Why Sichuan cuisine
is special

Although fifty years ago few people outside of China were familiar with Sichuan's hot and spicy cuisine, today it has devoted fans around the world.

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Insights on the
cuisine of Sichuan

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Geography

Sichuan's culinary core is an isolated triangular fertile plain enclosed by three massive mountain ranges. This topography helps produce a hot and humid climate that is conducive to Sichuan's most characteristic seasoning, tongue scorching chilies.

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Chilies

They were not introduced into Sichuan until a few hundred years ago, when chilies were brought over from their New World habitat.

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Not everything is hot

The people prefer the dishes on the table to have degrees of hotness varying from mild to fiery.

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Banquets

The use of chilies is drastically reduced or eliminated in the dishes served at banquets.

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Pseudo Sichuan cooking

Many non-Chinese Sichuan restaurant-goers (especially in America) relish the monotonous everything-as-hot-as-possible approach. Making one Sichuan dish hotter than another is not a measure of a Sichuan chef's talent. All it takes is the addition of extra chili, a feat that could be performed by a trained monkey. Epicures judge a Sichuan chef by the subtly complex overtones of his sauces and whether they complement the other ingredients in his dishes.

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Famous specialties of
of Sichuan

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Camphor Wood Smoked Duck

A whole duck is marinated in a mixture of rice wine, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and tangerine peel, then smoked over coals sprinkled with camphor wood shavings and tea leaves.

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Hot and Sour Soup

Chicken broth spiced with vinegar and pepper and stocked with shreds of pork, bean curd, tiger lily buds, and cloud ears (a dried tree fungus).

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Twice-Cooked Pork

The meat is simmered, sliced, then stir-fried with vegetables and a spicy bean-based condiment.

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Test yourself

How many of these major
world cuisines do you know well?

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©2010 HQP / Hillman Quality Publications