Tonight I made Shredded Chicken with Pickled Chiles and Carrots from The Wok.

I was excited about this one because Lopez-Alt describes it as “a flavor punch to the mouth.” However, I was also a little concerned about how spicy it would be as he also says the “recipe as written is quite hot” and goes on to give several ways to temper the heat.

I decided to cook it as written, but only use one of the “1 to 6” pickled chiles called for. The pickled chiles are a separate recipe in the book but are basically hot chilies (I used Thai chilies) and garlic in vinegar with salt. It is very similar to the hot pepper vinegar my coastal North Carolina family makes.

The dish came out with a wonderful amount of heat. Definitely spicy, but not too much.

Like Velvet Chicken with Snap Peas and Lemon-Ginger Sauce and Pico’s Not-So-Bland Chicken, this recipe also calls for velveting the chicken. I did it in batches this time, and I think it went much better. More of the marinade seemed to “stick” and the chicken did not over cook.

I thought it was quite good. My wife said it was “good, not great”. The kids refused to eat it, sticking with their fried egg option.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.