粑粑肉—meatloaf
坝坝席—rural feast, served on theflat ground outside a Sichuanese farmhouse
白果树—ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba)
白酒—strong vodka-like grain liquor
白卤—‘white’ or uncoloured spiced broth
白木耳，白耳子—alternative names for silver ear fungus
白茸—‘white paste’ of minced chicken, used to clarify stock
白味—‘white-flavoured’ (dishes without dark colourings such as soy sauce)
白油菜薹—‘white’ (actually green) rape shoots
板油—leaf fat used for making lard
巴蜀—the ancient Ba and Shu kingdoms of Sichuan, and a poetic name for Sichuan
本味—essential or ‘root’ taste of ingredients
蚕豆—broad or fava bean (literally‘silkworm bean’)
苍蝇馆子—‘fly’ restaurants
草鱼—grass carp (Ctenopharyn godon idella)
长江—Yangtze River, literally ‘long river’
长江鲟—Yangtze sturgeon (Acip enser dabryanus)
长久—long-lasting
朝天椒—‘facing-heaven chilli’ (a variety of chilli)
茶色—‘tea colour’
茶树菇—tea-tree mushrooms, brown mushrooms with small caps and long stems
陈麻婆—pock-marked Mother Chen, inventor of mapo tofu
吃醋—to be cuckolded (literally ‘to eat vinegar’)
吃饭—to eat a meal (literally ‘to eat cooked rice’)
吃苦—to ‘eat bitterness’ (to suffer)
冲菜—mustardy greens (young mustard shoots)
虫草—caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis)
虫草鸭子—duck stewed with caterpillar fungus
穿衣—‘putting on some clothes’, coating pieces of food in batter
串儿—skewer on which food is impaled before cooking
捶—to pound with the back of a cleaver blade
春盘—‘spring platters’, the ancestors of spring rolls
春笋—spring bamboo shoot
椿芽—the tender shoots of the Chinese toon tree (Toona sinensis)
厨师的汤，唱戏的腔—‘the chef's stock, the voice of the opera singer’ (phrase expressing the importance of stock in a chef's art)
糍粑辣椒—ciba chillies, dried chillies that have been soaked and then pounded with other seasonings conghua—spring onion ‘flowers’ (thin slices)
攒盒—decorative hors d'oeuvre box
脆—a type of crispness
搓辣椒—‘rubbed chillies’, dried chillies that have been roasted and then rubbed into flakes
大白菜—‘big cabbage’, Chinese cabbage
大河帮—‘Great River clique’ (style of cooking)
胆巴—bittern, mineral salts used for setting tofu (also known as yanlu, Japanese nigari)
欓或食茱萸—an old variety of Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum ailanthoides)
刀口海椒—‘knife-mouth chillies’, chillies that are fried and then finely
大头菜—preserved turnip-like vegetable (Brassica juncea var. napitormis)
灯笼椒—‘lantern chillies’, a variety of chilli (also used for sweet capsicum peppers)
灯盏窝形—‘lamp-dish slices’ (of pork)
丁宝桢—nineteenth-century governor of Sichuan, after whom Gong Bao chicken is named
丁配丁，丝配丝—‘cubes with cubes, slivers with slivers’
丁香—cloves
冬菜—‘winter vegetable’ (pre served mustard greens, a speciality of Nanchong)
冻糕—steamed rice cakes
冬菇—alternative name for dried shiitake mushrooms
冬寒菜—cluster mallows (Malva verticillata), an ancient Sichuanese vegetable also known as葵菜
冬笋—winter bamboo shoot
豆腐菜—‘tofu vegetable’, Malabar spinach (Basella alba), also known as 木耳菜 (‘wood ear vegetable’)
豆腐干—‘dry’ (firm, pressed) tofu
豆腐帘子—tofu ‘curtains’, mould ed rolls of tofu
豆腐脑—‘tofu brain’ (standard Chinese name for ‘flower’ tofu)
