How to make Sichuan red oil

In Sichuan cuisine, red oil can be said to be an indispensable seasoning. If you want to eat authentic Sichuan cuisine, the authenticity of the taste of the red oil will play a decisive role. In fact, the red oil mentioned in Sichuan cuisine is what we often call chili oil. Different restaurants have different methods of making red oil. Today we will introduce to you the production method of Sichuan red oil, and we hope that everyone can make authentic Sichuan red oil.

Three types of red oil

In the land of Bashu, red oil is called by many names, such as cooked chili oil, red chili oil, cooked chili oil, etc. It can be said that most Sichuan snacks are inseparable from red oil, such as vegetarian noodles, sweet water noodles, Zhong dumplings, long wontons, husband and wife lung slices, red oil rabbit cubes, etc. Red oil is the soul of Chongqing noodles and Yibin yanmian.

Red oil is a condiment with a complex flavor, which includes burnt aroma, crispy aroma and fat aroma.

The so-called burnt aroma refers to the aroma produced when the pepper is fried into a dark brown.

The so-called crispy fragrance refers to the aroma produced when the peppers are fried until crispy.

The so-called fat aroma refers to the pleasant aroma produced when the oil extracted from the pepper after being fried is mixed with refined vegetable oil.

According to the different proportions of burnt aroma, crispy aroma and fat aroma, red oil can be divided into three categories: one is mainly burnt aroma, supplemented by crispy aroma and fat aroma, and has a darker color. The second is that it is mainly crispy and fat-flavored, with a secondary burnt aroma, and the color is dark red. Third, it has a crispy aroma as the main flavor, supplemented by a fat aroma, without any burnt aroma, and a bright red color.

Sichuan's hot and sour rice noodles and pork intestine rice noodles require burnt-flavored red oil, while sweet potato vermicelli relies heavily on these two condiments: burnt-flavored red oil and vinegar. If we make a simple quantification based on the aroma composition of the dishes, the aroma of the red oil used to make hot and sour noodles and pork intestine noodles should account for about 20% of the total aroma of the red oil.

When making Chengdu’s diced rabbit in red oil, the red oil used should account for about 10% of the entire red oil aroma. It can be blended with the moldy fermented black beans (such as Chengdu Taihe fermented black beans, Yongchuan fermented black beans, Santai Tongchuan fermented black beans, etc.) to form a unique fermented black bean aroma.

The red oil used in dishes such as Zhong dumplings, Long Chao Shou, sweet water noodles, Chongqing noodles, vegetarian noodles, Yibin Yanmian, Bang Bang Chicken, and red oil chicken nuggets should have a burnt degree of about 8% of the total red oil aroma.

Selection and processing of peppers

There are hundreds of varieties of peppers in my country. Here is a rule of thumb for choosing peppers: the larger the peppers, the less spicy they are, and the smaller the peppers, the hotter they are. Different peppers have their own characteristics, either spicy, fragrant, or good color. There are very few varieties that are both spicy and fragrant, so we must choose more than two types of peppers to achieve the purpose of complementary fragrance and spiciness. When I make red oil, I usually choose Guizhou's Erjingtiao pepper (for its fragrance), Henan's new generation pepper (for its spiciness) and Xinjiang's wrinkled pepper (for its color), and mix the three in a ratio of 1:1:1.

After selecting the peppers, they still need to be processed initially. The first step is to cut the sections. Cut each type of pepper into short sections of 1.5 to 2 cm in length. The second step is to stir-fry. Put cooking oil in a large iron pan and heat it to 20% hot. Add the pepper sections and seeds and stir-fry over low heat. The third step is to crush them. Put the fried pepper sections into a pestle and pound them into pepper powder.

The process is not complicated, but there are many details that require attention.

The climate in the north is dry, and the peppers may be crushed if you use a little force with your fingers. How can you cut them into sections with scissors? My suggestion is: spread the dry peppers flat on the table or on the ground, spray a little water on them, cover them with plastic cloth, and wait until they soften before cutting them into sections.

