Learning Qingjiao Rousi, Twice-Cooked Pork and Mapo Tofu from a Special-Grade Chef: Part One of the Cook Do Project

Ryuji introduces the Ajibo Group as a popular restaurant famous for "serving Chinese food that doesn't cater to Japanese tastes at all." He had already visited once while scouting the location and says he found it "insane" even then. The cooking is handled by the head chef, who is explained to be a special-grade chef.

According to the restaurant, the group started in Kanda. The chairman began by serving Northeastern Chinese cuisine and then moved on to lamb skewers. Ryuji says it is a place where you can eat authentic Chinese food at reasonable prices, and that it has such standing that anyone interested in the restaurant scene knows it.

In the exchange before filming, the staff said they know Cook Do as a product but have never eaten it. Ryuji explains that the point is to get honest impressions from people who have never tried it.

The first dish is qingjiao rousi. The ingredients are thinly sliced pork, green peppers, red peppers and bamboo shoots. The seasoning centers on a house-made oyster sauce.

The head chef first heats the wok thoroughly before adding oil, then oil-blanches the meat in plenty of oil. He then passes the vegetables through the oil as well, but does this quickly over high heat. Ryuji was surprised at the speed. The garlic, ginger and green onion, by contrast, are stir-fried slowly over low heat to infuse the oil with their aroma. The ingredients go back in, the sauce is added, and finally everything is brought together with a potato starch slurry. Ryuji remarked that it was "super simple."

At the tasting, an Ajinomoto employee who works on Cook Do and often travels to China to eat said they had eaten a lot of authentic qingjiao rousi, but that this was exceptionally good. They were especially surprised at how "fluffy" and tender the meat was. The head chef attributed this to how the meat is prepped beforehand: there is a step where the meat is made to absorb water and its gaminess is removed.

On the flavor, Ryuji says it tastes gentle, yet the sweetness builds the more you eat. According to the head chef, the sauce is not just oyster sauce. It is a house-made sauce combining several seasonings such as soy sauce and sugar, with the flavor developed in-house. Ryuji agreed that it wasn't just the taste of oysters, but many things combined. The staff commented that it was tender yet the green peppers kept their texture.

Next is mapo tofu. The head chef explains that authentic mapo tofu uses ground meat and includes garlic leaves. Ajibo's mapo uses a different meat: braised lamb belly. Ryuji added that this is a signature touch for a restaurant known for its lamb dishes. The tofu is firm tofu, and the heat comes from house-made chili and two kinds of doubanjiang.

The steps are as follows. First, the tofu is prepped by boiling it in salted water. The braised lamb is stir-fried in oil to cook off moisture and fat and bring out its aroma. Next, the two kinds of doubanjiang go in. According to the head chef, two kinds are used for the aroma. The house-made chili is added, and then the stock is poured in.

This stock is made every day and takes more than five hours. The ingredients include chicken, duck and spare ribs, and when Ryuji asked whether it was "shang tang," the head chef confirmed it. When Ryuji asked, "You don't add Ajinomoto or anything?" the answer was no. The umami comes from the natural flavor of the ingredients themselves.

After that, the color and flavor are adjusted with soy sauce, and the garlic leaves go in. Ryuji reacted to the difference in aroma. The starch slurry is not added all at once but slowly, in two or three additions. According to the head chef, if it goes in too quickly the sauce won't thicken properly. It is finished with a little more soy sauce and house-made chili oil. Ryuji laughed, "I can't make this."

Struck by how fast it all was, Ryuji said, "I can't do it this fast." The head chef said the key is the strength of the heat. The gist was that where it should be low, keep it properly low, and where it should be high, keep it properly high.

The third dish is twice-cooked pork. The pork belly is first boiled in stock, then cooled before slicing. Later it is explained that the boiling time is about 50 minutes. The meat is skin-on, and Ryuji was surprised, saying it's "something you rarely get to eat."

The sauce uses two kinds of doubanjiang and a tianmianjiang made in-house. Ginger, green chili and garlic leaves also go in. Ginger is said to be best when it is young ginger. The garlic leaves also add color.

There was also an explanation about the cabbage. When Ryuji checked, "Chinese twice-cooked pork doesn't usually have much cabbage in it, right?" the head chef answered that the authentic version uses only garlic leaves. However, since cabbage is at its best this season, he added it this time. The cabbage is good enough to eat raw and has umami. So it is cooked only briefly to keep it crisp.

For the stir-frying, the aroma is brought out with large-cut ginger and chili, then the doubanjiang and tianmianjiang are added. A considerable amount of tianmianjiang goes in. Finally, the meat and garlic leaves are combined. Ryuji was surprised at how strongly the aroma of the doubanjiang and tianmianjiang came through.

According to the head chef, twice-cooked pork is a Sichuan home-style dish, but they also serve it in course meals. The employee noted that twice-cooked pork is Cook Do's best-selling product. Ryuji sums up the key point of the authentic method as boiling the pork before slicing it. He explained that Cook Do skips this boiling step so that it can be made at home.

At the tasting, the employee called the balance of doubanjiang and tianmianjiang perfect. The sweetness comes after the heat, so it's not too spicy and is just right. Ryuji points out that because the pre-boiled meat is stir-fried at high heat, it has texture and a toasty aroma. He said the almost-charred aroma is part of the flavor too. The head chef also explained that the pork fat combining with the vegetables brings out the sweetness of the cabbage.

Ryuji said it goes well with both rice and drinks, and actually ate it while drinking. He also praised the flavor of the garlic leaves as an excellent garlic taste. The staff commented that it was properly spicy and that the flavor of the jiang comes through directly. Ryuji kept repeating, "Special-grade chefs are amazing."

Also, when Ryuji checked, he learned that qingjiao rousi and twice-cooked pork are not on the regular dinner menu but are served at lunch. Dinner centers on lamb dishes. That these were still this polished led Ryuji to mutter, "Is this project going to be okay?" and "We've started a crazy project."

The mapo tofu was a dish Ryuji and the employee had already eaten together during the location scouting. This time they tasted it again freshly made.

Ryuji praises the lamb belly for being braised until tender, with fibers that fall apart, and for the umami of the stock. The employee said that while firm tofu is normally on the firm side, it was fluffy, perhaps thanks to the pre-boiling, and paired well with the tender lamb.

What Ryuji recalls being especially surprised by is that no umami seasoning is used. When he heard this after eating it during the scouting, he said, "There's none in this?" From that, he says, he sensed there must be considerable prep work behind it. The head chef explained that the stock made every day is the base, and that this stock is used in many dishes.

Ryuji analyzes the flavor profile as follows. You can taste the lamb, but combined with the jiang it comes together as a unified mapo tofu. So even people who dislike mutton should be able to eat it, and for people who love lamb it could be their favorite mapo. The employee said that what they normally eat is mapo tofu made with ground pork or beef, so the lamb flavor was new to them.

Originally, the plan was to go straight on to filming the Cook Do tasting. However, Ryuji explains that because they were able to film so much of the head chef's cooking from start to finish, they decided to split it into two parts. The main event is having the restaurant staff try Cook Do, which will be released in the second part.

At the end of the video, the employee who is a Cook Do developer begins making Cook Do at the restaurant. While saying it smells good, everyone admitted, "I'm nervous." How professionals who cook authentic food will rate a seasoning mix made for home cooking is left for the second part.