Here’s an interesting one I was sent by Colin recently – thanks again! A new brand to me – I mean wow – look at all those 9’s! This sounds interesting… Here’s a little something about Sichuan from Wikipedia –
Sichuan, formerly romanized as Szechuan, is a province in southwest China occupying most of the Sichuan Basin between the Himalayas on the west, the Daba in the north, and the Yungui Plateau to the east. Sichuan’s capital is Chengdu.
In antiquity, Sichuan was the home of the ancient states of Ba and Shu. Their conquest by Qin strengthened it and paved the way for the First Emperor‘s unification of China under the Qin Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms era, Liu Bei‘s Shu was based in Sichuan. The area was devastated in the 17th century by Zhang Xianzhong‘s rebellion and the area’s subsequent Manchu conquest, but recovered to become one of China’s most productive areas by the 19th century.
During the Second World War, Chongqing served as the temporary capital of the Republic of China, making it the focus of Japanese bombing. It was one of the last mainland areas to fall to the Communists during the Chinese Civil War and was divided into four parts from 1949 to 1952, with Chongqing restored two years later. It suffered gravely during the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–61 but remained China’s most populous province until Chongqing Municipality was again separated from it in 1997.
The people of Sichuan speak a unique form of Mandarin, which took shape during the area’s repopulation under the Ming. The family of dialects is now spoken by about 120 million people, which would make it the 10th most spoken language in the world if counted separately. The area’s warm damp climate long caused Chinese medicine to advocate spicy dishes; the native Sichuan pepper was supplemented by Mexican chilis during the Columbian Exchange to form modern Sichuan cuisine, whose dishes—including Kung Pao chicken and Mapo tofu—have become staples around the world.
Well, let’s crack it open and see what we have here.
Sichuan Guangyou 9999 Chongqing Artificial Beef Flavor Instant Noodle – China
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add everything to a bowl and add 600ml boiling water. Cover for 4-6 minutes. stir and enjoy!
The noodle block.
The dry sachet.
Looks like powder and vegetable.
A liquid sauce sachet.
A thick and oily paste.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts and some sweet onion. The noodles are floppy and really nice – they kind of beckon you to eat more… The broth is strong – very oily with a nice hit of Sichuan pepper but not too much. 4.25 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6914790160209.
Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic S i c h u a n Cooking
A tour of Chongqing’s food venues.
Great review as usual. Never tried chinese brand instant noodles before but this looks very good~ Also a really cool brand name lol.
I also can’t help but mention, I think you merit more praise for your dedication to this website, I truly admire your devotion to posting everyday for your readers through many years. Many of us appreciate it and I think everyone looks forward to seeing your posts, not just when you are hungry but when you just feel like reading a blog that has a lot of good sincerity, advice, and something interesting to look at when you’re not too occupied 😀 (And information to keep in mind when I visit local grocers haha) Keep up the excellent work Ramen Rater.
John –
Hey thanks a lot I really appreciate that!
– TRR