♪ [ Grunting ] >> You know what, this is just another day at the office.

But you know what, this is not potting soil.

This is a mix with five different grains and fermented for over 90 days.

It's all part of a secret recipe to make baijiu, or clear, distilled spirit.

Throughout Chinese history, baijiu has been the subjects of many famous wonderful poetry.

So you can actually say that I am creating poetry, inspiration from a cup.

[ Grunting continues ] "Inspiration In A Cup," next on "Yan Can Cook."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> "Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom" is brought to you by... >> ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ >> Circulon cookware.

Circles for life.

>> Monogram.

A full line of professional appliances designed for food and entertaining enthusiasts.

♪ ♪ By Melissa's.

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By Lutian.

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By Granite Expo.

Offering a wide selection of cabinet and countertop solutions.

And by B&G Group of Malaysia.

♪ Building Malaysia's tomorrow.

>> Guess which of the following is the world's most popular distilled liquor.

Brandy?

Bourbon?

Whiskey?

What about gin or vodka?

You're all wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The answer is baijiu.

People in China consume over 11 billion liters of baijiu a year, making it the most consumed spirit in the world.

♪ During the Han Dynasty, there was a very famous lady called Cho Wen Jun who was from a wealthy family.

Fell in love with a singer after he performed to express his love for her.

They eloped and carved out a living selling wine.

Her fearlessness in following her heart endears her for generations.

Here at the Wen Jun winery, they still prepare the yeast cakes for the baijiu production with their bare feet, as they did centuries ago.

♪ But just what is baijiu?

Its literal translation is "white wine."

But something is lost in the translation here.

The word "jiu" in China refers to any beverage with alcohol content.

Beer in China is called "píjiu."

And wine made from grapes is "pútáojiu."

So "baijiu" simply means "white clear spirit made from grain."

Chinese have been making and consuming distilled spirits for thousands of years.

So you can figure that they must have the recipe all figured out by now.

The process is really not all that complicated.

The mixture of wheat, millet, sorghum, and sometimes rice is buried into these giant mud pits for fermentation.

Then the soil is loaded into the distiller, and water is piped in and heated.

The vapor that comes out contains alcohol.

The rest is all in the mixing and aging.

[ Speaking Chinese ] >> Mmm.

[ Exhales sharply ] This is fresh from the source.

[ Coughs ] [ Panting ] Wow.

Very strong.

[ Speaking Chinese ] >> Baijiu, he told me -- This is 65% alcohol.

Just by comparison, you know that most of the wine you see in the market, about 80 proof, about 40% alcohol.

Mm, this is -- the baijiu normally is 50% to 60% ABV.

This is 65%.

So drink responsibly.

♪ In China, wine is much more than a libation.

It is poetry, it is literature, it is calligraphy, and it is food.

Not only with food, but in food.

Many famous popular Chinese dishes use wine as an ingredient.

Tonight, we're so lucky to sample some of them.

[ Speaking Chinese ] [ Speaking Chinese ] [ Laughter ] [ Laughter continues ] [ Vocalizing ] >> We're talking about -- Welcome to Chengdu and enjoy Chengdu's specialty cuisine.

And I'm so glad to introduce my dear friend, Chef Liu.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Wow.

Today you are lucky because Chef is gonna show us how to do a Yin Yang Shrimp with a special sauce, marinated with the local wine.

Tiny bit of a salt, huh?

Tiny bit of chicken powder.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Mm!

This is the plum wine.

Marinate.

Plum wine.

Marinated.

Freshwater shrimp.

Next one, the next batch.

The yin and the yang, right?

Next one is a tiny bit of salt and pepper.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> This is the rice wine.

Rice wine.

Same shrimp.

But marinated one with a plum wine, one with a rice wine.

Dip each piece of these into this batter.

So, the same protein, two different flavors.

Ingredients, very simple.

Nothing to it, but yet, how you put it together is the key.

First time, you cook the batter to almost 80% to 85% done.

Nice and golden brown.

The second time, golden brown.

This time, use high heat.

You're only cooking it at a high temperature to make the batter totally golden and crispy.

Now, look at the difference in terms of color.

Look at that!

Look at the color difference!

Nice golden crisp.

The first fry, second fry.

Now, Yin Yang sauce.

[ Sizzling ] Salt.

This is lactose, or you could use honey.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Thicken it up with corn starch.

Nice and smooth.

And stir.

And this is the plum wine sauce.

Look at that beautiful sauce.

And then we make the other sauce.

Yin Yang sauce.

About one pint of water.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Put it right here to allow the alcohol to vaporize, but the flavor still remains.

Also, lactose, and glaze with honey or lactose.

Drizzle it in.

Toss it.

Toss it in a bowl.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> This baijiu flavor on one side, the plum wine flavor on the other side.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Black sesame seed, toasted.

