obsessed with the providence of the ingredients, with going to a particular place for a particular dish. anthony: right. fuchsia: so, they ve had that tradition for at least 800 years. anthony: fuchsia dunlap has had an extraordinary relationship with china, and sichuan in particular, since she first arrived here as a student in 1994. she was the first foreigner to study at the sichuan higher institute of cuisine and has written numerous books about her experiences, and about sichuanese food, which are rightly considered groundbreaking and definitive. to say she was way ahead of her time is an understatement. she s brought us to chef lan gue jun s restaurant. fuchsia: what he s trying to do is, sort of, raise the level of sichuanese food to, sort of, very refined banquet cookery. anthony: is what he s doing unusual for chengdu? for china? fuchsia: it is really unusual. so, i think, in the west we are, sort of, very used to the idea of the celebrity chef and the individual c
the northeastern coast. so that s a very expensive, rarified banquet ingredient. but it s done with a typical sichuanese sour and hot dressing, or sour and hot seasonings. like, on the street you d get just these seasonings with slippery sweet potato noodles and a load of offal. anthony: right. fuchsia: this is a banquet version. eric: ah. fuchsia: yeah. eric: this is going to be a challenge for me. i m still battling with my, uh, skills. fuchsia: i would hold your bowl a little closer like this, and then it s easier. eric: ah! thank you. fuchsia: less room for disaster. eric: you could have told me that before, tony. anthony: ah, i was having so much fun. [ fuchsia and eric laugh ] anthony: so that resistance, that boing, that rubberiness actually, elasticity, it s kind of the last frontier for western palates. eric: the gelatinous? anthony: the and cartilaginous, you know? where there s actual, like, crunch. fuchsia: this dish, this delicacy, makes no se
dinner, a banquet, one can reasonably expect to drink quite a lot of the stuff, especially when your hosts are in the business of making it, and my french friend has concerns. man: do you want to know how we drink? anthony: yes. of course. yes, that s very important. man: in chinese tradition, um, we start three cups, so we drink together. after three cups, everyone will with each other one by one. man 2: welcome to china, welcome to sichuan. eric: thank you. anthony: i have told him what might be expected of him and the futility of resisting. eric: the aroma is very distinctive. very, very special. anthony: there will be food, i told him. a lot of food. and baijiu. and one must not, under any circumstances, bring shame on our house. now, the next round it s one by one? man: yeah. anthony: so, how does that work?
like, have a hangover, and you will, my friend, you will um, this will scare the evil right out. eric: it s prepping me for a drinking night. anthony: the glory of france eric: shut up. anthony: is on your shoulders. [ go laughs ] anthony: and green peppercorn fish, served in a simmering vat of seasoned fish broth, laced heavily with fresh and dried green sichuan peppercorns, and finished off with a heavy pour of boiling hot vegetable oil. go: i think this is the most numb you are gonna feel. eric: that s going to be a challenge, this one, for me. anthony: any second now that perfect hair is gonna burst into flames. eric: that s good. anthony: man, i love the food here. how d that feel? eric: it change you physically, like, i feel like my face is changing. like my eyes are in a different position. right?
size. [ laughs ] anthony: think of yourself as an ambassador. not only for america, but for france, eric. eric: but i am an ambassador of le bernardin, as well, of the people who work with me and so on. anthony: right. you don t want people on the other side of the world thinking that le bernardin sends pussies out there to represent. eric: you know what, you re scaring the shit out of me now. seriously. anthony: you can t let the team down. eric: to me, to me it s more insulting to be shitfaced at the table anthony: no, no. not here. it s perfectly okay to be shitfaced at the table. that s completely acceptable. it s gonna be a wild week. eric: yes, i have the sense of that. anthony: here s something they talk about a lot in sichuan when discussing food two elements of flavor personified by two ingredients that are integral to so much of the cooking around here. the sichuan peppercorn, known for its flowery, aromatic flavor and its tingly, mind-arranging, mouth-n