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Sichuan Peppercorn


jhlurie

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WORKING WITH SICHUAN PEPPERCORNS

While some chefs may make a flavored oil from them, the most common way to use Sichuan Peppercorns is to toast them lightly until they are fragrant. To do this heat them in dry hot pan untlil they smell good and just start to color lightly. Let the peppercorns cool for a few minutes and then grind them finely. I like to use my Japanese grinding bowl for this, but a mortar and pestle works well or even just the end of a clever's handle in a small bowl will do the trick. I then pass the powder trough a strainer to remove any larger pieces. This very fragrant spice may now be used to flavor a dish.

The Chinese words that denote the use of this Sichuam peppercorn are 'Ma La' which translates to 'numb, spicy'.

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Sorry to get to this thread a little late, but I also agree that Fuschia's book is very good !

Try the 'fish fragant aubergines', they are great ! And no peppercorns required !

I'm a fan of pork belly so I may have to try a dish based on this soon. The red-braised pork sounds like it may do the trick.

Rgds

Rick

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While some chefs may make a flavored oil from them, the most common way to use Sichuan Peppercorns is to toast them lightly until they are fragrant. To do this heat them in dry hot pan untlil they smell good and just start to color lightly. Let the peppercorns cool for a few minutes and then grind them finely.

A few weeks ago I used some to make Sichuan pepper-salt, which I got from Deb Madison "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," and then I served the pepper-salt with dumplings at a party. I bought them at my Asian grocer. EWEddie later told me (on a different thread) that they were illegal. ??

Since reading this thread, I realized that what I bought was not (I don't think) true Sichuan peppercorns. There was almost no kick to them whatsoever: I was expecting to experience the whole "licking a nine-volt battery" thing. Maybe they were old?

Any thoughts on what OTHER condiment could have been given to me when I asked my grocer for "Sichuan peppercorns?" Keeping in mind the darned language barrier, of course. She scooped them out of a bin and sold them to me in a little baggie, further adding to the intrigue.

:unsure::unsure:

Noise is music. All else is food.

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The Chinese words that denote the use of this Sichuam peppercorn are 'Ma La' which translates to 'numb, spicy'.

Okay, in a way the literal name actually describes it better than some of OUR attempts, Eddie.

In actuality there is very little resemblance to spicyness though. Its more like a numbness which also simultaneously includes a nice tingling sensation.

The thing is... unless the whole thing is actually political somehow (not out of the question), how long should a ban like this reasonably last? Is it assumed that a bacteria like this lasts through successive crops?

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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The owner of my local Asian grocery told me when I asked for Sichuan peppercorns that his inventory was confiscated. Citrus canker is a serious threat to the growers here in Florida. When they find an infected tree they not only destroy it but also destroy all the trees within a large radius of the infected tree.

PJ

"Epater les bourgeois."

--Lester Bangs via Bruce Sterling

(Dori Bangs)

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Managed to get hold of some of these at the weekend at Borough Market in South London. They were on sale in bags branded as 'Szichuan Pepper from Fuschia Dunlop' at 'The Cool Chile Co.' stand. I was also hoping to pick up some heaven/sky facing chillies but they seem to have been all out of these for a while although they mentioned that some should be coming in soon.

Anyway, the guy at the stall insisted that I chew one peppercorn husk to experience the full effect of the purchase. I must say I was truly amazed at the wealth of sensations that such a small spice can produce !

It started off with a general tingling which slowly spreads across your whole tongue and month. This eventually leads on to a full 'pins and needles'/anaestethic effect when your lips and tongue become fairly numb. Then slightly later a fairly strong taste and aroma of citrus/lemon emerges which eventually fades away only to leave you with the tingling/'pins and needles' effect which continues for around 10-15 minutes

A quite amazing spice !

I am looking forward to cooking with it and am just trying to decide what I should attempt first. Does anyone have any particular favourites from the Fuschia Dunlop book which use this ingredient ?

Thanks,

Rick

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Rick, try the Strange Flavour Chicken recipe (otherwise known as Bang Bang Chicken). It's a good intro, as it uses roasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns, which I've found are less pungent than raw ground ones. (That said, there's another cold dressed chicken dish that calls for raw peppercorns, so if you really want to go the whole hog it might be a good option.)

I also like the amarenth with chilies and Sichuan peppercorn, and the ma po do fu - but obviously both of those call for facing heaven chilies. (I'm running low on them as well, and was also asking after them at Borough a couple of weeks ago.)

