Canadian World Traveller Winter 2019-20 Issue

The Sichuan kitchen, one of the world’s
great kitchens and one of the most emphatically
flavoured cuisines in all of China, was
for centuries well hidden to the outside
world. However in China it has always been
legendary for its sophistication, richness and
diversity, boasting a variety of at least 5,000
different dishes.
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Sichuan food, also known in the West
as the Szechuan Cuisine, is one of
the most famous of China’s regional
culinary arts. Emphasizing the use of chilli, it
is renowned for its pungent and spicy
flavours. Sichuan cooks enhance their
kitchen further by the use of chilli pepper oil,
Sichuan peppercorn, sesame seeds, garlic,
ginger, as well as fermented soybeans and
vegetables, adding a myriad of tastes to
their dishes. It is said that one who has not
enjoyed Sichuan food has never reached
China.
Located along the Yangtze, Sichuan, isolated
by mountains has developed a regional
identity. A land of beautiful lakes, hot
springs, deep ravines, limestone caves and
waterfalls, it is known in China as ‘the land
of plenty’. Sichuan is very fertile and the land
produces abundant agricultural crops and a
profusion of strong herbs and herb-like
spices. As well, its cuisine is the spicy hottest
in China. This has given the inhabitants the
reputation for being a bit spicy - local
women are known as la mei zi, ‘spice girls’.
Strangely, chilli pepper has had a great
hand in making the Sichuan Cuisine a much
sought after food. It is believed that the red
pepper is so popular in this part of China
because Sichuan has a humid climate that
encourages people to eat strongly spiced
foods, hence helping to reduce internal
dampness.
However red peppers were not native to
Sichuan. They were introduced to China in
the 17th century from the Americas. How
these peppers reached Sichuan, a landlocked
region in China, is not clear but it is
believed they were introduced from India
when Chinese merchants met Portuguese
and Spanish traders along the historically
renowned Silk Route.
However, this does not mean that the
Sichuan housewife had no way of producing
‘the hot’ before the discovery of the
Americas. Even before the introduction of
the chilli, through the centuries, the people
of Sichuan had developed what is called:
the Sichuan peppercorn, also known as
pepper flower, Chinese pepper and fagara.
Not a pepper at all, it is a reddish-brown
fruit produced by the prickly ash tree and
locally known as huajiao. It gives zest to any
dish in which it is used without overpowering
the natural taste of the food. A little different
then the chilli introduced from the Americas,
this pepper gives certain numbness to the
mouth, which imbues a unique taste.
With the many food condiments used in the
Sichuan kitchen that has been evolving for
at least a thousand years, it is no wonder
this fine cuisine has become so important in
the world of hot culinary dishes. Colour,
flavour, nutrition, shape and smell are carefully
balanced to make the dishes not only
look pleasant and appealing but also nutritious.
Yet, even though hot mouth-burning food is
what comes to mind when Sichuan dishes
are mentioned, at least one-third of the
Sichuan cuisine is barely spiced or not
spiced at all. The balancing of taste, no
doubt, also contributes to the fame of this
important part of the Chinese cuisine.
Sichuan cooks employ numerous cooking
methods – from braising, stir-frying and
boiling to roasting, simmering, steaming
and stewing. However, a complete list would
include more than twenty distinct techniques.
Among the most important spicy dishes,
renowned in the region are: hot pot,
Sichuan style; Kung Pao chicken fried with
peanuts; spicy crab; smoked duck; mapo
tofu; Sichuan pepper beef; and twice
cooked pork - pork is first boiled then stirfried.
Beef is, to some degree, more common
in Sichuan cooking than in the other
sister Chinese cuisines. Stir-fried beef is
often cooked until crisp and tender, while
steamed beef is, at times, coated with rice
flour to produce rich gravy.
If novices wish to experiment in preparing
the hot dishes of Sichuan, they will come to
appreciate the notable characteristics of
Sichuan cooking and its dazzling variety of
flavours.
www.tourismchina.org
Canadian World Traveller Winter 2019-20