• Food
plays a central role in all celebrations in China and especially that
of Chinese New Year. Unlike the 'Thanksgiving Turkey' or 'Christmas Ham'
which are cultural standards in the West, festival foods can vary
greatly from region to region in China, and certain dishes hold greater
meaning in certain areas. In fact, each village and each family may have
its own traditions beyond that of the region.
• This article is from the archives from our favourite Sichuan food writer (no, not you Dunlop) Jordan Porter - who unfortunately isn't in the city anymore. Check out how to pig out like a local this Spring Festival, with Jordan's local Chinese New Year food guide!
• Still not enough? We’ve compiled a list of what’s open and what’s not - this Spring Festival.
In
Sichuan, lunch not dinner is the most important meal, and it is the
main feature of the celebration. It's also where the drinking takes
place. Lunch will often be a more elaborate meal, but it doesn't end
there.
As with any celebration in Chengdu there will be an afternoon intermission filled with majiang, sunflower seeds, tea, and probably cigarettes, before places are resumed at the table for a more casual, dinner.
These are some of the dishes you can expect if you attend a CNY celebration this year:
You
have seen the spiced, cured sausages and smoked pork bellies and ribs
hanging around the city since the weather got cold, and the New Years
feast is where they really get to shine. Each family usually makes their
own, based on handed down family recipes, and the ritual of curing,
drying and smoking play an important role in the lead up to the New Year
as well.
They
are served on their own, steamed or boiled, then sliced thinly, as a
sort of meat platter. An abundance of meat shows prosperity, and meat in
general will play a big role in the annual celebrations. Smoked meat
and sausages are sacred to the Sichuan tradition and their flavor
synonymous with the taste of the Spring Festival here.
Traditionally at the New Year a chicken would be slaughtered and its blood spread in front of the doorway of a family's house to repel evil spirits. Then it is cooked up to eat. While this still happens in the countryside, most families in the city will do without the slaughter and skip straight to the cooking part. In Chengdu it is most commonly served mixed cold in chili oil 凉拌鸡 or red-braised with garlic scapes which are in season.
Other
families insist on making a chicken stew or soup 炖鸡 or even on having
one male and female chicken. Regardless of how its prepared, chicken
(most commonly in Sichuan a 1 year old rooster), will be on the table.
The
word for fish Yu 鱼 is a homonym for the word for surplus or profit 余
and its a national tradition to eat fish on the New Year representing
the year ending in surplus.
The
fish must be kept whole, but preparation styles change from place to
place. Boiled, or steamed, or fried, in Sichuan it is usually served spicy
or in a douban (豆瓣) sauce.
Deep
fried, spiced, fatty pork is prepared by each family and served during
the feast. It can be served crispy on its own with a side of crushed
chili, though most commonly its served in a soup – which makes it not
crispy at all, but still delicious.
Often
made en masse, it also serves as an easy gift when visiting other
families or family members along side strings of sausages and bags of
smoked meat.
Dumplings 饺子
Preparing
dumplings for the New Year is primarily a thing of North China, and it
doesn't feature prominently in Sichuanese traditions. Sichuan is,
however, a land of immigrants and many people here are of northern
decent, and so its not uncommon that families across the province (and
country) still practice this tradition.
Dumplings, however, are usually eaten on the last day of the lunar year, and not during the New Years Day feast itself.
Baijiu and Boiled Beer
As
with celebrations across the world, for many families drinking also
plays a role in the festivities. Whole families gather together and
toast to the fortune of the family and things to come in the year ahead.
This is the time to bring out that fancy bottle of WuLiangYe or MaoTai
you've been saving up and enjoy it with loved ones.
The flavors also compliment the sausages and smoked meat very nicely. In cooler areas, and for the evening meal, a 'mulled beer' 煮啤酒 may also be made. Local beer is boiled with ginger, goji berries, rock sugar and fermented rice for a warm, boozey beverage that keeps you peppy in the cool of the evening