豆腐皮—tofu skin douhua 豆花—‘flower’ tofu (silken tofu)
豆花不用豆，吃鸡不见鸡—‘flower tofu without the beans, chicken without the appearance of chicken’
豆苗—pea shoots (also known as ‘dragon's whiskers’)
豆浆—soy milk
豆渣—soy-bean residue (known in Japanese as okara)
豆渣鸭子—duck with soy-bean residue, a Sichuanese dish
断生—to ‘break the rawness’ of food
炖鸡汤—chicken broth
多吃蔬菜，少吃肉—‘eat more vegetables, eat less meat’
独蒜—Sichuanese single-cloved garlic
儿菜—‘sons vegetable’, a type of Brassica consisting of tiny round mustard heads clustered around ‘a mother’ stem (a bit like Brussels sprouts)
二刀肉—‘second-cut pork’, a particular cut of pork rump
二姐兔丁—‘second-sister rabbit cubes’ (a cold dish)
二荆条—a local variety of chilli (also given as二金条，‘two golden strips’)
二平桩—the variety of mustard green used to make Yibin yacai preserved vegetable
仿荤菜—Buddhist dishes of imitation meat and fish
番椒—‘barbarian peppers’ (Ming-dynasty name for chillies)
翻，晒，露—‘turn, sun-dry, bask in dew’, traditional process for making Pixian chilli bean paste
饭遭殃—‘Rice Apocalypse’ (restaurant, Chengdu)
肥肠粉—sweet potato noodles with stewed pork intestines
肥而不腻—‘richly fat without being’ greasy
飞丝—‘flying silks’, hair-like strands of sugar syrup
凤尾条—‘phoenix tail’ strips
复合味—compound flavours
芙蓉鸡片—‘hibiscus-blossom chicken slices’, a Sichuanese delica cy
盖碗茶—lid-bowl tea (Sichuanese style of tea-drinking)
干拌面—‘dry-tossed noodles’, noodles without broth
干红—dry red wine
橄榄树—Chinese olive tree (Canarium album)
高良姜—galangal
羹—a kind of thick soup
割烹—‘to cut and to cook’
工夫茶—southeastern Chinese tea-drinking ritual
贡椒—‘tribute pepper’, Sichuan pepper sent to court
刮—to scrape
姑姑筳—‘Auntie's Feast’, legendary old Chengdu restaurant
鳜鱼或鲑鱼—Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi)
锅魁或锅盔—general term for a variety of flatbreads and pastries
骨牌片—‘domino slices’
海椒—‘sea peppers’ (Sichuanese dialect for chillies)
好辛香—to like hot and fragrant tastes
耗子洞张鸭子—‘Mr Zhang's Mousehole Duck’ (restaurant, Chengdu)
黑豆花—black silken tofu
和味—to ‘harmonise’ or round outflavours
红白茶 ‘red-and-white tea’, also known as ‘eagle tea’, also known as 老鹰茶
烘爆鸡丁—fast-fried chicken cubes
红茸—‘red paste’ made from minced pork, used to clarify stock
红糖—brown sugar, literally ‘red’ sugar
红汤卤 spicy ‘red’ hotpot broth
红油菜薹—‘red’ (actually purple) rape shoots
红油豆瓣—‘red-oil’ bean sauce, a popular type of chilli bean paste
花茶—‘flower tea’ (jasmine blossom tea)
花菇—dried shiitake mushrooms with fissured caps
花椒兔丁—rabbit cubes with Sichuan pepper
黄喉—pig's or cow's aorta
黄花—day-lily flowers
黄鳝—yellow eel (see also 鳝鱼)
胡豆—Sichuanese dialect for broad bean or fava bean (literally‘barbarian bean’)
湖广填四川—literally ‘filling Sichuan from Hu and Guang’, term used for the great migration of people from more than a dozen provinces to Sichuan in the early Qing dynasty
灰灰菜—wild green, known in English as fat hen or lamb's quarters(Chenopodium album)
煳辣鸡丁—chicken cubes with seared chillies
混合油—blended oil, typically a mixture of lard and vegetable oil
火边子牛肉—‘fireside beef’, a speciality of Zigong
火哥—‘Brother Fire’, Sichuanese internet chef
火锅底料—hotpot soup base
火候—literally ‘fire and waiting’, the control of heat in cooking
