New & Improved (& Easier) Chili Crisp

my apologies (and deep respect) to all who survived the old recipe

On a recent episode of Splendid Table (not the one I was just on, which you can stream here), a listener called in asking what ingredients are essential to chili crisp. Apparently, he had seen my 17-ingredient recipe for chili crisp on Serious Eats. It includes 3 types of chilies (which make no damn sense together), red or black cardamom (what’s my problem with good ole green cardamom?), and porcini powder (do you know how expensive porcinis are?!). To all who sought out those ingredients and made the recipe as written, I deeply apologize. No, I was not trolling you. Let me explain.

At Serious Eats, I was left in the kitchen unsupervised. And I’m someone who easily runs off the rails if left unsupervised. (Just ask my editor, Tom. Also, no one edits this newsletter. That’s why there are so many parentheticals.) There were editors and copy editors who edited the 2000 words of text that used to accompany every recipe back when I worked there (they’ve recently reformatted and slimmed down much of the copy, but having to bust out that many words 2x per week prepared me for writing my giant doorstop of a cookbook). However, I was often alone in that kitchen.

Unlike most other publications, there was no pitching process, no recipe testing, and no recipe editing (from what I hear, they test recipes now). At times, this was awesome. I could make whatever I wanted and obsess over niche dishes like dosa, chaat masala, and toasted cream. But sometimes, it led me to develop weird, long, and downright stupid recipes. Does anyone remember Ant’s on a Bog? That celery soup with peanut crumble still sends shivers down my spine. What was I thinking making harissa with ancho and Kashmiri chilies? Just go ahead and cancel me already! And, of course, the 17-ingredient chili crisp recipe that requires you to stem and seed dried chilies over the course of an entire weekend. At least at the end of my chili crisp recipe, you get something spectacularly delicious, not something I can say for Ants on a Bog.

I can get extra and don’t mind spending hours in the kitchen. In fact, it’s my natural habitat. So now, when I develop a recipe, I first make the Serious Eats version (with too many hard-to-find ingredients and every bowl in the house). Then, I think about everything I’ve learned from talented recipe developers and editors over the years, and rework the recipe to get me to 90% as delicious with 10% of the work. For chili crisp, that means letting go of whole chilies in place of chili flakes, pairing down the spices only to the essentials, and dropping the chef-y stuff entirely (bye-bye porcini powder). Okay, it still has 17 ingredients. But you can buy them all at Whole Foods. That’s growth, folks.

New & Improved (& Easier) Chili Crisp

Makes about 3 cups / Active time: 1 ½ hours / Total time: 3 hours

Ever since I first tasted Laoganma’s Spicy Chili Crisp I’ve been hooked. It’s spicy and crispy for sure, but also tingly, salty, sweet, and aromatic. It’s my favorite condiment and I need to put it on something every day. Before there was only Laoganma, but nowadays, there are countless jars of chili crisp lining market shelves, but I still like to make my own. My version is heavy on the crisp and relatively light on the chili, suitable for bigger dollops (and maybe even eating by the spoonful). Some of you may have spotted a chili crisp recipe of mine floating on the internet for a few years now, but this is the new and improved version. It’s better balanced and easier to make. Don’t you love it when things work out like that? 

New & Improved (& Easier) Chili Crisp

63.6KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

the spices & seasonings:

• 3 tablespoons whole Sichuan peppercorns

• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 1 ½-inch piece ginger, peeled & cut into thin matchsticks

• 4 tablespoons Korean red chili flake 

• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 

• One 3-inch cinnamon stick

• 1 whole star anise 

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt 

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 

• ½ teaspoon MSG (optional)

the crisp:

• 3 medium shallots, peeled & sliced on a mandolin into 1/16-inch rings

• 12 garlic cloves, peeled & thinly sliced on a mandolin

• 2 cups neutral oil 

• ½ cup raw peanuts

• ¼ cup raw sesame seeds

---

1. Prepare the spices & seasonings: Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add Sichuan peppercorns, black peppercorns, coriander, cumin, and toast, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Blitz in a spice grinder until fine and pour into a medium heat-proof bowl. Add ginger, chili flake, cayenne, cinnamon, star anise, salt, sugar, and MSG (if using) to bowl as well and set aside.

2. Set yourself up: Line a large plate or medium sheet tray with paper towels. Set a wire mesh strainer over a second medium heat-proof bowl. 

3. Fry the shallots: Combine the oil and shallots in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly. Once all the shallots are evenly light golden brown, immediately strain through the mesh strainer, collecting the shallot oil in the bowl below. Quickly spread the shallots onto the paper towel lined plate or sheet tray. 

4. Fry the garlic: Pour the oil back into the pot, add the sliced garlic, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once all the garlic slices just begin to show hints of light golden brown, immediately strain through the mesh strainer, collecting the garlic oil in the bowl below. Quickly spread the garlic chips onto the paper towel lined plate or sheet tray. 

5. Fry the nuts & seeds: Pour the oil back into the pot, add the peanuts and sesame seeds, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until lightly golden brown. Pour the hot oil, nuts, and seeds directly over the bowl of spices, stirring well to evenly bloom all the spices. Let cool fully at room temperature. 

6. Bring it all together: Once cool, remove the cinnamon stick and star anise. Add the shallots and garlic, stirring to combine. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 3 months. Stir well before each use. 

---

Don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen? Break up this recipe:

Day 1 - Peel, slice, and fry the shallots

Day 2 - Peel, slice, and fry the garlic in the reserved shallot oil

Day 3 - Toast and grind the spices, fry the peanuts and sesame in the reserved shallot/garlic oil, and bring it all together