>> ♪ Do, do-do, do-do ♪ ♪ Do, do-do, do-do ♪ ♪ Do, do-do, do-do ♪ >> In Chengdu, eating on the run is a daily enjoyment.

There are little food stores like this one all over town.

They can be a quick snack or quick meal.

They can be an appetizer, a main dish, or even dessert.

It can be sweet or savory and my favorite, hot and very spicy.

Don't want to eat and run?

Hey, no problem.

Just walk.

So put on your walking shoes, next on "Yan Can Cook."

♪ ♪ ♪ >> "Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom" is brought to you by... >> ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ >> Circulon cookware.

Circles for life.

>> Monogram.

A full line of professional appliances designed for food and entertaining enthusiasts.

♪ By Melissa's.

The freshest ideas in produce.

By Lutian.

Tasting the essence of lotus.

By Granite Expo.

Offering a wide selection of cabinet and countertop solutions.

And by B&G Group of Malaysia.

♪ Building Malaysia's tomorrow.

♪ >> This is Long Chao Shou Restaurant, a Chengdu culinary landmark.

I was told that any visitor to Chengdu cannot consider his trip complete without a stop right here.

Come.

Let me show you why.

♪ The history of this brand goes back over 70 years ago.

I guess, in China, we can call it an overnight success.

Anyway, there are now dozens and dozens of stores all over Chengdu and Sichuan.

They serve millions and millions of dumplings every day.

I'm surprised they don't call themself the "Chao Shou King."

They are so successful that imitators are popping up everywhere.

♪ Chao shou is a specialty Chengdu dumpling.

Chao shou means "close your hands."

That describes the way that we fold these dumplings.

Chef Yi is definitely the champion in Chengdu, perhaps in China.

She can fold three chao shou in less than 10 seconds.

But, honestly, how hard can it be, right?

We're competing to see, in less than 5 minutes, who can produce the most chao shou.

♪ Time's up!

[ Speaks Chinese ] Can you see the difference?

Chef Yan, Chef Yu, and Chef Yi.

Practice makes perfect.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] I just found out why they're so good.

Chef Yi has been folding these chao shou for over 20 years.

You know what?

Never stop learning.

[ Speaks Chinese ] I'm gonna go home and practice for the next 20 years.

I will be just as good as Chef Yi.

[ Laughs ] It would be a grave mistake to dismiss these small-bite chefs simply as specialty chefs.

Like our pastry chef, in China and especially in Chengdu, small bites are taken very seriously.

There are special competitions and tournaments, and they attract the best chefs from far and wide.

The winners are recognized as the best chefs -- not just for snacks or small bites, but the best chefs, period.

♪ Mmm.

So far, we have seen xiaochi served -- outdoors, in very causal settings.

But these smaller dishes can also be a part of a meal.

Xiaochi dishes can also be served in between or along with main courses.

They can help cleanse your palate so that the taste of the other main courses will stand out.

♪ Or you can design an elaborate banquet out of nothing but xiaochi dishes, like this one.

Mmm.

Now the only problem is which one to start.

Mmm!

Delicious.

One small bite for man, one giant spread for mankind.

♪ First-time visitors to Chengdu might have a problem finding the right places for xiaochi.

Hey, not a problem.

Just get on board.

♪ These are special buses that is a gourmet's dream.

This bus takes you to the Xiaochi District.

Once there, the bus goes in a circle around, and every stop is a different xiaochi.

Here -- look at that -- it's a map.

Miss your stop?

Hey, no problem.

This goes in a circle.

Still hungry?

Hey, catch the next bus outside your restaurant, and off you go to the next.

♪ Hey, wait.

Here's my stop.

Get ready.

My next stop is noodles.

You know what?

I don't stop for too many things, but I always stop for noodles.

Everybody's favorite, including myself.

For thousands of years, the Chinese have been making noodles by hand, before the Italians spell pasta, okay?

Now, here, I have the great pleasure to introduce my good friend, Chef Tony, executive chef from M.Y.

China, My China.

In fact, my good friend Chef Tony has been making noodles for over 35 years.

It takes very special skills to twist this noodle and put them together.

From one little glop of pasta, this is the noodle -- sticky.

Now let's try it.

If you practice at home, it takes about three years.

First, you start with one glop of noodle, high-gluten noodles.

Let it rest for about six hours in the refrigerator.

And then use -- Elongate it and stretch it and twist this.

