Lo Mein Shiitake Cabbage Recipe

Grind a combination of beef and smoky, spicy Cajun andouille sausage for burger patties. Grill, then top with blue cheese and a sauce of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, mustard, parsley, lemon juice, cayenne, horseradish, and garlic for the most spicy and flavorful burgers.
The second great thing about making dan dan noodles—it's an exceedingly simple dish to make. Once you've put together your roasted chile vinaigrette (which holds for months in the fridge, by the way), it's just a matter of cooking your noodles, frying your chopped pork, and throwing everything together.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook noodles, stirring regularly with tongs or long chopsticks, until al dente and separated, about 1 minute. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and set aside.

This take on fried rice looks to the sea for inspiration—we make the dish with fresh crab (if you can get it; use canned if you can't) and season it with fish sauce. We tend to prefer jasmine, medium-grain white, or sushi rice for this and all our fried rice recipes. Long-grain rice works, but it doesn't get the same chewy-tender texture as shorter varieties.

"Riesling with some fruitiness and a bit of age pairs nicely with heavy and complexly spiced Chinese sauces. Riesling from older vintages can be hard to come by at an everyday wine store, but they do make appearances from time to time. Stock up when you see a nice Riesling with age and save it for a rainy Chinese takeout day! I did this with a Riesling Spatlese from Mosel, Germany 1997 for less than $20 that I found at my neighborhood wine store and enjoyed it with a few savory, dark-sauced Chinese dishes—the flavors balanced each other perfectly. Additional choices from the other side of the Rhine River are Alsatian Pinot Gris, Muscat, Riesling and Gewurztraminer—these all contain a lot of complex spice notes, and occasionally a touch of residual sugar, which allow them to work with Chinese food."— Caleb Ganzer, Eleven Madison Park (NYC)

A BYOB restaurant is a beautiful thing; it's also fun to get takeout and be able to open wine from your own collection or favorite wine shop. But if Chinese food is on the menu, which bottles should you pop? Depends on if you're eating Mapo tofu or Noodleinsight.Com Peking duck, dan dan noodles, dumplings, or delicate seafood preparations. We asked 14 sommeliers for their wine pairing advice. What's the most delicious wine to pair with Chinese food? Here's what they had to say.

Perhaps the biggest key to making excellent dan dan noodles is to make your own roasted chile oil. When done right, it gets a rich, fruity, smoky flavor that none of the store-bought stuff can touch. It's really quite simple. Toasted Sichuan peppercorns have a sweet, citrus-like aroma with a mouth-numbing quality, while roasted chile oil brings on the heat.

This recipe is a true hybrid. It starts with a traditional French mirepoix base of onions, carrots, and celery cooked down in extra virgin olive oil, but then gets a bare hint of flavors with a curry bent—ginger, garlic, hot chili, a touch of coriander and cumin and a jar of coconut milk. An unconventional gremolata topping turns a run-of-the-mill wacky lentil soup into something downright fancy tasting.

Preserved mustard root like this (often labeled "Sichuan Preserved Vegetable") can be found in cans or jars in your Chinese market. Once opened, they'll last for months in a sealed container in the fridge. You don't need much to add big flavor to dishes.

This Chinese-Peruvian dish combines ingredients from both cuisines with the deep, smoky flavor provided by stir-frying. Tender slices of beef are cooked over a high flame along with red onion, tomato, and a sauce of ginger, garlic, and soy sauce; allowing the contents of the wok to briefly catch fire (if you're daring enough!) will bring even more of that smoky wok hei flavor to your food. Serve the stir-fry with a mound of rice and a pile of crisp French fries .

To make the roasted chile oil, just toast a handful of whole Chinese chiles (or if you want, red pepper flakes) in a dry skillet until fragrant and ever-so-slightly smoking (about 30 seconds). Transfer them to a food processor with a cup of neutral oil, like canola, and whiz the whole thing up. Let it sit in a sealed container in the fridge for a week or so, and you're good to go. You can even top up the jar with more oil and toasted chiles every time you seem to be running low. Make some, have it on hand at all times, and it will revolutionize your mapo tofu, ramen, dumplings, stir-fries, and countless other dishes.

"There are usually many components to juggle; is the dish light or heavy, is the spice character low or aggressive, is the heat character mild or strong? With that said, here are some guidelines with a general range of dishes. Dim Sum can throw a dizzying amount of complex pairings your way. Stick with a high acid wine that also has significant weight. Riesling from Alsace (seek out the wines of Andre Ostertag) or Austria (Johannes Hirsch from the Kamptal is a rockstar!) would work great here and will keep your palate pristine in-between bouts with the steam cart. For spicy noodle, rice, or tofu dishes, texture and heat are the main concern. I like wines with softer acidity and a rounder texture as it will help balance the heat component. Gewurztraminer from Alsace (Zind-Humbrecht for a richer style) and Viognier from the Northern Rhône (any cuvée from Yves Cuilleron) or Central Coast of California (Morgan Clendenen’s Cold Heaven) are round and lush and can lend their own exotic profile to the dish. For smoked or roasted proteins with sweet sauces, such as Peking duck , red wine can be the go-to for you to build on the umami factor. A Barbera from Alba (Vietti’s bottling from the Scarrone vineyard is a prime example) or a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (look for Failla from Ehren Jordan) will be dexterous with their acidity and high- toned red fruit."— Ehren Ashkenazi, The Modern (NYC)