Browse Techniques

Shungyô (春魚, spring fish) and the broader shun (旬, peak season) framework governs professional Japanese sourcing — the brief windows when specific fish reach peak flavor due to feeding patterns, migration, water temperature, and reproductive cycles. Spring runs: sakura masu (cherry salmon, named for its sakura-season arrival), sawara (Spanish mackerel, at its richest in spring), shirako (cod milt, available only early spring), and hatsu-gatsuo (first bonito run in May). The spring fatty fish counter-intuitively contrasts with autumn fattening: spring fatty fish like sawara are rich from winter feeding; spring is the end of their fat cycle. Understanding shun fish cycles is fundamental to Japanese menu planning.

Bang bang ji (棒棒鸡): cold shredded chicken dressed with a complex sesame-chili sauce — the name comes from the bamboo stick (bang) used to tenderise the poached chicken before shredding. One of Sichuan's most celebrated cold dishes, originating in Leshan. The technique of beating the poached chicken breaks the muscle fibres for better sauce absorption and easier shredding.

Bang bang ji (棒棒鸡) — Leshan style — is a Sichuan street food where poached chicken is literally beaten with a wooden stick (bang) to separate the fibres, then dressed with a complex sesame-chili-vinegar sauce. The smashing tenderises and creates rough, sauce-catching surfaces. Distinguished from the modern 'bang bang chicken salad' that bears no resemblance to the original.

Shui zhu niu rou (water-boiled beef): thin slices of velveted beef and vegetables poached in a seasoned chili-doubanjiang oil-broth, then the whole bowl covered with dried chili, Sichuan pepper, and garlic, and finished with a pour of smoking-hot oil. The 'boiling' is gentle poaching — the fiery character comes from the final hot oil bloom, not the cooking medium.

Shui zhu yu — water-cooked fish — is one of the great theatrical dishes of Sichuan cooking: filleted fish poached briefly in a barely-seasoned liquid, then laid over a pile of bean sprouts and blanched vegetables, submerged under a towering drift of dried red chillies and Sichuan peppercorns, and finished with a cascade of smoking-hot oil that blooms the aromatics in an eruption of fragrance. The name is deliberately understated — the fish is barely poached — but the effect is overwhelming.

Liang ban niu jin — cold-dressed beef tendon — is a Sichuan cold starter that showcases the transformative power of slow braising followed by chilling and dressing. Tendon is braised in master stock with aromatic spices for 3+ hours until gelatinous and yielding, chilled until firm, then sliced thin and dressed with chili oil, vinegar, sesame paste, soy, and fresh aromatics.

Zhai mian (斋面) — Buddhist vegetarian noodles — is a Chengdu street food tradition on temple visiting days and festivals. The noodle has all the Sichuan flavour complexity (sesame paste, chili oil, vinegar, garlic) but no meat. Instead, the umami comes from ya cai (preserved mustard vegetable), broad bean paste, mushroom stock, and sesame paste. A test of Sichuan flavour-building without animal products.

The making of Pi Xian dou ban jiang: broad beans inoculated with mould, then combined with dried chili and salt in clay crocks to ferment for months to years in the sun and rain of Pi Xian county. The longer the fermentation (1–3 years optimal), the deeper the umami, colour, and complexity. The soul of Sichuan cooking.

Sichuan liang mian (凉面) — cold noodles — are the summer staple of Chengdu, sold from street carts and eaten for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Fresh noodles are cooked, spread on trays and fanned dry, then chilled. Dressed at service with sesame paste, soy, Chinkiang vinegar, chili oil, garlic, sugar, scallion — the dressing is assembled in the bowl and noodles tossed through. The ratio of sesame to chili is the cook's signature.

Sichuan liang mian: cold wheat noodles dressed with sesame paste, chili oil, Sichuan pepper oil, black vinegar, soy, sugar, and garlic. Served in summer as a cooling dish — despite the heat from chili and pepper. The sesame paste is the binding agent; chili oil the fire; Sichuan pepper the numbing floral note.