It adds texture and color.

>> Ahh, this is famous.

Cherry from Chengdu.

Look at this beautiful food on the table, and of course, let's not forget that the best place to store baijiu is in my stomach.

[ Speaking Chinese ] Ganbei!

>> Ganbei!

Chinese banquets are great, except the tend to give me a headache afterwards.

It's all from the toasting.

It's that famous Chinese saying that "A 1,000 cups of wine are not enough for toasting a true friend."

Trust me, there are many true friends in China, and they're all at my banquet.

But, seriously, wine is a symbol of friendship and goodwill in China, and there is plenty of that going around.

Ganbei!

I will drink to that.

On today's show, I am actually turning my kitchen into a makeshift bar -- a Chinese baijiu bar.

I'll call it "Marty's."

And I have two special guests.

I know they are the connoisseurs of wine and baijiu.

The car racing driver Daniel and Jonathan.

Thank you for joining me.

I'm gonna challenge you both.

I'm gonna make a dish with the chicken -- spicy chicken -- and see whether we can make something out of it and with baijiu -- 110 proof -- to serve along with this.

First, I'm gonna marinate the chicken with ginger and green onion.

Okay.

This is already lightly marinated, but I want to marinate it a little bit more.

So I used a tiny bit of Shaoxing wine.

And then I use a tiny bit of... Ahh!

You know what this is?

Fermented rice.

I use a tiny bit of this.

This will enhance the flavor.

Really flavorful.

And then a tiny bit of salt and a tiny bit of pepper.

And Sichuan people in Chengdu love sesame seed oil.

Sesame seed oil always.

Okay?

And then a tiny bit of corn starch.

Always put a tiny bit of corn starch, make it nice and smooth.

And then mix it up, marinade.

When this is done, I'm gonna have a tiny bit of oil.

And then if you want extra flavor, by all means, tiny bit of extra ginger, okay?

Put it right here.

And then to make it nice and Sichuan, I have a tiny, tiny bit of a little star anise and Sichuan peppercorn.

Ahh.

And then the pickled chili.

And a tiny bit of chili sauce.

Oh, this is gonna be amazingly hot.

And then -- Oh!

Look at this.

Braise it nice and hot.

To make it hotter, hey!

No big deal.

Chili.

Not one, not two, not three!

Whole thing.

>> The whole thing.

[ Laughter ] >> And then... Cook it for a little bit.

Sugar.

Caramelize.

This is very unique.

I want put a tiny bit of soy sauce.

Dark.

And then extra syrup.

Caramelize.

Now, while I'm letting it braise, Jonathan, I'm gonna challenge you.

This dish is very, very hot and very, very spicy.

I will challenge you to make a cocktail that goes well with this.

Talk about baijiu while I'm braising this.

>> Oh, man.

Okie dokie, so, what we're gonna make today is gonna be an Asian Pear and Ginger martini.

And what we're gonna do is we're just gonna start muddling the ginger.

>> Yeah.

>> This is the pear.

>> Yeah, and then we're gonna muddle some pear in there.

>> Pear.

Okay.

>> All right, and we're just gonna mash this up until it turns into a nice mash, like almost liked mashed potatoes.

So we're gonna add the alcohol in, we're gonna use once ounce of baijiu.

And, you know, we'll just do a little more, top that off.

And we're also gonna use some simple syrup, all right?

Just 3/4 of an ounce.

And we also got some lime juice here.

>> Lime juice.

>> Just also 3/4 of an ounce to one ounce, depending on your taste.

All we do now is add ice.

And we're just gonna shake this up.

All right, and that should be all ready.

Now we're gonna get our martini glass.

>> Okay.

>> And strain this baby out.

And I like to add some extra ice because this is an extra-large martini glass.

>> And my chicken is done.

Nice and braised.

And it's hot and spicy and savory and sweet.

>> All right, Martin, we're gonna do something fun here.

>> Okay, let's something fun.

>> All right, we're gonna light this baby on fire.

>> Okay.

Okay, so we're gonna top this off with the baijiu again.

>> Okay.

>> That's gonna be a lot of alcohol.

>> Yeah.

>> I got my lighter here.

>> It is burning.

Look at that!

>> [ Chuckles ] >> Amazing.

>> And there you go, it's five-spice Ginger Pear martini.

>> Yeah.

Fiery experience.

Now... >> Let's see how well we did.

>> We'll put the chicken -- This is already braised.

And then let me show you.

One... >> Wow.

That looks amazing.

>> Two...

This is so beautiful.

And then, of course, four is not a good luck number in China.

So you never, never have four pieces.

Always have five pieces.

Let's put it over there.

>> Oh, man.

>> Look at this, huh?

Now, this is a dish we call the Fiery Caramelized Chicken with Sichaun Peppercorn.

