While there is no shortage of foods hot enough to scorch the mouths of even the most intrepid culinary thrill-seekers, they don’t make for a particularly enjoyable eating experience.
It’s unfortunate that dishes from the Sichuan region often fall under the same umbrella, garnering fame and infamy alike for their incandescent heat. But Sichuan cuisine is more than the sum of the Scoville ranking (50,000 to 70,000, for the record) of its namesake chili. The flavor backbone of Sichuan cuisine is called mala (麻辣) in Chinese, a combination of the words for "numbing" and "piquant spice." The traditional burning heat (la) one expects from a spicy dish is coupled with an effervescent tingling sensation (ma).
This combination, showcased in the recipe below, yields a heat that while undeniably powerful, falls short of painful. Tempered with the inclusion of red miso, this Japanese-Chinese fusion māpō dōfu is a flavorful and beginner-friendly introduction to the intricacy of Sichuan spice.