Suan ni bai rou (蒜泥白肉) — garlic-pasted white pork — is one of Sichuan's most refined cold dishes: pork belly is poached in lightly seasoned water until just cooked, chilled, then sliced paper-thin and arranged on a plate. A pungent garlic paste (suan ni) dressing with chili oil, soy, and Chinkiang vinegar is drizzled over. The contrast between neutral white pork and aggressive garlic sauce is the point.

Liang ban dou fu: cold silken or soft tofu dressed with Sichuan chili oil, soy, sesame oil, garlic, spring onion, and dried shrimp. An essential element of the Sichuan cold dish spread — the tofu provides neutral creaminess against which the complex sauce performs. Requires no cooking beyond boiling the tofu briefly if using silken, or simply draining firm tofu.

The authentic Chengdu dan dan mian (担担面) bears little resemblance to its Americanised versions. Traditional dan dan mian is served in a small portion as a snack, almost dry — just enough spiced pork and sauce to coat the noodles without making them soupy. The name derives from the dan dan (shoulder pole) vendors carried through Chengdu streets. Served in a small bowl with less than 2 ladles of sauce.

Dan dan mian: street food noodles named after the carrying pole (dan) vendors used to sell them. Thin wheat noodles in a complex sauce of sesame paste, Sichuan pepper oil, chili oil, preserved vegetables (ya cai), ground pork, and soy. The sauce has contrasting layers: nutty, numbing, spicy, savoury, preserved-vegetable tang.

Doubanjiang — fermented broad bean and chilli paste — is the foundational flavouring of the Sichuan kitchen. More than any other single ingredient, doubanjiang defines the aromatic and flavour profile of Sichuan cooking: its deep, complex, fermented savouriness; its chilli heat; its aromatic richness. Dunlop describes it as the soul of Sichuan cooking and the ingredient without which many of the tradition's most important preparations cannot be made. A pot of quality doubanjiang in the refrigerator is the beginning of the Sichuan kitchen.

Yu xiang qie zi (fish-fragrance eggplant): eggplant stir-fried in the yu xiang (fish-fragrance) compound sauce — doubanjiang, garlic, ginger, spring onion, soy, vinegar, and sugar — that contains no fish but replicates the aromatics used to cook fish in Sichuan. One of the definitive Sichuan vegetarian dishes.

Yu xiang qie zi (鱼香茄子) — fish-fragrance eggplant — uses the yu xiang sauce (fish-fragrance flavour profile) which contains no fish at all: the name refers to the condiments traditionally used in Sichuan fish cooking — pickled chili, garlic, ginger, scallion, vinegar, sugar, and soy. Applied to eggplant that is first deep-fried or wok-fried until silky, the sauce creates a complex, multi-dimensional dish.

Xiang su niu rou: Sichuan beef strips marinated in soy, Shaoxing wine, ginger, and five spice, then coated in cornstarch and deep-fried until intensely crispy. Finished in the wok with Sichuan pepper, dried chili, sesame seeds, and spring onion. The double-fry creates a crispiness that survives a brief toss in the spiced aromatics. A banquet dish that showcases Sichuan textural cooking.

Chengdu summer staple of egg noodles cooked then shocked in cold water, dressed in a complex Sichuan sauce: sesame paste, chilli oil (hong you), Zhenjiang vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, minced garlic, and freshly ground Sichuan pepper. Served room temperature or cold with julienned cucumber and bean sprouts. The aromatic complexity in a single cold noodle bowl is extraordinary.

Gan bian (干煸) — dry-frying — is a Sichuan technique where ingredients are fried in a wok with minimal oil over high heat, stirring constantly, until all moisture evaporates and the surface dries and caramelises. Most famous in gan bian si ji dou (dry-fried green beans) and gan bian niurou si (dry-fried shredded beef). The technique concentrates flavour dramatically.

