The essence of Sichuan cuisine is "seasoning". Some people say that Sichuan cuisine is the accumulation of spices, which is definitely a huge misunderstanding of Sichuan cuisine. People often say that "food is in Guangdong, taste is in Sichuan", when it comes to Sichuan cuisine, people are always full of praise, often overwhelmed by the wonderful "taste". Since ancient times, Sichuan cuisine has the reputation of "one dish and one grid, one hundred dishes and one hundred flavors".
People who really know Sichuan cuisine know that the taste of Sichuan cuisine is by no means limited to the spicy that people know. Sichuan cuisine has "seven tastes" (sweet, sour, hemp, spicy, bitter, fragrant, salty), "eight zi" (dry roast, sour, spicy, fish, dry, strange taste, pepper hemp, red oil), which has evolved into a number of flavor types, ranking first among major cuisines.
Sichuan cuisine has 24 kinds of flavor types, which is currently the richest flavor type in the eight major cuisines in the country, and these 24 flavor types commonly used in Sichuan cuisine are different from each other and have their own characteristics.
Flavor type refers to the flavor type that is mixed with several condiments and has its own essential characteristics. Sichuan people combine in the variety of styles of Sichuan cuisine, and blend with the taste, thus giving birth to an endless stream of flavors, the most basic of which is 24 kinds, which is the 24 flavor types of Sichuan cuisine.
1. Spicy flavor type
The combination of the spiciness of chili peppers and the traditional hemp flavor of Sichuan cuisine forms this unique flavor type of spicy taste that is thick, salty and fragrant.
Spicy dishes have the strongest lineup in Sichuan cuisine, from boiled beef and mapo tofu in traditional Sichuan cuisine to boiled fish, spicy field snails, spicy crayfish in new Sichuan cuisine, etc., all of which are representatives of spicy flavor.
Spicy dishes are mainly made of chili peppers, peppercorns, Sichuan salt, monosodium glutamate, cooking wine, etc., and the use of peppers and peppers varies from dish to dish, some use Pixian watercress, some use peppercorns, some use peppercorn noodles... It's not all one pattern. A good chef cooks spicy dishes, it is necessary to be hemp but not woody, spicy but not dry, spicy in the fresh, spicy in the flavor, spicy and endless.
2. Sour and spicy type
The sour and spicy flavor type is one of the main flavor types in Sichuan cuisine after the spicy flavor type. Sour and spicy dishes are not the protagonists of chili peppers, but first find a balance between the spiciness of chili peppers and the spiciness of ginger, and then use vinegar, pepper, monosodium glutamate, which are anti-spicy condiments to reconcile them, so that they form a unique flavor of mellow and slightly spicy, salty and umami.
In the preparation of sour and spicy dishes, we must grasp the principle of salty taste as the basis, sour taste as the main body, and spicy flavor as the main body, and use moderate ingredients.
Most of the spicy and sour dishes are hot dishes, such as eel vermicelli, pineapple beef fillet, etc. are all slightly spicy flavors, and some cold dishes such as sour and spicy fern root powder are also sour and spicy.
3. Pickled pepper flavor type
Pickled pepper, commonly known as "fish spicy", is a unique seasoning in Sichuan cuisine, with the characteristics of red and bright color, spicy but not dry, spicy and slightly sour, with its sour and spicy fresh taste, acting as the "main force" of spices.
In recent years, the pickled pepper series has become a grand view in the new Sichuan cuisine, which has played the characteristics of fresh and slightly spicy pickled peppers and slightly brought back sweetness to the extreme, which is a model of four or two thousand pounds in cooking.
There are two kinds of pickled peppers, one is red and slender, commonly known as "two thorns", its spicy taste is delicious, there is enough aroma; the other, shaped like a lantern, the size is similar to the chicken heart, the shape is good, the spicy taste is more sufficient. Good pickled pepper flavor is positive, the roots are hard, old and fragrant, and the appetizer of food makes you want to stop.
