Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine originated from the various regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa. In recent years, connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine have also sprouted in Eastern Europe and South Asia. American Chinese cuisine and Canadian Chinese food are popular examples of local varieties.

Regional cultural differences vary greatly within China, giving rise to the different styles of food across the nation. Traditionally there are eight main regional cuisines, or Eight Great Traditions Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang. Sometimes four of the Eight Great Traditions are given greater emphasis, and are considered to dominate the culinary heritage of China, known in turn as the "Four Great Traditions" They are notably defined along geographical lines: Sichuan (Western China), Cantonese (Southern China),Shandong (Northern China), as well as Huaiyang Cuisine (Eastern China), a major style derived from Jiangsu cuisine and even viewed as the representation of that region's cooking.

1. Anhui cuisine

Anhui cuisine is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China. It is derived from the native cooking styles of the Huangshan Mountains region in China and is similar to Jiangsu cuisine.

Methods and IngredientsAnhui cuisine is known for its use of wild game and herbs, both land and sea, and simple methods of preparation. Braising and stewing are common techniques. Frying and stir-frying are used much less frequently in Anhui cuisine than in other Chinese culinary traditions. Anhui cuisine consists of three styles: Yangtze River region, Huai River region, and southern Anhui region. Anhui has ample uncultivated fields and forests, so the wild herbs used in the region's cuisine are readily available.

Representative dishesSome famous dishes include:

Stewed soft shell turtle with ham: One whole soft shell turtle, pork, ham, bamboo shoots, a clove of garlic, shallot, ginger, soy sauce, salt, rice wine, black pepper, lard are all stewed together in a pot on charcoal fire. The dish is not greasy and can lead diners to endless aftertastes.Steamed stone frog: Inhabited in caves, stone frog is a special product in Huangshan Mountain. Itweights 250 grams or so, whose belly is white and back black with stripe. Stone frog is rich in protein, calcium and so on. It has the functions of clearing heat, improving vision and nutrition.Bamboo shoots cooked with sausage and dried mushroom: One traditional flavor in Huizhou mountainous area. Cooked with sausage and dried mushrooms, the bamboo shoots are more fragrant. It is delicious, and noted for its good color, juicy meat and thick soup.

Li Hongzhang Hodge-Podge: Li Hongzhang hotchpotch is a popular dish named after one of Anhui's famous person Li Hongzhang, who was a top official of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). When he was in office, he paid a visit to the US and hosted a banquet for all his American friends. As the specially prepared dishes continued to flow, the chefs, with limited resources, began to fret. Upon Li Hongzhang's order, the remaining kitchen ingredients were thrown together into an impromptu stew, containing sea cucumber, squid, tofu, ham, mushroom, chicken meat and other less identifiable food materials! Thus appetites were quenched and a dish was created.2. Cantonese cuisineCantonese (Yue) cuisine comes from Guangdong in Southern China Of all the regional varieties of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese is renowned both inside and outside China Its prominence outside China is due to its palatability to Westerners and the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. In China, too, it enjoys great prestige among the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine, and Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country.

Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats, including organ meats, chicken feet, duck and duck tongues, snakes, and snails. Many cooking methods are used, steaming and stir-frying being the most favoured due to their convenience and rapidity, and their ability to bring out the flavor of the freshest ingredients. Other techniques include shallow frying, double boiling, braising, and deep-frying. Elements of cooking Sauces and condimentsSpring onion HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_kailan_chinese.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Classic Cantonese sauces are light, mellow and perhaps bland compared to the thicker, darker, and richer sauces of other Chinese cuisines. , sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, corn starch, vinegar, sesame oil, and other oils suffice to enhance flavor in most Cantonese cooking, though garlic is used heavily in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odors. Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder, powdered white pepper, star anise and a few other spices are used, but often sparingly.

