Known as one of China’s eight great cuisines, Sichuan food is often described as spicy and numbing. It is, however, more than just a one-note cuisine. Executive Chinese chef Rick Du of Summer Palace restaurant in Shangri-la Hotel Shenyang describes each of the seven basic flavours – sour, pungent, hot, sweet, bitter, aromatic and spicy – and their roles in the cuisine.
For example, mala (hot, spicy, pungent and bitter) is made up of a laundry list of ingredients, with Sichuan peppercorn and chilli peppers being the two most prominent ones. The former forms the ma portion and is considered a hot flavour, while the latter forms the la and is spicy. Garlic and ginger add pungency.
The Cangzhou Crispy Chicken is a dish brimming with mala taste as it…