Pickled pepper flavor type is widely used in hot and cold dishes, common cold dishes such as assorted kimchi altar, pickled pepper claw, etc., is the wild mountain pepper, peppercorns, sugar and other ingredients into the special altar, soaked out a pot of fresh and mellow; and bubble pepper bullfrog, pickled pepper duck blood, pickled pepper cuttlefish, pickled pepper double crisp, pickled pepper rabbit and other pickled pepper series of hot dishes, more with mash juice, rock sugar and other spices to mix, the same has a different taste.
4. Strange taste type
Strange taste type, sichuan pioneered common flavor type - because the collection of tastes in one, each flavor balanced and very harmonious, so with "strange" Yu praise its taste.
Strange taste type characteristics of salty, sweet, hemp, spicy, sour, fresh, fragrant and coordinated, mostly used in cold dishes, strange taste cold powder is one of the masterpieces.
The strange flavor type is made of Sichuan salt, soy sauce, red oil, pepper noodles, sesame paste, sugar, vinegar, cooked sesame seeds, sesame oil, monosodium glutamate, and can also be added with ginger rice, garlic rice, and green onion. When mixing so many different condiments together, you must pay attention to the proportions and matching, so that the various flavors are not suppressed and complement each other.
5. Paste spicy type
Paste-spicy dishes are characterized by spicy, salty and fresh, with a slightly sweeter aftertaste. Because it is fried in a frying pan with dried chili peppers to make it a paste and spicy shell, it is called paste spicy, and the heat is not enough or the heat is too much to affect its taste.
The paste spicy flavor type is mainly made of Sichuan salt, dried red pepper, peppercorns, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, ginger, green onion, garlic, monosodium glutamate, cooking wine, the dishes are fried with a method of stewing, taking the dry aroma and paste spicy of the pepper, and simmering the spicy flavor into the fresh raw materials over high heat.
For example, the famous Kung Pao chicken is fried into the chicken with dried chili peppers and peanut rice, forming this sweet, sour and spicy mixture, the style of the outstanding Sichuan famous dish, and thus gave birth to many dishes named after Miyaho, such as Miyaho tofu and so on.
6. Red oil flavor type
Red oil is one of the souls of Sichuan cuisine, and the cold mixed vegetables in Sichuan cuisine pay attention to "a spoonful of red oil to set the dry", and good red oil is the first step to achieve delicious cold mix vegetables and dipped water. There are even Sichuan cuisine masters who assert that if you understand red oil, you can understand Sichuan cuisine.
Whether there is a pot of spicy tunnels and spicy red oil spicy seeds is the key to making a good cold dish. To refine red oil, we must first pay attention to the quality of peppers, and secondly, we must pay attention to the collocation of pepper varieties, so that it has both the ruddiness of Chaotian pepper, the fragrance of two gold bars, the spiciness of millet pepper, and the final refining, but also a point of delicacy and ingenuity. In this way, the red oil is refined, the eyes are bright, the nose is fragrant, and after the import, the spicy taste will be layered.
The red oil flavor type is made from this special red oil, which is mixed with soy sauce, sugar and monosodium glutamate, and in some parts, vinegar, garlic paste or sesame oil are added. The spiciness of the red oil flavor is lighter than the spicy spicy flavor, and its color is red, spicy but not dry, mellow and long. Couple lung slices, roasted pepper skin eggs, radish shredded white meat, red apricot chicken, etc. all belong to this flavor type.
7. Home-style type
Home-style flavor type, Sichuan cuisine commonly used flavor type - - . This flavor type is named after "homely", which means "often at home". It is characterized by salty freshness and slightly spicy, due to the needs of the dish, or the aftertaste is slightly sweeter, or the aftertaste is slightly vinegary, and it is most widely used in hot dishes
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Home-style dishes are generally prepared with Pixian watercress, Sichuan salt and soy sauce, but also can be selected as canadian dollar red watercress or soaked red pepper, cooking wine, tempeh, sweet sauce and monosodium glutamate.