Whoa!

And then twist, twist.

Like making a rope.

Now, when he feels that the noodle is stretchable and elastic enough, it won't break, then he will pull.

You start with one little glop of noodle.

Now we have one strand of noodle.

You twist it on this side.

You fold it on this side.

Fold it, you have two strands of noodle.

And you fold it again, you have four strands of noodle.

Geometric progression.

And then again.

Eight strands of noodle.

16.

32.

Stretch.

64.

128.

256.

500.

Once again, you cut it up.

500 strands of noodle.

Look at that.

And then you dump it into this boiling water.

Now we make our sauce.

>> Okay.

Oil.

>> Tiny bit of good oil.

Garlic and ginger.

>> Yes.

>> You see?

Lots of garlic and lots of ginger.

Love garlic.

And then fermented, pickled chili.

Okay.

>> Soy sauce.

>> Soy sauce.

Tiny bit of sugar.

And then vinegar.

>> Yeah.

Vinegar.

>> Tiny bit of fermented vinegar.

And about 1/4 of a cup Sichuan peppercorn powder -- always.

And then hot oil.

Wow, a lot of hot oil.

A lot of red oil.

Green onion.

You can make this way ahead of time.

Don't have to worry about it.

And then sesame-seed oil.

In Sichuan, they use a lot of sesame-seed oil or ground sesame seed.

And I found out they do the same thing in Korea.

And then we'll put it right here and let it cool down right here.

Look at that.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

And then we will stop the cooking and then let it cool down a little bit.

Look at that.

This is ice-cold water, okay?

Okay.

Let us put the noodle right here after a bit of ice water, just put it right around here.

Look at this.

Now we've got a beautiful cup of noodle.

And just put it -- This is one serving.

Put it right on top.

Look at how beautiful this is.

No meat, but by all means, you can always add some meat sauce, okay?

You can always put some meat sauce -- Sesame seed right on top.

Garnish a little bit.

This is so beautiful.

And...a little chili, a little cilantro.

That's it.

This is how easy it is.

Chef Tony has been practicing this hand-pulled noodle for many, many years.

And you know what?

My next stop is Jinli Street, because I love the cannonball.

♪ We are at one of the busiest spots in Chengdu, Jinli Street.

This is a popular spot for a walk.

Up and down the street, there are restaurants, bars, teahouses, and, of course, all kinds of street food.

♪ [ Drum plays ] Listen.

It sounds like a drumbeat, but I think it's more like cannon fire.

Come.

This is called the sandapao.

Means "three big cannonballs."

[ Speaks Chinese ] Uh-huh.

Quickly.

1, 2, 3.

[ Chuckles ] Let me try.

A tiny bit of oil.

Now... Now I'm going to get ready to fire the cannon.

Ha!

You know what?

All these cannon fall into this.

It is coated with ground sesame seed and toasted soy and served with a wonderful, heavy, sweet syrup.

It is a very tasty, a real attraction, locally.

Oh, see this?

Three cannonball.

Syrup, thick syrup.

Ah!

This is a tasty and real local attraction.

When people hear this... [ Drum plays ] ...they keep running over here to have these cannonballs.

[ Speaks Chinese ] This kind of snacking is truly a Chengdu phenomenon.

This may look just like street food, but there's a lot more to it than just street food or snacks.

The real name for them is xiaochi, which means "small eats" or "small bites."

♪ [ Conversing in Chinese ] Mmm!

Xiaochi can be best described by the size of each dish, but not the huge variety available.

Perhaps we can compare them to Cantonese cuisine, like dim sum, or Spanish tapas.

And like both, xiaochi are often served indoors as a part of a meal or even in formal banquets.

♪ This is People's Park in Chengdu.

Beautiful park filled with thousands of people on weekends.

Why thousands of people are here -- dumpling restaurant.

Even though this is called Dumpling House, dumpling is not the only thing on the menu.

There's a wide variety of dishes available.

Something light and quick -- the perfect choice for a stroll around the park.

I'm invited into this wonderful kitchen of Zhong Shui Jiao.

Jiang Zifu is a master of dumplings.

Appetizer, dim sum, dumpling.

And he can show me how to make the Sichuan-style dumpling.

To make the dough -- You see the dough, huh?

To make this dough?

Flour -- one caddy of flour.

And about 3 1/2 ounces of water.

And one egg.

