The Hottest Thing I Ever Ate

The Beef Vindaloo that I cooked was hot and spicy but not even comparable to the food I ate in Chengdu in the Sichuan Province in China.  I had the opportunity to visit Chengdu a year ago.  Here’s an exerpt from an email I sent home after lunch one day:

 
“Today our chinese colleagues took us to lunch for traditional Sichuan food which you may well know is very spicy. Whooooo Waaaaa! I can’t put into words how spicy the food is. There is something beyond spicy, trust me. The first dish was fish with a yellow broth and red and green peppers on top. I thought, “avoid the peppers and I’ll be okay.” 

 

 

Not so much. First my mouth and throat are on fire, then as I eat more my nose and eyes start to run. You’d think this would stop me but no, I keep eating because the food tastes so delicious you can’t help yourself. The next dish arrives at the table and its chicken and potato with a red colored pepper sauce and the “numbing” peppers. This is how they described the peppers. You are not supposed to eat them. Anything that comes into contact with the peppers gets infused with their essense. 


So we go straight from the fish to the chicken and 30 seconds later my lips and mouth are numb. Who knew! At this point they bring the rice to the table…ah sweet Guan Yin, have mercy on my mouth. After we move onto other dishes my mouth calms down, most of the feeling returns. I grab another piece of chicken in my chopsticks and pop it in my mouth. This time I get the full flavor of the chicken before my tongue goes back into the abyss of numbness.  

Now we are back in the office 2 hours and several meetings later and there is still a slight numbing sensation on my lips even after washing them very well.  Ah, I love new experiences!”

I remember this like it was yesterday and would love to go back and eat it all over again.  The food was so intensely flavorful, it’s worth the temporary loss of feeling in my mouth.  I now have a deep appreciation for the different between hot and spicy and how they can live harmoniously together.