The market · Spices · East Asia
Sichuan pepper
The dried husk of a prickly-ash berry — not a pepper at all — that makes the lips tingle and go numb.
numbing · citrusy
What to do with it
HunanChangsha spicy crayfishWhole crayfish stir-fried and braised in a red, oily sauce of chilli, garlic, beer and spices, eaten with the fingers at night-market tables in summer.No one here has made it yetShandongDezhou braised chickenA whole chicken, legs tucked in, glazed and fried golden, then braised for hours in a spiced soy stock until the meat falls from the bone.No one here has made it yetHuaiyangNanjing salted duckA whole duck, dry-salted with Sichuan pepper, brined, then poached very gently and served cold in slices — pale, juicy and delicately salty.No one here has made it yetAnhuiWuwei smoked duckA whole duck, salted and spiced, smoked until bronze and then simmered, so it's smoky, savoury and tender.No one here has made it yetYunnanRubingA firm fresh cheese of goat's milk, pressed into blocks, then sliced and fried or grilled until golden, and eaten with salt and pepper or sugar.No one here has made it yetUyghur and XinjiangBig-plate chickenChicken and potatoes braised with chilli, Sichuan pepper and green peppers, served on one huge platter, with wide flat noodles tossed through the sauce at the end.No one here has made it yetSichuanMapo tofuSoft tofu in a fiery, glossy sauce of doubanjiang, fermented black beans, minced beef and ground Sichuan pepper.No one here has made it yet
SichuanKung pao chickenDiced chicken stir-fried with dried chillies, Sichuan pepper and peanuts in a glossy sweet-sour sauce.No one here has made it yetSichuanDry-fried green beansGreen beans fried until blistered and wrinkled, then tossed with a little minced pork, preserved mustard greens, chilli and Sichuan pepper.No one here has made it yetSichuanChilli oil wontonsSilky pork wontons, folded small, in a pool of red chilli oil, soy, black vinegar and garlic.No one here has made it yetSichuanChongqing hotpotA pot of beef-tallow broth thick with chilli, Sichuan pepper and chilli bean paste, kept boiling at the table for cooking raw meats, offal and vegetables.No one here has made it yetSichuanChongqing chicken with chilliesSmall pieces of chicken fried crisp, then tossed in the wok with a heap of dried chillies and Sichuan pepper — you hunt for the chicken.No one here has made it yetSichuanWater-boiled beefTender slices of beef poached in a chilli-bean broth over a bed of greens, then heaped with dried chilli and Sichuan pepper and doused in smoking oil.No one here has made it yetSichuanBobo chickenCold poached chicken and other morsels on bamboo skewers, steeped in a bowl of red chilli oil with Sichuan pepper, and paid for by the stick.No one here has made it yet
SichuanKung pao chickenDiced chicken stir-fried with dried chillies, Sichuan pepper and peanuts in a glossy sweet-sour sauce.No one here has made it yetSichuanDry-fried green beansGreen beans fried until blistered and wrinkled, then tossed with a little minced pork, preserved mustard greens, chilli and Sichuan pepper.No one here has made it yetSichuanChilli oil wontonsSilky pork wontons, folded small, in a pool of red chilli oil, soy, black vinegar and garlic.No one here has made it yetSichuanChongqing hotpotA pot of beef-tallow broth thick with chilli, Sichuan pepper and chilli bean paste, kept boiling at the table for cooking raw meats, offal and vegetables.No one here has made it yetSichuanChongqing chicken with chilliesSmall pieces of chicken fried crisp, then tossed in the wok with a heap of dried chillies and Sichuan pepper — you hunt for the chicken.No one here has made it yetSichuanWater-boiled beefTender slices of beef poached in a chilli-bean broth over a bed of greens, then heaped with dried chilli and Sichuan pepper and doused in smoking oil.No one here has made it yetSichuanBobo chickenCold poached chicken and other morsels on bamboo skewers, steeped in a bowl of red chilli oil with Sichuan pepper, and paid for by the stick.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Red
- Warm, woody, classic numbing.
- Green
- Brighter, more citrus.
If you can't find it
Chinese grocers. Fresh ones are pink-red and numbing; old ones are just dust.
- The sameYou lose a little warmth; sansho is more citrusy.
- A little lessYou lose some of the numbing; timut is grapefruit-bright.
Honestly
Nothing else numbs. Black pepper gives heat, not tingle.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Chinese grocers. It should smell strongly citrus; stale husks just taste of dust.
- Worth knowing
- Toast it gently, then grind — and pick out the black seeds, which are gritty.
Kitchens that keep it in
Shandong province, on China's east coastShandongThe oldest of China's great regional kitchens and the root of northern banquet cooking: clear and milky stocks, fierce quick frying, Yellow Sea seafood, and scallions by the armful.7 classicsBeijing and the northern plain, northern ChinaBeijingA wheat-and-mutton kitchen of the dry north, salty and savoury with fermented bean pastes, where palace banquets and street snacks grew up side by side.8 classicsYunnan province, south-western ChinaYunnanA kitchen of many peoples, from the edge of the Tibetan plateau down to the tropics: rice noodles and cured ham, wild mushrooms and fresh cheese, and the sour, herb-bright cooking of the Dai.7 classicsSichuan province, south-western ChinaSichuanBold and layered: the numbing tingle of Sichuan pepper with the heat of chilli — málà — alongside some two dozen named flavour combinations.11 classics