Message: | Hunan food is NOT a subset of Sichuan food, at least not in taste. Having lived in South Central China for a few years, I ate a lot of Hunan food, as well as Sichuan food. Hunan does use a lot more oil, but the defining ingredients are fresh, hot, green peppers, while Sichuan food uses a lot of smaller, dried red peppers (there are exceptions, of course). Also, Hunan food uses douban, a spicey black bean paste. This is NOT the Lee Kum Kwa (or whatever) spicey black bean paste -- that stuff is made by Taiwanese or Cantonese who do not understand Hunan food at all. Also, I have NEVER had huajiao (Sichuan Peppercorns) in Hunan food.
I find Hunan food to be much more savory and oily than Sichuan food, which tends to be just damn hot (in a good way). I think you'll find that most Chinese Food "experts" will dismiss Hunan food, since it is "peasant" food and has little of the royal history that Mandarin and Sichuan have behind it. Let me tell you this, though -- real Hunan food absolutely rocks! I have yet to find an authentic Hunan restaurant in LA, Boston, SF, or Seattle (or a decent Sichuan one, for that matter).
I think out of all of the Chinese food I have had (lots), the cuisine most suited to American palates is Hunan. Sadly, very few have tried it in its authentic state. I have yet to meet an American who has had Qiezi Bao (a black bean eggplant dish served in a clay pot) and not crowned it as some of the best damn Chinese food ever invented.
I really wish a respectable chef would write about Chinese peasant food, which I find to be superior to most of the Mandarin dishes so often rehashed by "experts." It is like a discussion of American food focusing solely on four-star haute cusisine and ignoring pizza, fried chicken, and apple pie -- while they may be done badly a lot of the time, done right they are exquisite.
Thanks for listening to my rant. |