Sichuan (or Szechuan) cuisine, originating in Sichuan Province of southwestern China, has an international reputation for being hot and numbing due to the common ingredient Sichuan peppercorn, or Fagara. This is an indigenous plant whose peppercorns produce a fragrant, numbing, almost citrusy spice. Also common are chilli, ginger and spicy herbs. This emphasis on spice may derive from the region's warm, humid climate, where people need a good sweat and necessitates sophisticated food-preservation techniques which include pickling, salting, drying and smoking. Broad bean chili paste (doubanjiang) is also a staple seasoning in Sichuan cuisine.
Common preparation techniques in Sichuan cuisine include stir frying, steaming and braising, but a complete list would include more than 20 distinct techniques. Beef is somewhat more common in Sichuan cuisine than it is in other Chinese cuisines, perhaps due to the widespread use of oxen in the region. Stir-fried beef is often cooked until chewy, while steamed beef is sometimes coated with rice flour to produce a very rich gravy.
Some well-known Sichuan dishes include Kung Pao chicken (gongbao jiding) and Twice Cooked Pork (huiguorou). Although many dishes live up to their spicy reputation, often ignored are the large percentage of recipes that use little or no hot spices at all, including dishes such as Tea Smoked Duck (zhangcha ya). Other repesentative dishes include:
Mapo dofu – a combination of tofu (bean curd) and minced meat, usually pork, in a fiery spicy (hot) bean-based sauce
Sichuan hotpot (Sìchuan huoguo) – similar to other hotpots but with Sichuan pepper
Fuqi Feipian – thinly-sliced beef, beef lung/stomach/tongue, and a generous amount of spices, including Sichuan pepper – often served cold
Chongqing Spicy Deep-Fried Chicken (Chengdu laziji)
Shuizhu Dishes – “water-boiled” slices of meat (usually it is pork, beef, or fish), chili pepper, and a large amount of vegetable oil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szechuan_cuisine
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