Now, this is the final product.

I hope it match more with our cocktail.

This is sweet and spicy.

>> Wow.

>> And this is also slightly sweet and spicy.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And we will see.

>> Mmm, that's amazing.

>> Let's taste.

Cheers.

Cheers for good health.

>> Cheers.

>> Cheers.

>> The slight tanginess goes beautifully with this caramelized spicy chicken.

Perfect match.

Look at these giant urns with thousands of gallons of baijiu inside, much like the oak barrel for aging wine grapes.

These urns are used to age baijiu.

The highest quality baijiu are very sought-after.

In fact, they can cost thousands of dollars for a single bottle.

> Oh!

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> This is a generation of baijiu makers.

The first generation, second generation, fourth, fifth, sixth generation.

And they're all documented, dating back to the 1700s.

The eighth generation.

He is actually the senior technical advisor of these baijiu making.

[ Sighs ] There is a fine tradition here.

Every apprentice baijiu maker must present his first batch to the baijiu master for approval.

You know, when you go to a winery, they have a tasting room.

Wine tasting.

They have a tasting master to tell you what is good, what is bad.

And I'm so excited and so privileged to have Mr. Gao.

How are you?

Show us how to do the tasting for the best quality baijiu.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Baijiu have a little ember color, golden color like this.

Not totally like water, and that is good fermentation.

Try mine.

>> Mm.

[ Speaking Chinese ] >> [ Speaking Chinese ] This is one that I just made, helped to make, participated.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] [ Speaking Chinese continues ] [ Laughter ] Mr. Gao is joking with me.

You know why?

Even though it is not too bad, it's still needs some improvement -- actually, a lot of improvement -- and he advised me.

"Don't quit your day job."

I'll listen to Mr. Gao.

Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Thank you.

Mmm.

Ahh!

[ Sniffs ] Back in the old days when people bought their wine, or baijiu, at the store, they'd bring their own jar.

They ask for different quantity.

The store could measure it with one of these.

Now, this is for two.

How about this?

For four.

Look at this.

Party size.

This is for my weekend tailgate party, for 60 of my buddies and neighbors.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Oh!

Mmm!

Ahh!

[ Laughing ] Wow!

In Chengdu, baijiu is a must for every Chinese banquet.

It is customary for the host to toast his honored guests several times during the evening.

You know what, failure to do so would be considered very rude.

So that's why it's so important.

Meanwhile, the guests are also expected -- our guests -- to toast their host.

To toast the host.

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> Oh!

Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Mmm!

So, there will be a lot of toasting and drinking during a Chinese banquet.

Right here in the beautiful city of Chengdu.

Mmm!

[ Speaking Chinese ] Ahh!

Cheers, cheers, cheers.

Mmm!

[ Speaking Chinese ] Mmm.

Mmm!

Ahh!

In addition to the usual toasting, there are all kinds of drinking games.

A popular one, jiuling, which involves guessing the number of spots on dice.

Guess wrong, and you drink.

Another one is the finger guessing.

Guess right, the other person drinks.

You get the idea?

Someone will always end up drinking.

Ahh!

Now, here's another fun game.

Ah, look at this.

It's a fun game.

Jiuling!

You pick up one of the sticks from the bunch and read it aloud to your guests.

[ Speaking Chinese ] That means "Everybody on the table, drink to it!"

Wow, that's what I like to hear.

Oh!

Ganbei, Ganbei!

Ganbei, Ganbei, Ganbei, Ganbei!

Ganbei, Ganbei, Ganbei, Ganbei!

>> Ganbei, Ganbei!

>> Ganbei, Ganbei!

[ Laughter ] I've been told by so many back home that Chinese are shy, quiet, and reserved.

Obviously those who said that have never been to a Chinese banquet.

To baijiu!

>> In a cup!

To poetry in a cup!

[ Laughter ] >> In a cup!

[ Speaking Chinese ] >> Excellent!

The very best!

Poetry in a cup, wine in a cup, and friendship in a cup.

Mmm!

Ahh!

Oh!

>> [ Speaking Chinese ] >> [ Speaking Chinese ] [ Laughter ] Oh!

>> You can visit our website to learn more about Martin and his travels, get information about upcoming events, find and print selected recipes, provide e-mail feedback and more.

It's all at yancancook.com.

♪ >> "Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom" is brought to you by... >> ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ >> Circulon cookware.

Circles for life.

>> Monogram.

A full line of professional appliances designed for food and entertaining enthusiasts.

♪ ♪ By Melissa's.

The freshest ideas in produce.

By Lutian.

Tasting the essence of lotus.

By Granite Expo.

Offering a wide selection of cabinet and countertop solutions.

And by B&G Group of Malaysia.

♪ Building Malaysia's tomorrow.

♪ ♪ ♪