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Latest revision as of 16:47, 25 September 2026
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Sichuan cuisine dishes
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Sichuan Cuisine (川菜; pinyin: Chuāncài), also called Chuan cuisine or Szechuan cuisine, is the cooking system of Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality in south-west China. The national record of intangible cultural heritage places its core area in present-day Sichuan and Chongqing, with influence in parts of Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei and Shaanxi.[1] It is usually counted among China's "Eight Great Cuisines".[2][3]
This page covers the cooking system: its flavours, techniques, schools and history. For the food of each place, see the hub pages Sichuan Food (Sichuan Province) and Chongqing Food (Chongqing).
Flavours
Sichuan cooking is built on compound flavours (复合味型), in which several seasonings are combined into a named taste. The national heritage record counts 27 common compound flavours and names numbing-hot (麻辣), fish-fragrant (鱼香), strange-flavour (怪味) and red-oil (红油) among the most distinctive.[1] Counts vary between sources; a provincial gazetteer programme gives 24, and a 2021 Chengdu promotion text gives 28.[4][5] See also Types Of Taste.
Chilli heat is only part of the picture. Of the 116 provincial "Tianfu famous dishes" (天府名菜) named by the Sichuan Department of Commerce in 2021, about 40 are neither numbing nor spicy, with cabbage in clear broth (开水白菜) as an example.[6] Key seasonings include Pixian Doubanjiang, called "the soul of Sichuan cuisine",[7] chilli oil for red-oil cold dishes,[4] Sichuan pepper, and preserved and fermented foods such as cured pork, sausage and pickles.[1]
Techniques
The heritage record counts more than 50 common cooking methods. It names quick stir-frying (小炒), dry-frying (干煸), steaming in seasoned rice meal (粉蒸) and pickling (泡制) as particular strengths, and describes quick stir-frying over fierce heat (急火短炒). It also notes the tradition of curing, salting and air-drying meat and vegetables (酱腌风腊).[1] Many dish names also show their method, for example "water-boiled" (水煮) beef and pork[8][4] and "dry-braised" (干烧) fish.[2]
Sichuan has a provincial standard for preparing classic Sichuan dishes, DB51/T 1728-2014.[9]
Regional schools
A common way of describing Sichuan cooking is by "schools" (帮), borrowed from the guilds (帮口) of boatmen on Sichuan's rivers.[10] A provincial gazetteer programme lists six historical schools:[8]
- Upper River school (上河帮) – Chengdu and west Sichuan, known for refinement; examples include Mapo Tofu, Fuqi Feipian, Twice cooked pork and Long Chao Shou.
- Lower River school (下河帮) – Chongqing and east Sichuan, bold and inventive; examples include Laziji and tripe hot pot (Chong Qing Hot Pot).
- Great River school (大河帮) – Yibin, Luzhou, Leshan and Meishan on the upper Yangtze, known for river fish; examples include Yibin ranmian, Lizhuang white pork, Dongpo pork knuckle and Leshan Bang Bang Chicken.
- Small River school (小河帮) – the Jialing River and north Sichuan (Nanchong, Mianyang, Suining, Hechuan); examples include Shunqing mutton and Chuanbei liangfen.
- Zigong–Neijiang school (自内帮) – the Tuo River cities of Zigong, Neijiang and Ziyang, known for strong flavours; examples include Sichuan Boiled Beef, cold-eating rabbit and Fushun douhua.
- Shanghai-style Sichuan cooking (海派川菜) – Sichuan cooking adapted in Shanghai, where Sichuan restaurants appeared in the late Qing.
These groupings are informal. Other writers use different lists, such as a Chengdu school, Chongqing school, Zichuan school (资川帮) and Zigong salt-merchant school (盐帮), and a 2020 academic review found no consensus on how to divide the schools.[2][10]
History
Documented history
- The roots of Sichuan cooking lie in the pre-Qin states of Ba and Shu. In the Han dynasty, Yang Xiong's Shu Capital Rhapsody (蜀都赋) praised a "harmony of sweet flavours".[11]
- Chang Qu's Huayang Guozhi (华阳国志), compiled in the Eastern Jin (348–355), says the people of Shu "value flavour" (尚滋味) and are "fond of pungent spice" (好辛香). At that time the pungent seasonings were Sichuan pepper, evodia (茱萸) and ginger, since chillies had not yet arrived.[2][12][11]
- The Northern Song Dongjing Meng Hua Lu records "Sichuan rice shops" (川饭店) in Kaifeng, which shows Sichuan cooking being sold outside the region.[2]
- A dish close to Twice cooked pork is traced to the Ming dynasty.[13]
- Chillies, native to the Americas, reached China in the late Ming or early Qing and came to Sichuan with the early-Qing migration known as "Huguang fills Sichuan" (湖广填四川). They suited the existing taste for pungent flavours, and chilli came to be used together with Sichuan pepper.[4][11][1]
- In 1782 Li Tiaoyuan printed Xingyuan Lu (醒园录), his father Li Hualan's collection of more than 120 recipes and food items.[2]
- The heritage record dates the cuisine's origins to the Shang and Zhou periods and considers it mature by the late Qing, when the Chengdu Tonglan (成都通览) recorded more than 1,000 Sichuan dishes.[1]
