It isn't clear but mince means smaller/similar than a peppercorn. The recipe may be a bit off in directions...solid sugars disolve best in warm non-oil liquids first. Then added once disolved. Some very educated chefs can't write/explain a recipe very coherient ever.

If you pulse your mix in a food procesor or a two second pulse in a blender?...yours looks 'chunky' not minced. Chunky is one thing, mince is more of a sauce. Then used in various dishes fridged and ready and waiting over the next week or two.

My fridge chili, chili crisp, condiments similar, some with mustard powder, ...use various korean chili flake. In my international market a few dozen chili fakes are rated mild to hot heat. I purchase mild/medium for kimchi. DH can make it hot at the table if he wants.

I like my condiments mild/medioum. Adjust as i like it to the table.

"...solid sugars disolve best in warm non-oil liquids first. Then added once disolved."

I was wondering about that.

I agree the solids in the photo do look more minced than chunky. Could be why the photo appears to have more oil. The heat could also be a factor since "medium-low" can differ from stove to stove. However, "not burned at all" sounds like it was okay.

Do you still have what's in the photo? Try the blender. You can rescue it!

I think Sleevendog was right about the directions. My interpretation reading the recipe isn't fully articulated. There's no way the garlic wouldn't be nasty after 8 minutes if it was minced and really on medium low on any stove I've used. I'd say use your best judgement on the sauté. Do it the way that makes cooking sense to you. The recipe does sound a bit odd, though. I don't know how the spices which only flavor the oil and are removed are going to stand up to the original amount of pepper flakes. I can only think that the original recipe was based on bulk chili flakes that had been sitting around losing their oomph. I like spicy, but 100g is a lot of Thai. I do have "mild" Szechuan dried peppers, so that's another possibility, but in all my experience of Thai peppers, they only come in very hot, really really hot and call an ambulance, to which by comparison, my "hot" Szechuan peppers are at the high end of very hot. (Sorry. No Scoville meter here. ;) )

I agree that the recipe is not well written. First of all, the list of ingredients should start with the ingredient that is used first and end with the ingredient that is added last. This recipe has a jumbled list, which indicates poor recipe writing skills.

This does not mean that the chef cannot create a good recipe - it just means that he is not good at documenting it.

Also, the name "Alex Bielak" sounds much too like "Al Bielek," author of The Philadelphia Experiment. I met Al Bielek at one of the UFO Expo West conventions.

I have never added sugar to warm or hot oil, and so I have no experience with that. I think I would want to add the sugar at the end, after the mixture had cooled, and then if necessary heat the mixture until the sugar was dissolved. This is just a guess on my part, but this way you could add less sugar, if you wanted, and taste it with varying amounts of sugar.

Reducing the chili flakes by that much probably made a difference too. If that type of chili is too hot for you, how about subbing a milder dried pepper?

If you want to replace some of the chili flakes with a different variety, I would recommend guajillo chilies, but you would have to make your own flakes and remove all the seeds from the whole chilies. You could make the flakes in a small food processor or possibly a blender - I would use the dry container for the Vitamix. You should still keep some of the Gochugaru chili flakes, if that is what you used. I have some Japanese chilies that are also rather mild, and so you could use those as well. If you use guajillo chilies, you should toast them lightly before making them into flakes.

The original recipe calls for about the same amount of oil as chili flakes, and this does seem like it would create a paste rather than a sauce. It's hard to tell how many grams of chili flakes you really need. I would also add the garlic only during the last 10 to 15 minutes of simmering, as suggested.

The shallots should provide enough moisture to dissolve the sugar. But....sometimes there is a recipe that you just look at and say "Well that's not going to work well"....and walk away and try someting else.

This looks like one of them.

There is one proven way to get this done, you can get water mixed with oil.

Look up "emulsification".

You can do it with a blender, but the result is not permanent. A much better way is to do it with an ultrasonic device.

dcarch

if it needs sweet, add honey instead of sugar ... sounds like a good/tasty recipe, but yeah that's a lot of flake ....

It doesn't need sugars. I've yet to come across a recipe for chili oil or chili crisp with sugar. It will not emulsify. My pickled mustard seed has sugar. They pair nicely on the same dish.

This recipe from TheWoksOfLife is a good complete recipe, HERE

I made a batch yesterday. I used to make both the oil and the crisp but now just the crisp. The seed will always rise to the top. I can take from that or slip down the side to grab just the chili flake or a bit of both.

It does not need to be so complicated. My oil stays put on the back left burner. 1cup avocado oil. Add aromatics. Bring up to a simmer 215º. Turn off and let steep for a hour or so. I made some ramen eggs, a spice blend, a slaw for dinner, and cooked some garbanzos for humus and some roasted.

Removed the aromatics with a slotted spoon, (no messing with hot oil through a strainer)...and the dangers. Toasting sesame seeds. Added my chili flake and spices to that. Oil back up to 215º, turn off the burner, add the seeds and spice. They will sizzle from the moisture. Cooking it will potentially burn the chili. Let it cool down then jar it. One oily pan that likes the seasoning anyway. No mess. No pouring hot oil.

I've tested many different brands of Korean chili flake. Not all are spicy hot. Aleppo and Irfa Isot are not at all spicy. (not traditionally used, but can cut the heat if your chili flake is spicy). Whole dried chilis have a heat indicator on the package.

I learned from a Ytube travel vloger a few years ago. His home base is Thailand. In restaurants it is a staple table condiment and seems everyone has their own recipe. A few restaurants let him watch the making of.

I will sometimes go the extra mile and use fresh shallots and garlic if i'm having company. That should be used up within a couple weeks. Yesterday i used dried garlic chip and dried onion flake.

Not necessarily too much chili. It is used sparingly. Depending on heat tolerance. And the heat of the chili. DH likes it on the table and often adds more.

I have made several chili oil recipes from this site that I really like. I found them pretty clear. That said I tend to use the pepper varieties I have on hand. https://thewoksoflife.com/homemade-chiu-chow-sauce/