Sichuan Peppercorn

[FoodMan]

The CMC Company seems to carry them. I am thinking about ordering some and checking them out.

Elie

[mags]

I had a good experience with them, food man. The fellow who owns it is very pleasant, and everything arrived quickly and in good shape.

[markk]

You might be thinking of my review of Grand Sichuan International, in which I waxed, well, whatever people wax these days about the Auzhou Spicy Chicken. It was loaded with mouth-numbing peppercorns.

Thanks to e-gullet, I'm a relative newcomer to GSI. I ate there a few weeks ago (9th and 50th) and had the Auzhou Chicken and just loved the tastes and the heat. Other things I've taken out haven't been spicy enough though, so last night I engaged the lady at the counter in a discussion - I wanted something witht flavours like the Auhou Chicken, and also nice and spicy. Well, the taste I was craving, that I had loved, turned out to be the Sichuan Peppercorns. And when we chose the first fresh Chicken dish and another one whose name I don't remember, I pointed to the Auahou Chicken and said I was considering that again, and she said "Nah- that's a mild dish - you said you wanted really spicy - these are spicy - that's mild!"

Well, I hadn't thought it was mild, but these other two certainly were even spicier - enjoyably so too! Thanks for all these threads - they've helped me discover and enjoy this place.

[Carlovski]

There is sichuan pepper to be found in the States. About a month ago, I sent a message to my family along w/ MT's brining recipe (fantastic for turkey, then prepared Peking duck style). Two weekends ago, 3 LBS showed up at my door! It was only $7 a lb, incredibly fragrant. St. Louis of all places.

I can't wait to make suan la chao shao this weekend.

Pam

3lbs of the stuff?

Won't it have lost it's potency by the time you use that much?

I use quite a lot, and a small jar still lasts me a couple of months.

[Ben Hong]

You got 3 lbs. of the stuff all at once ? Sheeeite, I would never have that much around as it loses fragrance and potency over time. Spread the wealth and earn some brownie points, and SHARE.

[mudbug]

3lbs of the stuff?

Won't it have lost it's potency by the time you use that much?

It can likely be frozen I'd imagine.

[Mabelline]

That's enough to take a bath in (if you are real tiny). My local healthy food store has them.

I might be going out on a limb here, but sometimes germinating seeds respond to dark, sometimes light. Freeze for a couple days, scarify, soak in warm water with a drop of bleach, try everything. They remind me of a scrubby bush we had in AZ called desert willow, and try as you might, seed dropped on the ground germinated, but not when you tried. Throw some outside! Abuse them...maybe that's what they want!!!

[pkee]

Can't go off and abuse them. I'm in sunny CA. I actually have citrus to worry about :) Seriously, you can go through them pretty quickly when you are brining. A tablespoon here and there.

I was going to share w/ a friend down in Carmel. But, he already had a lb. His dad sent it from NYC. Of course, improperly labelled.

If anyone's in the Bay Area, I'd be happy to share with them. Otherwise, I have enough that I might get to repel the local deer. I thought perhaps a combination of fresh cayenne and Sichuan peppercorn as an oil might give the local vermin a kick :)

Pam

[jhlurie]

3lbs of the stuff?

Won't it have lost it's potency by the time you use that much?

It can likely be frozen I'd imagine.

Actually I'm pretty sure that it can't be--at least not with any chance of retaining it's potency.

Vaccum sealing is the thing.

[mrbigjas]

OK so I have about a pound of these things, which I bought yesterday at a local store--no secret handshake needed or anything. And I don't even speak Vietnamese or anything.

Used some for an interesting steak au poivre tonight. But I broke the rest of it into several 2 oz packages which I sealed up in the food saver. Pretty kewl. But seriously I don't make sichuan food that much--this was just the smallest package they had. So my questions are twofold:

1. In nine pages of posts, I can't believe there wasn't one recipe posted.

2. Assuming I can get my shit together: for the folks who can't find them, want me to send you a package? I have probably four or five I could send out. PM me.

Edited to say P.S. I mean, am I offering something for nothing? Maybe. But what goes around comes around, the way I look at it, and if you have something interesting and unique you can send me in return, I'm cool if y'all are. And I have to warn you that I'm heading out of town for a week on Saturday (Toronto folks I have some questions for you), so it might take me a while to get it together. ALSO I didn't import these things, so it shouldn't be illegal or anything for me to offer to send them to people who are interested, is it? I won't if it is.