火炉—furnace
活肉—‘live’ meat, meaning taut, muscular meat
藿香—Korean mint (Agastache rugosa)
箭杆青菜—type of mustard green used to make dongcai
酱—general term for thick fer mented sauces
江湖菜—‘river-and-lake’ dishes, Chongqing-style folk cooking
江团—long-snout catfish (Leiocas sis longirostris)
椒房—‘pepper houses’
鸡精—‘chicken essence’, a yellowflavouring powder
鸡蒙葵菜—mallow tips coated in chicken paste and served in clear broth, a Sichuanese delicacy
锦江—Brocade River
金丝面—‘golden-thread’ noodles,very fine noodles made with an eggyolk dough
韭菜叶面条—chive-leaf noodles
九大碗—‘nine big bowls’, colloquial name for a rural feast
九宫格—‘nine-chambered [metal]frame’ used for dividing space in a Chongqing hotpot
韭黄—yellow Chinese chives (Allium tuberosum)
酒米—‘wine rice’, southern Sich uanese name for glutinous rice
酒酿—alternative name for laozao
酒曲—yeast starter used for making Chinese wines
九叶青—‘nine-leaf green’, a variety of green Sichuan pepper
鲫鱼—crucian carp (Carassius carassius)
蕨菜—fiddlehead ferns
开花—to split or, literally, ‘burst into flower’
开水白菜—‘white cabbage in boiling water’
开胃—to ‘open the stomach’ (whet the appetite)
砍—to chop
砍刀—heavy chopping cleaver
空花糖—‘hollow-flower toffee’, a kind of honeycomb toffee made from malt sugar
孔雀开屏—‘peacock spreading its tail’
口感—mouthfeel
口口脆—‘crisp in the mouth’, Sich uanese term for rabbit stomachs
苦—bitter
筷子条—‘chopstick’ strips
苦藠—‘bitter shallot’, a variety of Allium Chinense
苦笋—bitter bamboo shoot
辣妹子—‘spice girls’
老—overcooked, tough (literally ‘old’)
老抽—dark soy sauce
老母鸡—‘old mother chicken’, mature hen used to make stock
腊月—the last lunar month, the month of winter sacrifices
辣中有鲜味—‘savoury, umami flavours in the midst of spiciness’
冷淡杯—‘a few cold dishes and a glass of beer’ (Sichuanese tapas)
连刀片—linked or ‘sandwich’ slices
两—tael, a traditional Chinese measurement (about 50g)
两头望—‘frantic glances in both directions’, old nickname for the dish of ‘man-and-wife’ offal slices
莲子—lotus seeds
料酒—Chinese cooking wine
礼记—The Book of Rites
灵活—spirited, flexible
鲤鱼—carp (Cyprinus carpio )
龙抄手—‘Dragon Wonton’ (restaurant, Chengdu)
卤菜—dishes cooked in a spiced, aromatic broth (卤水)
卤水—aromatic broth
泸州老窖—Luzhou ‘Old Cellar’ sorghum liquor
麻花—deep-fried dough twists
麻辣烫—‘numbing-hot-and-scalding’, a spicy broth in which skewers of food are cooked
馒头—steamed bun
毛笔酥—crisp ‘calligraphy brushes’
毛肚火锅—beef-tripe hotpot (the original Chongqing hotpot)
毛峰茶—Mao Feng tea
毛竹—a type of bamboo with edible shoots
眉毛—‘eyebrows’
梅子—Chinese plum
蒙顶甘露—Meng Ding sweet dew tea
面臊—noodle topping
面汤—‘noodle broth’, the silky liquid in which noodles have been boiled
米凉粉—rice jelly, a Sichuanese snack
木姜菜—a variety of mint (Elsholtzia souliei) used as a herb in southern Sichuan
楠竹—a type of bamboo with edible shoots
嫩—tenderness, delicacy (of meat,fish, etc)
年年有余—‘having a surplus every year’ (sounds the same as 年年有
鱼，which means ‘having fish every year’)
鲇鱼—Amur catfish (Silurus asotus)
泥鳅—loach or weatherfish (Mis gurnus anguillicaudatus)
牛肝菌—ox-liver mushroom (Boletus genus)
牛皮菜—‘ox-leather’ greens, chards
牛舌片—‘ox-tongue’ slices
