“The alchemy of flavour,” Fuchsia Dunlop.
The fertile Sichuan basin, often referred to as China’s rice bowl, feeds a swelling population of over 80 million. As far back as the middle ages near eastern produce such as broad beans, sesame and walnuts were being imported into the region. Then later in the sixteenth century the Spanish arrived, bringing with them new world crops such as Mexican chillies, maize and potatoes. This combined with migration from other regions has encouraged the evolution of one of the richest food cultures on earth. Sichuan cooking has often been described as’ hot and spicy’, but with over 5,000 dishes to choose from, such sweeping statements simply fail to do it justice.
To really understand this national treasure one needs to venture down to the humid and steamy restaurants of China’s south west. Here amongst the sing-song chatter of the sweet Sichuan dialect one can begin to understand the complexities of this regional cuisine.
Fuchsia Dunlop, author of “Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper”, describes Sichuan cooking as a “bouquet of flavours,” combining various levels of spice with other tastes such as sweet, sour, salty, bitter and smoky. This produces an incredible depth of flavour, to stimulate the sense receptors in your mouth, nose and stomach simultaneously and it is this bombardment of flavour that really makes Sichuan cooking standout.
Another common characteristic of the cuisine is the use of pickling, salting or drying to preserve ingredients. The spice usually comes from lashings of chili oil. Indigenous Sichuan pepper corns have a more subtle effect, giving dishes a fragrant citrus-like taste, whilst creating a tingly numbness in the mouth. Other common ingredients include garlic, ginger and bean chili paste. There are over a dozen Sichuan cookery techniques such as dry frying, flash frying, dry-braising, water poaching and smoking.
Famous dishes include Gong Bao Ji Ding (spicy diced chicken) and Hui Gou Rou (twice-cooked pork), a dish where fatty pork is initially boiled, then fired in a wok with black bean sauce and leaks. Other favourites to consider are Mapo Tofu (bean curd cubes in a chili bean paste,) and Gan Bian Si Ji Dou, which involves stir frying green beans until they shrivel and dehydrate.
For all its nuances and subtlety there remains one Sichuan dish that is renowned for its spice, the Sichuan Hot Pot. A steaming pot sits in the middle of the table filled with a bubbling spicy broth. Diners select an array of sliced meats and vegetables and cook them in the pot fondue style. Everything that comes out is infused with a mix of herbs, bits of chilli and Sichuan pepper.
With such a variety of flavour, it is easy to understand why Sichuan’s capital Chengdu has recently been designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.