Shuicheng Griddle Cooked Dishes

Shuicheng Griddle Cooked Dishes

　　 “The Finest of the West”—Shuicheng Griddle Cooked Dishes. Spicy, savory, and refreshingly delicious, these dishes are rich in oil but not greasy.

　　 Shuicheng Griddle Cooked Dishes date back to the Qing Dynasty and have over 300 years of history. Legend says that when Wu Sangui, the Prince Who Pacified the West, sent troops to suppress the Yi chieftains of Shuixi, upon arriving there they found their food supplies depleted. The soldiers resorted to using roof tiles and pieces of earthenware jars used for fermenting and preserving food, placing them over the fire. They cooked wild game and foraged wild vegetables on these makeshift griddles to stave off hunger. It was this act of desperation that gave birth to today’s beloved delicacy.

　　　　By the late Qing Dynasty, the originally edgeless concave tiles or pottery fragments gradually evolved into convex-shaped black sand griddles with raised centers and slightly sloping edges. This design allowed excess oil to drain to the sides, which could also be drizzled back over the food as desired. During this period, the ingredients expanded beyond wild game and foraged greens to include local specialties like tofu and stinky tofu, typically served with a side of five-spice chili dip.

　　　　After the Reform and Opening Up, griddle-cooked dishes began appearing as street food in Shuicheng. Later, the convex black sand griddles were replaced with flat-bottomed, edged cast iron pans heated over gas stoves. After 1992, Shuicheng Griddle Cooked Dishes made their unprecedented debut in indoor eateries, quickly giving rise to entire griddle food streets. By then, almost anything could be cooked on the griddle—seafood, poultry, livestock, chicken, duck, beef, mutton, both cultivated and wild vegetables—all became griddle staples. The dipping sauces diversified as well, with spicy pickled mustard tuber sauce, grilled green chili sauce, and others joining the original five-spice chili dip.

　　 In 2001, Shuicheng Quanyoufu Griddle Cooked Dishes Restaurant was awarded the title of “The Finest of the West” in China’s Western Specialty Cuisine by China Central Television. In 2003, at the first Huaxi Gourmet Festival for Chinese Folk and Ethnic Cuisines, it stood out among 114 teams including Taiwan, ranking fourth overall and winning a Special Gold Award.

　　Ingredients: Assorted edible vegetables (such as cabbage, celery, etc.), assorted meats (pork, beef, fish, etc.), various meat semi-prepared products, potatoes, stinky tofu, alkaline tofu, konjac tofu

　　Seasonings: Cooked vegetable oil, chili powder, Sichuan peppercorns, peanuts, sesame seeds, salt, MSG

　　Preparation Method:

　　　　1. How to make chili powder. Roast peanuts and sesame seeds until golden, then grind them together with chili powder and Sichuan peppercorns into a fine powder. Add an appropriate amount of salt and MSG. The ratio of peanuts and other seasonings to chili powder should be 2:3. Once mixed, place the chili powder in a small dish.

　　　　2. Pour an appropriate amount of cooking oil into a shallow flat-bottomed pan or a specially made earthenware sand pot. When the oil is heated to medium heat (about 50%), add the vegetables and grill them repeatedly until fully cooked. When adding meats, marinate them first with soy sauce and a small amount of starch, then place them in the pan when the oil reaches about 80% heat, grilling repeatedly until done. Serve by dipping the grilled items in the prepared chili powder.

　　Key Techniques: Control the proportion when mixing the chili powder, and adjust the heat carefully when grilling vegetables versus meats.