Residents of Chengdu, the lively capital of southwestern" target="_blank" title="a.西南的">southwestern China's Sichuan province, are known as enthusiastic idlers, a reputation owed to a passion for tea gardens, cards and mah-jongg and good food.

No local specialty is more treasured than mapo dofu, a sumptuous melange of silky firm bean curd, chopped meat and suanmiao (a local leek) cooked in liberal amounts of oil with black beans, chili-beanpaste, soy sauce and dried chilies. Before it is served, the dish is thickly dusted with ground huajiao (also known as Sichuan pepper), the fruit of a type of prickly ash tree that leaves a tingle on lips and tongue.

For British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, author of 'Sichuan Cookery' (published in the U.S. under the title 'Land of Plenty'), mapo dofu's 'bold, striking flavors and comforting, sort of lazy texture' are a culinary embodiment of Chengdu's split personality: 'A vibrant city whose inhabitants are known for taking a laid-back approach to life,' says Ms. Dunlop.

THE HISTORY

Mapo dofu -- which means 'pockmarked old lady's bean curd' or, more politely, 'pockmarked mother's bean curd' (ma means pockmarked and po means mother or lady) -- is named for its inventor, a woman named Chen who, in late 19th-century Chengdu, ran a food shop called Wanfu Qiao (Wanfu Bridge) with her husband. The restaurant's existence, Ms. Dunlop notes, is substantiated by its mention in 'Chengdu Tonglan: A General View of Chengdu,' a guide to the city's famous eateries and street snacks published in 1909.

Wanfu Qiao sat outside the city wall's north gate, along a route traversed by laborers lugging rapeseed oil (a type of vegetable oil still used in Sichuan) to market. Ms. Dunlop speculates that one day the porters gave Chen Mapo some oil and requested that she make them something with bean curd. Heeding the Sichuanese penchant for ma-la (numbing and spicy flavors), she added plenty of dried chilies and huajiao (Sichuan pepper) to her bean curd dish and served it in a pool of chili-hued oil.

The owners of Chen Mapo Dofu, a chain of restaurants in contemporary Chengdu, maintain that their shops are directly descended from the late 19th-century original. It's a claim that's impossible to verify, though Ms. Dunlop thinks it may have merit because when the Chinese Communists nationalized privately owned restaurants in the 1950s, they usually left the businesses' family names intact.

Overseas Chinese restaurantversions of mapo dofu rarely pack the ma-la punch of the real thing, probably because most restaurant owners hail from chili-phobic southern China, but also because the processing that huajiao must undergo for export robs it of fragrance and flavor.

THE SETTING

Mapo dofu is a lunch or dinner food to be enjoyed -- depending on the occasion and the company -- with a simple stir-fried green vegetable or an array of cold starters, other main dishes and soup. In Chengdu, you're rarely more than a city block from a passable version, whether it's served in an establishment dripping with gold leaf and crystal chandeliers or a rustic open-air eatery run by a lone cook working a single wok.

The dish is also a comfort food well-suited to preparation at home. According to Chinese-American Zuo Ziying, who was born in Chengdu and who conducts tours in southwest China for Lotus Culinary Travel, jiachang or home-style versions of mapo dofu are usually less oily and more simple than those cooked in restaurant kitchens. When Ms. Zuo prepares the dish at home, 'I make it with just tofu cubes and some chili oil, and not so much beanpaste.' And she often substitutes chopped scallion greens for suanmiao (the local leek).

Chilies both warm the body and induce a cooling sweat, so mapo dofu is a dish made-to-order for Chengdu's perennially humid climate, with its bone-chilling winters and oppressively muggy summers.

THE JUDGMENT

'Each place makes it a different way,' says Ms. Zuo, 'but the style served at Chen Mapo Dofu' -- with a generous pool of oil, lengths of suanmiao, heavy-duty spice and browned beef (some cooks substitute pork) -- 'is authentic.'

Foreigners are often put off by mapo dofu's characteristic slick of oil, but Ms. Dunlop says, 'It was an oil carrier's dish, so it should be oily.' The dish, she adds, should also boast a 'wonderful deep-red glossiness because the chilies have thoroughly colored the oil.' A generous sprinkling of fragrant ground huajiao -- Sichuan pepper -- just before serving is essential.

Firm yet tender bean curd that holds its shape during cooking -- 'When you cook it you just sort of nudge the tofu with the back of a spoon to mix but not break it,' is essential, advises Ms. Dunlop. A thick, luxurious beef sauce flavored with salty and spicy chili-beanpaste (preferably from Sichuan's Pixian County, home to the province's oldest chili-beanpaste workshop) lend the dish its over-the-top taste and plush texture.

The dish can convert even the most die-hard bean-curd sceptics, says Ms. Dunlop, speaking from experience. 'It's just so delicious that most people, who normally won't eat tofu because they think it's boring, love it.'

THE SOURCE

There are branches of Chen Mapo Dofu all over Chengdu, but the original (197 Xiyulong St.; 86-28-8653-0162; $1.80 for a generous serving), near tourist sight Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, serves the best version: appropriately oily but not swimming in it, spicy but not overpoweringly so, topped with plenty of Sichuan peppercorn and savory bits of minced fried beef.

