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THE AUTHENTIC SICHUAN CHINESE RESTAURANT
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41 RIVERSIDE AVENUE
MEDFORD MA 02155
TEL: 781-396-8488
781-396-0817
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SICHUAN CUISINE
Of the eight major schools of China's culinary art, Sichuan cuisine is perhaps the most popular. Originating in Sichuan Province of westernChina,enjoys an international reputation for being spicy and flavorful.
The origin of Sichuan cuisine can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties (221BC-220AD), its recognition as a distinct regional system took place in the Han Dynasties (206BC-220AD). As a unique style of food, Sichuan cuisine was famous more than 800 years ago during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). The hot pepper was introduced into China from South America around the end of the 17th century. Once it came to Sichuan, it became a favored food flavoring. In the late Qing Dynasty around 19th century, Sichuan cuisine became a unique local flavor.
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Sichuan has been known as the land of plenty since ancient times. It produces abundant domestic animals, poultry, and freshwater fish and crayfish. Sichuan cuisine is well known for cooking fish. The raw materials are delicacies from land and river, edible wild herbs, and the meat of domestic animals and birds. Beef is 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 rich gravy.
Sichuan dishes masterly used cooking techniques are sauteing, stir-frying without stewing, dry-braising, Pao (soaking in water) and Hui (frying then braising with corn flour sauce). Sichuan cuisine is famous for its distinct and various flavors, the most outstanding ones are fish flavors, pepper powder boiled in oil, strange flavor and sticky-hot.
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Green Bean Starch with Spicy Sauce
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Sticky Rice Pudding with Red Bean Paste and Nuts
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Ma Po ToFu
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Statistics show that the number of Sichuan dishes has surpassed 5,000. Dishes typical of Sichuan are double cooked pork, diced chicken with roasted peanuts, shreeded beef with garlic sauce. One of the popular dishes is or Mapo Doufu in Chinese, which was invented by a Chengdu housewife decades ago in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The cubed bean curd is cooked over a low flame in a sauce which contains ground beef, chili, and pepper. When served, the bean curd is tender, spicy, and appetizing.
Although many Sichuan dishes live up to their spicy reputation, often ignored are the large percentage of recipes that use little or no spice at all, including recipes such as "aromatic smoked duck".
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Aromatic Duck
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