Chengdu Culinary Chronicles

Attention! Home-Style Tofu 家常豆腐 is being made.




Deep-frying the tofu turns it from pale and brittle to golden and toasty. But somehow in the deep-frying process this seemingly innocent tofu manages to turn the oil dark and turbid, so it can no longer be reused.


Home-style flavored dishes rely on chili bean paste 豆瓣 for their saltiness, beany savoriness and slight heat. Garlic greens (suanmiao) add a fresh crunchy bite.


The unconscious art of food prep.



The second dish we made that day was Pork Slices with Green Wosun (asparagus lettuce) 青笋肉片. We used pre-soaked black-ear mushrooms, Chinese onion, garlic, pork, pickled red chilies and green wosun.


The best thing about the dish is how fast you can make it. Minus the cutting, marinating and (rapid) pre-cooking of the pork, it takes exactly 45 seconds to whip up the dish in the wok.