#7: Sichuan-style Zaricos

March 3rd, 2026

You remember that old Cajun greeting from way back when, “Comment les zaricos?” Me either. But apparently that was a common Cajun greeting back in the day. If things were going good you could respond, “Les zaricos est salés.” The green beans are salty and that all is well. If things wasn’t so good at the moment you could say they weren’t salty, “Les zaricos est pas salés.”

Now what if those old-timey Cajuns had traveled to Sichuan, China, that province in southwestern China famous for its panda bears, mountains, and numbingly-spicy food, and had the green beans the way they’re prepared over there? What would they have said? I think, “Les zaricos est pimenté.” Or, “Les zaricos est piquant.” Whatever word they would have used to describe them, I bet it would have been to the positive, that “Mon Dieu, ces zaricos est bien.”

And right they would have been.

Food from Sichuan, China, (and Sichuan-style restaurants around the world) is generally rich, complex, intensely flavored, and spicy in a way that is pretty unique. This cuisine usually is warming and comforting as it developed over time in the cold, humid, and rainy Sichuan providence. And it’s also pretty diverse, so there are a lot of good dishes that use familiar ingredients or techniques. Speaking of: they also got this other dish they make with sliced up pig ear, that might be one of the best things I’ve had anywhere (but more on that in a later post).

While more often than not dishes from there are spicy in a way that Cajun people would recognize (think, cayenne pepper hot; heat hot, not temperature hot), the unique thing about Sichuan food (and my favorite) is the numbing sensation that you get from the generous use of Sichuan peppercorns, a type of peppercorn unique to that part of the world. Found in a good number of Sichuan dishes, these peppercorns once incorporated into a dish give it a whole nother level and depth of flavor, not to mention your tongue and lips start to feel numb and tingly. Once this happens it doesn’t necessarily block your tastebuds from experiencing the flavor of the dish, but you’ll find that it invigorates your senses and helps you power through the spice.

Now this dish here doesn’t necessarily have to have Sichuan peppercorns, but it definitely requires a good bit of dried chilies. Remember when Tante Bernie used to hang up all those cayenne peppers in the tool shed to dry that she and Nonc picked in the fall, and that once they were dried, she strung em up like a pepper necklace to hang by the door to keep the gris-gris away? Well, those would be perfect for this dish.

If you wanted to try out some Sichuan peppercorns, you can easily get them online. I recommend giving them a shot. Just remember that a little goes a long way, and you can use them for all sorts of dishes.

These Sichuan-style green beans overall shouldn’t be too saucy, in fact the best versions that I’ve had were pretty dry. It incorporates a technique that’s called “dry frying”, which pretty much means cooking in a very hot wok (or pan) with very little or no oil at all. This gives the ingredients a charred and smoky flavor that’s a signature component of Sichuan-style green beans. Remember char kway teow from the previous post? It’s the same flavor profile as that. Think blackened redfish. Here you add ground pork and garlic for savoriness, ginger and the whites of green onions for brightness, the dried chilies and peppercorns for spice, a little bit of soy sauce for umami and saltiness, and then a pinch of sugar for sweetness to round it all out.

Green beans are one of those things I’ve had so many times, in only a handful of ways, that I didn’t imagine they could be this good, that they could be used in such a different, yet simple way. Give this one a try. And if someone asks you, “Comment les zaricos?”, you’ll know what to say.

How ya make it?

Alright you probably got most of the stuff you need to make this already. Fresh green beans, about a pound. Ground pork, about half a pound, seasoned with salt and pepper. Couple cloves of garlic. Small piece of fresh ginger. That soy sauce that’s been sitting in the back of the ice box for about a year and a half that you forgot about; it’s still good. Some good chilies or cayenne peppers, preferably dried. If you ain’t got the dried cayenne peppers hanging by your door, you 1) needa step up your game against the gris-gris patassa, and 2) could use fresh chilies if you had to. But make sure you use chilies or cayenne peppers for the heat, that’s what makes this dish so special and come together in the end. Avoid using bell peppers if you can.

You wanna start by washing and trimming the tips off the zaricos and cutting them into 2-inch pieces. Now get your pan (or better if you have a wok) real hot. I mean hot hot. Once hot add the zaricos straight to the hot pan and stir fry until all the water from washing is evaporated out, probably about 2-3 minutes. Then add a little bit of oil to the pan, about a tablespoon or two, until the green beans become wrinkled. It’s probably gonna take a few minutes. Stir often.

While those are going, chop up your garlic, ginger, chilies, and the white parts of a green onion. If you got Sichuan peppercorns, and are gonna use them, take a couple of em (maybe 5 or 6 to start), and crush em between two spoons, or in a mortar and pestle if you one of them people.

Once the green beans look wrinkly and maybe a little bit charred in some spots (which is good), take them out of the pan, but keep the leftover oil. You could probably turn the heat down a little bit here. Next add the ground pork and cook until browned on the edges, then add a little splash of soy sauce to soak into the pork/evaporate.

At this point add the chopped-up ingredients you prepared while the green beans were frying (ginger, chilies, garlic, green onion, and peppercorns), and add them to the pan with the pork. Stir fry until the veggies start to wilt, and you start to smell it all come together. But watch out for Nonc trying to sneak a big whiff at this point, the smell coming of those peppercorns and chilis are gonna send him through the roof. Maybe turn the hood on or open the window at this point.

When all them smells come through, after about a minute or two of cooking, throw in the zaricos with another pinch of salt and sugar (to taste and to balance the flavors), and another splash of soy sauce. Toss everything together real good and serve.

Allons manger!