So far, only fans of Sichuanese cuisine know about this, but we think it’s about time everyone, except the most heat-averse, give it a try. The Benjamin Franklin student canteen on Central Campus serves an excellent Kou Shui Ji or ‘Mouth-watering Chicken’, a famous Sichuanese cold dish comprising chicken laced with liberal lashings of a spicy sauce made with Sichuan peppercorns.

Johnny Liu of the canteen says the spices and condiments for the sauce are sourced from a special supplier that imports non-Cantonese cooking ingredients directly from mainland China. They include dried cannon peppers, ‘heaven-pointing’ peppers, and greenish-black peppercorns. The peppercorns are fried then left to soak in oil for two or three weeks. Then two or three days before preparing the dish, the peppers are also fried and left to sit in the oil. The two are then combined and Chinese black vinegar is added just before serving. The oil for the dish has been used to fry meat, so it lends a subtle meaty flavor to the dish.

The sauce is then poured over a chicken leg that’s been boiled in a broth with dried scallops and dried shrimp. The dish is then served with boiled cabbage and a sprinkle of chopped peanuts.

Peppercorns are what distinguish Sichuanese cooking from cuisines that also have spicy dishes, such as Hunanese. Yunnanese, Indian, Thai and Korean. They’re the soul of the dish, imparting a tingly and numbing sensation to the tongue. When used right, like they are here, they can be extremely aromatic, flavourful, and mouth-watering.