Whatever you do, don't make the mistake I did of following a Western preparation from A New Way To Cook that called for making a crust of Sichuan peppercorns for pan-fried salmon. Obviously the author wasn't thinking of the "active" type of peppercorn, and I didn't make the connection either. The resulting fillets made my mouth numb for the better part of half an hour. :laugh:

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P.S. The boiled beef in a fiery sauce looks deadly from the picture. Is it really edible ?

Don't know yet - I still haven't had both the ingredients AND the chilli-hating boyfriend out of the flat at the same time so I could find out. I dream of it, though. :wub:

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Rick!

The vendor from the cool chile co, also conned my husband and I to putting a peppercorn in our mouths a few weeks ago (I posted about it, have no idea where it is now!).

I agree with you, quite an amazing experience! My mouth was salivating so badly that I was almost drooling.

I can't wait to see how your strange flavour chicken turns out.

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Whatever you do, don't make the mistake I did of following a Western preparation from A New Way To Cook that called for making a crust of Sichuan peppercorns for pan-fried salmon. Obviously the author wasn't thinking of the "active" type of peppercorn, and I didn't make the connection either. The resulting fillets made my mouth numb for the better part of half an hour. 

:laugh::laugh: I was looking over this exact recipe last night, thinking of this thread, and realized: "she CAN'T mean this." Whoa!

Noise is music. All else is food.

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How bizarre - there's still no problem getting these in the UK. Must be our lack of commercial citrus crops. I wonder if they're banned in places like Spain and Israel?

Easily available at my local Thai market in Minneapolis, but then again, they are selling numbers "under the table." I think they have Thai porn videos in the back room, but I haven't ventured there.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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  • 6 months later...

In Fuchsia Dunlop's Sichuan cookbook, Land of Plenty, which is now adapted for the American market by W.W. Norton, she cites TWO online and mail order sources for Sichuan Peppercorns:

The CMC Company

P.O. Drawer 322

Avalon, NJ 08202

800-262-2780

sales@thecmccompany.com

http://www.thecmccompany.com

Adriana's Caravan

409 Vanderbilt Street

Brooklyn, NY 11218

800-316-0820

718-436-8565

http://www.adrianascaravan.com

I have only been able to verify that CMC carries it through their web site, it is listed as "Szechuan Peppercorns" on this page (click), 2 oz for $5.25.

Adriana's Caravan has it listed under a Szechuan pepper spice blend which includes other kinds of peppercorns in it:

Five Peppercorn Blend, Szechuan Style:

Szechuan peppercorns add an Asian twist to this standard blend. Keep it on the table in a pepper grinder, and grind this colorful mix onto steaks, poultry, and all kinds of salad. Ingredients: Black peppercorns, white peppercorns, green peppercorns, pink peppercorns, and Szechuan pepper. SPWL451 

1 oz $3.50 2 oz $5.00 4 oz $9.00 8 oz $17.00 1 lb $30.00

Edited by Jason Perlow (log)

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Thanks, Jason, but I think an American editor or someone who owes favors put together the sources. As a whole, they suck.

When I got this book (upon u.s. publication) the two sources you cite did not have the peppercorns. They were mediocre sources, in general. That was, what, June?

I'm in San Francisco, and "she" gives two general sources here. One, May Wah, is famous, and deservedly so. The other is a joint in chinatown, and I hadn't heard of it so last week I hiked up there and it's your basic chinatown import shop. Not a grocery at all, though they had some foodstuff imports downstairs. wtf? Sadly, I conclude that whoever put the reference in the book (not Ms. Dunlop, no way) hadn't actually visited this store. I mean, it's San Francisco, we've got really great Chinese markets all over, and I'm directed to this junk shop? Ok, maybe it's nice stuff. But it ain't any sort of food store.

On the other hand, I walked past the Wok Shop, where I picked up a new steamer. Pretty sweet store, right there.

Thanks again for bringing up the book. This baby is a gem. Stupid stuff, like Kung Pow, is _stunningly_ good. You think, I'm not gonna make her Kung Pow, I've done that a thousand times. Then you make it, and it changes everything. This book should be a pinned topic.

But you can't make anything without the peppercorns!

Has anyone tried freezing these peppercorns? Are they still available via ebay (I can't find them)? Some months back it was mentioned in the food section of the sf chronicle, and a fda guy was quoted as saying the ban would never be lifted, it's too dangerous, and it would be decades before anyone was sure the bug was, well, safe.

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But you can't make anything without the peppercorns!

I know, its practically in EVERY recipe of the book. Its such a critical spice to the cuisine its not even funny.