Suan ni bai rou: sliced cold poached pork belly with a raw garlic-heavy dressing. A Sichuan cold dish showing raw garlic at its most assertive — the garlic is not cooked, not tempered, not mellowed. Thin-sliced fatty pork belly (or sometimes chicken skin) poached until just cooked, chilled, sliced, and dressed with raw garlic paste, light soy, chili oil, Chinkiang vinegar, and sesame oil.

Sichuan hot pot — huan guo — is simultaneously a cooking technique, a social ritual, and an eating experience unlike any other in the food world. A split pot (yuan yang guo) of boiling, deeply spiced Sichuan broth and plain broth sits over a burner at the table; an array of raw ingredients is cooked by each diner in the boiling liquid, then dipped in a sesame-oil-based dipping sauce. The broth itself is built over hours from a base of Pixian doubanjiang, dried chillies, Sichuan peppercorn, suet, and aromatics — a construction of extraordinary complexity that intensifies over the meal as more ingredients cook in it.

Fu qi fei pian (husband and wife beef offal): thinly sliced beef offal (heart, tongue, tripe) and lean beef, dressed in a complex ma la sauce — sesame paste, chili oil, Sichuan pepper oil, black vinegar, soy, sugar, and garlic. Served cold. Named after a Chengdu couple who sold the dish from a street cart in the 1930s. One of Sichuan's most celebrated cold dishes.

Jian bing (煎饼) in the Chengdu context is a spiced street crepe: mung bean and wheat flour batter spread on a large circular griddle, egg cracked over and spread, then toppings applied — hoisin or tian mian jiang sauce, chili paste, crispy wonton skin (guo ba zi), fresh coriander, scallion. Sichuan version adds more chili and Sichuan peppercorn. Folded and served within 2 minutes.

Lazi ji: a mountain of dried chilis with small chunks of crispy-fried chicken buried within — you search for the chicken through a haystack of chili. Named for the dried chilis (la zi) that dominate the dish visually and aromatically. A quintessential Chongqing and Chengdu dish representing the maximalist end of Sichuan chili use — the chilis are flavouring, not food.

Mala xiang guo (麻辣香锅) is Sichuan's dry version of hot pot — a stir-fry using the same ma la spice base as hot pot but without the broth. Customers select from dozens of raw ingredients (offal, seafood, vegetables, tofu, noodles) that are then wok-fried together in a blazing ma la sauce. The result is intensely flavoured, oil-coated, deeply spiced — more concentrated than broth hot pot.

Ma po dou fu (麻婆豆腐) is Sichuan's most globally recognised dish and a lesson in Sichuan flavour theory. The correct technical execution produces silky soft tofu coated in a glossy, deep-red sauce of doubanjiang, fermented black beans, chili oil, beef mince, and Sichuan peppercorn — with the ma (numbing) and la (spicy) in precise balance. Many restaurant versions fail technically; the standard is documented and specific.

Sichuan cold dish of steamed or roasted aubergine beaten with a wooden club (bang bang) to create a fibrous texture, then dressed with garlic, sesame paste, Sichuan chilli oil, vinegar, and spring onion. The fibrous, pulled texture of the beaten aubergine absorbs the dressing differently than cut or mashed aubergine.

Suan tang yu: Sichuan-influenced sour fish soup — a lighter, more elegant alternative to the fiery shui zhu yu. A whole fish or fish fillet poached in a sour-broth made from Pixian doubanjiang, tomato, pickled mustard, and fish stock. The sourness comes from the pickled vegetables and tomato — the heat from chili is secondary. A Chengdu restaurant classic that bridges Sichuan and Guizhou influences.

Shui zhu niu rou (水煮牛肉) — water-boiled beef — is deceptively named: the beef is poached in a lightly spiced stock but then covered with a volcanic pour of hot chili-infused tallow and fresh aromatics that creates the characteristically fiery, numbing dish. The technique combines gentle poaching (for tender beef) with dramatic aromatic finishing (chili oil pour). The chili oil heat transforms the dish in an instant.

