Sichuan cooking is famous for mala, the numbing heat of Sichuan pepper and chilli, but its cooks describe more than twenty compound flavours, many of them not hot at all.
Overview¶
Sichuan province, and the city of Chongqing that was split from it in 1997, has one of China's most celebrated cuisines. Its reputation abroad rests on mala — ma for the tingling numbness of Sichuan pepper, la for the heat of chilli — but Sichuanese cooks traditionally speak of yi cai yi ge, bai cai bai wei: "each dish has its own style, a hundred dishes have a hundred flavours". Chengdu cookery manuals list around two dozen named compound flavours, from the sweet-sour lichee flavour to the garlicky suanni and the smoky yanxun. Plenty are not hot at all, and a well-planned Sichuan meal alternates fierce dishes with mild, clear soups and vegetables.
Sichuan pepper is native to the region and has been used for well over two thousand years. Chillies arrived much later, probably in the seventeenth or eighteenth century (see how-chillies-spread-around-the-world), and became central to the cuisine only in the last two or three hundred years.
The core palette¶
- Sichuan pepper: red (hong huajiao), which is warm and floral, and green (qing huajiao or tengjiao), which is sharper and more citrusy. The tingle comes from hydroxy-alpha-sanshool; see sanshool-and-tingling.
- Dried chillies: facing-heaven chillies (chaotian jiao) for heat and colour; the milder, fragrant erjingtiao for chilli oil and bean paste. See chilli-pepper.
- Pixian doubanjiang: broad beans and chilli fermented for months or years, the "soul of Sichuan cooking". It is salty and deeply savoury.
- Pickled chillies (paojiao) and pickled mustard greens, for sour heat.
- Fermented black beans, Sichuan's Baoning vinegar, sugar, soy, and sesame paste.
- Aromatics: ginger, garlic and spring onion, as elsewhere in China.
- Braising spices for hotpot and lu dishes: star anise, cassia, fennel, black cardamom, cloves, bay and dried tangerine peel.
The named flavours¶
A few of the best known compound flavours (weixing):
| Flavour | What it tastes of | Example dish |
|---|---|---|
| Mala (numbing-hot) | Sichuan pepper, chilli, often doubanjiang | Mapo tofu, hotpot |
| Yuxiang ("fish-fragrant") | Pickled chilli, garlic, ginger, spring onion, sugar, vinegar — no fish | Yuxiang aubergine |
| Gongbao (kung pao) | Dried chilli, Sichuan pepper, lightly sweet-sour | Kung pao chicken |
| Guaiwei ("strange flavour") | Salty, sweet, sour, hot, numbing and nutty at once | Bang bang chicken |
| Hongyou (red oil) | Chilli oil, soy, sugar, garlic | Dressed cold meats, wontons in chilli oil |
| Jiachang ("home-style") | Doubanjiang, garlic, mild heat | Twice-cooked pork |
Regional differences¶
Chengdu cooking is often described as more refined and complex, Chongqing's as bolder, oilier and more direct — Chongqing is the home of the fiercest hotpots and of laziji, chicken buried in a mountain of dried chillies. Zigong, in the south of the province, is known for salt production and extremely hot, ginger-heavy dishes. Neighbouring Guizhou and Hunan have their own chilli-heavy traditions: Guizhou is known for sour, fermented flavours; Hunan uses fresh and smoked chilli without the numbing pepper. See chinese-cuisine for the wider picture.
Key techniques¶
- Frying doubanjiang: the paste is fried slowly in oil until the oil turns red and fragrant before other ingredients go in. Rushing it leaves a raw, harsh saltiness.
- Chilli oil: oil heated to around 180–200°C with aromatics, strained, allowed to cool slightly, then poured over chilli flakes and ground Sichuan pepper in stages. Oil that is too hot scorches the chilli; too cool and it stays raw. See making-chilli-oil.
- Dry-frying (ganbian): green beans or beef fried until wrinkled and chewy before seasoning.
- Toasting Sichuan pepper: toast whole husks gently, then grind and sieve out the gritty inner husks. See toasting-spices.
⚠️ Pick out the seeds
Sichuan pepper is sold as split husks; the black seeds inside are gritty and bitter. Good-quality pepper is mostly husks — pick out twigs and seeds before toasting.
Landmark dishes¶
Mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, twice-cooked pork, yuxiang aubergine, dan dan noodles, fuqi feipian (sliced beef and offal in chilli oil), shuizhu yu (water-boiled fish in a sea of chilli oil), Chongqing hotpot, laziji, tea-smoked duck, bang bang chicken, and zhong dumplings in sweet soy chilli oil.
Stocking the cupboard¶
- Red Sichuan pepper — buy from a Chinese supermarket, where it is fresher and cheaper
- Pixian doubanjiang (look for aged versions, dark red-brown)
- Dried erjingtiao or facing-heaven chillies, and coarse chilli flakes
- Chinkiang or Baoning black vinegar, light soy, Shaoxing wine
- Fermented black beans
- Star anise, cassia and fennel for oils and braises
- A jar of chilli crisp for when there is no time to make chilli oil