Now mix them all up and cut it up into the right size -- not too big, not too long, because you want to fold the dumpling wrapper about this size, okay?

About this size only, okay?

First, you use two hands and you press it.

You see?

Press it.

And then you use a little drumstick.

You see?

Thicker in the middle, like an American football.

You roll it hard.

One, roll it.

Don't make it -- Normally, you see them made by pasta machines.

Stamp out thousands of them at a time.

This is all one at a time.

Just enough, about 1/2 a teaspoon.

You put a tiny bit of this right in the middle.

And then you snap this.

And then you put it right in the middle.

And then you use your hand.

Snap this and snap this.

And snap it once like this.

Snap.

See?

You have a dumpling like this.

Very simple.

And then you put on this nice bamboo steam rack, like this.

Continue to do it and put it right over here.

Snap it, like this, and right there -- steam rack.

Now, after we fold all the Sichuan dumpling, we'll boil this right here.

Whoa!

All of them.

Boil it for 2 minutes.

And then you are ready to serve.

[ Conversing in Chinese ] Okay.

Make sure to remove all the water.

This serves at least 1 or 2 people.

And then come over here.

Look at that.

Now, this is the key.

This is the sauce we have been making for eight hours, right here, with all the seasoning.

And this is red chili oil.

Ho-ho!

Red chili oil.

Red chili oil.

Beautiful.

You can tell it's nice and red.

And garlic.

The local garlic.

Ah!

Final touch.

This is the famous zhong shui jiao, the specially handcrafted Sichuan dumpling.

♪ You know some Italian mama or grandmother -- You know how they make the hand-made noodle?

They roll it with a rolling pin.

But the Chinese make noodles a lot more other ways.

This is something you have never seen before.

They twirl the noodle, one-strand noodle.

You put them all together, end-to-end, it would probably go as long as from San Francisco to Los Angeles, go all the way to San Diego.

And I have my good friend Chef Tony... [ Applause ] ...the pasta machine, electrically charged to do the noodle.

Now, you start it out one strand.

You see this?

The strand starts from here, all the way to here.

One strand of noodle.

Now, look at how he does this, okay?

You pull in this boiling water here.

I better stay away.

One.

One, one.

Look at that.

One-strand noodle.

Look at that.

Ha!

One.

This is long -- 200 meters long.

Continue, twirl, continue.

You have never seen this in the U.S. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Continue, continue, continue.

This would go all the way to Baja California, then Mexico City.

Look at this.

This is amazing.

Ah!

Look at that.

One-strand noodle.

This is boiling into a one-strand noodle, like this.

Take this out.

Wow.

Nice noodle.

One strand.

And then put it right over here.

Wow.

Oh, perfect.

Look at this.

This is one strand of big strand of noodle.

And then you use the same sauce.

Put it right on top, serve it.

This is truly one strand.

Put them all together.

And then put it right on top.

You can see how many ways you can do it.

A lot of sauce.

I love the sauce.

This is -- Dribble it around.

Look at that.

My dear friend has been practicing these for years.

So, it goes all the way from San Francisco to New York, to London.

One-strand noodle.

♪ ♪ Spices, spices, a lot of spices.

[ Speaks Chinese ] Mmm!

Delicious.

Wow.

[ Speaks Chinese ] This is another one guaranteed.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

This is the intestine of a duck.

Mmm!

Delicious!

I like it so much.

Mmm!

[ Conversing in Chinese ] Mmm!

♪ Look at this.

Noodle makes a great small bite.

Here, we have a noodle that can fight back.

This is a 50 long, one-strand noodle, or I call it "longevity noodle."

I'm learning from the master.

Movement, movement.

♪ His was just one of the many noodle shops in the Old Town.

Until he started his noodle-cowboy routine, he single-handedly saved the business.

♪ >> You can visit our website to learn more about Martin and his travels, get information about upcoming events, find and print selected recipes, provide e-mail feedback, and more.

It's all at yancancook.com.

"Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom" is brought to you by... >> ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ >> Circulon cookware.

Circles for life.

>> Monogram.

A full line of professional appliances designed for food and entertaining enthusiasts.

♪ By Melissa's.

The freshest ideas in produce.

By Lutian.

Tasting the essence of lotus.

By Granite Expo.

Offering a wide selection of cabinet and countertop solutions.

And by B&G Group of Malaysia.

♪ Building Malaysia's tomorrow.

♪