I've contacted her publisher, maybe we can get Fuchsia to come on and talk to us, perhaps we can finally resolve this peppercorn thing.

If the stuff is really banned in the US in any form, then the publication of this book in the US is almost for nought, unless you get the spice via illicit means.

BTW, I only just got a copy of the book from the publisher directly, and it came with a press release that states the book was released on August 18, 2003. So if you had the book earlier, was it an advance copy?

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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wow, talk about coincidence. i'm in hawaii on vacation and i'm volunteering at a local restaurant. they have a dish called "10,000 chile fried Moi. Moi is a local ocean farm raised fish. they deep fry the fish which has been breaded in a mixture of panko and a WHOLE MESS of whole szechuan peppercorns! i was dubious and when i bit into it i was proven correct! my whole mouth went numb and then sort of like when i eat artichoke, cool (temperature feeling in my mouth, that is). when i ask about using whole szechuan peppercorns like that, the chef tells me about them being illegal, but they have their sources in chinatown here in honolulu :biggrin: .

by the way, it is my mother's favorite spice (she was born in szechuan province). she makes a very interesting condiment (i think her own invention as she's prone to throw a lot of things together when we have too much food in the house :blink: )...she chops up tons of cilantro, grinds a ton of szechuan peppercorns, and dumps them all together and then heats up some vegetable oil, pours it on top of the whole mess and uses it VERY SPARINGLY on top of whatever she's eating. sort of a bizarre novacaine(sp?) pesto...she's a little crazy, but i love her :biggrin: .

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my whole mouth went numb and then sort of like when i eat artichoke, cool (temperature feeling in my mouth, that is).

...she chops up tons of cilantro, grinds a ton of szechuan peppercorns, and dumps them all together and then heats up some vegetable oil, pours it on top of the whole mess and uses it VERY SPARINGLY on top of whatever she's eating. 

alanamoana,

I've always thought that about artichokes too, good description.

That's pretty cool. I love hearing about "grandma's" cooking, especially Chinese grandmas...

:raz:

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I am wondering why they don't just irradiate the damn things. That would kill the bacteria and leave the peppercorns pretty much alone.

(Before anyone freaks... A lot of spices get irradiated and you should be very happy about that. Spices are surprisingly filthy. Years ago, we did a bacterial, rat shit and bug part survey of them at FDA. Not a pretty picture.)

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Well, Froogle.google.com doesnt help much either:

http://www.myspicer.com/frgl.php?id=SZECH&...huan%20(Banned)

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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BTW, I only just got a copy of the book from the publisher directly, and it came with a press release that states the book was released on August 18, 2003. So if you had the book earlier, was it an advance copy?

Amazon lists it as released in June 2003, and that's when I bought my copy from them.

Weird.

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Here's another cool page which lists the various species of Sichuan Peppercorn. Apparently, it doesn't just come from China.

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/eng...l?Zant_pip.html

Still no hope though.

Import of sichuan pepper to the USA is currently banned in order to prevent spread of the citrus canker disease. Citrus canker is caused by a bacterium (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri) that infects several members of family Rutaceae, particularily citrus fruits; being highly contagious and impossible to cure, citrus canker now poses a severe threat to the orange industry in Florida. For fear of importing new strains of the pathogen, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has set a general ban on several herbal products, including Chinese sichuan pepper.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Jason, I was going to post that this morning but wanted to do further research from a botanical standpoint as a gardener... to further provide some answers for the previous questions in the thread.

What others may find interesting from the same web page for culinary purposes is the following information (links are included for each spice at the page):

Sichuan pepper cannot really be called "fiery", but it has an unusual "tickling" pungency, which gives way to a characteristic "numb" sensation (ma in Chinese). Thus, sichuan pepper cannot be used to prepare "hot" food. The only other spices with a similar anaestethic power are Tasmanian pepper, which additionally can provide true peppery heat, paracress, and, to a lesser extent, water pepper leaves. Water pepper seeds have a much increased pungency, and it is remarkable that this spice is not used traditionally in the cooking of any country, despite its easy availability and large distribution in Eurasia. See also negro pepper for a more detailled discussion of hot spices.

:smile:

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Yeah, I'm trying to source Tasmanian pepper but to no avail.

We have no trouble finding Sichuan peppercorns here in Aussieland. I'm supplying all of my American friends.

Since we have a valuable citrus crop, and Import/Quarantine regulators like Rottweilers, I can only presume that ours are irradiated before entering the country, as fifi suggested.

Just sampled and they are definitely Sichuan. (Thinthse my thongue ith now numb).

Have never seen these Tasmanian Peppercorns.

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