Sauces and condiments include:

Hoisin sauce Oyster sauce

Plum sauce

Sweet and sour sauce

Black bean paste

Fermented bean paste

Shrimp paste

Red vinegar

Master stock

Char siu sauce

Hoisin sauce

Hoisin sauce, or Haixian Sauce, (hixinjing) also called suckling pig sauce, is a Chinese dipping sauce. The word Hoisin is a romanization of the Chinese word for seafood as pronounced in Cantonese. Mandarin-style Hoisin sauce ingredients include water, sugar, soybeans, white distilled vinegar, rice, salt, wheat flour, garlic, and red chili peppers, and several preservatives and coloring agents. Traditionally, Hoisin sauce is made using sweet potato. Despite the literal meaning of "seafood," Hoisin sauce does not contain fish. It is similar to the sweet noodle sauce made from fermented soybeans, but has the added ingredients of garlic, vinegar, and chili peppers. Additionally, it tastes less pungent than sweet noodle sauce.

Oyster sauce

Oyster sauce is a viscous dark brown sauce commonly used in Chinese, Filipino, Thai and Khmer cuisine. It is especially common in Cantonese cuisine. Oyster sauce is prepared from oysters, brine, umami flavour enhancers such as MSG, and typically contains preservatives to increase its shelf life. A "true" oyster sauce of good quality should be made by condensing oyster extracts, the white broth produced by boiling oysters in water.

Vegetarian oyster sauce is prepared from mushrooms, often oyster mushrooms, is also popular and generally lower in price. It may contain more taste enhancers if less mushroom extract is used to reduce costs.

Plum sauce

Plum sauce is a viscous, light brown sweet and sour condiment. It is used in Chinese cuisine as a dip for deep-fried dishes, such as spring rolls, egg rolls, noodles, and deep-fried chicken balls as well as for roast duck. It is made from sweet rotted plums or other fruit such as peach or apricot, along with sugar, vinegar, ginger and chiles.

Sweet and sour sauce

Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It has long been popular in North America and Europe, where it is stereotypically considered a component of standard Chinese cuisine. It does in fact originate from China, and is now also used in some American and European cuisines.Fermented bean paste

Fermented bean paste is a category of fermented foods typically made from ground soybeans, which are indigenous to the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia. In some cases, such as in the production of miso, other varieties of beans such as broad beans, may also be used.

The pastes are usually salty and savory, but may also be spicy, and are used as a condiment to flavor foods such as stir-fries, stews, and soups. The colours of such pastes range from light tan, to reddish brown and dark brown. The differences in colour are due to different production methods such as the conditions of fermentation, the addition of wheat flour, pulverized mantou, rice, or sugar and the presence of different microflora such as bacteria or molds used in their production, as well as whether the soybeans are roasted (as in chunjang) or aged (as in tauchu) before being ground.

Due to the protein content of the beans, the fermentation process releases a large amount of free amino acids, which when combined with the large amounts of salt used in its production, produces a highly umami product. This is particularly true with miso, which can be used as the primary ingredient in certain dishes such as miso soup.

Shrimp paste

Shrimp paste or shrimp sauce, is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisine. It is known as terasi (also spelled trassi, terasie) in Indonesian, Ngapi in Burmese kapi () in Thai, Khmer and Lao language, belacan (also spelled belachan, blachang) in Malay, mm ruc, mm tp and mm tm in Vietnamese (the name depends on the shrimp used)[1], bagoong alamang (also known as bagoong aramang) in Filipino and hom ha/hae ko (POJ: h-ko) in Min Nan Chinese.

It is made from fermented ground shrimp, sun dried and then cut into fist-sized rectangular blocks. It is not designed, nor customarily used for immediate consumption and has to be fully cooked prior to consumption since it is raw. To many Westerners unfamiliar with this condiment, the smell can be extremely repulsive; however, it is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Shrimp paste can be found in most meals in Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. It is often an ingredient in dipping sauce for fish or vegetables.

Master stock

Master stock refers to an aromatic, reusable stock in which meat is poached, typically used in Cantonese and Fujianese cuisine. Master stock has its roots in Chinese cooking and the base stock is made from typical Chinese ingredients: water, soy sauce, rock sugar, garlic and ginger. A variety of other spices and flavourings are usually also added such as scallions, shallots, star anise, dried citrus peel, cassia bark, sand ginger, Chinese rice wine, Szechuan pepper, and dried mushroomsSiu haau sauce

Siu haau sauce is the primary barbecue sauce used in Chinese and Cantonese cuisine. It is used during the barbecue-cooking process as opposed to a flavoring sauce after the food is made

Duck sauce

Duck sauce is a translucent sweet and sour orange condiment used in some Chinese-American restaurants. It may be used as a dip for deep-fried dishes such as duck, chicken, fish, spring rolls, egg rolls, or with rice or noodles. It may be made of apricots, plums, or peaches added to sugar, vinegar, ginger and chilis. It is rarely, if ever, used in traditional Chinese cooking. Due to fruit content it may be called "plum sauce".

