Stephanie Li and Chris Thomas travel around China in search of the best recipes and techniques for their YouTube channel Chinese Cooking Demystified. Today we learn the secrets to perfect fried rice, how to cook with chopsticks and why the best KFCs are in China. Plus, Abigail Koffler helps us navigate food in the metaverse; we make Mexican-Style Corn with Chili and Lime; and Adam Gopnik cries tears of joy.

Read How Will We Eat In The Metaverse? and This Needs Hot Sauce by Abigail Koffler.

Questions in this episode:

"I recently wanted to make some lavender sugar cookies, and instead of getting a cookie cutter, I ended up buying a cookie press made for spritz cookies. Could I modify my sugar cookie recipe to work with this press?"

"Bone-in short ribs are increasingly hard to find, so I’ve found myself combining bone-in and boneless in my braises. At what point should I add the boneless ones in?"

"I’ve been experimenting with homemade oat flour. It works well in cookies, but in brownies for example, there’s a distinct graininess. Any way to overcome this?"

"Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables. At restaurants, it’s charred, silky and smoky, but at home, it’s dry and tough. What am I doing wrong?"

"I’ve been culturing and making my own butter, which means I’m left with buttermilk. My question is: How do you know when buttermilk has gone bad?"