Tiantian Kao Ya (17 Yulin East St.; 86-28-8555-6339; $2) an always-packed restaurant in Chengdu's fashionable Yulin neighborhood, serves a fiery pork version made with pounded fresh chilies and a pleasantly pungent variety of beanpaste. Other dishes worth ordering include the 'dry-cooked' wild mushrooms, chilled roasted eggplant and green chilies tossed with black vinegar and sesame oil, and rabbit cooked with pine nuts and served with mini flatbreads.

For a more dressed-up setting, try Ba Guo Bu Yi (20 South Shenxianshu Rd., Section 4; 86-28-8551-1888: $6), a Chengdu-based upscale (white tablecloths, lots of dark timber and granite) chain with branches in Beijing and Shanghai where your mapo dofu -- made with beef -- can be eaten to the accompaniment of a traditional Sichuanese 'face-changing' opera performance. Try also the smoked young bamboo cold starter and twice-cooked pork.

Robyn Eckhardt

• lively [´laivli] a.活泼的；热烈的 (初中词汇)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中词汇)
• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中词汇)
• liberal [´libərəl] a.大方的 n.开明的人 (初中词汇)
• writer [´raitə] n.作者；作家 (初中词汇)
• striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中词汇)
• personality [,pə:sə´næliti] n.人；个性；人品；人物 (初中词汇)
• existence [ig´zistəns] n.存在；生存；生活 (初中词汇)
• vegetable [´vedʒtəbəl] a.&n.蔬菜(的)；植物 (初中词汇)
• maintain [mein´tein] vt.维持；保持；继续 (初中词汇)
• restaurant [´restərɔnt] n.饭店，菜馆 (初中词汇)
• rarely [´reəli] ad.难得；非凡地 (初中词汇)
• undergo [,ʌndə´gəu] vt.经历(受)；遭受 (初中词汇)
• export [ik´spɔ:t] vt.&n.输出，出口 (初中词汇)
• establishment [i´stæbliʃmənt] n.建(成)立；研究所 (初中词汇)
• crystal [´kristəl] n.水晶 a.水晶的 (初中词汇)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中词汇)
• preparation [,prepə´reiʃən] n.准备；预习(时间) (初中词汇)
• climate [´klaimit] n.气候；特殊气候地带 (初中词汇)
• generous [´dʒenərəs] a.慷慨的；丰盛的 (初中词汇)
• substitute [´sʌbstitju:t] n.代理人 v.代替，取代 (初中词汇)
• thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中词汇)
• pepper [´pepə] n.胡椒 vt.加胡椒 (初中词汇)
• essential [i´senʃəl] a.必需的 n.要素，要点 (初中词汇)
• convert [kən´və:t, ´kɔnvə:t] v.转变 n.改变信仰者 (初中词汇)
• delicious [di´liʃəs] a.美味的，可口的 (初中词汇)
• cottage [´kɔtidʒ] n.村舍；小屋；小别墅 (初中词汇)
• neighborhood [´neibəhud] n.邻居；邻近；附近 (初中词汇)
• variety [və´raiəti] n.变化；多样(性)；种类 (初中词汇)
• rabbit [´ræbit] n.兔子，野兔 (初中词汇)
• timber [´timbə] n.木材；木料；横梁 (初中词汇)
• performance [pə´fɔ:məns] n.履行；行为；工作 (初中词汇)
• enthusiastic [inθju:zi´æstik] a.热情的，热心的 (高中词汇)
• thickly [´θikli] ad.厚厚地；密密地 (高中词汇)
• politely [pə´laitli] ad.温和地；文雅地 (高中词汇)
• inventor [in´ventə] n.发明者 (高中词汇)
• contemporary [kən´tempərəri] a.&n.同时代的(人) (高中词汇)
• fragrance [´freigrəns] n.芬芳，芳香 (高中词汇)
• rustic [´rʌstik] a.田野的；质朴的 (高中词汇)
• southwest [,sauθ´west] n.&a.西南(方)(的) (高中词汇)
• characteristic [,kæriktə´ristik] a.特有的 n.特性 (高中词汇)
• fragrant [´freigrənt] a.芳香的，芬芳的 (高中词汇)
• tourist [´tuərist] n.游客，观光者 (高中词汇)
• fashionable [´fæʃənəbəl] a.流行的，时髦的 (高中词汇)
• pleasantly [´plezntli] ad.令人愉快地；舒适地 (高中词汇)
• bamboo [,bæm´bu:] n.竹 (高中词汇)
• reputation [repju´teiʃən] n.名誉；名声；信誉 (四级词汇)
• tingle [´tiŋgəl] vt.&n.刺痛；激动 (四级词汇)
• verify [´verifai] vt.检验；查对；证明 (四级词汇)
• version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən] n.翻译；说明；译本 (四级词汇)
• luxurious [lʌg´zjuəriəs] a.奢侈的；豪华的 (四级词汇)
• vinegar [´vinigə] n.醋 (四级词汇)
• setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (四级词汇)
• accompaniment [ə´kʌmpənimənt] n.伴随物；伴奏(唱) (四级词汇)
• traditional [trə´diʃənəl] a.传统的，习惯的 (四级词汇)
• southwestern [,sauθ´westən] a.西南的 (六级词汇)
• sumptuous [´sʌmptʃuəs] a.奢侈的；豪华的 (六级词汇)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (六级词汇)
• privately [´praivitli] ad.秘密，一个人 (六级词汇)
• speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (六级词汇)
• normally [´nɔ:məli] ad.正常情况下；通常 (六级词汇)