Friday, February 02, 2007

The Offal Truth about Sichuan Home Cooking


On the eatingchinese.org website I recently added a new feature, "Nasty Bits, Sichuan Style" which is a left-handed tribute of sorts to Anthony Bourdain, who sometimes seems to have invented the eating of offal. It features "Nasty Bits Recipe of the Month", such as "Home-Cooked Ox Penis", the inaugural selection for January. Admittedly, I created the feature to titillate and perhaps draw a few eyeballs to the site, as much as to tweak the self-assured A. B. a little. But there is nothing sensationalized about the source of my recipes, it's a little book called "Home-cooked Sichuan Cuisine" published in China. The recipes, therefore, are presumed to represent a cross-section of dishes served in Sichuan homes. The entire list of recipes in the book is presented below, and perusing it may

a) impress upon you the waste-not-want-not sense of economy of China's cooking and eating culture,

b) give you food for thought about "authenticity" and whether you REALLY want to find it in a Chinese restaurant, or

c) make your mouth water.

  • Stir-fried Preserved Ham with Celery and Pot-Stewed Tofu
  • Stir-Fried Shredded Pork and Green Pepper
  • Steamed Streaky Pork and Taro
  • Pickled Pigtails with Wild Chilli Pepper
  • Stir-fried Meat Stuffed Egg Rolls in Fish Flavor
  • Fried Steamed Streaky Pork
  • Stir-fried Preserved Ham with Pickled Cowpea
  • Steamed Upper Part of a Leg of Pork
  • Sichuan Sausage
  • Home Cooking Style Shredded Pork
  • Shredded Pork with Sweet Brown Sauce
  • Stir-fried Pork Liver with Pickled Chilli
  • Steamed Streaky Pork with Rice Flour
  • Fried Streaky Pork Stuffed Bean Curd Sheet Rolls
  • Steamed Pork Spare Ribs with Rice Flour
  • Stir-fried Preserved Ham and Heartleaf Houttuynia Herb
  • Stir-fried Preserved Ham of Home town with Garlic Bolt
  • Pork Large Intestine in Casserole
  • Dong-Po Pork in Bamboo Canister
  • Rice Crust and Pork in Luzhou Mellow Wine Flavor
  • Dry-stewed Pork Balls
  • Dry-braised Upper Part of a Leg of Pork
  • Steamed Pork Spare Ribs in Little Bamboo Cage
  • Dry-stewed Pork Tripe with Pickled Radish
  • Steamed Pork Spare Ribs with Glutinous Rice
  • Golden Pork Large Intestine with Crisp Skin
  • Dry-stewed Pork Large Intestine with Mushroom and Fermented Bean Curd
  • Hot and Spicy Stir-Fried Pig Uterus
  • Home-cooked Pork Tripe
  • Hot and Sour Tendon
  • Stir-fried Pork Kidney
  • Home-Cooked Tendon
  • Dry-Stewed Tendon
  • Stewed Pig’s Brains and Minced Pork
  • Stir-Fried Tender Ginger and Shredded Pork
  • Stewed Streaky Pork and Sweet Potatoes
  • Boiled Mushroom Sprout and Fat Beef in Chafing Dish
  • Dry-Stewed Oxtails with Garlic
  • Sichuan Style Fat Beef Rolls on Hot Iron Plate
  • Stir-Fried Mutton with Sweet Brown Sauce
  • Hot and Spicy Fried Rabbit’s Head
  • Dry-stewed Dog’s Meat with Pickled Radish
  • Home-cooked Ox Penis
  • Stir-fried Eggplants with Mashed Pork in Fish Flavor

If you answered c) to the above, you are either Anthony Bourdain, an Anthony Bourdain wannabe, the person who A.B. is striving to become, or a Chengdu homie.








2 comments:

Unknown said...

I have come across this site while doing a google search. I just came home from a Chinese restaurant where I has "pork tarotaro with chillies". It was a little too oily, but very tasty. I suspect "tarotaro" is large intestine, but I am interested to know for sure....can you advise please?
Many thanks.
P.S.... I am intrigued by the fact that when I clicked the link to "pst a comment", this page came up with all the instructions in Thai!!?? Why is that?

Anonymous said...

I found pig uterus (presumably cooked) in a Chinese BBQ place in Las Vegas. I wasn't brave enough to try it.