So, let’s talk drunken dishes.
They’re an absolute classic in the Zhejiang
province, and relatively famous the world
over… but here’s the confusing bit.
The English term ‘drunken’ has seemed
to be the go-to translation for two similar
but still distinct cooking methods: zao [糟]
and zui [醉].
Zui is what you might already be familiar
with – basically, you soak stuff – most
notably chicken – in a boozy, spiced Shaoxing
wine-based brine.
Zao is super similar at first blush, you soak
stuff in the same way, you serve cold in the
same way… but in place of the brine it uses
this stuff…
Zaolu pickle sauce [糟卤].
Now, for the uninitiated, Zaolu is… aggressively
awesome.
It’s got this heavy kick of umami and its
fragrance is pretty unparalleled.
So even though it’s one of my personal favorite
snacks to whip up, we’ve held off in the
past because, y’know… it just kinda feels
like the type of thing that’d be impossible
to buy outside China.
But - everytime I go back to the USA I do
always kind of like to ‘check inventory’
at Chinese supermarkets there and see what’s
available… and to our surprise, Zaolu was
around, under the name “pickle sauce”.
Awesome.
Now, using zaolu is really dead simple, so
we thought it might also be interesting to
show you how it’s made.
Fair warning though that making zaolu’ll
likely be even tougher on the sourcing front
than just picking up a bottle, so if you just
want some quick drunken snacks, feels free
to jump ahead about two minutes in the video.
Ok, so say you’ve just made a big batch
of Huangjiu rice wine.
Congratulations, drink up.
But after straining, you find you’re left
with all this leftover sediment, the lees.
The stuff smells awesome, so it feels like
it’d be a waste to toss it, but it’s got
like the consistency of mud and the taste
isn’t much better.
This is zaoni [糟泥], literally translated,
‘fermented mud’.
And this is the base of zaolu.
So first things first, take 200 grams of zaoni
and mix it in with 500 grams of some proper
Shaoxing wine.
Break it up a bit so it’s more or less incorporated,
then toss it in the fridge to soak – at
least a few hours, or ideally overnight.
Next, to a liter of water – or stock, up
to you – toss in one dried bay leaf, a half
a cinnamon stick, two pieces of sand ginger
[shajiang, 沙姜], two white cardamom pods
[baikou, 白蔻], a quarter teaspoon fennel
seed, and a quarter teaspoon whole Sichuan
peppercorn.
Then to make this properly briny, add in a
tablespoon and a half salt together with fifteen
grams of rock sugar.
Cover with a plate, toss on a rapidly bubbling
steamer, and steam that for at least 45 minutes
to let the spices infuse.
After that time, remove the spice water and
add in a tablespoon and a half of MSG.
If you’re using some good homemade stock
you actually don’t need the MSG here, though
if it was me I’d probably still add a touch
anyhow.
Then once the spice water’s completely cooled
down to room temperature, spoon in the soaked
zaoni and wine.
And once it’s good and mixed in, we can
strain.
So this part here is a little on the annoying
side, so it helps to have one of these little
soymilk straining bags if possible.
Spoon the liquid in, and let it slowly drain
out.
This process here is called diaozao [吊糟],
and traditionally people’d actually just
hang this up for a bit to save some labor
and get a higher yield.
Once you’re done though, you can tell that
the sauce’ll still be looking a bit on the
muddy side.
If you don’t care, no worries, use as is.
The bottled stuff’ll usually get filtered
though, so to get a bit of a nicer look we’ll
leave this in the fridge overnight and let
any sediment sink to the bottom.
Next day, scoop out the sauce, and it’s
good to use.
And there you have it, some homemade Zaolu
pickle sauce, even better than the bottle…
just gotta beg borrow or steal your way into
some Shaoxing wine lees.
Ok, ready for how to use the bottled stuff?
Prepare yourself.
Get a bottle of Zaolu.
Open it.
Pour it in a box.
And that’s… pretty much it.
You can optionally top with a touch of Shaoxing
wine if you want it boozier, but this’s
basically ready to soak stuff in.
Now there’s no real limit to what you can
add – in Zhejiang you can find everything
from quail egg to duck tongue, but today we
went with edamame, shrimp, and tofu.
So first up, edamame.
500 grams worth, first make sure your beans
are thoroughly rinsed, then snip both sides
with pair of scissors.
This process can be a touch annoying, so definitely
enlist friends or family… it’s a not uncommon
sight in the region to see families snipping
edamame together over television after dinner.
Then with those all snipped, we can boil.
So before tossing those in, optionally add
a few star anise to your boiling water if
you’d like, then toss in the edamame.
We won’t want these guys at too heavy of
a boil because if the beans’re jostling
around too much in there they can sometimes
pop open a bit… so just cover, lower the
flame to medium-high, and boil for nine minutes.
Then after nine minutes, strain the beans,
and once they’re roughly room temperature
they can go straight in the Zaolu.
Now for the shrimp, we’ll be moving into
our terribly lit kitchen because I prefer
to move fast when boiling seafood.
So now toss 250 grams of the freshest shrimp
you can possibly get into some boiling water…
in an ideal world the shrimp should still
be kicking when you add them in.
Cover, wait about thirty seconds or so, then
check on the shrimp.
What you’re looking for is the shrimp to
be ever so slightly buoyant, or you can alternatively
wait for the smallest shrimp to start floating,
or about 90 seconds.
Then strain, and shock with cool running water
to stop the cooking process.
Now we’ll be keeping the shells on but removing
the heads and legs.
Two ways to do it – what I like doing is
pinching down behind the head and just pulling
it off, then removing the legs with my hands.
The more proper way is to use a pair of scissors
to slice off the head at a 45 degree angle,
then continue onto the legs… the latter
is prettier, the former is easier I think,
up to you.
Then once those’re mostly dry, they’ll
be good to toss in the Zaolu.
Now for the tofu, we’re using four pieces
– or about 120 grams of Dougan [豆干],
which’s a sort of hyper firm tofu.
Pretty easy to prep, just cut into about one
inch by two inch rectangles, then toss in
some boiling water.
This tofu’ll be cooked in about a minute,
so after that time, take it out and let it
dry.
So now just add all your blanched ingredients
to your zaolu – for all this here, we needed
two boxes and thus two bottles worth.
Then cover, toss in the fridge, and let it
soak for at least four hours or up to twenty
four.
Now, after that time, if I’m just making
this as a snack for myself I’ll… usually
just eat it straight from the box.
But, we are on YouTube so let’s make things
pretty and plate this up.
Then drizzle some of the brine all over everything
and with that, you’ve got a pretty easy,
incredible tasting appetizer or snack.
So traditionally, zaolu is very much a winter
thing because the food wouldn’t go bad in
cold weather.
But now with refrigeration you can have this
all year round… but of course, this’s
still really good in winter, especially if
you wash it down with a bit of good Shaoxing
wine.
So right check out the Reddit link in the
description box for a detailed recipe [actually
just the description box], a big thank you
for everyone that’s supporting us on Patreon…
and of course, subscribe for more Chinese
cooking videos.
