- Hi guys,
We're at Hunan Slurp.
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So we get 24 to 32 trotters a week.
People never wanna buy pig trotters from us,
but ramen shops do.
It's like a great base for a soup.
This is something we, we never get to see.
- [Lu] First step, we just use the blow torch
to burn some of the residual hairs.
- Is it something that you would eat like,
on like a Sunday or is it like?
- It's like a regular home-cooking dish.
- [Ben] Regular home-cooking.
- Yeah, in my house my mom would usually make it.
But it just kinda be like a really nice, hearty stew.
With some soy beans, those are really good as well.
Now we blanch it, and you also throw in some ginger,
garlic and some peppercorn.
We usually add some cooking wine to the water
that we use to blanch with each other.
This will remove some of the funky smells.
Um, now we put those in the stock that we braise the pig.
The unique thing about this pot is that we kind of, uh,
refill this, uh, every week.
- [Brent] This is kind of a master stock that
you're going to use for every day. Okay.
- As long as we last.
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- [Lu] So next step we want to de-bone that.
We still want to leave some of the supples in there
so it kind of keeps that unchanged texture.
- [Brent] So you want that variation of texture,
you want to maintain that.
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- [Lu] So the next step is to slice those up
and make it bite sized.
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- [Ben] So, the chef is going to allow me to
break down the other trotter.
And give me the opportunity to embarrass myself.
Uh, which, I always want to do.
(Ben Sighs)
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You know, I've been butchering for 12 years now,
but I've never known exactly how much meat was
in between all of these bones.
- [Lu] Now you see why we take these off the menu.
- [Ben] Yeah.
(laughter)
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- [Ben] How often does the chef, uh,
sneak a bite while he's doing this?
- [Lu] Uh, like, every time.
- Every time?
- [Lu] Yeah he could do that...
- So if I sneak a bite...
- [Lu] Go ahead.
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- Oh my God. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
- What, man, you're gonna carve the turkey
and not give me a bite?
- That is incredible. There is so much happening, though.
The textures are really, really welcoming.
- To me, it reminds me of duck.
- The texture.
- Yeah, like fatty.
- It's just that it's incredible to see a piece of meat
that we see every day, but I never appreciated it
on this level. It's amazing to me the amount of
flavor you packed into this with just, you know,
blanching it, and then cooking it for an hour and a half.
I know you have something very, very special.
- So, what's the actual dish that we're gonna have tonight?
- So, the first one we have here is the
Hunan Charcuterie dish. You can see here on the
cutting board is pig's ear, that's pig shank, also tongue.
- Is this all going to be served together?
- Yes.
- Okay, cool.
- And these are all cooking in the same broth?
- Yes.
- [Ben] So there are, like, a lot of similar flavors
so it is kind of a texture experience?
- [Lu] You get to, for this dish, you get to experience
the different textures of a pig and of cow.
- [Brent] So, you said this is a traditional Hunanese dish,
what differentiates Hunanese cuisine from other
Chinese cooking?
- [Lu] So, the main difference probably the use of
fresh chilies, as compared to other cuisines,
like say Sichuan cuisine, which also is known for
their spiciness. But in Hunan we usually use a lot
of fresh green long chilies. And also, uh, Thai chilies.
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- [Lu] So, you guys want to dig in?
- Super excited. I'm going for the, uh, beef tendon first.
- Alright, you go beef tendon, I'm gonna go pig ear with
some cilantro.
- Whoa, man.
That is so good. I love the collegian,
a little bit of bite, like, and you really...
Yeah, it's spicy. But you just get it at the end like,
everything up front is just all of that braising with that
it's so freaking good. And what's so cool about this, too,
is that, I don't know, personally, when I think about
Charcuterie, I think Italian or French. Like, flavor profile
and everything. But this is same components,
same everything. Just a completely different presentation.
Completely different flavor profile. But, it is
so much more powerful in flavor. It's, it's amazing. Yeah.
- So much more interesting.
- Yeah, I gotta say as a dish, it's so cool to have
the whole thing be three completely different textures,
it's like, it's super fun to eat. 'Cause the texture,
and the taste, is different on every single bite.
- It's time to experience, you know, every different,
you know, those different cuts and a little texture.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Ben] You get that cut like the skin and it has,
like, a little bit of gumminess and like, sweetness from
all of the collegian and then you get the tendon,
which has a little bit of crunch,
and then you have the meat, which is, has that
kind of like fall apart texture.
And you get them all in one bite.
- [Lu] Yup.
- It's amazing, I love this dish. I love it.
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- Kinda like a little baby bird.
- Old baby bird.
(mimics bird chirps)