Conpoy

Conpoy or dried scallop is type of dried seafood product made from the adductor muscle of scallops. The smell of conpoy is marine, pungent, and reminiscent of certain salt-cured meats. Its taste is rich and umami due to its high content of various free amino acids, such as glycine, alanine, and glutamic acid. It is also rich in nucleic acids such as inosinic acid, amino acid byproducts such as taurine, and minerals, such as calcium and zinc.

Douchi

Douchi, also called Chinese fermented black beans, is a flavoring most popular in the cuisine of China, and is used to make black bean sauce.

Douchi is made by fermenting and salting soybeans. The process turns the beans black, soft, and mostly dry. The flavor is sharp, pungent, and spicy in smell, with a taste that is salty and somewhat bitter and sweet.

Douchi should not be confused with black turtle beans, a variety of common bean that is commonly used in the cuisines of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

In Japanese, douchi is also referred to by the same kanji () and pronounced as touchi.

Salted duck egg

Salted duck egg is a Chinese preserved food product made by soaking duck eggs in brine, or packing each egg in damp salted charcoal. In Asian supermarkets, these eggs are sometimes sold covered in a thick layer of salted charcoal paste. The eggs may also be sold with the salted paste removed, wrapped in plastic, and vacuum packed. From the salt curing process, the salted duck eggs have a briny aroma, a very liquid egg white and a yolk that is bright orange-red in colour, round, and firm in texture.

Salted duck eggs are normally boiled or steamed before being peeled and eaten as a condiment to congee or cooked with other foods as a flavouring. The egg white has a sharp, salty taste. The orange red yolk is rich, fatty, and less salty. The yolk is prized and is used in Chinese mooncakes to symbolize the moon.

Despite its name, salted duck eggs can also be made from chicken eggs though the taste and texture will be somewhat different, and the egg yolk will be less rich.

Century egg

Century egg, also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, and thousand-year-old egg, is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice straw for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. After the process is completed, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavour or taste. The transforming agent in the century egg is its alkaline material, which gradually raises the pH of the egg from around 9 to 12 or more. This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a variety of smaller flavourful compounds.

Chinese cabbage, Bok ChoyChinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subspecies, see below), also known as snow cabbage, is a Chinese leaf vegetable often used in Chinese cuisine. The vegetable is related to the Western cabbage, and is of the same species as the common turnip. There are many variations on its name, spelling, and scientific classification.

Dried shrimp

Dried shrimp are shrimp that have been sun dried and shrunk to a thumbnail size. They are used primarily in Chinese cuisine, imparting a unique umami taste. A handful of shrimp are generally used for dishes. When cooked, the flavor is released as an ingredient. Despite the literal meaning of the name "shrimp rice", it has nothing to do with rice other than the fact that the shrimp are shrunk to a tiny size similar to grains of rice.

Tofu skin

Tofu skin also known as dried beancurd, yuba or bean skim, is a Chinese and Japanese food product made from soybeans. During the boiling of soy milk, in an open shallow pan, a film or skin composed primarily of a soy protein-lipid complex forms on the liquid surface. The films are collected and dried into yellowish sheets known as tofu skin or soy milk skin. Because it is derived directly from soy milk, the name tofu skin is technically inaccurate

Cantonese dishesTraditional dishesA number of dishes have been a part of the Cantonese cuisine collection since the earliest territorial establishments of Guangdong province. Home-made Cantonese dishes are usually served with plain white rice.

Chinese steamed eggs

Chinese steamed eggs or Water egg is a Chinese home-style dish found all over China. Eggs are beaten to a consistency similar to what would be used for an omelet and then steamed.

As with the Western omelet, other liquids can be added to this dish. Sometimes water, chicken broth or soy milk are used. The purpose of adding the extra liquid is to create a more tender texture and to add extra flavor (as in the case of adding chicken broth). Other solid ingredients may be added too such as minced pork, minced chicken, and spring onions. The egg mixture is then placed in a bowl or dish. The dish is then placed in a steamer then steamed until fully cooked. The eggs should be steamed just until firm, so that the texture of the eggs is still smooth and silky.

