Chengdu China's Gastronomy Treasure

when you hear about the center of gastronomy you would normally think of Italy or France.Yet there's another capital, and it's Chengdu in the Szechuan region of central China.The best food in China, and perhaps Asia , is found there.The area famous for it's fiery peppercorns' is also known it's variety of gourmet dishes both hot and mild.Eating in Chengdu is like dining in Lyons or Milan.The food is amazing with interesting fillips and dashes. Chengdu is located smack in the center of China's most central Provence.Szechuan cooking hit the US almost forty years ago,adding zest to the Americanized versions of Mandarin and Cantonese cooking.Fire and heat came into fashion and Americans were now buying woks and cookbooks,imitating the spicy dishes .UNESCO declared it the city of gastronomy in 2011. Townspeople brag about it and rave about the dishes.Typical Szechuan cuisine can be most spicy and sweet.Tea smoked duck is a mild ,and addictively sweet dish made up the foul smoked over tea leaves and camphor twigs.It's an elaborate process that involves rubbing the body inside and out with camphor leaves,Sichuan peppers, Chinese rice wine.After this, it 's quickly blanched in hot water to tighten the skin and both towel and air dried..It's then smoked in a wok, with black tea leaves and deep fried to a mouth watering crispiness.Another drool worthy dish Kung pao chicken is also from there.It's a spicy stir fry that has chicken mixed with peanuts and chopped chili peppers.However the most important ingredient are the fiery Szechuan peppercorns that give it it's tongue numbing hotness. Chengdu also has garlicky dishes featuring all sorts of meats and veggies.Hot pot is a favorite and made by every family.It has meat ,along with leafy vegetables and dumplings.Fish and mushrooms are sometimes added as well.A dipping sauce is also served for the solid ingredients .Hot pot is more of a winter dish and the recipe varies from family to family.Twice cooked pork is another treat involving pork bellies.It involves a long cooking process where the pork bellies are first simmered with spices and jujubes.This last is not the famed movie candy but a Chinese date of the same name.It is then wok fried in a small amount of oil with napa or celery, cabbage, bell peppers or scallions.To add to this fieriness is water cooked meat and veggies.It's a kind of boiled dish and then fried with oil and peppers along with dried chilis. To some food snobs France and Italy are the gastronomic centers of the world. Yet there is also another famed area,Chengdu,China.It has given the world interesting and mouth watering dishes, worthy of any picky food critic.