牛市坡—‘Ox Market Slopes’, an area in Hanyuan County where thefinest Sichuan pepper is said to be grown
浓—strong, dense, concentrated (in flavour)
农家乐—‘the happiness of rural homes’, meaning a farmhouse restaurant
糯—soft, huggy and glutinous in texture pa—Sichuanese dialect term for the texture of food that has been cooked until it is very soft
耙耳朵—‘soft ears’, colloquial Sichuanese term for hen-pecked husbands
怕辣—‘fear of chilli-hotness’
泡菜坛子—Sichuanese pickle jar
袍哥肉—‘Secret Society Meat’ (a nickname for twice-cooked pork)
泡椒三脆—‘three crisp ingredients(goose intestines, duck gizzards and wood ear mushrooms) with pickled chillies’
豌豆—‘soft peas’, a mash of cooked dried yellow peas used in soups and sauces
平地一声雷—‘a sudden clap of thunder’, nickname for pork in ‘lychee’ sauce with crispy rice（锅巴肉片）
跷脚牛肉—‘raised-legs’ beef hotpot of Leshan
青菜—green vegetables
青菜头—crisp, fleshy mustard stalks or ‘heads’
青城雪芽—Qingcheng Mountain snow-shoot tea
清炖牛鞭汤—clear-simmered ox penis soup
青石桥—Green Stone Bridge (wholesale market, Chengdu)
青笋—another name for 莴笋 (celtuce)
清汤—clear stock
七星椒—‘seven-star chilli’ (a variety of chilli)
曲酒—generic term for strong vodka-like wines
荣乐园—legendary old Chengdu restaurant
肉豆蔻—nutmeg
入味—‘send the flavours in’
三嫩—‘three tender bites’
三蒸九扣—‘three steamed dishes and nine steamed bowls’ (folk name for a rural banquet)
馓子—deep-fried noodles (used as a crunchy topping)
臊味—‘foul’ odour or taste
涩味—astringent taste
色香味形—‘colour, fragrance, flavour and form’
山城小汤圆—‘mountain city little glutinous rice balls’
火—‘rising fire’, excess of internal heat, seen as a cause of disease in Traditional Chinese Medicine
上汤—superior stock
尚滋味—‘to appreciate flavours’
膻味—‘muttony’ odour or taste
鳝鱼—yellow or paddy eel (Monopterus albus)
山珍海味—‘treasures of the mountains and flavours of the seas’
烧菜—braised dishes
苕菜—a wild green, winter vetch (Vicia hirsuta)
生抽—light soy sauce
石爬鱼—a type of catfish (Eu chiloglanis kishinouyei)
食在中国，味在四川—‘China is the place for food, but Sichuan is the place for flavour’
蜀—the name of the ancient kingdom centred on today's Chengdu (and a poetic name for the Chengdu area)
蜀南竹海—Bamboo Sea, a nature reserve in southern Sichuan
蜀犬吠日—‘Sichuanese dogs bark at the sun’
私房菜—‘private kitchen’
死肉—literally ‘dead meat’, meat that has not been active muscle, such as chicken breast
酥—a type of crispness
蒜毫—alternative name for 蒜薹 (garlic stems)
蒜泥—crushed garlic in water
蒜薹—garlic stems
素菜荤做—‘vegetable ingredients cooked meatily’
素鸡—sausage-shaped roll of tofu(literally ‘vegetarian chicken’)
酥肉—‘crisp pork’, slices of fatty pork clothed in egg batter and deep-fried
谭豆花—‘Mr Tan's Flower Tofu’ (restaurant, Chengdu)
坛子肉—clay-jar pork, a kind of confit pork preserved in lard
汤面—noodles served in broth
烫面—‘scalded dough’, a type of dumpling dough made with boiling water
特点—distinguishing characteristics
藤椒—green Sichuan pepper
天府之国—‘land of plenty’
田鸡—‘field chicken’, meaning frog
天堂—‘paradise’, a nickname for pigs' upper palates
田席—rural banquet (literally ‘field feast’)
通菜—Mandarin Chinese for water spinach
土—rustic, earthy, free-range (literally ‘earth’)
团圆—reunion
土鸡—farmhouse or free-range chicken