Congee with century eggRice congee (pronounced /kndi/) is a type of rice porridge that is eaten in many Asian countries. The word congee is possibly derived from the Dravidian word kanji. The Webster's Dictionary lists the etymology of "Congee" as coming from China.

In some cultures, congee is eaten primarily as a breakfast food or late supper; while in others, it is eaten as a substitute for rice at other meals.

Congee can be made in a pot or in a rice cooker. Some rice cookers even have a "congee" setting, allowing the user to cook their breakfast congee overnight.

Fried rice

fried riceFried rice is a popular component of Chinese food and other forms of Asian cuisine. It is made from rice fried in a wok, typically with additional ingredients left over from other dishes.[1] It is sometimes served as the penultimate dish in Chinese banquets (just before dessert).

Ingredients used in fried rice are greatly varied. They can include eggs, poultry and meat (chicken, pork), vegetables (carrots, bean sprouts, celery, peas, corn), spices and peppers, and soy sauce. It is often stir-fried in a wok with vegetable oil or animal fat to prevent sticking, as well as for flavour. Onions and garlic add zest and extra flavour. It is popularly eaten either as an accompaniment to another dish, or as a course by itself.

Sweet and sour pork

Sweet and sour pork is a Chinese dish that is particularly popular in Cantonese cuisine, American Chinese cuisine, Canadian Chinese cuisine, British cuisine and Korean Chinese cuisine.

The dish consists of deep frying pork in bite sized pieces, and subsequently stir-fried in a more customized version of sweet and sour sauce made of sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, and soy sauce, and additional ingredients including pineapple, bell pepper, and onion.

Deep fried dishesThere are a small selection of deep fried dishes in Cantonese cuisine, and can often be found as street foodZhaliang

Zhaliang is a kind of food in Chinese cuisine. It is made by tightly wrapping rice noodle roll outside of youtiao (fried dough). It is most popular in the Guangdong province of southern China, as well as in Hong Kong.

For breakfast, it is usually eaten with soy milk.

For dim sum, it is often sprinkled with sesame and layered with soy sauce. Other ingredients include hoisin sauce or sesame paste to the likes of tahiniYoutiao

Youtiao, you char kway, or yau ja gwai , sometimes known in English as Chinese cruller fried bread stick or Chinese doughnut, is a long, golden-brown, deep fried strip of dough in Chinese cuisine and other East and Southeast Asian cuisines and is usually eaten for breakfast. Conventionally, youtiao are lightly salted and made so they can be torn lengthwise in two. Youtiao are normally eaten as an accompaniment for rice congee or soy milk.

Dace Fish ball

Fish balls are a commonly cooked food in southern China and overseas Chinese communities. As the name suggests, the ball is made of fish meat that has been finely pulverized. Gourmet fish balls are pulverized by hand. Fish balls are a type of food product made from surimi(ground meat).

A dace is any of a number of species of small fish. The unmodified name is usually a reference to the Common Dace (Leuciscus leuciscus). Like this, most fishes called "daces" belong to the family Cyprinidae, mostly in subfamily LeuciscinaeKrupuk

Indonesia HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese-prawn-crackers-in-blue-bowl.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Krupuk, kerupuk, or kroepoek in (); Keropok in (Malaysia); bnh phng tm in Vietnam; prawn crackers in British English, shrimp chips or shrimp crackers in American English; is a popular snack in parts of East and Southeast Asia. Krupuk are deep fried crackers made from prawns and starch.

Krupuk are made by mixing prawns, tapioca flour and water. The mixture is rolled out, steamed, sliced and sun dried. Once dry, they are deep-fried in oil. In only a few seconds they expand from thumb-sized semi-transparent chips to white fluffy crackers, much like popcorn, as the small bubbles of air trapped in the flexible chips expand.

