• Home
  • About
  • Recipes
    • Savory
    • Sweet
    • Tinned Fish
  • Contact Me
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Day With Mei

Chinese-American pantry recipes

Sichuan

Recipes, Savory · November 20, 2025

Fava Bean and Tofu Skin Salad with Mala Vinaigrette

Creamy, sweet fava beans meet delightfully bouncy tofu skin in this flavor-packed salad from Sichuan. The mala vinaigrette is flavored with chili oil and Sichuan peppercorn for a tingly spicy The entire dish comes together in just 15 minutes and…

Read More

Recipes, Savory · June 12, 2025

Silkie Chicken Soup

This nourishing Chinese herbal soup is made with silkie chicken, prized for its rich flavor and restorative properties. Simmered with traditional Chinese medicinal herbs like angelica root, astragalus, and goji berries, it’s a comforting dish rooted in healing. Walk into…

Read More

Recipes, Savory · April 28, 2025

Mushroom “Rice” with Yacai Stir-Fry 菌米芽菜

This stir-fry is my plant-based take on a Sichuan homestyle favorite, built around yacai, the savory, craveable Sichuanese pantry staple. This recipe is inspired by jimiyacai (鸡米芽菜) chicken “rice” with yacai, a traditional Sichuanese homestyle stir-fry made with pieces of…

Read More

Recipes, Sweet · March 21, 2025

Strawberry Sichuan Peppercorn Syrup

This 3 ingredient recipe is an accessible way to explore flavor pairings like this juicy strawberry and sichuan peppercorn combo. Strawberry and sichuan peppercorns may seem like an unlikely pairing, but the citrusy notes and tingly sensation of sichuan pepper make the strawberries taste extra juicy.

Savory · January 27, 2025

Chengdu-Style Spring Rolls & Homemade Spring Roll Wrappers

These Chengdu-style spring rolls are a light and fresh street snack that don’t require messy frying. When you think of spring rolls, the first image that comes to mind might be golden, crispy shells hot from the fryer. But these…

Read More

Savory · January 6, 2025

Sichuan Paocai (Infinite Pickle Jar)

Paocai (泡菜), literally meaning “soaked vegetables” in Chinese, is a traditional Sichuanese pickle made through lacto-fermentation. Paocai is deeply rooted in Sichuan cuisine, prized for its versatility as both a side dish and ingredient. Unlike many other fermented pickles, paocai…

Read More

Savory · November 21, 2024

Salt Fried Pork 盐煎肉

Salt Fried Pork is a flavor-packed Sichuan dish perfect for weeknights, since it takes just 10 minutes to make. Juicy pork, aromatic green garlic, douchi, and Pixian douban are fundamental flavors of Sichuan cuisine: deeply complex but simple to enjoy,…

Read More

Savory · October 28, 2024

Tofu Skin, Celtuce, and Wood Ear Mushroom Salad

This Chinese cold appetizer is quick to execute while delivering big on flavor and nutrition. Tofu skin lends protein while celtuce and wood ear mushroom provide fiber and micronutrients. Sichuan peppercorn oil ties the dish together with its signature tingle….

Read More

Savory · October 15, 2024

Mapo Tofu

This is my take on 麻婆豆腐 mapo tofu, the iconic tingly-spicy Sichuan tofu dish. It’s a version fit for weeknights, slightly abbreviated but not at all short on flavor. Ingredients Tofu – Soft, medium, and firm tofu all have a…

Read More

Savory · July 11, 2024

Heartbreak Liangfen (Jelly Noodles) 伤心凉粉

Liangfen are a type of noodles with a bouncy, jelly-like texture made from mung bean starch or green pea starch. The noodles are served cold, drenched in a spicy sauce. Heartbreak liangfen is a popular Sichuan dish where liangfen is…

Read More

Savory · February 23, 2024

Sichuan Pig Ear Salad

Sichuan pig ear salad is a traditional Chinese dish doused in a spicy garlic sauce. It’s perfect as a cold appetizer or even packed in school lunches alongside rice or noodles. Don’t skimp on the chili oil in this one!…

Read More

Primary Sidebar

About Photo
Hi! I'm Mei, a Chinese-American recipe developer seeing familiar foods from a new perspective.

Search

Popular Posts

Trending Now

daywithmei

cooking to change your mind
💫 2x james beard & iacp nominated
📨 mei@daywithmei.com 📍nyc
👇 recipes and mutual aid linked

Tinned Fish Talk 🎣 King Salmon Cheeks from @wildfi Tinned Fish Talk 🎣 King Salmon Cheeks from @wildfishcannery 

King salmon cheeks are a cut you can’t get anywhere else in a can, it’s rare to even find at a fishmonger, much less a restaurant. Fish cheeks are rare because they are so small and labor-intensive to harvest. There’s only two per fish so you can imagine how much it takes to fill a single can.

The good news: this is one of the most uniquely pleasurable experiences I’ve had from a tin of fish. The bad news: there is a very limited quantity that sells out almost immediately each year (sorry!) For transparency, they sent me this tin ($44) but know i’ve been a continued customer and all opinions are my own.

I chose to warm up the unopened tin in hot water so the natural fat and collagen are even more luxurious—like a fatty, unctuous scallop. King salmon has a relatively mild flavor and richer texture compared to sockeye or coho. Wildfish Cannery is a one-of-a-kind operation here in North America with a tight-knit supply chain that hand-packs fish caught locally in Southeast Alaska. I hold a special respect for their culinary approach, the cannery is a direct opposition to the category’s commodity reputation.
2 weeks later, we have Sichuan larou! In the pre 2 weeks later, we have Sichuan larou! 

In the previous video, I cured pork belly in salt and spices for several days then set it outside to dry. I smoked it with apple wood pellets and cooked off a piece to taste.
How do you keep traditional foods alive? Sichuan How do you keep traditional foods alive?

Sichuan bacon season is back! Larou (Sichuan bacon) is a cured pork belly process similar to pancetta. It’s first seasoned with spices and salt in an equilibrium cure, hung outside to dehydrate, then (optionally) smoked. The earliest records of this wind-cured meat date back to the Zhou Dynasty roughly 3000 years ago. 

In Sichuan you can buy larou everywhere. In the US no one really makes it at scale. I grew up in the US making it with my family every winter season out of that necessity. Funny enough I’m the only one from my generation still carrying it on, and I’m the one farthest from home.
saved the best for last the suburbanite mall rat saved the best for last

the suburbanite mall rat in me is clawing to get out help me
Follow on Instagram
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2026 Day With Mei · Theme by 17th Avenue