开水白菜 translates as “boiled cabbage”, which is either the most modest name in Chinese cooking or the most arrogant. A single heart of napa cabbage, sitting in what looks like plain water, served as the centrepiece of a banquet. The cabbage is ordinary. The “water” is not. It is 川菜Continue Reading
冰粉 (bīng fěn, “ice jelly”) is the dessert that gets Chengdu through summer. A bowl of barely-set, translucent jelly drowning in dark brown sugar syrup and buried under crushed peanuts, fermented rice, chewy rice cakes and dried hawthorn. It is cold, faintly sweet, and the only thing anyone wants whenContinue Reading
Chongqing hotpot (重庆火锅) is the fiery soul of Sichuan-Chongqing cuisine — a bubbling cauldron of dark-red, oil-rich broth so numbing and spicy that it defines the city that invented it. Around the table, diners cook paper-thin slices of beef tripe, tender beef, and vegetables in the roiling pot, then dipContinue Reading
Hong You Chao Shou (红油抄手) is Chengdu’s answer to the wonton — delicate pork wontons boiled until silky, then drowned in a glossy, fiery red dressing of chili oil, black vinegar, garlic, and a whisper of sugar. Each spoonful is a study in Sichuan balance: numbing heat, sour tang, savoryContinue Reading
Bo Bo Chicken (钵钵鸡) is the street-food soul of Leshan, the small Sichuan city that also gave the world Qiao Qiao Beef and sweet water noodles. Bite-size pieces of poached chicken and vegetables are skewered on bamboo sticks, then soaked in a chilled, heady broth of chili oil, Sichuan peppercorn,Continue Reading
Zhang Cha Duck (樟茶鸭) is Sichuan’s most elegant banquet dish — a whole duck that is first marinated, then steamed, then smoke-kissed over green tea leaves and camphor wood, and finally deep-fried until the skin turns burnished amber. The result is a crisp, lacquered bird with impossibly tender meat andContinue Reading
Mao Xue Wang (毛血旺) is the fiery soul of Chongqing hotpot culture — silky duck blood curd, tender beef tripe, and savory luncheon meat swimming in a crimson broth of fermented chili bean paste and chili oil, crowned with a cloud of numbing Sichuan peppercorn. It is the dish youContinue Reading
Mouthwatering Chicken (口水鸡), known as Kou Shui Ji, is one of Sichuan’s most beloved cold dishes — poached chicken with glossy, gelatinous skin, chopped and drenched in a fiery, numbing chili-oil sauce with peanuts and scallions. The name says it all: just looking at it makes your mouth water. HereContinue Reading
Mala Xiang Guo (麻辣香锅), or “spicy numbing fragrant pot,” is one of Sichuan’s most addictive dishes — a wok-fried medley of meats, vegetables, and tofu tossed in a fiery, fragrant sauce of dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and doubanjiang. Every ingredient is custom-picked, like hotpot, but the result is a dry,Continue Reading
Shui Zhu Yu (水煮鱼), or Boiled Fish in Chili Oil, is one of Sichuan’s most spectacular dishes — silky fish fillets poached in a fiery broth, then crowned with a sizzling pour of chili oil that makes the whole table crackle. Despite the name, the fish is not boiled hardContinue Reading