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Blank Slate’s Szechuan Chili Oil is made in Brooklyn and follows a Sichuan style recipe, including tingly Sichuan peppercorns, but also adds sweet shallots and a complex blend of spices.īack in Mexico, two brothers are behind the Don Chilio line of chile crisps: three hyper-specific jars of fresh chiles toasted in olive oil until shatteringly crisp. Recently, a couple new American producers have entered the chile crisp game. Like Lao Gan Ma, it’s impressively crunchy, with onion, garlic, and arbol chiles contributing distinct flavors and textures we find it has a more roasty-toasty vibe than most Asian chile crisps. With little liquid beyond that fat, the salsa develops a slinky, crunchy texture that spreads a warm blanket of heat across your lips.Ĭhile Crunch is a modern macha of sorts, made by a Mexico City-born cook who wanted to capture some of Mexico’s essential flavors for consumers beyond its borders. One of the most noteworthy is salsa macha, a Mexican sauce of dried chiles toasted in hot oil along with ground peanuts, sesame seeds, and/or pumpkin seeds. And beyondĪsia may be chile crisp headquarters, but it doesn’t have a monopoly on the concept. And in Sri Lanka there’s seeni sambol, more of a savory caramelized onion relish than a true chile crisp, but quite often prickly with chile heat and with a similar texture. Down in coastal Bangladesh and Malaysia, smoked and dried fish often find their way into crispy oil-drenched condiments these are potent flavor bombs to liven up rice, lentils, and simmered vegetables. Ezay is a national condiment that comes in many forms, but often packs a wallop thanks to the inclusion of fiery, fragrant dalle peppers. In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, chile crisp gets way hotter.

These tend to be less spicy than their Chinese counterparts and usually include heavier amounts of crisp garlic. Elsewhere in AsiaĪ few Japanese manufacturers make their own version of la-yu (‘spicy oil’) that feature the same irresistible crunch as Lao Gan Ma, like S&B’s version, which also contains a dose of sesame oil. Up north in the city of Tianjin near the Korean peninsula, Dumpling Galaxy chef Helen You learned to make chile oil with Korean chile flakes, called gochugaru. In Sichuan, the province’s eponymous mouth-numbing peppercorns often enter the mix, along with deeper spices like star anise and cassia bark. Homemade versions of chile crisp like Tao’s are common in Guizhou, where they’re often mixed with black vinegar as a sauce for noodles in dumplings. Too often, Lao Gan Maniacs begin and end their love for chile crisp with the angry lady, without exploring the wider world of commendable condiments out there.

But also recognize that chile crisp is a whole genre of condiments. “Thanks to its nutrition label, which boldly declares that a 210-gram jar constitutes four servings, I’ve finally found a condiment that fully understands me,” writes Sohla El-Waylly at Serious Eats, as the introduction to her alluring DIY version.Īll of which is to say, if you haven’t tried this crackly fireball, we’d recommend a jar. “Many have described the fandom as cult-like,” Cathy Erway writes in Taste, “and that seems appropriate, given the intensity of the devotion.” Lao Gan Ma couture appeared at a Chinese fashion week event last year, and American food publications can’t stop raving about it there’s even an indie food mag now called Lao Gan Magazine. In recent years, Lao Gan Ma has ascended from pantry staple to pop-culture icon. Chinese teens spoon it over ice cream and brag about it on the internet, and it works. A tongue-numbing tingle ideal for adorning stir fried vegetables, raw fruit, and pizza. There’s audible crunch that perfectly complements noodles and eggs. The oily sauce includes a balanced mix of crackle-crisp chile flakes, peanuts and soybeans, and just the right amount of heat, sweetness, and MSG.

Lao Gan Ma chile crisp is a compulsion more than a condiment once you start sprinkling it over something, you won’t stop until you’re scraping the bottom of the jar with a spoon. Sample some and you’ll see why Tao has a billion dollars in the bank. That’s because every jar of Lao Gan Ma (“old godmother”) features a portrait of Tao’s stern countenance on the label, expressing endless disappointment in you and your cooking, because whatever you make will never taste as good as her chile crisp. Maybe you’ve heard of it by a different name: angry lady chile sauce. Her name is Tao Huabi, and she’s the founder of her country’s most popular hot sauce, Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp. One of China’s wealthiest people is a Guizhou Province grannie whose fortune started with a noodle shop.