Sichuan cuisine

Food tips you can trust

Famous
Sichuan cuisine
specialties

Camphor Wood or
Tea Smoked Duck

A whole duck is marinated in a mixture of rice wine, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and tangerine peel, then smoked over coals sprinkled with camphor wood shavings and tea leaves.

Hot and Sour Soup

Chicken broth spiced with vinegar and pepper and stocked with shreds of pork, bean curd, tiger lily buds, and cloud ears (a dried tree fungus).

Twice-Cooked Pork

The meat is simmered, sliced, then stir-fried with vegetables and a spicy bean-based condiment.

More Sichuan cuisine
tips & insights

Recent world fame

Although fifty years ago few people outside of China were familiar with Sichuan's hot and spicy cuisine, today it has devoted fans around the world.

Pseudo Sichuan cooking

Many non-Chinese Sichuan restaurant-goers (especially in America) relish the monotonous everything-as-hot-as-possible approach.

Making one dish hotter than another is not a measure of a chef's talent. All it takes is the addition of extra chili, a feat that could be performed by a trained monkey.

Epicures judge a Sichuan chef by the subtly complex overtones of his sauces and whether they complement the other ingredients in his dishes.

Sichuan cuisine region in China