Home-style type is suitable for chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, pig, cow and other poultry meat as raw materials for dishes, such as the famous pot meat, that is, after thousands of hammers, back to simplicity, simple home-style classic dishes. In addition, such as salt-fried meat, home-cooked tofu, etc. also belong to this flavor type.
8. Fish flavor type
Fish flavor type is derived from the unique cooking fish seasoning method of Sichuan folk and named, the dish has salty, sweet, sour, spicy at the same time, ginger, green onion, garlic flavor is strong, the color is bright red, is a unique special flavor type in Sichuan cuisine.
To cook fish-flavored dishes, fish is not used, but garlic slices or garlic grains are used, and pickled peppers, green onions, and ginger slices are fried in oil, then the main ingredient is added and cooked, and then the juice made of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, cooking wine, chicken essence, fine salt, and water bean powder is put into the pot to collect the sauce, and it can be plated into a dish.
Fish-flavored dishes are salty, sweet, sour and spicy, ginger, onion and garlic aroma is strong, and one of the "four pillars" of traditional Sichuan cuisine, the fish flavored meat shreds, which is an outstanding representative of fish-flavored dishes, is known as a must in Sichuan cuisine.
9. Lychee flavor type
The name of the lychee flavor type, derived from its taste like lychee, sweet and sour characteristics, is made of Sichuan salt, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, cooking wine, and taking the spicy smell of ginger, green onion, garlic cooked, mostly used in hot dishes.
When modulating this flavor, there must be enough saltiness, on this basis to show the sour and sweet taste, sugar is slightly less than vinegar, pay attention to the proportion of sweet and sour moderate, ginger, green onion, garlic only take its spicy aroma, the amount should not be too heavy, so as not to dominate.
Pot pork slices are the representative of the lychee flavor type in traditional Sichuan cuisine, and the root ribs are the best lychee flavor type in the new Sichuan cuisine, it is the most essential section of the cut ribs, the practice of identifying Cantonese cuisine, adding green and red uncle grains and green onion grains in the sweet and sour salty fresh.
10. Salty and umami type
Salty and umami type is widely used in cold and hot dishes, often made of Sichuan salt and monosodium glutamate, due to the flavor needs of different dishes, it can also be prepared with soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and ginger, salt and pepper.
When mixing, we must pay attention to grasping the salty taste moderately, highlighting the umami taste, and strive to maintain the fresh taste of vegetables as cooking raw materials themselves, white sugar only plays a role in freshening, the amount must be controlled, can not reveal the sweetness, sesame oil is only for flavor, must control the dosage, do not overdo it.
The salty and umami type is suitable for dishes based on animal meat, poultry and livestock offal and vegetables, soy products, poultry eggs, etc., such as boiled water cabbage, chicken bean flower, pigeon egg swallow vegetable, white juice fish belly roll, white juice fish lips, fresh boiled chicken shredded, white oil liver slices, salt water duck breast, etc.
11. Sweet flavor type
Sweet flavor type, as the name suggests, its characteristics are pure sweet and fragrant, it is white sugar or rock sugar as the main condiment, due to the flavor needs of different dishes, can be accompanied by an appropriate amount of edible flavor, and supplemented with a variety of preserves, cherries and other fruits and juices, peach kernels and other dried nuts.
Sweet flavor type has honey juice, sugar sticky, ice juice, sprinkling sugar and other preparation methods, no matter which method is used, you must grasp the amount of sugar used, too much will hurt.
▲ Sugar sticky sheep's tail
12. Smoke flavor type
Smoke flavor type is mainly used to smoke meat as raw material dishes, with straw, cypress branches, tea flavor, camphor leaves, peanut shells, bran shells, sawdust as smoking materials, the use of its incomplete combustion of the thick smoke, so that the pickled flavor of the raw materials reabsorbed or adhered to a special flavor, the formation of salty and mellow, unique flavor characteristics.