- During the war years, Chongqing was the wartime capital. One gazetteer article argues that the gathering of chefs from across China at that time brought Sichuan cooking to full maturity and firmed up its schools.[2]
Legends Many dishes come with origin stories. Examples are the tale of a man named Chen who found that mouldy broad beans mixed with chilli tasted good, leading to Pixian doubanjiang, and the story that Mapo Tofu was named after a pockmarked (麻) cook, Mrs Chen, at a Chengdu eatery in 1862. These accounts are traditions or brand histories rather than fully documented fact.[7][14]
Intangible cultural heritage
"Sichuan cooking techniques" (川菜烹饪技艺) were inscribed on the fifth batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage list in 2021 (Ⅷ-272), with Sichuan Tourism University as the protection unit.[1] Several Sichuan seasonings and drinks are listed separately, including Pixian doubanjiang, Baoning vinegar, Tongchuan douchi and Xianshi soy sauce. See Sichuan Food: Intangible cultural heritage for the full list.[7][15][16][17]
Representative dishes
In 2018 the China Cuisine Association chose ten classic dishes each for Sichuan and for Chongqing.[18][19]
Sichuan
- Daqian dry-braised fish (大千干烧鱼) – see Daqian Dry-Braised Fish
- Fuqi Feipian (夫妻肺片)
- Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁)
- Sichuan twice-cooked pork (四川回锅肉) – see Twice cooked pork
- Chicken douhua (鸡豆花) – see Chicken Douhua
- Cabbage in clear broth (开水白菜) – see Kaishui Baicai
- Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)
- Steamed jiangtuan (清蒸江团) – see Steamed Jiangtuan
- Casserole Ya fish (砂锅雅鱼) – see Casserole Ya Fish
- Yuxiang Shredded Pork (鱼香肉丝)
Chongqing
- Water-boiled fish (水煮鱼) – see Sichuan Boiled Fish
- Mao Xue Wang (毛血旺)
- Douhua (豆花)
- Chongqing hot pot (重庆火锅) – see Chong Qing Hot Pot
- Chongqing twice-cooked pork (回锅肉) – see Twice cooked pork
- Chongqing grilled fish (重庆烤鱼) – see Grilled Fish
- Steamed pork in rice meal (粉蒸肉)
- Pickled-cabbage fish (酸菜鱼) – see Suan Cai Yu
- Laziji (辣子鸡)
- Qianjiang chicken giblets (黔江鸡杂)
Other well-known dishes in the tradition include Sichuan Boiled Beef, Water Boiled Pork, Dan Dan Noodles and Sichuan Hot Pot; see Sichuan Food for the full, sourced lists.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Sichuan Cooking Techniques, China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Liu Deyuan, 从《华阳国志》有关记载谈及美食文化入志的意义 (Food culture in local gazetteers, starting from the Huayang Guozhi), Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office (scdfz.sc.gov.cn).
- ↑ 中国烹饪协会发布34个地域菜系、340道经典名菜, Jiangsu Net (jschina.com.cn), 12 September 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 《舌尖上的四川》 episode 6: chillies and chilli seasonings (川菜志 audio series), Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office (scdfz.sc.gov.cn).
- ↑ 21市州809道美食：天府旅游美食名录 (Tianfu tourism food list: 809 foods from 21 cities and prefectures), 20 July 2021, Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office (scdfz.sc.gov.cn).
- ↑ 116道省级“天府名菜”出炉 (116 provincial 'Tianfu famous dishes' announced), Department of Commerce of Sichuan Province, 7 December 2021.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 豆瓣传统制作技艺（郫县豆瓣传统制作技艺）(Pixian doubanjiang traditional making technique), national ICH list (2008, Ⅷ-155), China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum (ihchina.cn).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 《舌尖上的四川》 episode 18: the schools of Sichuan cuisine (川菜志 audio series), Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office (scdfz.sc.gov.cn).
- ↑ DB51/T 1728-2014 中国川菜经典菜肴制作工艺规范 (Classic Sichuan dishes: preparation specification), Sichuan provincial standard, National Public Service Platform for Standards Information (SAMR).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Shi Zibin (石自彬), 近代以来川菜流派划分述评 (A review of the classification of Sichuan cuisine schools since modern times), Journal of Chuxiong Normal University, 2020, 35(4): 11–15.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 《舌尖上的四川》 episode 1 (川菜志 audio series), Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office (scdfz.sc.gov.cn).
- ↑ Chang Qu, Huayang Guozhi, 卷三 蜀志 (Book 3, Records of Shu), Chinese Wikisource transcription.
- ↑ 《舌尖上的四川》 episode 12: classic Sichuan dishes (川菜志 audio series), Sichuan Provincial Local Chronicles Office (scdfz.sc.gov.cn).
- ↑ 陈麻婆 (Chen Mapo Tofu), Time-honoured Brands Digital Museum, Ministry of Commerce of the PRC.
- ↑ 酿醋技艺（保宁醋传统酿造工艺）(Baoning vinegar traditional brewing process), national ICH list (2021, Ⅷ-61), China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum (ihchina.cn).
- ↑ 豆豉酿制技艺（潼川豆豉酿制技艺）(Tongchuan douchi brewing technique), national ICH list (2008, Ⅷ-156), China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum (ihchina.cn).
- ↑ 酱油酿造技艺（先市酱油酿造技艺）(Xianshi soy sauce brewing technique), national ICH list (2014, Ⅷ-154), China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum (ihchina.cn).
- ↑ “中国菜”首次向世界发布：含34个菜系340道经典名菜 (China Cuisine Association releases 340 classic dishes of 34 regional cuisines), The Paper, September 2018.
- ↑ 中国烹饪协会全新推出“全国34省市地域菜系” (China Cuisine Association launches 34 regional cuisines), Tencent News, 10 September 2018.