gonna add one last ingredient, it's kind of the secret ingredient. So worth seeking out. This is called ya cai and it is a Sichuan pickle, it's made by salting and
fermenting a Chinese mustard plant. And it is funky, salty, savory,
little bit of heat to it. It's fantastic. This is a third of a cup of that ya cai. We're just gonna warm this through, it takes about two minutes. Do you mind keeping an eye on this while I start building our bowls? - You have so much trust in me. (Lan laughing) - [Lan] That sauce we made earlier, that's packed full of flavor. We only need a little bit of it. I'm just gonna give it a quick stir. It's pretty normal for some
of the oil to break out. And a quick spoonful or maybe
two in the bottom of our bowl. Next up, the noodles. They're not clumping together
like mad, which is fantastic. Now, I'm adding our pork. Quick spoonful, right on top. Maybe a little bit more. - [Bridget] Yes, please. - [Lan] And then don't
forget the bok choy. I like to kind of arrange a couple of the leaves on the side. The color just pops. - [Bridget] Beautiful. - [Lan] And last up, just a
little sprinkling of scallions. - [Bridget] The fragrance, the aroma. There's a lot going on in this bowl. And it's a work of art. - [Lan] It's beautiful. And you get to destroy
it, which I find fun. I like to get the noodles
nicely coated in that sauce before I dig in. - [Bridget] All right. This is so dangerous. Usually I have a bib at this point. (Lan laughing) I'm gonna need a moment. - There's a lot going on. Little bit of heat, it's
savory, it's salty, it's funky. Your tongue's vibrating a little bit. - I'm loving that bit
of warmth in there, too. Oh, it's like "Lady and
the Tramp," but way better. It's a gift that keeps on
giving with every single bite. - Yeah. And if it ever does get overwhelming, little bit of bok choy to reset. - I do see a problem
with this recipe, though. - What's that? - This bowl is not big enough. (Lan laughing) - You know? I agree. I'm sorry. I'll do better. (Bridget laughing)
- All right. I'm gonna hold you to that. But for now, this is excellent. - [Lan] Thank you. - Thanks, Lan. So if you wanna make this
beautiful dish at home, build a sauce with Sichuan chili powder and peppercorns, cook
marinated pork until brown and crisp, briefly cook bok choy, and then wheat noodles
and finish with ya cai. So, from "America's Test
Kitchen," a tongue warming and so warming, Dan Dan Mian. - Thanks for watching
"America's Test Kitchen." What'd you think? - Well, leave a comment and let us know which recipes
you're excited to make or you can just say "Hello!" - You can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description. - And don't forget to
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