Do you know the three major schools of Sichuan cuisine?
Thread Content
Authentic Sichuan cuisine is divided into three major schools: the Chengdu school, the Chongqing school, and the Yancheng school. The Rong style is a type of river cuisine based on the dishes from Chengdu and Leshan, also known as the Shanghe school. The Rongpai cuisine style is often rich in historical references, emphasizes the careful and precise use of ingredients, and features many traditional dishes. Such as the dishes we are most familiar with, like Mapo Tofu, Kung Pao Chicken, Spicy Sliced Pork, Garlic-Pickled Pork, Fish-Scented Pork Strips, Reheated Pork, Steamed Pork in Rice Flour, Ants Climbing a Tree, Camphor Tea Duck, White Oil Tofu, Salt-Baked Pork, Beef in Lantern Light, Stir-Fried Eel Slices, Dongpo Cuttlefish, Salt-Braised Fish, Steamed River Fish Balls, and Spring Water Tofu.
The Chongqing cuisine style is characterized by dishes from Chongqing, Dazhou, and Nanchong; it is also known as the Xiahe school. In stark contrast to the refinement of the Rong style, Chongqing cuisine is bold and straightforward, known for its use of generous amounts of ingredients without being constrained by restrictions on them. Due to its bold flavor profile and strong street-food character, it is also commonly known as “street food cuisine,” and it often comes from street stalls or home kitchens. Dishes such as the well-known mapo tofu fish, maoxuewang, koushuiji, the stir-fried dishes made with dried vegetables (mostly dried cowpeas), the spicy chicken and spicy pork intestines that represent the spicy dish category, the spring water chicken, roasted rooster, taro chicken, and beer duck which belong to the braised dish category, the chicken offal with pickled chili peppers, squid with pickled chili peppers, and rabbit with pickled chili peppers that fall under the pickled chili pepper dish category, as well as the dry pot ribs and spicy shrimp that represent the dry pot dish category, are all key representatives of Sichuan cuisine in Chongqing style.
The Salt Gang specializes in cuisine from Zigong and Neijiang, and is also known as the Xiaohe Gang. Zigong was once a gathering place for salt traders, and its enormous resource advantages gave rise to a style of Sichuan cuisine that is distinctive, characterized by grandeur, innovation, and sophistication. In addition to inheriting the Sichuan cuisine tradition of \"a hundred dishes with a hundred flavors and diverse cooking techniques,\" it is also characterized by \"rich and intense flavors, as well as spicy and stimulating taste.\" Sichuan-style dishes make good use of chili and ginger; they feature abundant ingredients used in large quantities, with careful selection of materials, and are prepared through methods such as frying, stir-frying, baking, and sautéing ； Cooking, stewing, frying, and braising all have their own methods. It is particularly skilled in boiling and stir-frying, resulting in a distinct flavor and quality that sets it apart from other cuisines. The Sichuan cuisine style has also developed many well-known dishes. The well-known cold dishes such as chilled rabbit and Zhanzhong Bao, as well as dishes like Wind Radish and Pig’s Trotter Soup, Hibiscus Black Fish Slices, Hepu Returning the Pearl, Fire Whip Beef, Zheng’s Dumplings, Sour and Spicy Stir-fried Vegetables, and Li’s Family Loach.
I learned something today – still, the Rong school is the biggest faction within Sichuan cuisine.
The Rong-style cuisine is more well-known to people. Thank you to the original poster for sharing!
As a person from Sichuan, I only know the cuisine of Zigong – I’m ashamed
It’s hard to tell from a distance whether it’s authentic or not; some of it is fried, but I’ve always eaten it dressed in a cold dressing since I was little