The Food of Sichuan

I'm a chinese girl who was born and grew up in Canada. My mom spoiled me and never let me help her cook, so when I moved away for university, my cooking skill was 0/10. After cooking from western internet recipes for many years, I could only satisfy my homecooked chinese food craving when I visited home. That is, until I discovered Fuschia Dunlop's recipe books. My first one was Every Grain of Rice, (EGR) most recipes were ones I recognized from meals I'd eat with my family, and my confidence in chinese cooking started growing from there. Now, four years later, I think I'm ready to expand my repertoire, so I bought this one. It didn't disappoint, while EGR had classic meal recipes, this one also adds desserts, hotpot, how to pickle your own vegetables, making your own sesame paste, etc.I was so surprised when I opened the box. The cover of this book is a fabric texture with silver text, giving it the feel of a limited edition collectible or something. Very beautiful. The pages are a bit thinner than in Every Grain of Rice, but I think that's to lighten the weight because the book is already so thick. There's a nice ribbon bookmark attached to the spine. The recipes themselves are amazing, some of which use "unusual" meats (ex. rabbit) but I think it'll work perfectly fine substituting them with things I do eat, and I especially love her explanations and backstories to the techniques and recipes. Some of the popular recipes are overlapped between her books, but the text and explanations are newly written. Highly recommend this.

Superbe livre, je n'ai toujours pas cuisiné de recette vu la difficulté à me procurer plusieurs ingrédients pour l'instant mais je sais que ce sera un hit. Le feuilleter me fait voyager au Sichuan, province Chinoise coup de coeur que j'espère pouvoir revoir un jour.

I heard about this book on KNKX public radio and bought it for my wife. Wow. The book lives up to the acclaim offered by the KNKX commentators, Nancy Leeson and Dick Stein. What a find. We'll get a copy for our son too, who is a chef.

I have cooked *many* dishes from the excellent first edition---which had the different title, "Land of Plenty"---so I was especially keen to try the 70 NEW recipes in this new edition, the existence of which was announced in the blurb and in the Preface.However, strangely and sadly, this new edition does not contain a simple list of these new recipes, nor does it have any kind of marker or comment next to a dish that is new to this edition. I even searched, unsuccessfully, for such a list on Ms. Dunlop's own website.Fortunately, TheMalaMarket---a wonderful online seller of the specialized Sichuan ingredients needed to make these recipes---featured a Q&A with Ms. Dunlop about "The Food of Sichuan". I posted a comment/question that went with this Q&A, asking if such a LIST of the NEW recipes existed. Taylor, the founder of TheMaLaMarket, was kind enough to respond to me, explaining that Ms. Dunlop had indeed posted such a list on her Facebook page, back in October, 2019. Taylor was kind enough to email me the list directly, rather than making me hunt for it.To repay my karmic debt, I am here posting the list that Taylor sent me.[DISCLAIMER: I am a professor of mathematics, and have no connection with TheMalaMarket, other than being a very satisfied customer.]THE FOOD OF SICHUAN (2019)NEW RECIPES IN THIS EDITION(70 plus 12 variations below main recipes)Cold dressed chicken (this replaces earlier recipes for cold dressed chicken)Broccoli with sesame oilSpinach in a sour-and-hot dressingSteamed aubergines with scorched green peppersSour and hot wood ear salad (appeared in Every Grain of Rice)Cold fish in spicy sauceThree sliver salad (with 3 variations)Old Arabian cold beefDry tossed beefSpiced chicken heartsSmacked cucumber in garlicky sauce (plus 1 variation)Tragically hot water spinach saladNorth Sichuan cool starch jelly (plus 1 variation)Firm tofu with celery and peanuts (appeared in Every Grain of Rice)Slivered pig’s ear in chilli oil sauce‘Rabbit eaten cold’Bowl-steamed pork in ricemeal with peas (this appeared in Every Grain of Rice)Li Zhuang ‘head bowl’Sichanese stir fried baconStewed pork with carrotsSpicy blood stewScalded kidneys with fresh chilliDry-braised beef tendonsZigong small-fried chickenStir-fried chicken with preserved vegetableBraised chicken with baby taroFish-fragrant fried chicken‘One tender bite’Steamed egg custard with minced pork toppingBoiled fish in a seething sea of chilliesDry-braised prawnsGong Bao prawns with cashew nutsFish with fresh chilli and green Sichuan pepperTofu with minced meat in fermented sauceLeshan ‘bear’s paw’ tofuMount Emei spicy silken tofuXiba tofuStir-fried mashed broad beans with spring onionStir fried lotus root with chillies and Sichuan pepperTender boiled vegetables with a spicy dip (a version appeared in Every Grain of Rice)Dry fried ‘eels’Stir fried cabbage with chilliStir fried cabbage with pork cracklings‘Crossing the river’ choy sumStewed baby taro with greensStir-fried celery with minced porkFried egg and tomato soupThick split pea soup (also appeared in Every Grain of Rice; plus 1 variation)Boiled pumpkin soupSimple choy sum soupMeatball and vegetable soupSour and hot flower tofu soupChicken with ginkgo nuts‘Rice broth’ with vegetablesSmothered glutinous rice with peas and cured porkThin rice porridge (plus 2 variations)Chongqing small noodles (plus 4 variations)Soup noodles with shredded pork and pickled greensSichuan soup noodles with minced pork toppingHand-made sweet water noodlesCopper Well Lane vegetarian noodlesCold buckwheat noodlesSour and hot sweet potato noodlesChengdu wontons with dried chilli sauceJuntun guokui pastriesStuffed eggy pancakesSpiced ‘oil tea’ with crunchy toppingsA ‘small dish’ of radish slivers‘Sweet cooked white’ rice puddingIced mung bean soupNEW RECIPES GIVEN AS VARIATIONS BELOW MAIN RECIPESChongqing sauce for cold chickenSpicy dip for cold chicken 1Spicy dip for cold chicken 2‘Lettuce captured alive’Spiced potato sliver saladLARGELY REWORKED RECIPES TO REPLACE PREVIOUS VERSIONS‘Strange flavour’ bang bang chickenGreen soybeans in a simple stock sauceMan-and-wife offal slicesDry-fried beefDry-fried chickenChicken with chestnutsChongqing chicken with chilliesHome made nigari flower tofu (plus 4 dips)

Extremely delicious Sichuanese food. Even my picky Czech husband loves the fish fragrant pork with jew's ears mushrooms! LOVE this book