As one of the Chinese four great dish systems, Chuan dish is made up of Chengdu dish, Chongqing dish, Zigong dish and the ancient traditional vegetarian dish. It is famous all over the world for its hot flavor, and has the reputation of "Food in China and Flavor in Sichuan".

The main characteristics of Chuan dish are: careful selection, meticulous cutting and arrangement, exquisite cooking, various seasoning. The usual flavors are: garlic sauce, five spices, piquant sauce, red pepper sauce, tingling and hot, sour and hot.

Chuan dish often uses cooking skills as frying, quick frying, deep-frying, frying in shallow oil, braising, stewing, frying in hot oil and then cooking with sauce and water, steeping, smoking, pickling, marinading in wine, etc., and it is especially good at dry-frying, stir-frying, short frying and slight baking. Famous Chuan dishes are: shredded meat with garlic sauce, sauted meat cubes with chili and peanuts, bear's paw, diced chicken with piquant sauce, stir-fried beancurd in hot sauce, dry fried carp, and so on. The flavor of tripe slices in a chafing dish may be the most distinctive among Chuan dishes. It is endowed with all the characteristics of Chuan dish. It is tingling, hot, salty and fresh. Its soup is heavy and pure, red and shiny. It is made from the Sichuan specialty of the thick broad-bean sauce made in Pi county and Chinese prickly ash. Sichuan pepper is the main seasoning. The soup is made with hen, ox oil, beef, ox bones stewed together over several hours. The stuffs are fresh eel slices, beef tripes, fresh beef, chicken, carp, pig's liver, pig's blood, beancurd, ox's brain, vermicelli and heart of a cabbage. If it is the first time for you to taste it you will feel it too hot and tingling to eat at the beginning, however, the fresh and unique flavor makes you not quit and leaves a deep impression.

Like Chuan dish, Chengdu snacks have a long history. They have formed a particular style in color, smell, taste and shape. They are economical and are epicures' favorites. All kinds of snacks can be found everywhere in Chengdu. Chaoshou (won ton), Lai Tangyuan(dumplings made of glutinous rice flour), Fuqi Feipian ( fried slices of pig's internal organs), and Zhong dumpling stand for Sichuan snacks. Besides these, pancake with cabbages and flowers of Guan county, ginkgo cake of Qing city, Sichuan tender beancurd and what is called by people of Chongqing county as "Huaiyuan Three Specialties,"--Ye'erba (a kind of cookie), frozen cake and beancurd lianzi, sausage with Sichuan flavor, Yuanbao chicken, Sichuan bacon, smoked duck are also famous Sichuan food.

Chuan dish has a unique and distinctive style among numerous local dishes. It is not only popular in a lot of cities in China, but goes to many countries and districts in southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. The famous Chuan dish restaurants in Chengdu are Rongle Garden, Daijiang Straw House, Qiaotou Chafing Dish, Jianshan Restaurant, Sichuan Restaurant, etc.

Do you smell the delicious dish in below?

Boiling oil scalded young chicken
Smoked duck
Minced chicken with beancurd
Sliced cold chicken
Fish in ginger sauce with pepper
Crispy beef with eggs
Dragon well prawn slices
Fried shredded fish with chrysanthemum
Fried shrimp with chrysanthemum
Fried fish meatballs with double greens
Steamed beef in a small food steamer
Sichuan noodles with peppery sauce
Tripe slices in a chafing dish

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