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Szchechuan peppercorns

Personally, I prefer black. More flavour.
White is basically just black deshelled and processed a little differently, though. Brings out the heat of it a touch.
 
spicefreak said:
Personally, I prefer black. More flavour.
White is basically just black deshelled and processed a little differently, though. Brings out the heat of it a touch.
 
Next you'll tell me a raisin is a grape! 
 
I like pink peppercorns which are not peppercorns but I like em lots. Have a grinder with pink Himalayan rock salt and whole pink peppercorns and the grind is awesome on eggs and such...
 
just had some on omelet! :D
 
Well darnit.. I found the Szechuan peppercorns at the Oriental market and just tried one.. it tasted kinda lemony at first but not tasty yummy lemon.. and no heat. I kept chewing on it and after a minute that numbing "dental" sensation Pookie was talking about kicked in. I spit out the peppercorn... And now 5 minutes later the numb feeling is still going on...

I'm gonna assume these guys taste better in the proper dish.. hopefully a LOT better. Will be going easy on them in the "ma po tofu" recipe.
 
Feels like novocaine is wearing off but you still don't have full feeling. Never liked.
 
Make the sichuan hot oil...trust me. :D
 
You add a little whole sichuan peppercorn during the first part of the oil seasoning. All the whole spices get strained before adding to the pepper flakes. You add a little of it ground to the pepper flakes when you add the oil. The link to the recipe i posted uses whole in the finished hot oil. I prefer it ground because biting into a whole one is a bit too intense.
 
This stuff and some black vinegar rocks on dan dan noodles.
 
Gochugaru (coarse) works fantastic for the pepper flakes too if you want a milder oil. I use about 3/4 gochugaru and about 1/4 super chili. Plenty of heat but loads of flavor. The recipe doesn't include it but adding some sesame oil to the cooled hot oil is a really nice addition. I prefer the dark or toasted sesame oil.
 
Made mine with 1.5 cups of peanut oil and a TBS of toasted sesame oil after it cooled a few minutes.
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1 heaping 1/4 tsp whole to season the oil with the other spices. Then strain it all out.
 
1 level 1/4 tsp of ground in a mortar added to the pepper flakes.
 
You want the oil just hot enough to sizzle the flakes a little but not burn them. Add it slowly to the pepper flakes and sichuan peppercorns. I used some shallots in mine too instead of all green onion.
 
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