Edited May 4, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[tommy]

1. In nine pages of posts, I can't believe there wasn't one recipe posted.

that's because it's cooler to say you have them than it is to actually use them.

[mrbigjas]

heh.

well, my offer stands.

[trillium]

One of my favorite ways to use Sichuan peppercorns...this version is a Singaporean/Cantonese version of a Sichuan dish. I think Dunlop's book has a real version. You might also search out dishes that get translated as Hot and numbing X (chicken, fish, crab whatever) those are tasty too.

I like using either a fermented broad bean chilli paste or a fermented yellow

(soy) bean chilli paste. You'll see many versions with fermented black beans

but try to resist, you owe it to yourself to try it with broad bean paste at least once.

I also like it better with the more southern style preserved

mustard green (hum choy, if you want more info on this, look up a past thread

in dejanews) at least here in the US. The Sichuan version available in the

cities we've lived in is either an insipid canned one, or an overly sweet,

mushy on-site version. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with a

decent version, then by all means use that, otherwise, search out the fresh,

tangy southern hum choy, try to avoid the canned ones. Fresh roasted Sichuan

peppercorns are another imperative ingredient in this dish. I would almost

say don't bother making it if you don't have them. Use fresh Chinese firm

tofu, not a non-refrigerated variety. The peas are optional, not necessary.

We put them in to stretch the dish or when we feel like having them there or

when we are making a vegetarian version for non-meat eating friends. Lastly,

we don't really like the hot chilli sesame oil combos that are out there

(mainly marketed to round eyes), they don't have the right fragrance. Use a

roasted sesame oil and a homemade chilli oil if possible.

Ingredients:

marinade for the meat:

2 t thin soya

2 t thick soya

3 t Shaohsing wine (the unsalted kind!)

2 t sesame oil

1/2 lb fresh minced pork (or ground if you don't want to mince it)

4 oz preserved mustard greens (hum choy)

2 packages of firm tofu (the kind with two cakes in them) pressed and drained (you can see a picture of how we do it in the eGCI class I did)

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t potato flour, plus 2 T water

3 T broad bean chilli paste (or yellow bean chilli paste) or more to taste

1 t thin soya

1 c of water or meat stock

a bag of frozen peas (optional)

4 scallions, thinly sliced, white parts separate from green

sesame oil

chilli oil

about 1 t of fresh roasted Sichuan pepper, ground (can be crushed with cleaver

handle or mortar or in a grinder)

2 red chillies, thinly sliced on the diagonal

a handful or more of cilantro (coriander) leaves

peanut or corn oil

Put the minced pork aside in a bowl and add the marinade ingredients. Let it

sit covered at room temp while you prepare the rest of the stuff.

Cut the preserved vegetable into match sized pieces, cut the tofu into 1 inch

cubes (after it has drained off a lot of water).

Mix the potato flour with the water.

Heat a pan or wok over high heat until there are faint wisps of smoke coming

off it. Put some oil in the pan quick! and swirl it around. Throw in the

garlic and flip it around, very quick and add the pork. Flip it around until

it's half cooked, then add the preserved vegetable, the white parts of the

scallions, the bean paste and the soya. Stir it around until it incorporated

into the meat. Pour in the water or stock and bring to a simmer, over med

heat. Add the tofu pieces. Mix gently, and allow the sauce to be absorbed by

the tofu about 5 minutes. Add the peas if you're going to. When the peas are

barely warmed through, add the potato flour water mix (stir it well) and turn

up the heat until it thickens. Take off heat. Drizzle with sesame and chilli

oils, sprinkle with Sichuan pepper, sliced chillies, the green parts of the

scallion and the cilantro. Eat immediately with steamed rice.

regards,

trillium

[Rhea_S]

Quotes from last week's (April 28) Chicago Tribune link (needs login) :

In mid-January, the federal government revised the ban to allow heat-treated Sichuan peppercorns into the country.

Fuchsia Dunlop, author of "Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking," experimented at her London home with heating the peppercorns to 140 degrees to see if the flavor was affected. She also tried steaming them.

"In both cases there was a slight loss of aroma and sensation (with of course a slight toasted flavor developing in the overheated pepper), but the pepper still 'worked' -- i.e., made my lips and tongue tingle for some time," she reported via e-mail.