The ma la (numbing-spicy) flavour system is Sichuan cuisine's defining contribution to world cooking. Ma (麻) from Sichuan pepper (hua jiao) — a tingling numbness from hydroxy-alpha-sanshool that activates touch receptors. La (辣) from dried chili — heat from capsaicin. Together they create a synergistic effect: the numbness amplifies the heat, and the heat amplifies the numbness. Ma la is not just flavour — it is a full sensory experience.

Sichuan's salt-brine vegetable fermentation in a water-sealed ceramic jar (pao cai guan). Unlike Korean kimchi (no seafood paste, no pepper paste), Sichuan paocai uses pure salt brine with aromatics — Sichuan pepper, dried chili, ginger, garlic. Results in crisp, sour, mildly spiced pickled vegetables fermented in 1–3 days.

Sichuan pepper — hua jiao (flower pepper) — is not pepper at all but the dried husk of the berry of the prickly ash tree (Zanthoxylum simulans or Z. bungeanum). Its flavour is uniquely complex — citrusy, floral, slightly resinous — and its physiological effect is unique in the entire culinary world: the sensation of ma (numbing tingling) produced by the compound hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, which activates the same mechanoreceptors as touch (rather than the heat receptors activated by capsaicin). The combination of Sichuan pepper's numbing quality and chilli's heat is the defining flavour-and-sensation profile of Sichuan cuisine: ma la (numbing-spicy). Neither quality alone produces the experience — the two together are the cuisine's identity.

Duo jiao (剁椒) — Hunan and Sichuan fermented chopped chili — is one of the most essential condiments in Chinese cooking. Fresh red chilies are salted, chopped finely, and packed into jars with garlic, ginger, and rice wine to ferment for weeks or months. The result is a deeply flavoured, sour-spicy condiment used in steamed fish, stir-fries, noodles, and as a table condiment.

Sichuan pickled chillies (pao jiao) are fermented in brine for months to produce a sour, bright, mildly spicy condiment distinct from doubanjiang. Used in fish dishes (pao jiao yu — sour chilli fish), stir-fries, and as a condiment. The fermented sourness is the key flavour — unlike raw chillies or dried Sichuan chillies. Wild small chillies (er jing tiao) are the classic variety.

Pao cai is Sichuan's brine-fermented vegetable tradition — quick-pickled or long-fermented vegetables submerged in a seasoned salt brine that teems with wild lactic acid bacteria. The technique produces a range of flavours from mildly sour and crunchy (overnight pao cai) to deeply complex and funkily acidic (aged pao cai). The Sichuan pao cai jar — a water-sealed ceramic vessel with a moat around the rim — is one of the oldest and most ingenious fermentation technologies in Chinese cooking.

Sichuan pao cai (泡菜) — distinct from Korean kimchi — is a live-culture lacto-fermented pickle made in a ceramic jar with an air-lock water moat. The brine (containing salt, Sichuan peppercorn, dried chili, ginger, rice wine, and rock sugar) houses rotating seasonal vegetables that ferment 24 hours for quick pickles to several weeks for aged versions. The jar is a living culture maintained over years.

One of China's most beloved restaurant starters: silken tofu cubed and topped with chopped preserved (century) egg, dressed with soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli oil, and spring onion. Sometimes added: salted egg yolk, fried shallots, dried bonito flakes (Japanese influence). The contrast of silken white tofu against the dramatic dark-green/amber preserved egg is visually stunning.

Ma la tu tou: Chengdu's iconic street food — rabbit heads split and marinated in the ma la (numbing-spicy) master brine, then slow-cooked until the meat yields from the skull. Eaten with bare hands, diners extract every morsel — cheeks, tongue, ear cartilage. A nocturnal snack food associated with Chengdu's late-night food culture. The skill is in how you eat it, not in how it's cooked.

Sichuan is China's dominant rabbit-eating region, consuming more rabbit per capita than any other. Sichuan-style rabbit is typically cooked with abundant dried chillies, Sichuan pepper, and doubanjiang. Braised rabbit (hong shao tu), cold dressed rabbit (bang bang tu), and rabbit hot pot are all popular. The meat is sweet, mild, and takes Sichuan spicing extremely well.

