Dine Healthy at Szechuan House

Emphasizing the perfect combination of aesthetics, aroma and flavor, Chinese cuisine aims to please the taste buds and improve health. You can see and taste the essence of Chinese culinary wisdom in all of their dishes. Robert Wang, owner of Szechuan House, uses four simple words to describe his restaurant, “reasonable price, quality food.”

Szechuan House was established in Baltimore, Maryland in 1993. For more than 10 years of its successful efforts, the restaurant has won many awards and honors in the industry due to its outstanding service. For instance, Baltimore magazine named it as one of the 55 most excellent restaurants in 2000 and it was scored as one of the best restaurants in 2006 by Zagat. Local media, including The Baltimore Sun, Towson Times and Towson Magazine, have chosen Szechuan House as a recommended Chinese restaurant.

A distinctive chef is the soul of a restaurant, by whom delicious dishes can be cooked and served to the customers. There is such one culinary talent at Szechuan House, Zhengyu Wang, who has been working here since the establishment opened. He is an upscale banquet chef who was born in Taiwan and gained professional training from cooking school. However, his formal introduction to the culinary world started at age 13, when he began his first apprenticeship. Now with over 40 years of culinary experience, Mr. Wang is just like a walking culinary dictionary. And we would like to take full advantage of this opportunity to experience the unique charm of his Chinese culinary techniques.

Peking Duck
The fame of this dish goes far beyond its place of origin and is as well-known in America as the authentic Chinese dish. However, cooking a portion of exquisite but delicious Peking Duck is never easy. It is far more troublesome than cooking General Tso's chicken, for example. Szechuan House pays attention to three major factors when preparing Peking Duck: ingredients, roasting and sauce. Each element is closely related to the other others. Most important of all, the Peking Duck is roasted at the perfect temperature, which finally the final product, a crisp and tasty dish, absolutely deserving a try. 

Ingredients:
The main ingredient used for Peking Duck in Szechuan House is Long Island Duck, the most expensive duck in America, with tender meat and a pleasant taste. Robert Wang claims that the weight of Long Island Duck is important considering it will shrink when roasting. He suggests that 6 to 6 ½ pounds will be perfect for making Peking Duck.

Method:
According to Robert Wang, there are three main steps to making the Peking Duck at Szechuan House.

Step1: Marinade
This step is to eliminate the fishy smell, and it takes 2 to 3 hours. Some Chinese spices place an important role during this step. After the duck is flavored for the correct time, there is the small but important procedure of coating the duck evenly with maltose water, which is the secret to make the duck crispy.

Step2: Drain
This step takes 10 hours. Dry the duck in a ventilated place.

Step3: Roast
There is a large oven in Szechuan House, which can roast 24 ducks at a time. Controlling the temperature of the oven is very important in this step. In the first half hour, the temperature should be 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and for the next 45 minutes, the temperature should be adjusted to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
The whole process for roasting an oven of ducks requires three chefs, and it takes about 24 hours. However, the price for each Peking Duck is only $20.95. Therefore, it is very popular among customers and Szechuan House can have a sales volume of over 30 ducks every day.

Sauce:
It primarily includes two flavors, salty sauce catering to Asian groups and sweet sauce catering to the Western diners. Different ingredients are used for the two kinds of sauces. The salty sauce is made of Chinese duck sauce, sesame oil, water and other Chinese spices. The sweet sauce is made of seafood sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar. The reason to add sesame oil is to make the sauce taste pleasant.

Chef’s Tip:
Roasting delicious duck requires adept skills. The time should be just right, not too long, nor too short. Cooking the duck for too long leads to a burned duck, and cooking too little results in a fishy-smelling duck. What’s more, roasting a duck is a risk of fire, which is why many restaurants fail to serve completely roasted duck.

Steamed Cod Fish
Combining the healthy ingredients with a healthy culinary technique, steaming, Szechuan House does a good job in handling fish.

Ingredients:
Cod fish from the pristine waters of Chile has no cholesterol. The cod is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, DHA, EPA, Vitamin A and Vitamin D.

Method:
Slice the codfish and steam it for 3 minutes with ginger, shallots and other spice pastes. Discard the water on the plate. Then steam it for another 15 minutes. Take out the spice pastes, and add fresh ginger, shallots, salt and soy sauce (adding salt and soy sauce last is to ensure the original flavor of meat and its tenderness.).

Brisket of Beef

Ingredients:
Brisket of Beef is one of the favorite dishes of the Chinese, and is barely known to Americans. Brisket of Beef is the beef near the abdomen and rib.

Method:
Delicious Brisket of Beef requires the skills of simmering and poaching. Firstly, keep a high temperature to cook the brisket of beef completely, and then low to moderate temperature to simmer it, in order to keep the meat tender. In addition, authentic Chinese spice is essential to make the dish taste great, and different vegetables are added to make different flavors, such as Brisket of Beef with Radish and Brisket of Beef with Tofu.

Under the recommendation of Robert Wang, many customers have started to try the dish and some of them become loyal fans of it. When speaking with Robert, he mentioned that the dish has been sold out many times. Besides Brisket of Beef, Robert also recommends some other healthy dishes to customers, such as bean-leaf, which has rich nutrition and good taste. 

Szechuan House
1427 York Road Lutherville MD 21093
Tel: (410) 925-8181