Sichuan Cuisine Encounters Michelin: Feel The Delicate Fragrance of Pepper!

人生五味，酸甜苦辣咸，每每提及，似乎很少有人提到“麻”这一味。麻味，由四川花椒而生，以汉源贡椒为著。其椒色泽丹红，粒大油重，是川菜二十四味中不可或缺的调料。花椒作为四川在地的优质食材，为百菜百味的川菜贡献了中坚力量，具有不可复制的唯一性。

People always compare life to the five flavors (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty), while the numbing flavor is rarely mentioned, which comes from Sichuan pepper, represented by Sichuan’s Hanyuan pepper. As a Sichuan local quality ingredient, the Sichuan pepper is irreplaceable in Sichuan cuisine.

以花椒为宴席主题，将世界各地的优质食材结合川菜的烹调手法，炮制出一道道川味菜肴，成都米其林一星餐厅—银锅，让花椒在不同食材上有了新表达，巧用香辛料，烹调出现代川味料理。

Silver Pot, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chengdu, has gained popularity through its pepper-themed feasts, which innovatively combines pepper and quality ingredients from all over the world to make different modern Sichuan cuisine.

如“土罐贡椒叶熏乳鸽”和“青椒汁蚌仔”这两道菜，将“不见其形，唯闻其香”的花椒，应用到更国际化的食材中，碰撞出不一样的川味。

For example, in the two dishes Fried Squab Smoked With Sichuan Pepper Leaves and Geoduck With Green Pepper Sauce, the Sichuan pepper is used and integrated with international food materials. The pepper is invisible but fragrant, expressing distinct Sichuan flavors.

土罐贡椒叶熏乳鸽

Fried Squab Smoked with Sichuan Pepper Leaves

花椒不仅有麻，还有清香。银锅这道土罐贡椒叶熏乳鸽，将乳鸽以花椒粉和盐腌制2-3天，继以卤汁再次腌制1天，让乳鸽味道醇厚且富有层次;卤制好的乳鸽表面均匀涂以脆皮水，以热油反复浇制，待风干后放入砂罐中，用花椒叶熏制，椒叶原生的清新，从乳鸽的肉汁中溢出来。椒之味，溶于汤汁，发于椒叶，闻其辛香，而不见其形。乳鸽表皮红润，轻咬入口，鸽肉鲜嫩多汁，外酥里嫩，带有丝丝椒香。

Apart from the numbing flavor, pepper is also featured with the delicate fragrance. Marinating the squab with pepper powder and salt for two or three days, and with specially-made marinade for another day, then smearing it with the mixture of sugar and vinegar, repeatedly pouring hot oil on it, putting it in a pot and smoking it with Sichuan pepper leaves, you will get the tasty dish, Fried Squab Smoked with Sichuan Pepper Leaves, in which you can feel the delicate fragrance of pepper without seeing it.

青椒汁蚌仔

Geoduck with Green Pepper Sauce

3000年“中国香料”，2000年“蜀好辛香”，100年“麻辣艺境”，青椒汁蚌仔这道菜，滑嫩爽口的蚌仔配以青花椒和青椒一起制作的汤汁，浇上滚烫的花椒油，香气四溢，麻而不辣。

Chinese spices have a history of about 3,000 years, and Sichuan people has been used spices as food ingredients lasting about 2,000 years, while the chili pepper about 100 years. Combine geoduck with the green pepper sauce, and pour boiling pepper oil, the dish Geoduck with Green Pepper Sauce is numbing but not spicy, with its aroma overflowing.

巧用辛香之料熬制而成青椒汁，将干青花椒与青二荆条、干葱、姜、蒜、香菜、小米辣一起炒香，配以高汤熬制;用青椒汁煮熟象蚌仔，搭配焯煮的配菜，以油爆香青二荆条、青花椒、蒜泥，让这道青椒汁蚌仔，在上菜之时，辛香生津。

Frying dry green pepper, chilli, shallot, ginger, garlic, coriander and spicy millet, then, stewing them to get the green pepper sauce, boiling geoduck with the sauce, and finally decorating it with cooked vegetables, the dish Geoduck with Green Pepper Sauce is finished.

麻，原是川菜的点缀，却无处不在，无所不包。现代川菜，既以之为精魂，又博众家之长，跨地域之界，以至精至诚的心意，成至善至美之肴。

The numbing flavor, as a small part of Sichuan cuisine's well-known twenty four

flavors, does make a difference. With the flavor as its core, modern Sichuan cuisine learns from good examples and adopt ingredients across the world, to satisfy everyone with its sincerity.

还想了解更多不一样的川菜?

《川菜遇见米其林》下期见!

To know more Sichuan cuisine, don't miss the next episode of "Sichuan Cuisine Encounters Michelin"!