兔脑壳—Sichuanese dialect term for rabbit heads
剜—to gouge
味精—monosodium glutamate, MSG (literally ‘the essence of flavour’)
莴笋—celtuce, a type of lettuce with a thick stem (Lactuca sativa var. angustata)
窝窝头—a type of steamed bun, usually made from cornmeal
乌骨鸡—‘black-boned chicken’, silkie chicken
无咸不成菜—‘you can't make a dish without saltiness’
五花肉—pork belly meat (literally‘five-flower meat’)
五荤—the so-called ‘five pungent’ ingredients avoided by strict Buddhists, including garlic, spring onions and other alliums
五粮液—Sichuanese five-grain wine
五香粉—five-spice powder
下饭菜—‘send the rice down’ dishes
咸菜—general term for salt-pre served vegetables
乡厨子—village chef
香料—‘fragrant things’ (collective name for spices)
象牙条—‘elephant tusk’ strips
小吃—‘small eats’ (snacks)
小河帮—‘Small River clique’ (style of cooking)
小米辣—‘little rice chilli’ (a type of chilli)
腥味—‘fishy’ odour or taste
雄黄酒—realgar wine (liquor with traces of an arsenic compound), traditionally drunk at the Dragon Boat Festival
熊猫战竹—‘panda fighting bam boo’
雪花鸡淖—‘snowflake chicken custard’, a Sichuanese delicacy
盐帮菜—‘salt gang’ cooking, Zigong cuisine
盐都—‘salt capital’ (Zigong city)
羊肉—sheep or goat meat
洋芋炒土豆—‘spud-fried potatoes’岩鲤—rock carp (Procypris rabaudi)
盐卤—bittern, mineral salts used for setting tofu (also known as danba, Japanese nigari)
芫荽—Mandarin Chinese name for coriander
雅鱼—a type of carp (Schizothorax prenanti )
野山椒—‘wild mountain chilli’, small, pale green pickled chillies
一菜一格，百菜百味‘each dish has its own style, a hundred dishes have a hundred different flavours’
阴米—‘shady rice’
银杏—‘silver apricots’, ginkgo nuts(also known as白果)
银针丝—‘silver needle’ sliver
异味—peculiar smell, off-taste
油辣子—‘oily chillies’, chilli sedi ment in chilli oil
油麦菜—Indian lettuce (Lactuca indica)
鱼辣椒—‘fishy chillies’, red chillies pickled in brine with a few crucian carp
玉兰片—‘jade magnolia slices’, slices of dried bamboo shoot
鱼香—‘fish-fragrant’
鱼香—spearmint, also known as留兰香
鱼眼葱—‘fish-eye’ spring onion slices
皂角树—Chinese honey locust tree(Gleditsia sinensis)
灶君—the Kitchen God
糟醉—‘drunken’, used of dishes flavoured with glutinous rice wine
甑子—wooden rice steamer
斩—to chop
斩刀—heavy chopping cleaver
樟—camphor
鲊肉—alternative name for pork steamed in ricemeal
炸收—to ‘deep-fry and receive’, cooking method
折耳根—Houttuynia cordata (a salad vegetable), also known as则耳根
蒸肉粉—‘steam-meat powder’, spiced ricemeal for steaming meat
正兴园—famous old Chengdu restaurant run by a Manchu chef
蒸蒸糕—literally ‘steamed steamed cakes’, a favourite street snack made of ground rice
珍珠粑—‘pearly cake’, festive rice cake made in western Sichuan
指甲片—‘thumbnail’ slices
猪儿粑—‘piglet’ dumplings
竹花—bamboo flower lichen
竹荪—bamboo pith fungus (Phallus indusiatus)
竹笋—bamboo shoot
竹荪蛋—volvae or ‘eggs’ of the bamboo pith fungus
竹筒单—rice cooked inside sec tions of bamboo
竹燕窝—‘bamboo bird's nest’, a kind of fungus
竹叶青—green bamboo-leaf tea
子弹头—‘bullets’ (a variety of chilli)
自内帮—‘Zigong-Neijiang clique’ (style of cooking)
粽子—leaf-wrapped parcels of glutinous rice, eaten around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival, on thefifth day of the fifth lunar month