The Original Mapo Tofu

I've never had the pleasure of encountering this incredible multi-volume Chinese Food Encyclopedia until today. And after I did, after I'd looked through the whole Sichuan volume page-by-page, I had no option but to walk outside, head a few blocks south, and into the first decent Chinese restaurant I encountered. What did I order when I got there? Mapo tofu and rice, of course. Here's the dish from Grandma Cheng's, in 1984: 

Though the whole encyclopedia was printed in Japan, this volume was written entirely by Sichuan writers. Each of the recipes comes from one of the best restaurants inthe province. This is Grandma Cheng's, the institution credited for popularizing the dish:

And here's the charming recipe: 

The factory where all of their tofu is made:

And the most astonishing knife skills I've seen in some time: