Flavorful Origins - Season 1
Season 1
Flavorful Origins: Chaoshan
Delve into the delectable world of Chaoshan cuisine, explore its unique ingredients and hear the stories of the people behind its creation.
Episodes
Olives
In Chaoshan, olives are preserved in distinct ways and appear in a variety of dishes, including fresh juices and meat soups.
Hu Tieu
A quintessentially Chaoshan staple and a taste of home for many, kway teow (rice-noodle strips) can be stir-fried or wrapped around tasty fillings.
Marinated Crab
Garlic. Cilantro. Chili pepper. The marinated raw-crab dish varies in style from Puning to Shantou, but it's always fresh and tender.
Brine
Cinnamon, anise and galangal are among the spices that go into Chaoshan brine, a key ingredient in braised offal, goose head and hot pot.
Puning Bean Paste
Long ago, migrants from the north brought soybeans to Chaoshan, now home to a unique bean paste featured in many dishes, from spinach to steamed fish.
Preserved Radish
An age-old Chaoshan tradition, the preserved white radish can put an innovative spin on various dishes, from spare ribs to stir-fried squid.
Seaweed
To bring out umami and impart the flavor of the sea, the versatile ingredient seaweed can be stir-fried, deep-fried, roasted and sprinkled on soup.
Oysters
Steamed, marinated, stir-fried, grilled or dried. A classic in Chaoshan cuisine, the oyster is traditionally cultivated in the town of Jingzhou.
Chaozhou Mandarin Orange
A regional product, the Chaozhou orange can be deep-fried or dried and preserved to make sweet treats, while its peel can be used for zesty seasoning.
Lei Cha
In the Hakka tradition, tea leaves are cooked with fresh herbs, then ground with sesame seeds or peanuts in a mortar to make lei cha, a fragrant drink.
Tofu Cake
Garlic, fat, liquor and fermented bean curd. The traditional tofu cake is a baked pastry boasting a rich taste profile and centuries of history.
Beef Hot Pot
Expert butchers in Chaoshan sharpen their knives to slice premium beef into perfect, marbled cutlets that are juicy, tender, and ready for hot pot.
Beaf Meatballs
Inheriting the techniques of previous generations, makers of Chaoshan beef meatballs dedicate hours of hard work to achieve perfect texture and flavor.
Yusheng
Enjoyed with vegetables and dipping sauce, yu sheng (freshly sliced raw fish) is a delicacy with a long history in Chaoshan.
Meal of Fish
Salted, boiled and air-dried in bamboo baskets, the mackerel scad is among many seafoods that make for a chewy, flavorful and simple main dish.
Fish Sauce
Indispensable to Chaoshan cooking, fish sauce is traditionally made by salt-curing and fermenting hilsa herring, but new methods have cropped up.
Fish Ball and Wrapped Fish
In Chaoshan, the lizardfish is deboned and pounded to make surimi (fish paste) -- a versatile ingredient with a uniquely smooth and elastic texture.
Mussels
Harvested from Nan'ao Island's shores, mussels are a summer delicacy that can be cooked with basil, folded into spring rolls and added to fried rice.
Galangal
Galangal arrived in Chaoshan from Southeast Asia a long time ago, imbuing meat dishes like chicken and lamb with a fragrant punch.
Chinese Motherwort
Known for both taste and nutritional value, Chinese motherwort is blanched and added to soup and congee as a breakfast favorite.
Recently Updated Shows
When Calls the Heart
When Calls the Heart is inspired by Janette Oke's bestselling book series about the Canadian West, the series tells the captivating story of Elizabeth Thatcher, a young teacher accustomed to her high society life, who receives her first classroom assignment in Coal Valley, a small coal mining town where life is simple, but often fraught with challenges. Upon arrival, Elizabeth befriends Abigail Stanton, a wife and mother whose husband, the foreman of the mine, along with a dozen other miners, has just been killed in an explosion. The newly widowed women find their faith is tested when they must go to work in the mines to keep a roof over their heads. Set against the wild canvas of a 19th century coal town, Elizabeth will have to learn the ways of the frontier if she wishes to thrive in the rural west on her own.
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets follows a girls' high school soccer team. In 1975, the Dearborn High Yellowjackets became the first team in state history to qualify for the Girls' U.S. Soccer Championship Series in Manchester, NH. They never got the chance to compete. Equal parts survival epic, horror story and pitch black coming of age, Yellowjackets tells the story of the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness, chronicling their descent from a friendly, cooperative team to warring, cannibalistic clans. At the same time, it follows the lives they've attempted to piece back together nearly twenty-five years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.
American Horror Story
American Horror Story is an horror television anthology series. Each season is conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a disparate set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own beginning, middle, and end. While some actors appear for more than one year, they play completely different roles in each season.
South Park
South Park is an adult comedy animation show centred around 4 children in the small town of south park. Its humour is often dark involving satirical elements and mocking current real-life events.
Cross
Based on NY Times Bestselling author James Patterson's #1 hero, Cross is a crime thriller that follows the investigations of brilliant forensic psychologist and DC Metro Detective Alex Cross. Together with his best friend and partner Detective John Sampson, Cross delves into the psyches of America's most insidious killers while fighting to protect his family from the dangers of the criminal world.