Smoke flavor type is widely used in cold and hot dishes, and different seasonings and smoking materials should be selected according to the needs of different dishes. For example, dried bacon tofu is made of fine pork belly (flank or buttocks), smoked with raw materials such as cypress branches, tea leaves, camphor leaves, peanut shells, etc., and then cooked with refined dried tofu, with an aromatic smell, delicious and delicious.
13. Pepper and hemp flavor type
Peppercorns are used a lot in Sichuan cuisine and are the main raw materials for the preparation of pepper flavor. Pepper and hemp flavor is the exclusive flavor type of Sichuan cuisine, which is characterized by pepper spicy, salty and fresh, with Sichuan salt, peppercorns, shallots, soy sauce, cold chicken soup, monosodium glutamate, sesame oil concoction, peppercorns and shallots of the fragrance complement each other, refreshing without losing spicy, mostly used in cold vegetables, especially suitable for summer.
When mixing, it is necessary to use high-quality peppercorns to reflect the flavor, and the granules should be salted and chopped with a knife with green onions, so that the spicy taste of the pepper is combined with the salty and umami taste.
14. Garlic paste flavor type
Garlic puree flavor is one of the important flavor types of Sichuan cuisine, often used in the production of Sichuan cuisine cold dish, mainly made of garlic paste, red soy sauce, sesame oil, monosodium glutamate, red oil, on the basis of red oil flavor reuse garlic, garlic in it to add spice, in order to have the taste of the ups and downs twists, radish shredded mixed with white meat is a famous piece in Sichuan cuisine.
To make this kind of dish, other spices must not be too heavy, otherwise, the aroma of garlic paste is pressed, and the noise is dominant, which is the opposite of cooking.
In addition, to make garlic paste cold dishes, must be freshly eaten, after a long time, not only will lose the fresh flavor, but also make the garlic paste produce a pungent and unpleasant taste, so the garlic flavor type of dishes, can not stay overnight.
15. Five-spice type
The five-spice type is characterized by a strong aromatic salty fresh, naturally spicy. The so-called "five spices" refers to several spices added when cooking food. The spices used are usually mountain chestnut, star anise, cloves, cumin, licorice, sand head, old cocoa, cinnamon, grass fruit, pepper, etc., according to the needs of the dish, in fact, there are far more than five.
When mixing, the above spices are added with salt, cooking wine, ginger, green onions, etc., which can marinate food, cook or marinate various cold and hot dishes, such as spiced beef.
16. Sweet and sour flavor type
Sweet and sour flavor type is made of sugar and vinegar with the main seasoning, accompanied by Sichuan salt, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, ginger, green onion, garlic, which is characterized by sweet and sour taste, salty and fresh aftertaste, and is also widely used in hot and cold dishes, and common dishes include sweet and sour ribs. When preparing, it is necessary to use sugar and vinegar on the basis of the appropriate amount of salty taste to highlight the sweet and sour taste.
The sweet and sour flavor type and the lychee flavor type are relatively similar, the difference is that the proportion of sweet and sour between the two is different, the lychee flavor is first sour and then sweet, and the sugar sour taste is first sweet and then sour, the two have mutual emphasis, different styles.
17. Salty and sweet type
The salty and sweet type is characterized by its emphasis on saltiness and sweetness, and its fresh flavor, which is mostly used in hot dishes and is made of Sichuan salt, sugar, pepper and cooking wine. Due to the flavor needs of different dishes, you can add ginger, green onion, peppercorns, rock sugar, sugar color, allspice powder, mash sauce and chicken fat. When blending, the salty and sweet flavors can be emphasized, or salty is slightly heavier than sweet, or sweet is slightly heavier than salty.
