Innards were the filet mignon of the Szechwanese countryside — expensive delicacies to be cooked with reverence and served only on special occasions.
Mrs. Chiang says, “My father loved pork liver, kidneys, brains, and stomach. There was a tiny restaurant attached to the local general store, and he and his cronies used to meet there to drink wine and play cards and nibble on a plate of cold liver. But women and children didn’t go to restaurants, and innards were too expensive for family dinners, so the rest of us hardly ever ate them.