# Sichuan Chicken with Wrinkled Beans **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365 "2009-04-17T01:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/1 "2009-04-17T01:18:43Z")
I had it for lunch today, and was inspired to make it at home. It turned out very well. I used a Sichuan Green Bean recipe from the web. 4 chicken tenders a handful of string beans minced ginger, the size of a fifty cent piece 3 garlic cloves, minced with the ginger 4 scallions 1 teaspoon brown sugar 2 teaspoons, dark soy sauce 2 tablespoons, chicken broth sesame oil I sliced the chicken thin at an angle, threw the connective tissue to Penny the wire haired Dachshund/Terrier. 🙂 Marinated the chicken in about a third of the garlic/ginger with soy sauce. Stir fried the chicken in sesame oil till done, removed from pan. Cooked the beans very hot, but I didn’t get them to wrinkle. ☹ Added chicken, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar and broth, cooked on very high, added the scallions at the last minute, continued until most of the liquid was gone. Served with rice. Very, very good. I lucked out. Share your new recipe. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/2 "2009-04-17T03:53:06Z")
You could (should) throw in some szechuan peppers to kick it up a notch. Or just some crushed red pepper flakes. Adjust to your spice tolerance. You have to cook them very, very hot to get them to wrinkle. You can cheat this a bit by microwaving the beans for a minute or two prior to stir frying them. Chinese restaurants can keep their woks superheated by swapping the items between two hot woks, so when one loses it’s heat you transfer to the other. DO NOT try this in a non-stick pan, as those aren’t supposed to heat over 450 F or so. If your wok is hot enough the oil should smoke lightly and sort of separate as you twirl it in the bottom of the wok. The heat will drop at first but just let it heat back up. You can also cook the beans first in the wok, remove, cook the rest of the ingredients, then re-add at the end. That will keep you from overcooking the chicken or burning other components. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/3 "2009-04-17T12:55:10Z")
You have to add in Sichuan peppercorns for an authentic taste. Personally, I think the peppercorns are vile but it’s in just about everything in Sichuan. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/4 "2009-04-17T12:58:43Z")
One of the recipes had them as an ingredient and mentioned the “delightful mouth numbing” flavor, so I passed on them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/5 "2009-04-17T13:34:43Z")
The mouth numbing is fun! On the other hand, I think they taste like soap, kinda. That’s the thing about Sichuan "pepper"corns- they’re not really hot, they just make your mouth sort of numb and taste odd. I’d probably like them better if I kept eating them, but mostly they’re fun for the numbing factor. Mostly though I’m replying to say the recipe sounds good, and once it’s green bean season I want to make it. I’ll probably use deboned-at-home chicken thighs instead of tenders, though. I’m cheap like that. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/6 "2009-04-17T14:32:29Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > I’ll probably use deboned-at-home chicken thighs instead of tenders, though. I’m cheap like that. Asian restaurants here use breasts for sweet and sour chicken and thighs for, say, sesame chicken. Any idea why? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/7 "2009-04-17T14:35:48Z")
You can cut up breast meat into fairly regular chunks easily enough, and those are easier to bread. I prefer dark meat myself, but hardly ever get breaded asian-style stuff unless it’s in a buffet somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/8 "2009-04-18T01:31:21Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > You could (should) throw in some szechuan peppers to kick it up a notch. Or just some crushed red pepper flakes. I missed your post yesterday. The web stuff says sichuan pepper ain’t really pepper; I’ll look for some when I am next at “Sam’s Oriental Grocery” :rolleyes: which despite the name is staffed and frequented by Asian folks. My source of Silver Swan Soy sauce, sesame oil, and fried green peas. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/9 "2009-04-18T01:55:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > One of the recipes had them as an ingredient and mentioned the “delightful mouth numbing” flavor, so I passed on them. 🙂 Sichuan peppercorns are intersting, and are an important component to the authentic Szechuan pairing of hot and numb (called _má là_.) Sichuan peppercorns are not hot at all. They’re literally numbing (the _má_ of _má là_), kind of in a Novocain/Lidocain sort of way. If you bite into a Sichuan peppercorn on its own, you get a rather unique taste sensation. It starts kind of herbal, maybe mint and camphor, and ends up tasting berry-like or citrussy at the end. But, along the way, there is an (initially) disconcerting slightly numbing sensation that coats your tongue and seems to put your salivary glands into overdrive. The first time I had them, I thought I was having an allergic reaction of some sort, but it turns out this is what they do. They’re actually quite lovely after you get used to them and help to temper the fieriness of the chile peppers. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/10 "2009-04-18T02:14:56Z")
I’m not going to chew up my numb tongue and shred the inside of my cheeks? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/11 "2009-04-18T02:18:27Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I’m not going to chew up my numb tongue and shred the inside of my cheeks? 🙂 I hope not. Naw, you’ll be fine. Just be forewarned if you bite into a raw peppercorn. Their effects are a bit toned down when cooked, though. If you’re buying them at the Asian grocery, note that they might simple be labeled as something like “Chinese Pepper” or even just plain “Pepper” (as it is in the grocery by my house.) You should be readily able to identify them, as they tend to split apart and look like empty hulls [like this](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/kitchen/2008_09_16-SichuanPepper.jpg), and not like any genuine peppercorns of the genus _Piper_ that you are familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sichuan-chicken-with-wrinkled-beans/493365/12 "2009-04-18T02:48:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If you’re buying them at the Asian grocery, note that they might simple be labeled as something like “Chinese Pepper” or even just plain “Pepper” I’m gonna write it down and hand it to them. They employees are fluent in English. I say, “Do y’all have pot sticker wrappers?” and they reply, “You mean won tons? Yeah, sure, over there.” 🙂