Gizmos for Cooks

Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop

Dunlop created perhaps the most authentic Sichuan cookbook, and many describe this book as the “Sichuan Bible”.

Fuschia Dunlop went to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan in China, where she ended up being the first foreign student enrolled at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine.

She starts by explaining xian, “one of the most beautiful words in the Chinese culinary language” describing an entire range of flavor and sensation, “the indefinable, delicious taste of fresh meat, poultry, and seafood, the scrumptious flavors of a pure chicken soup…” Before you know it you are in a world of 23 distinct flavors and 56 cooking methods. The reader learns that Sichuan is the place where “barbarian peppers” meet up with a natural cornucopia and the literary cooking tradition stretch back to the fifth century A.D. Innovation with cooking technique and new and challenging ingredients remains a hallmark of Sichuan and after describing basic cutting skills and cooking techniques, Dunlop presents her recipes in chapters that include “Noodles, Dumplings, and Other Street Treats”; “Appetizers”; “Meat”; “Poultry”; “Fish”; “Vegetables and Bean Curd”; “Stocks and Soup”; “Sweet Dishes”; and “Hotpot.” Hotpot is a traditional dish in the region which you must try at least once done properly… of course even the locals tend to get sick due to the spices! You will also find Gong Bao (Kung Pao) Chicken with Peanuts–Gong Bao Ji Ding. It’s named after a late 19th-century governor of Sichuan, Ding Baozhen, which brought on the wrath of the Cultural Revolution for its imperial associations. The dish was initially called “fast-fried chicken cubes” or “chicken cubes with seared chilies.”

If you are interested in Sichuan cooking at home, this is the book for you.

Suggested Price: $19.80