When frying, the amount of cooking oil used is determined by the color of the peppers. Use less for peppers with good color and more for peppers with slightly poorer color. Generally, it is 6% to 8% of the weight of the peppers, and can reach up to 10%. Adding too much oil will affect the subsequent crushing effect. Be sure to stir-fry slowly over low heat. When you hear the rustling sound of the pepper segments colliding with each other in the pan and it becomes crisp, it means that the moisture they contain is almost dried up. At this time, you should turn off the heat immediately, but continue to stir-fry until the temperature in the pot drops.

Stir-frying peppers can achieve two aroma effects, one is crispy and the other is burnt. We can control the heat according to actual needs. For example, if we need to refine a fragrant red oil, we need to fry 70% of the chilies into crispy and bright red chilies, and fry 30% of the dry chili nodes into dark brown chilies. Then, mix the two types of chilies together and pound them into powder. If you are making crispy red oil, you just need to fry all the peppers until they become crispy and fragrant.

The coarseness and fineness of the chili powder are also important. Generally speaking, for refined and fragrant red oil, the particle size of the chili powder should be slightly coarser. Note: The crushed chili powder cannot be used immediately and needs to be sealed and stored for two or three days. During the sealing process, the color of the chili powder will become a bright red. The principle is that oil is added during the frying process, which plays a moisturizing role during the storage process.

Vegetable oil selection and refining

To make red oil, in addition to choosing good peppers, you also have to choose good oil. The best oil is rapeseed oil.

Rapeseed oil, also known as vegetable oil or clear oil in Sichuan, contains a substance called erucic acid, so it smells like a special smell, which is what we commonly call "raw clear oil smell". Therefore, before refining red oil, the rapeseed oil needs to be refined first. Oil refining is a "high-risk job" and some restaurants have had fires due to improper oil refining methods. Here I will introduce to you the methods of oil refining and safety precautions.

The secret recipe is here

It is recommended to place a low stove on the ground, and a stainless steel barrel with slightly thicker walls on the stove. The barrel should not be higher than an adult's chest, and the rapeseed oil poured in should not exceed 2/3 of the entire barrel height. During the oil refining process, it is best to use a thermometer to accurately control the oil temperature.

It is particularly important to note that when the oil is poured into the barrel and the fire is turned on to heat it, the operator cannot leave even a step, must have fire-fighting equipment ready, and must keep safety awareness in mind.

When the oil temperature rises to 170℃, the rapeseed oil in the barrel will smoke, and substances such as erucic acid will gradually evaporate. When refining rapeseed oil, the oil temperature should not exceed 260℃. If the temperature is too high, the oil will accelerate oxidation and become smelly. This is what we often call "the oil is refined too old" (rapeseed oil that is refined "too old" cannot be used). The best refining temperature is to control it at 245℃~260℃, heat it over low heat for 15 minutes, turn off the heat, and let it cool naturally to produce mature rapeseed oil.

When refining red oil, the ratio of chili powder to cooked oil should be determined according to demand, and there is no strict regulation. According to the custom in Chengdu, 2500 ml of cooking oil is usually used for every 500 grams of chili powder. Some people will add star anise, cardamom (or fragrant fruit), and white sesame seeds to the refined red oil, soak it for a while before use. Use a thermometer to check when the oil temperature in the barrel drops to 110°C, pour it into the container containing chili powder and stir evenly. The newly refined red oil cannot be used immediately. It needs to be stored for two or three days and stirred two or three times in the middle.

Some people think that the red oil they make is not viscous enough and does not taste good when used to mix vegetables, so they add thickeners to the red oil, add flavor enhancers if the aroma is not good enough, add capsicum red pigment if the color is not good enough, etc. Are these practices correct? I think: as long as it complies with the relevant national food laws and regulations, you can add it in moderation, but you must pay attention to the "degree". When refining red oil, you must ask yourself more questions: Is the refined red oil natural in color? Is the aroma pure? Is the taste authentic? In short, you cannot add unnecessary details.