The other day while shopping at an oriental market, I found some Sichuan Peppercorns! (The meat case at this place would make most Americans scream and run.) These peppercorns were banned many years ago over the fear of contaminating the American food supply. But, that ban was recently lifted. I have many recipes that call for Sichuan Peppercorns, so, I was delighted!
Sichuan Peppercorns are not related to peppercorns at all. In fact, they are the seed pod of the Pricker Ash tree and look like miniature brown pistachios. And, unlike the regular peppercorns, these are not at all spicy. Instead, they have a citrusy flavor to them.
When cooking with these peppercorns, you have to separate the seeds from the pods. The pods are eatable while the seed are not because they are too course. So, if you don’t separate you seeds from your pods, your meal will be quite gritty, like eating sand. Fortunately, you get several ounces for a dollar so they are not expensive.
I am delighted to have them. The first meal that I cooked with them was Sichuan Beef. It was delicious!
It may take us awhile to recover from seeing the oriental meat counter.
Was the meat counter just unsanitary? I never realized that the recipe called for Sichuan peppercorns. I assumed that the paste produced by grinding scallions and peppercorns was “Sichuan peppercorn paste”. I will have to look for those. I’m curious to know how the substitution goes.
The meat counter was sanitary. It is just that it had a lot of entrails. In short, as we looked at it, it looked back.