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Sichuan (Szechuan) Cooking


worm@work

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Hi ,

I'm always somewhat hesitant to prepare schezuan dishes since the recipes I seem to find rarely lead me to results that replicate what I get at a good restaurant. However, both me and my husband are very fond of schezuan cooking and would love to prepare our favorite food at home. Does anyone know of a good book that might be able to help me get started?

thanks in advance,

w@w

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Silly girl

The Fuchsia Dunlop book is the only one worth considering

Readily available, under various guises, on Amazon

J

Hi ,

I'm always somewhat hesitant to prepare schezuan dishes since the recipes I seem to find rarely lead me to results that replicate what I get at a good restaurant. However, both me and my husband are very fond of schezuan cooking and would love to prepare our favorite food at home. Does anyone know of a good book that might be able to help me get started?

thanks in advance,

w@w

More Cookbooks than Sense - my new Cookbook blog!
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Definitely the Fuchsia Dunlop book Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking (available at

Amazon).

But also consider Mrs. Chaing's Szechwan Cookbook: Szechwan Home Cooking by Jung-Feng Chiang, Ellen Shrecker, also available at Amazon. Her ma po do fu is the best I've ever had.

Now that Szechwan peppercorns have been re-approved for import by the USDA, you're set to go!

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Try "Good Food of Szechwan" by Robert Delfs, Kodansha Press.

Its out of print, but available in used book stores. A slim volume, well written, thorough recipes from before the current mania for deadly dull "exact" recipe writing. There are a lot of helpful explanations for westerners, brand suggestions, *with* the Chinese characters that you can show to a shopkeeper, without trying to butcher pronounciation yourself.

I make his Ma-Po Doufu recipe all the time, and I also like his dry fried string (long) beans, and another dry fried dish, the name of which I cannot recall at the moment.

Edited by kelautz (log)
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Thanks a ton all of you :). My Fuchsia Dunlop book is on its way :). Really appreciate your help and hopefully one of these days, I'll have Schezuan delights to post in the "Dinner!" thread!!

Also found the Robert Delfs book at the library...

-w@w *dreaming of ma po doufu*

Edited by worm@work (log)
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  • 1 month later...
hi,

I just bought Land of Plenty. Does anyone know of a website where I can order many of the hard to find items that I'm going to need for my sichuan pantry?

Thanks in Advance!!!

The UK edition has an appendix containing suppliers - doesn't the US edition have an equivalent?

Strangely in the UK sichuan pepper is fairly easy to find, the tricky things to track down is the right kind of chilli bean paste (Lots of looking at ingredients on jars in chinese supermarkets) and the right kind of chilis (Never managed, but found a reasonable compromise)

I love animals.

They are delicious.

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I have gotten a ton of use out of the Chinese cookbooks by Pei Mei over the years.  Not exclusively Szechuan, but lots of Szechuan and other regions.  Three volumes, all three are worthwhile.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...7525768-9951056

Let me try that Amazon link again:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books

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hi,

I just bought Land of Plenty. Does anyone know of a website where I can order many of the hard to find items that I'm going to need for my sichuan pantry?

Thanks in Advance!!!

I bought sichuan peppercorns here http://www.thecmccompany.com/chin.htm as they had stock during the ban. More $ than at an Asian market but if you dont have one close..

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hi,

I just bought Land of Plenty. Does anyone know of a website where I can order many of the hard to find items that I'm going to need for my sichuan pantry?

Thanks in Advance!!!

The UK edition has an appendix containing suppliers - doesn't the US edition have an equivalent?

Strangely in the UK sichuan pepper is fairly easy to find, the tricky things to track down is the right kind of chilli bean paste (Lots of looking at ingredients on jars in chinese supermarkets) and the right kind of chilis (Never managed, but found a reasonable compromise)

If you're still looking for Facing Heaven chillies in the UK, try mail order from The Spice Shop <www.thespiceshop.co.uk>

They're out of stock at the moment but I'm told they'll be back to purchase in about a month. The Cool Chile Company used to stock them a few years ago but have since streamlined their business to specialise in mexican produce. I'd almost given up hope in finding a new source until I found The Spice Shop.

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hi,

I just bought Land of Plenty. Does anyone know of a website where I can order many of the hard to find items that I'm going to need for my sichuan pantry?

Thanks in Advance!!!

Given that you're in Manhattan, a little snooping around Chinatown should fix you right up. I can find most things in Szechuan recipes in stores in Philly's Chinatown (or the big Chinese store on Washington near the Italian market).

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