Every Lao Gan Ma, explained.

Lao Gan Ma is more than just the chili crisp. We wanted to introduce all 17 Lao Gan Ma products - teach you a bit about the background in the context of Guizhou cuisine, and do a little taste test with rice.

I know Steph promised LGM recipes from their website in the outro... unfortunately this is only in Chinese. Their USA website did not translate, our bad:

0:00 - Introduction
0:50 - Fried Chili In Oil
1:38 - Chili Oil with Black Bean
2:11 - Spicy Chili Crisp
3:48 - "The Big Three" Taste Test
5:02 - Hot Chili Sauce, San Ding
6:03 - Chicken Chili Oil
7:36 - Chili Oil with Pork Slivers
8:14 - Bean Chili with Pork Mince
8:47 - Beef Black Bean Chili Oil
9:28 - Mushroom Chili Oil
10:16 - Fermented Soybean Chili
11:12 - Chili Oil Beancurd
11:46 - Spicy Bean Paste
12:31 - Pickled Chili
13:17 - Tomato Chili Sauce
13:58 - Spicy Salted Cabbage
14:42 - Hotpot Bases
15:26 - Outro

#1 - Fried Chili In Oil 油辣椒

The classic Guizhou chili oil.

#2 - Chili Oil with Black Bean 豆豉风味油辣椒
Alt names: Black Bean Sauce

The OG Lao Gan Ma, most popular in China.

#3 - Spicy Chili Crisp 香辣脆油辣椒
Alt names: Crispy Chili in Oil

The most popular Lao Gan Ma product abroad.

#4 - Hot Chili Sauce 辣三丁油辣椒
Alt Names: Triple spice in jar

Our personal favorite.

#5 - Chicken Chili Oil 风味鸡油辣椒
Alt Names: Chicken Flavour Chili Oil with Tofu

This one is unavailable in the west, likely because of import restrictions. In the UK and Europe they seem get around the restriction by removing the chicken pieces and swapping in tofu jerky. Unavailable in NA.

#6 - Chili oil with Pork Slivers 干煸肉丝油辣椒

Seems to be mostly unavailable in the West. Found this on Amazon, however:

#7 - Bean Chili with Pork Mince 肉丝豆豉油辣椒
Alt Names: Granny Pork mince.

#8 - Beef Black Bean Chili Oil 精制牛肉末油辣椒

Seems to be mostly unavailable in the West. Out of stock on Amazon at time of posting:

#9 - Oil Chili Condiment with Mushroom 香菇油辣椒
Alt Names: Mushroom Oil Chili

This one seems very available in the west.

#10 - Fermented Soybean Chili 风味水豆豉

There have been reports of this product at TNT in Canada. I cannot find it online, however.

#11 - Chili Oil Beancurd 红油腐乳

This one is also very available in the West. Nice furu product.

#12 - Spicy Bean Paste 香辣酱

#13 - Pickled Chili 糟辣椒

This is at many Chinese supermarkets, such as 99 Ranch and TNT, but is harder to find online.

#14 - Tomato Chili Sauce 番茄辣酱

There have been sightings of this product at Chinese supermarkets in the West. A little hard to find online.

#15 - Spicy Salted Cabbage 香辣菜
Alt Names: Salt Chili Vegetable

#16 - Zaola Hotpot Base

Seems to be unavailable in the West.

#17 - Douchi Hotpot Base

And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!

Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ

[ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes:

EDIT: The first chili oil, "Fried Chili in Oil", contains peanuts. Apparently in some countries (Canada I think?) the label says something along the lines of 'chili oil with peanut‘, or something like that. A *lot* of people are commenting that we didn't cover the peanut Lao Gan Ma - that's what we're describing at 0:50 :) Another common name variant is "Kohlrabi, Peanuts and Tofu in Chilli Oil" for the #4 'Hot Chili Sauce' at 5:02

1. Lots of fun trying to track down if and where some of these products are available online, lol. The description box got a little long there, so I wasn’t able to fit in my spiel that I always give when linking stuff online: use online purchases as your method of last resort. Support your local Chinese supermarket – the products will be a *fraction* of the price there vs online.

2. As a brief aside, if anyone can explain to me why Amazon is basically always more expensive than the supermarket in North America, I’m all ears. Always feels weird to me, because in China Taobao/JD are *cheaper*. Feels more intuitive, because no rent, right?

