The Difference Between Hunan Cuisine and Sichuan Cuisine

Chinese food can be divided into eight distinct regional cuisines, for now, let's just focusing on two of them, Xiang cuisine and Sichuan cuisine.

So, what’s the difference between Hunan also known as Xiang Cuisine and Sichuan Cuisine? Both of them are spicy and use a lot of oil~ mostly, they all taste great! Well, they interact with each other recent years, so it’s kind of hard to separate those two cuisines if you are not a professional eater. The only different I can tell for now is Xiang cuisine tastes sour and spicy, and Chuan cuisine is more dry spicy.

Xiang cuisine also as Hunan cuisine is known for its liberal use of chili peppers, shallots and garlic. The steamed fish heads in chili sauce is the one everyone ordered if you are in the right Xiang cuisine restaurant. It is often spicier by pure chili content, contains a larger variety of fresh ingredients, and tends to be oilier.

Sichuan cuisine is known for its distinctive málà (hot and numbing) seasoning and other complex flavor combinations, frequently employ Sichuan peppercorns along with chilies which are often dried, and utilizes more dried or preserved ingredients and condiments.

Personal I like sichuna cuisne better, oz their well-known dishes are all my type. Such as kung pao chicken, tea smoked duck, twice cooked port, mapo tofu, sichuan hot pot, cicken with chili and dandan noodles…. Gosh, I can’t help myself!