Spice marinaded cold dishes are popular amongst Chinese food especially for the summer. There are many ways to marinade with the most common dishes seen in Cantonese Dim Sum restuarants outside of China.

In this episode, I will make a variety of spice marinaded cold dishes and show you the principles so you can make the styles you want.

The 3 key ingredients for spice marinaded dishes are:

1. Spice bag
2. Main marined ingredient (i.e. Beef, Tofu, ...)
3. Sauces (i.e. Soy Sauce, Salt, ...)

【Spice Bag Ingredients】
Sichuan Peppercorn
Star Anise
Expand to the traditional 5 spices combo:
Clove
Cumin
Cassia Bark
Restuarant recipes can go have tens of different spices. For example:
Liquorice root
Black cardamon
Dried chilis
... You can experiment with your favorite spices ...

【Sauces】
Stock + Water: 2500g (100%)
Salt 50g (2%)
Dark Soy Sauce 50g (2%)
Rock Sugar 100g (4%)
Rice wine 25g (1%)

【Main Ingredient】
You can marinate pretty much any main ingredient you want. Below are some popular ones and differences. Start by boiling on high heat the main ingredient in the marinade broth. Then stew on low heat for the indicated time.

Beef Shank, Pig Knuckles, Tail, Ears, ... (stew for 1.5h)
Chicken (stew for 30 min)
Tofu product (stew for 15 min)
Edamame, peanuts, kombu, or any vegetable that can be stewed for a long time all works

After stewing, leave it to cool down and refrigerate soaked in marinade for 12 days for the flavor to penetrate. A shorter soaking of about 34 hours after stewing works too but the flavor won't be a rich.