3. Most Lao Gan Ma products actually seem pretty available online if you do some digging. Lao Gan Ma’s online retailer in the USA is called “ihomehouseware”. Between them, Amazon, Yamibuy, and WalMart… you should be able to find like 75% of the product line if you’re in North America. Even Europe seems to have importers that carry most of the products.

4. The remaining 25% are the Lao Gan Ma products with meat inside. I assume that there’s some sort of import restriction on meat products in the West. There’s been a million copycat chili crisp products on the market as of late, so if you’re a NA or Europe-based condiment manufacturer… I suggest that you look into copying the *meat* Lao Gan Mas, instead of creating the nth version of chili crisp. The world needs the beef mince black bean Lao Gan Ma product.

5. If for some reason a condiment maker actually *is* reading this and thinks that’s a good idea, reach out to us. We’ve got some solid Lao Gan Ma copycat experience by this point, lol.

6. Proper recipe video will be out next week, then the Q&A video with Steph’s Dad Dawei will be out the following week. Apologies for the spate on non-recipe videos this month… I have to sort some visa stuff, and we’ve got some more intensive harder-to-crack dishes simmering on the backburner.


CCs will be out in a bit. It’s always a bit harder to make CCs for this sort of video – usually my VOs and such are scripted, so it’s a simple copy/paste. This one we gotta go through and type it out, and just couldn’t finished in time. It’ll get done today (our time).

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

History behind Lao Gan Ma for those curious: The person on the jar is Tao Huabi, who first created her chili sauce in 1984 and is a deputy of the National People's Congress in China. She opened a restaurant in 1989 in Guiyang the capital of Guizhou, and she was known as a godmother who helped poor students by giving them discounts and extra food. When people would come to her restaurant to purchase her sauce, she took notice. Then when there was highway construction by her restaurant, truckers would stop by her restaurant, and she'd give the sauce to them for free. She turned her noodle restaurant into a sauce shop in 1994 and her business just grew from there. The spicy chili crisp is most definitely the good stuff. I thank Mikey Chen for making me want to put chili oil on everything.

[theansweris]

The dog blepping it's tongue in the back for like 10 minutes had me dying

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

I did not expect a Lao Gan Ma tier list...but I'm also not complaining. The choices are definitely overwhelming! I have at least three jars of Lao Gan Ma in my pantry as we speak and have tried quite a few over time...the San Ding one is definitely my fave. First time seeing your videos and I absolutely loved this. You have a passion for food that clearly shines through when you talk about all of these varieties! I also canNOT believe you did all of this in a white t-shirt. Mad respect!

[someguy-kh]

That little dog was so cute, and patient.
I really liked watching you and this content. Very clear, very interesting, super informative. You got my sub.

[elizabethh]

Thank you for this! Brings back a memory - I was living in Houston - large city in USA, which has a very large area with lots of Asian markets. I went to one of the grocery stores there to pick up some ingredients from a cooking video - two of them were the Lao Gan Ma Fried Chili in Oil and Chili Oil Beancurd. They had so many jars, and none with English. I asked a few people for help (I had pictures of what I needed - and was really struggling). Nobody spoke English. Then an older woman saw me staring at my phone, and staring at the shelves. She took my phone, looked at the pictures, and proceeded to pick out all the products for me. So helpful! I was finally able to make my recipes with the right ingredients (not just these, but different soy sauces, vinegars, etc) - such a difference!!!!

[carvas]

now I want this "is it good on rice" segment to become a recurring thing... every dish should be followed with an "is it good on rice" segment! noodles: are they good on rice?

[TheReal_GMan]

Thank you Zhong Xina for introducing me to this

[richcus]

I lived in China for nearly ten years. I couldn't live without LGM balck bean chili sauce...not only on rice but in measured amounts in soups or as a dipping sauce. Thanks for reminding me. Now that I am back in the US, I struggle to find good Chinese food products. Thanks again!

[Cainly]

Funny thing, when my friend first told me about Lao Gan Ma, I thought he said "lagad mat" (=swedish for "cooked food") in an extreme scanian dialect (sounds like "laogad maud"). We call it "laogad maud" now.

[benskidmore]

Best "We bought one of everything and tried it" video ever! No clickbait, no long spiel, just showing us the food. I love it!

