Yunnan spicy fish 酸菜鱼片

[somethingfunny]

I find a lot of dishes from Sichuan, and especially those from Chengdu aren't really about the flavour of the meat or the fish, but rather that they are more serving as a medium for the mix of spices and ingredients being used.  Varying between meat and fish is really only to vary the feel (口感) of the dish in the mouth.  There are a lot of examples of this, but the most obvious examples I can think of now are some of the many cold dishes you can get in Sichuan.  For example, 猪耳朵 consists of a salty-sweet-spicy sauce and the thin strips of pigs ear gives a slightly crunchy sensation, while 泡椒末耳 is more sour but with a similar (although subtly different) crunch from the 末耳.  

 

I think some people are probably going to disagree with me here but my feeling is that fairly bland flavour of 豆腐 in 麻婆豆腐, 草鱼 in 豆瓣鱼 or 猪肉 in 宫保鸡丁 is fine because its the other ingredients that are doing the talking.  After all, as has been hinted at, if you've got a great piece of beef, all you're going to do is lightly fry it, add a little seasoning and let the meat stand on it's own.

 

I once 'learned' to cook a dish that was basically unseasoned boiled chicken, topped with a paste made from spring onion and 花椒.  The person who showed it to me made it very clear that pretty much the only point of the dish was the 麻 flavour.

 

As for the dish you've cooked here abcdefg, you've hit upon one of the problems I've considered with respect to Chinese cooking - how can I make pickled vegetables myself?  I imagine it being a fairly simple process of vegetable-of-choice + mix-of-spices + vinegar + time.

[Alex_Hart]

@somethingfunny: On the one hand, I would probably agree with you. Sichuanese (and many other spice-based cuisines) need not care as much about the ingredients as 清单菜. I wonder if this might be a question of availability, e.g. 广东 has easy access to fresh fish while 四川 does not. Not saying that you claimed otherwise, but this does not demean the art of Sichuanese or other cooking as many claim. Thai cuisine is based on a very intricate balance between the five basic flavors which takes as much (If you ask me, more!) talent than sushi or 清蒸鱼 to make properly. Having eaten a thousand bowls of 担担面 in my very short stay (yes, I liked the noodles) in 成都, I would very strongly vouch for the importance of the balance of spices.

 

On the other hand, I'm skeptical when people say that the quality of the ingredients is less important in spicy cooking. Certainly, a steak au poivre made with a bad cut of steak will taste better than a very lightly fried steak, but it will still taste worse than it would with a better cut of meat. 担担面 can be quite 麻辣 yet will taste abhorrent with badly made noodles. Stringy beef in 牛肉面 will stand out whether it's done in a 清单 style (thinking of pho) or in a 成都 style. This can be alleviated with long stewing times (after all, what is coq au vin without a terribly stringy rooster?), but a quick stir fry won't cut it. 

 

For pickles:

 

I think one of the awesome things about the Chinese markets are the variety of pickles. The variety is part of pickles is at least part of why Sichuanese cooking is so attractive, and probably not able to be replicated at home. There was one particular stall in 成都 with at least 15-20 giant jars of pickles, all of which had different mixes of vegetables and spices, including (but not limited to!) the staples of 芽菜，榨菜，和酸菜. I can't help you with those in particular (especially 芽菜 which seems pretty complex), but this is Fuschia Dunlop's recipe for 四川泡菜：
Brine: 2 1/4 cups water, 1/4 cup rock/sea salt, 4 dried chilies, 1/2 teaspoon of Sichuan pepper, 2 teaspoons strong rice wine or vodka, 1/2 star anise, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1-inch piece of ginger (unpeeled), a good piece of cassia bark (or 1/3 stick of cinnamon).
Suggested Vegetables: 3/4 pound red-skinned or white Asian radish, 1/2 pound carrots

 

She says that the Sichuanese home would keep the brine in a clay jar and replenish the jar with more vegetables (and with more brine, when needed). The brine will be kept ("mother brine") and the age will contribute to its flavor.

 

When I make her recipes, I tend to up the spice. Depending on your spice tolerance, you may want to do the same.

[abcdefg]

Somethingfunny -- # 21

 

As for the dish you've cooked here abcdefg, you've hit upon one of the problems I've considered with respect to Chinese cooking - how can I make pickled vegetables myself?  I imagine it being a fairly simple process of vegetable-of-choice + mix-of-spices + vinegar + time.

 

Found an interesting article that talks not only about how to make pickled vegetables, but discusses their merits as a source of probiotics, which are all the rage in health-food circles. http://redcook.net/2013/10/04/probiotic-pickles-china/

 

Quote --

As it turns out there are plenty of them and the Chinese have known about these beneficial effect for millenniums. Probiotic foods are products of natural processes that result from beneficial yeast and bacteria breaking down our foods. These organisms are believed to be valuable in human digestive systems.

 

And I like Alex_Hart's suggestions in the next post, # 22, about making them. Hard to go wrong with Fuscia Dunlop, the Queen of Sichuan Cooking.

 

Please see my post from today, a few minutes ago, about a trip to the local wet market to discover a fine assortment of pickled vegetables 泡菜。

 

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/51465-a-trip-to-the-local-wet-market-%E8%8F%9C%E5%B8%82%E5%9C%BA/#comment-394679