Why has Sichuan cuisine become one of the eight major cuisines in China?
Cuisine, also known as “bang cai”, refers to a school of Chinese cuisine that has distinct local flavor characteristics and has evolved over a long period of time in terms of ingredient selection, cutting, and cooking techniques, and is widely recognized by society. The cuisine of Chinese Han cuisine culture refers to a set of self-contained cooking techniques and flavors that have evolved over a long period of history due to differences in climate, geography, history, products, and dietary customs in a certain region, and are recognized as local dishes throughout the country.
In the early Qing Dynasty, there were already Lu cuisine, Su cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Sichuan cuisine, which were known as the “Four Great Cuisines”. In addition, four new local cuisines, namely Zhejiang Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine, Hunan Cuisine and Anhui Cuisine Cuisine, formed by the four major cuisines at the end of the Qing Dynasty, together constitute the “eight major cuisines” of Chinese Han diet.
Sichuan cuisine has become one of the “Eight Great Cuisines”. The main reason is that the seasoning is varied, the dishes are diverse, the taste is both fresh and rich, and spicy and numbing are well used. In terms of seasoning, Sichuan cuisine has developed various flavors such as spicy, hot and sour, pepper, sesame paste, garlic paste, mustard, red oil, sugar and vinegar, fish flavor, and strange taste through different proportions of main condiments such as pepper, pepper, Chinese prickly ash, bean paste, etc., with a special flavor of “one dish, one style” and “one hundred dishes, one flavor”.
Moreover, Sichuan cuisine combines the strengths of both the north and south in terms of color, aroma, taste, and appearance, and has the characteristics of “abundance, breadth, and richness” in taste. There has always been a saying that there are seven flavors (sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, fragrant, salty) and eight flavors (dry cooked, sour, spicy, fish fragrant, dry fried, strange flavor, pepper and sesame, red oil), which enjoy the reputation of “eating in China, taste in Sichuan” internationally. In daily life, such as Dongpo Elbow, Fried mandarin fish with hot brown sauce, Fish Flavored Shredded Pork, Kung Pao chicken, Steamed Beef, Mapo tofu, Dry fried Shredded Beef, Fuqi Feipian (Sliced Beef and Ox Tongue in Chilli Sauce), Dandan noodles, Long Wonton, etc., belong to Sichuan cuisine.
The distinctive flavor of Sichuan cuisine, which has a strong mass base and is clearly different from other cuisines, naturally contributes to its important position among the “eight major cuisines” in China.
What are the factions in Sichuan cuisine? There are three main factions of Sichuan cuisine nowadays, namely the “Shanghe Gang”, “Xiahe Gang”, and “Xiaohe Gang”.
Shanghe Bang is a Chengdu style cuisine with Chengdu and Leshan as its core. The taste is relatively light, and many traditional dishes we are familiar with belong to Shanghe Bang. Shanghe Gang places great emphasis on ingredients and strictly follows traditional classic recipes, focusing on high-end dishes such as palace cuisine and mansion cuisine from Sichuan cuisine. In the past, it was traditionally used as the official cuisine of Sichuan governors. Famous dishes include boiled cabbage, Fuqi Feipian (Sliced Beef and Ox Tongue in Chilli Sauce), ants climbing trees, garlic pureed white meat, etc.
Xiahe Gang is commonly known as Jianghu cuisine. The dishes of Xiahe Gang are mainly from Chongqing, Dazhou, and Nanchong, with their generous and rough style, bold ingredients, and unrestricted use of materials, making them very satisfying to eat. Its representative works include pickled Chinese cabbage fish, Maoxuewang, and mouth watering chicken.
Xiaohebang, also known as Dishes of Salt School, takes Zigong and Neijiang as the center, and its characteristics are grand, weird and high-end. The origin of the well-known boiled water series can be traced back to Xiaohebang, and through the promotion of Xiahebang, it eventually flourished, resulting in the creation of premium Sichuan cuisine series such as boiled fish and boiled meat slices.