Also we took delivery of 6 jars of Lao Gan Ma today ^_^

[cosmicflash]

Thank you for this comprehensive explainer! I actually CAN read Chinese but was still overwhelmed by the selection at the store and wasn’t sure which variation is appropriate for what uses. This was super helpful.

[michaelmunno]

wow! thank you for this. my girlfriend is Chinese and she introduced me to Lao Gan Ma. I used it often, especially in braised pork and my own pork fried rice recipe. often add it for dipping sauce when we cook our own hot pot, etc. I did not realize there were more than 2! My local Asian market has some and I'm always trying to figure out why I think I'm buying the same thing and sometimes it has peanuts in it and sometimes not. She prefers without. I like them both. I had no idea there were this many other versions. I will have to be sure to bring my reading glasses next time and be sure to read all the bottles more carefully. So far the two that I seem to keep coming home with (and far cheaper in the Asian market than online fyi) are the Fried Chili in Oil and the Spicy Chili crisp versions. I cannot believe there is so much more to learn about it than just the 2 I am familiar with!! haha. thank you for this video! xiexie!

[pigzard]

This takes me back to 2014 during my first business trip to China. Our Chinese counterparts introduced it to us during lunch time and we couldn't get enough of it and it goes well with almost anything. It took about 5 years later to be available in my country and it's now a staple condiment in my house.

[savannahm.laurentian]

Can't believe your apologizing for lack of recipes. You're the only one going into such great detail on ingredients!

[unamericano]

As much as the subject matter and educational aspects of the channel is a treat, I have to say the production and personalities involve create such an easy to understand and enjoyable food education experience I’m always happy to watch hours of content for the sheer brain stimulation you guys provide.

[nguyenchau]

With all those difficult to open jar, you need a "How do I get this on rice" category

[NadiaThePoet]

Where have you been all my life! Been wanting to find a YouTube channel like this for years. So happy to be here! You guys are so interesting and insightful! Thank you!

[st.johnfromdesmoines]

So, first off, I *ADORE* this channel!! It has opened me up to so much that I was unaware or only superficially aware of, and provided further clarification into things that I was aware of. I also love the "west meets east" meeting of cultures that we have here! a-MAZing channel! I've never not had a good time here!

Also, for a medium-sized metropolitan area in the middle of the US Midwest, the city in which I live, Des Moines has a surprisingly robust selection of ethnic grocery stores, including some very respectable multi-culture Asian groceries, and I'm the kind who will go in there and blow $100 when I was supposed to spend $10, and as much as half of it on things I've never even heard of, or at least never had a chance to try.

And as such, I've had the opportunity to personally try seven of these Lao Gan Ma products (four of which I presently still have on hand):

On hand, I have (using the English language names):

Fried Chili in Oil
Fried Chili Crisp (of course)
Hot Chili Sauce
and Tomato Chili Sauce.

I have also previously had

Chili Oil with Black Bean
Chili Oil Beancurd
and Spicy Salted Cabbage

I also recognize a handful of the others from seeing them on the shelves at the markets. I'll make it a point to try them. Of the ones I've had, I love them all. But my personal favorites are the Chili Tomato Sauce, and above all, the Hot Chili Sauce. I work to incorporate them in as many things as I can, and sometimes I'll even just sneak a little straight from the jar. What I really want is a better idea of the best times to use the right ones in authentic cooking. This video gives me some idea of that! So, thank you! :-)

Lastly, I may well be the only guy in America to actually have a Lao Gan Ma sticker on my laptop! I got a hold of some label paper, a color laser printer and went crazy making my own from images off the internet, and decided Lao Gan Ma needed to be one of them! :-) Since I'm afraid that a link will cause this comment to be blocked, I'll "reply-to-self" with a Google Photos link to a picture of my laptop. :-)

Anyway, thank you much for this channel! Keep up the good work, and I'll keep watching!

Cheers!

p.s. re: my opinion on LGM Chili Crisp: the first few tastes are absolutely revelatory! Bright, sharp, crisp, frgrant, mildly spicy, and impossibly vibrant. But get too many bites in, and the hua jiao begins to overpower a little bit. At least for me, anyway. I can taste the hua jiao in the other LGM sauces that I have which contain it....but it never seems to take over on those sauces like it does with chili crisp. I wonder if anyone else feels the same way. :-)

[mik]

somebody give Steph an award for this video, and a glass of water!