The yin and yang of hot pot

The Chinese have a saying, "Shi zai Zhongguo, wei zai Sichuan" (China is the place for food but Sichuan is the place for flavor). Huo guo (hot pot) is a traditional Sichuan dish, similar to fondue, but instead of dipping your food into chocolate you dip it into a bubbling vat of fiery spiced oil. We've been wanting to try hot pot, but there's no way three Americans could manage that on our own without some help from the locals - drawing a picture of a bowl of noodles is one thing, but trying to do the same with traditional Sichuan hot pot is quite another - so last night we invited our interpreters Jenny and May for a hot pot dinner to thank them for all their hard work.

The restaurant, Tong's Fish Head (yes, our meal did contain fish heads) featured a menu with English words AND pictures, but we let Jenny and May do the ordering, and since we are American wimps, they chose half spicy/half mild. The mild side was the yin: a nourishing chicken broth seasoned with tonifying and calming herbs like Da Zao (jujube fruit), Gou Qi Zi (goji berries), and Tian Ma (gastrodia rhizome). The spicy side was the yang: a fiery oil full of Chuan Jiao, the famous Sichuan pepper.

I've been warned repeatedly about the red-hot spiciness of Chuan Jiao (aka Hua Jiao), which gives Sichuan food its distinctive flavor. In TCM, Chuan Jiao is an herb that promotes digestion by warming the spleen and stomach. Its hot and pungent properties protect the body against internal dampness and stagnation caused by the region's high humidity and rainy weather. It's actually the primary herb in a formula called Da Jian Zhong Tang (Major Construct the Middle Decoction), which treats abdominal pain. I was expecting Chuan Jiao to taste hot like a jalapeno pepper (not a favorite flavor of mine), but its taste is more complex than a simple burning sensation, and I'm actually developing quite an affinity for it. One mildly annoying side effect, however, is that it leaves my tongue feeling quite numb after eating it, which explains why traditionally Chuan Jiao was used as an anasthetic for tooth pain.