Hong you (Sichuan red chili oil): the foundational condiment of Sichuan cooking. Ground dried chili, sesame seeds, and spices (Sichuan pepper, star anise, cassia) placed in a bowl; neutral oil heated to 160–180°C; poured over in stages to progressively bloom the chili without burning it. The result should be deep crimson, aromatic, and complex — not just hot, but layered with fragrance.

One of the simplest and most refreshing Sichuan preparations: cucumber smashed with a cleaver and dressed with garlic, sesame oil, Zhenjiang vinegar, chilli oil, Sichuan pepper, and a little sugar. The smashing (not slicing) creates irregular surfaces that absorb the dressing more effectively. A ubiquitous starter at Sichuan restaurants and Chengdu street stalls.

Chengdu has an unusual distinction: it is the rabbit-eating capital of China. Rabbit heads (tu tou), rabbit skin, and whole rabbit meat preparations are street food staples. The most popular is cold-dressed rabbit in chili oil — whole rabbit poached, chilled, then chopped and dressed with chili oil, Sichuan peppercorn powder, cumin, sesame, and garlic paste.

Chao shou (literally 'crossed arms' — describing the folded wrapper shape): Sichuan's wontons in a chili-sesame sauce. Unlike Cantonese wontons in clear broth, Chengdu chao shou are served in a complex room-temperature sauce of sesame paste, chili oil, garlic, soy, and black vinegar. The wonton skin is slightly thicker than Cantonese, and the filling is simpler — pure seasoned pork.

Hong you chao shou (红油抄手) — Chengdu's beloved wonton in chili oil — features silky pork-filled wontons in a non-soup preparation: the cooked wontons are dressed with a complex chili oil sauce containing soy, black vinegar, sesame paste, sugar, and aromatic chili oil. No broth — the sauce is the medium. One of the defining Sichuan street foods.

Guai wei ji (怪味鸡) — strange-flavour chicken — is named for its intentionally confusing sauce that contains all seven of the primary Chinese taste sensations simultaneously: ma (numbing), la (spicy), xian (savoury), tian (sweet), suan (sour), xiang (aromatic), and ku (bitter). The sauce is deliberately complex — no single flavour dominates. Poached chicken dressed in this sauce becomes a showcase of Sichuan flavour mastery.

Guai wei (strange flavour): one of the 23 classic Sichuan compound flavours — deliberately combining all five primary taste dimensions simultaneously: sweet, sour, spicy, numbing, salty, plus sesame. Named 'strange' because the deliberate clash of all flavours creates something unexpected and harmonious. Applied to cold dishes: guai wei ji (strange-flavour chicken), guai wei jelly fish, guai wei noodles.

Chengdu's chaguan (茶馆) — tea house — tradition is distinct from Cantonese yum cha: the Sichuan tea house is a place for social gathering, gossip, mahjong, and relaxation rather than primarily a food venue. Gaiwan (lidded bowl) tea service is the format: a ceramic bowl, lid, and saucer allow continuous refilling by tea masters who circulate with long-spouted copper kettles. Chengdu's street-side bamboo chairs and wicker tables define the aesthetic.

Modern Sichuan restaurant dish of very thin lamb slices threaded onto wooden toothpicks, deep-fried until crisp, then tossed in a wok with dried chillies, cumin, sesame seeds, and Sichuan pepper. The toothpicks allow easy picking up and eating. Combining Xinjiang cumin lamb flavour profile with Sichuan wok technique.

Hui guo rou: pork belly boiled until just cooked, sliced, then stir-fried in a wok with doubanjiang, douchi (black bean), leeks, and fermented sweet wheat paste. The name means 'returned-to-the-pot meat' — the pork is cooked twice: once by boiling, once by wok-frying. The second cooking caramelises the pork's fat and creates blistered, curl-shaped slices.