[memesuze]

Just tested the peppercorns that arrived today from CMC - numbed the tip of my tongue and my lips for about five minutes. I think we have some live ones here....thanks, Foodman. I had just gotten Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook, and was saddened when I thought I couldn't find any peppercorns for her Szechuan Pepper Rub and Dipping Salt. I'll be sealing up most of them into smaller packages with my Tilia....

[jhlurie]

Just tested the peppercorns that arrived today from CMC - numbed the tip of my tongue and my lips for about five minutes.

That's always a good sign. A nice supplementary test? Drink a glass on water immediately after eating one of these suckers. I've never been able to precisely describe what it tastes/feel like, but you will know it when it happens, and if it just seems like a normal drink of water, you'll know you aren't getting the full sichuan peppercorn effect.

[edsel]

I ordered some sichuan peppercorns from CMC. Thank you, Elie, for bringing them to our attention. The first indication I had that the spice was fresh was the aroma eminating from the box (appropriately, they packed my order in a Lingham's Hot Sauce carton. ). I could smell the hu-chiao even before I opened the shipping carton. They are fragrant, tongue-numbing, wonderful - better by far than the stale stuff I found at the asian market.

[markk]

Thanks indeed for the tip. I too just ordered (in fact, just received) my shipment of Szechuan peppercorns from them.

But there's a ton on this thread (I think it's this thread) about how, because of Citrus blight, they are illegal to import. I asked the guy if he grows them here, and he said that they can only come from China. Any explanations?

I also ordered some little Thai Birdseye peppers that he said were the hottes peppers they carry (which sounded good to me!). Does anybody know these?

[jhlurie]

Okay, just the site of that damn bag is making me want some. My stock is slightly better than some of the stuff left in local markets, but it's still stale compared to what I had in restaurants a mere year or two ago.

The price isn't THAT bad either, although that quantity probably used to be about a buck.

[Gary Soup]

But there's a ton on this thread (I think it's this thread) about how, because of Citrus blight, they are illegal to import.  I asked the guy if he grows them here, and he said that they can only come from China.  Any explanations?

One of the following:

a) It's old stock, or

b) Procured illegally, or

c) He's already getting the newly approved heat-treated ones.

[tommy]

c) He's already getting the newly approved heat-treated ones.

are/will these be readily available? that is to say, do i not have to worry about never having proper tongue and tripe again?

[pjs]

I believe the correct answer is b). Why heat-treat when it is still relatively easy to sneak them in?

That bag of Birdseye Chilies in the photo only further convinces me I need to call CMC tomorrow with an order before the feds find them out and slap them silly.

PJ

[Gary Soup]

I believe the correct answer is b). Why heat-treat when it is still relatively easy to sneak them in?

That bag of Birdseye Chilies in the photo only further convinces me I need to call CMC tomorrow with an order before the feds find them out and slap them silly.

PJ

"Sneaking them in" is one thing. Advertising them openly on a well known mail-order website for Asian ingredients is another. How stupid can the Feds be? In San Francisco, they long ago swooped down on every Asian market in town and confiscated all extant stock. You can't get them here even if your Uncle Joe owns a market in Chinatown.

[Gary Soup]

c) He's already getting the newly approved heat-treated ones.

are/will these be readily available? that is to say, do i not have to worry about never having proper tongue and tripe again?

The modified regulations were put in place in January. It's quite possible that a major importer/distributor is bringing in the "legal" stuff by now.

[pjs]

I believe the correct answer is b). Why heat-treat when it is still relatively easy to sneak them in?

That bag of Birdseye Chilies in the photo only further convinces me I need to call CMC tomorrow with an order before the feds find them out and slap them silly.

PJ

"Sneaking them in" is one thing. Advertising them openly on a well known mail-order website for Asian ingredients is another. How stupid can the Feds be? In San Francisco, they long ago swooped down on every Asian market in town and confiscated all extant stock. You can't get them here even if your Uncle Joe owns a market in Chinatown.

The article on Szechuan Peppercorns that appeared in the NYTimes back in February mentioned that the heat treatment "changes their quality and character." It also mentioned that the Agriculture Dept. has only 130 inspectors that deal with smuggling and improper importation. The Dept. spokesperson admitted they didn't visit everyone they could.

It's interesting that you can't find them in the bay area. The same piece reported that one wholesale company in your area was still selling them to regular customers. In fact a staff member of the Times found some at a medicinal shop in SF and actually bought some at a large grocery in Oakland. I have no doubt however, said staff member's fluency in Chinese played a large part in his success.

PJ