The SE Szechuan BBQ sauce recipe makes no mention of dry toasting your peppercorns prior to adding. I was under the impression you always toast them first. Thoughts?
by jasonabaum
The SE Szechuan BBQ sauce recipe makes no mention of dry toasting your peppercorns prior to adding. I was under the impression you always toast them first. Thoughts?
by jasonabaum
3 Comments
I do not know what Serious Eats says about this. But the general reason you toast spices before you do anything with them is to deepen their flavor. You just lightly toast them in a dry pan over a medium to low sitting on the stove for a few minutes until they get a little fragrant. Then you let them cool and use them.
Sichuan pepper changes in taste a fair bit when toasted. Toasting reduces the metallic, citrus notes of the pepper and also mutes the bumming effect just a bit. The flavour becomes earthier and is good with rich and savory/meaty dishes.
Often Sichuan pepper is heated inside oil fairly gently to extract the flavour without changing the taste as much as this retains more of the more fragrant flavour and the bumming pootency.
This is only barely SE adjacent advice, but I vaguely remember Mandy Lee mentioning in one of her videos(vid for Dan Dan noodles, while she made the chili crisp) that overcooking Sichuan peppercorns causes an acrid flavor to come out, so she advised to add them right at the end.
I’m also unsure of if that’s only once they’re ground, or only if they’re cooked in oil. Let us know how it goes!