Poivre de Sichuan

#Poivre #Sichuan

There is a Sichuanese dish that I love. This is Shousi Baocai, Chinese cabbage torn by hand then stir-fried in a wok. My favorite is that of Mandarins de Belleville, in Paris, a canteen run by Beilei & Beilei, a couple from Zhejiang… where you grew up, Handa.

Sautéed cabbage looks stupid on paper… And yet, there is the crunch of the vegetable, its enveloping sauce, the heat of the chili. And above all the spiciness of a small purple berry which wakes you up suddenly and whets your appetite for what comes next.

This berry, which makes the whole dish, is Sichuan pepper, well known in Sichuan cuisine. Even to the point that it was given the name of this region in the West while it is called HUA JIAO (花椒) “flower pepper” in China.

If you have never tasted this pepper, I have to describe the sensation to you. When you bite into it, your whole body speaks. First, Sichuan pepper makes you hot like a chili pepper, then it tingles and creates a slight chill before slightly anesthetizing the tongue… a bit like pink peppers.

In 2013, neuroscience researchers at University College London compared the sensation of anesthesia caused by Sichuan pepper to an electrical discharge of 50 hertz, much less than the juice you take by putting your fingers in a taken… but still. This effect is due to alpha hydroxy Sanshool, one of the components of Sichuan pepper which disrupts touch receptors and instead makes the tongue and lips vibrate.

The tongue is sore for a short time, then the Sichuan pepper leaves a lemony taste in the mouth. No wonder because this little berry comes from the rutaceae family like citrus fruits and not from piperaceae, like all other peppers. We are therefore talking about a fake pepper.

This bay is special. Already, just by eye. She looks like a little pacman swallowing everything in her path. The image comes from you Handa and it speaks for itself.

Because in fact, it is not the Sichuan seed that we eat – the kernel is hard and bitter – but its shell. In the fall, when the berry reaches maturity, it opens spontaneously and lets the seed escape.

We can see this phenomenon in China and France… where we are also familiar with this culture. Sichuan pepper arrived very early in Europe… as early as the 13th century… via Marco Polo, the most famous Venetian merchant and navigator. It had its little hour of glory, then the other peppers stole the show.

It reappeared in our kitchens, but especially in our gardens in the 19th century… thanks to passionate botanists. Unlike pepper plants, which are delicately cultivated vines, false peppers come from very robust shrubs that withstand both heat and extreme cold.

In front of you are several Sichuan peppers:
A Sichuan pepper brought by Handa

A green Sichuan pepper and a red Sichuan pepper grown by Marine Rivière from the Petite Rivière plantation in the Cotentin…

More and more market gardeners are planting them in France, in Gers, in Lot et Garonne, in Maine-et-Loire…

And this last berry is indeed Timut pepper. It is produced by Robin Tourte of Saveurs du Marceau located near Angers.

Because Sichuan pepper is not the only one in the family of Zanthoxylum, fake peppers. It has many cousins: Timut pepper (Zanthoxylum armed), from Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan with a fresh grapefruit taste. And which is the same species as Green Sichuan pepper!

Japanese Sansho pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum) reminiscent of lemongrass,

Korean sansho pepper (Zanthoxylum schinifolium) or the Andaliman Bay which grows in Indonesia (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium) close to lemon and tangerine.

To cook these fake peppers, you can draw from the entire repertoire of Chinese cuisine or use it as sweet… Sichuan pepper goes very well with chocolate for example. Here, I infused it in cold olive oil and poured it over a simple chocolate mousse, a recipe from my mother, a well-kept secret… which I will leave with you on the website of the ’emission.

Chocolate mousse and Sichuan pepper infused oil

• 200 grams of dark chocolate
• 5 eggs
• 30 grams of sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 10 cl d’huile d’olive
• 10 Sichuan pepper berries

Break the dark chocolate bar and melt it in a bain-marie.

Meanwhile, separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with the sugar until they turn white. Add the melted chocolate to the yolks and mix well. Make sure the chocolate is not too hot as this could cook the egg yolks.

In another salad bowl or mixing bowl, beat the whites with a pinch of salt until they are firm.

Little by little add the egg whites to the egg yolk and chocolate mixture. ⅓ by ⅓ by incorporating the mixture into the spatula. First energetically and always in the same direction for the first third then gently for the remaining two thirds so as not to cause the foam to fall.

Once the mixture is well incorporated, refrigerate overnight.

In a jam pot, pour the olive oil, add the Sichuan pepper and leave to infuse overnight at room temperature.

Serve the chocolate mousse with a small spoonful of Sichuan pepper oil.