Last week I made the Sichuan-Style Cold Noodles from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. The dish is cooled noodles tossed in a dressing and then individually topped with Sichuan chile oil.

For the dressing, Sichuan peppercorns are first ground in a mortar and pestle. Garlic, ginger, and salt are added and pounded to a paste. Scallions, chile flakes, and star anise are stirred in next. I omitted the star anise because we’re not fans. Hot oil is then poured on top to toast these aromatics. Finally soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, water, and sugar are stirred in. Kenji notes that you can add sesame paste to turn the sauce into “guai wei, or ‘strange flavor.’” I chose to make the recipe in its more straight forward assemblage and not add the sesame paste.

I made the dressing and cooked and cooled the noodles early in the week. It made for a quick weeknight meal where I only had to toss the noodles with the dressing and pull the chile oil out of the fridge.

I thought it was pretty good, particulary given how easy it was. Megan didn’t like that it was cold and chose to heat hers in the microwave for a bit.

Kenji mentions that his friend would bring this to parties. I might make it for again for that kind of scenario. Given my family’s indifference to the dish, it doesn’t make sense to make it again for them, no matter how easy it is.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.