Fly by Jing Reveals the Complexity of Sichuan Cuisine

Stuck at home during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, a whopping 70% of Americans began cooking for themselves—a 50% jump over the prior year. For the sake of those whose culinary acumen didn’t rise above scrambled eggs and turkey sandwiches, New York Times Cooking editor Sam Sifton penned a piece that recommended a new brand of Sichuan chili sauce that, he said, you could confidently spoon over anything—a sauce so complex and robust that “you could spread that concoction on a mitten and be very happy with your meal.” The brand was Fly by Jing, at that time a year-old direct-to-consumer upstart buoyed by $120,000 in Kickstarter capital. But the Times story changed that: Fly by Jing recorded more sales that week than it had in all of 2019. Today, nobody would call the brand a startup. It’s done a Chili Crisp Chicken collab with Shake Shack. It raised $12 million series B funding to fuel its ambitious retail expansion. And in addition to being on the shelves of Costco, Whole Foods, Target and Wegmans, it's soon heading to 2,000 Walmart stores. ‘Great at a Lot of Things’: The Secret to Wegmans’ Success For founder Jing Gao, this quick embrace by the American culinary mainstream has meant the fulfillment of an ambition that was both financial and personal. “I wanted to change perceptions of what people thought of Chinese food," Gao said, "which is that it’s dirty, cheap, unhealthy and not worth paying for." Born in Chengdu, capital of China’s Sichuan province, Gao grew up around Europe as her nuclear physicist father moved among teaching jobs. After earning an economics degree in Canada, she worked as a P&G products manager before a tech job sent her—as fate would have it—back to China, where she took an avid interest in cooking. “I’d been away for long enough that I didn’t feel quite Chinese,” Gao said. “For me, food became a vehicle for self-discovery.” Misunderstood in the West, Sichuan cuisine is “not just about blowing your taste buds off with the chili heat,” Gao said. “There are subtleties and complexities to the flavors.” Started by Gao in 2016, Fly by Jing was initially an itinerant supper club until Gao realized that the best way to export Sichuan flavors to the rest of the world was by creating a line of sauces. Her first remains the bestseller—Sichuan Chili Crisp, a bewitching concoction of chili pepper, black beans, shallots, ginger, seaweed powder and, well, lots of other stuff. Like the jar says, you can add it to anything. And fortunately, the Times’ Sifton did—to popcorn, even ice cream. Compared to other hot pepper sauces, he wrote, Fly by Jing is “nearly twice as expensive and perhaps three times as good.” The price of rarity Fly by Jing’s sauces aren’t just a cut above what you’ll see in the condiments aisle—at $15 for a 6-ounce jar, they’re pricier as well. And little wonder: Blended and cooked in Chengdu, the sauces feature ingredients that are difficult to find in the West, including er jing tiao, hong deng long, xiao mi la chilis and gong jiao pepper. But with its aggressive expansion (and growing presence in Walmart), Gao announced in April that she’ll be dropping prices to $9.98. “It’s still a premium product,” Gao said, “but we’ve always wanted to keep our flavors as accessible as possible.” Variety is the spice In a sign of how well Fly by Jing has been received, the brand has morphed from its signature Sichuan Chili Crisp to a full product line including Sweet & Spicy Zhong sauce, Sichuan Gold sauce, Mala Spice Mix, 10-Year Aged Black Vinegar and Chili Crisp Vinaigrette. The company also offers a hot pot starter set, Chinese porcelain soup spoons, recipes and even apparel. The Tastemaker Club ($25 a year) entitles members to discounts, free shipping and various premiums. When Jing Gao moved to China for a tech job (1), she began eating Sichuan cuisine around Chengdu (2). Intrigued by the complex flavors, she sourced spices and peppers from local markets (3) and experimented in her kitchen to develop Sichuan Chili Crisp.

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Fly by Jing Reveals the Complexity of Sichuan Cuisine

How a Chinese expat put Chengdu in a jar and sent it to America

Robert Klara

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Robert Klara