Cherry meat is named because of its color like cherries, is a traditional salty and sweet taste dish, because the sweetness can not suppress the fishy smell of the meat, so salt must be used to play a fishy, fresh, sweet role.
18. Tangerine peel flavor type
The main features of the tangerine peel flavor type are aromatic tangerine peel, spicy and thick, slightly sweet, mostly used in cold dishes, such as tangerine peel ribs, etc. It is made of tangerine peel, Sichuan salt, soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorns, dried chili festivals, ginger, green onions, sugar, red oil, mash juice, monosodium glutamate, sesame oil, is the use of the bitter taste of tangerine peel, and peppercorns, with peppercorns, producing a special compound flavor, so it forms this unique flavor type.
When modulating, the amount of tangerine peel should not be too much, too much of the aftertaste is bitter, sugar, mash juice is only fresh, the amount of use to slightly feel sweet as a degree.
19. Sauce flavor type
Sauce flavor type is one of the common flavor types of Sichuan cuisine, widely used in cold and hot dishes, characterized by rich sauce aroma, salty and sweet.
The sauce flavor type is made of sweet sauce, Sichuan salt, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, and sesame oil, and according to the needs of different dishes, sugar or pepper noodles, ginger and green onion can be added. When preparing, the texture, brilliance and taste of the sweet sauce must be reviewed, and the amount of other spices used according to the special requirements of the flavor of the dish is determined.
20. Ginger flavor type
Ginger flavor type is an ancient flavor type, which is characterized by a mellow ginger flavor, salty and slightly spicy, and is widely used in cold and hot dishes.
Ginger-flavored dishes are made with Sichuan salt, ginger juice, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, vinegar, and sesame oil, ginger is appetizing, while vinegar helps digestion and degreasing.
When preparing cold dishes, ginger and vinegar must be reused on the basis of salty and umami taste, highlighting the taste of ginger and vinegar; and in the preparation process of hot dishes, according to the needs of different dishes, pixian watercress or chili oil should be added, but on the condition that it does not affect the taste of ginger and vinegar.
21. Sesame sauce flavor type
Sesame sauce flavor type is mostly used in cold dishes, made of sesame paste, sesame oil, Sichuan salt, monosodium glutamate, thick chicken juice, a few dishes also add soy sauce or red oil.
When mixing, the sesame sauce should first be dispersed with sesame oil, so that the aroma of sesame sauce and the aroma of sesame oil are fused together, and then mixed with Sichuan salt, monosodium glutamate, thick chicken juice, sesame sauce anchovy, sesame sauce fish maw and other traditional dishes are representatives of sesame sauce flavored dishes.
22. Salt and pepper flavor type
The pretzel flavor type is mostly used in hot dishes and is made with Sichuan salt and peppercorns. When mixing, the salt should be sautéed in dry water, scooping into a very fine powder, and the pepper should be fragrant and fragrant, and also scooped into a fine powder. Peppercorns and salt are prepared in a ratio of 1:4, ready to use, and should not be left for a long time to prevent their aroma from volatilizing and affecting the taste.
23, fragrant bad taste type
Fragrant rotten flavor type is characterized by mellow salty and sweet, widely used in cold and hot dishes, with a mixture of mustard juice or mash, Sichuan salt, monosodium glutamate, sesame oil, due to the flavor needs of different dishes, you can add pepper or pepper, rock sugar and ginger, green onion. When mixing, highlight the mellow aroma of the sauce or mash juice.
24. Mustard flavor type
The mustard flavor type is characterized by salty and sour flavor, mustard spicy, made of Sichuan salt, vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, monosodium glutamate, sesame oil, summer and autumn cold dishes are more commonly used.
Mustard has oily, paste-like, powdered three forms, when mixing, first of all, the mustard with the soup dispersed, airtight in the container, do not make deflation, put on the cover or next to the fire, when the use of the party to take out, soy sauce should be used less, so as not to affect the brilliance of the dish.