In Chinatown there’re a number of restaurants that make good chili oil, and sell big jars of it for much less than the little jars by some of the new wave of trendy makers with cool marketing—some are good. I’ve nothing against cottage industry—everyone’s gotta make a living—I’m just not the target audience.
And what were you drinking? No doubt exquisite wines?
I like Laoganma for its taste but not for the use of MSG.
Laoganma and Oyster Sauce are the only two condiments in my 'fridge containing MSG.
Wow, what a herculean task. It looks fantastic!
Cheers. Worth it—makes for a more intimate/social gathering, restaurants generally hate when customers play musical chairs, and occupy tables for 3+ hours.
Fortunately I’ve no ill effects from consuming msg—but raised eating a lot of Japanese/Chinese food laden with the stuff. I can usually recognize the hyper-umami character of dishes containing msg. As much as possible, I choose to use simpler, non or minimally-processed ingredients when cooking. Admittedly, I’m from the generation that’ll judge/avoid cookbooks that list msg as a recipe ingredient.
Marcel,
the chilli crisps up from slow/low frying in the oil, I did not add peanuts but many versions do.
I know a scientist who will happily talk your ear off about how msg is absolutely fine and the whole anti msg thing is basically a racist reaction to the fact it is used so much in Asian food. He'll point out that it's the sodium form of glutamate which is the most abundant neurotransmitter in the human body.
The dose makes the poison is both true and a straw man. There's no evidence it's harmful in standard quantities used in food. I'm sympathetic to the idea that some people react more to certain ingredients. But the evidence puts it up with 'don't have seed oils don't get sunburnt' and 'all metabolic disease can be cured via a carnivore diet'.
Looks delicious! Can you cook it like that every time, or was that a fluke?
