With its piney slap and mouth-numbing tingle, the Sichuan peppercorn lends a distinct and irresistible character to many dishes from that region. Yet from 1968 to 2005 it was actually illegal to import it to the United States, because it was thought that the dried prickly ash berry (the Sichuan peppercorn) might carry a bacterial…
Hang on to your hats, because Hetty Lui McKinnon has done it again. Why do we all go so nuts for Hetty’s recipes? Because she somehow manages to coax maximum character out of minimal ingredients, techniques and prep work. Her creations are always satisfying and never fussy, a true boon for busy people who care…
About 1,500 years ago, in the mountains of northern China, you might have found bamboo mats lined with slabs of tofu, resting in the snow overnight. Once frozen solid, “the structure and basic character of the tofu underwent a radical transformation,” William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi wrote in “The Book of Tofu” (1975). Like the…
