What do you call pepper that's not really pepper?

…Or Chinese farmhouse eating, part two.

Many people love Szechuan (also spelled Sichuan) food. It’s been popularized around the world as the hot and spicy familiar version of Chinese food. Sichuan cuisine relies more on spicing, and not raw ingredients, so it’s more easily replicable and adaptable than Chinese dishes dependant on regional specialities (sea cucumbers or yak meat, anyone?).

Knowing this, I expected that the food would be tasty, but not surprising. Oh, was I wrong!

Today, at a farmhouse, I learned the secret of Sichuan spicing in an unfortunate way. After picking some green tea, I wandered into the kitchen to ogle at the fire-heated wok, the smoking meats, and the unfamiliar spices. I was offered a taste of what I thought was normal pepper.

And my mouth went numb.

These farm-fresh dishes first numbed, then heated my tastebuds.

Sichuan pepper, or flower pepper (as it was called at the farmhouse), is actually not a peppercorn. It comes from the berries of the prickly ash tree. Chemically, it numbs the mouth and mutes the hotness of the chillies, allowing you to eat hotter than you think you can, and allowing more flavors to shine through.

Americanized versions of Sichuan dishes may not have this pepper, or at least not at the strength to make you sweat (literally) through the meal.

Sichuan brined duck at the lunch table.

Later I’ll post some recipes using Sichuan spicing. For now, I’ll be having dinner and bringing a handkerchief for my forehead. Yum and yeow!