Slow cooked soupAnother notable Cantonese speciality is slow-cooked soup, or lo foh tong in the Cantonese dialect (literally meaning old fire-cooked soup). The soup is usually a clear broth prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients for several hours. Sometimes, Chinese herbal medicines are added to the pot. Ingredients vary greater depending on the type of soup. Snow fungus soup

Spare rib soup with watercress and apricot kernels

Cantonese seafood soup (not formally considered "slow cooked")

Winter melon soup (not formally considered "slow cooked")

Cantonese seafood soup

Cantonese seafood soup is one of the main seafood soup within Cantonese cuisine. It is commonly found in Hong Kong. It is also available in some overseas Chinatowns. The soup is usually considered midrange to high-end in price depending on the ingredients

Egg drop soup

Egg drop soup is best known as a Chinese soup of beaten eggs, chicken broth, and boiled water. Condiments such as table salt, black pepper, and scallions are also commonly added. The soup is finished by adding a thin stream of beaten eggs to the boiling broth, creating thin, silken strands of cooked egg that float in the soup. Egg drop soup using a different recipe is also known as a simple soup in different European countries and Japan.

Winter melon soup SeafoodDue to Guangdong's location on the southern coast of China, fresh live seafood is a specialty in Cantonese cuisine. As a rule of thumb in Cantonese dining, the spiciness of a dish is usually inversely proportional to the freshness of the ingredients.

Steamed fish

Steamed scallops with ginger and garlic

White boiled shrimp

Lobster with ginger and scallions

"pissing shrimp" (mantis shrimp)

Noodle dishes

A number of noodle dishes are part of the Cantonese cuisine

Wonton noodle

Chinese noodles with fish balls, beef balls, or fish slices

Beef chow fun

Shahe fen

Lo mein

Pan-fried crispy noodles

Wonton noodle

Wonton noodle or wantan mee is a Cantonese noodle dish which is popular in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. The dish is usually served in hot soup, garnished with leafy vegetables, and wonton. The types of leafy vegetables used are usually kailan also known as Chinese kale. Another type of dumpling known as shui jiao is sometimes served in place of wonton. It contains prawns, chicken or pork, spring onions with some chefs adding mushroom and black fungusBeef chow fun

Beef chow fun is a staple Cantonese dish, made from stir-frying beef, hefen (wide rice noodles) and bean sprouts and is commonly found in Chinese yum cha restaurants in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and even overseas, as well as in cha chaan tengs.

The main ingredient of this dish is ho fun noodles, which is also known as Shahe fen, originating from the town of Shahe in Guangzhou. The most common methods of cooking ho fun are in soup or stir fried. Ho fun can be dry-fried (fried without sauce) or wet-fried (fried with a sauce).

Shahe fen

Shahe fen or he fen is a type of wide Chinese noodle made from rice. While shahe fen and he fen are transliterations based on Standard Mandarin, there are numerous other transliterations based on Cantonese Chinese, which include ho fen, hofen, ho-fen, ho fun, ho-fun, hofoen (a Dutch transliteration in Suriname), hor fun, hor fen, sar hor fun, etc. In addition, shahe fen is often called kway teow , literally "rice cake strips," transliteration based on Min Nan Chinese, POJ: ke-tiu) or guotiao (pinyin: gutio; the corresponding transliteration based on Standard Mandarin), as in the name of a dish called char kway teow.Lo mein

Lo mein is a Chinese dish with noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or wontons. Traditionally this is a variation of wonton noodle soup. The soup is simply separated from the noodles and other ingredients and served on the side. However, the version sold in many places in North America is rather a hybrid of chow mein, though they are prepared differently. Chow mein is stir-fried while lo mein is not fried.

Siu mei

Siu mei is the generic name, in Cantonese cuisine, given to meats roasted on spits over an open fire or a huge wood burning rotisserie oven. It creates a unique, deep barbecue flavor that is usually enhanced by a flavorful sauce (a different sauce is used for each meat). Shops selling these meats are commonly found in Chinese-speaking regions in East and Southeast Asia.

Char siu

Roasted duck( siu ngap)

Roasted goose ( siu ngo)

Roasted pig

Char siu

Char siu (also spelled cha siu, chashao, and char siew), otherwise known as barbecued pork in China or Chinese barbecued/roast pork outside China, is a popular way to prepare pork in Cantonese cuisine.[1] It is classified as a type of siu mei, Cantonese roasted meat dishes.

Roasted pig

Roasted pig is a variety of siu mei, or roasted meat dishes, within Cantonese cuisine. It is made by roasting an entire pig with seasoning in a charcoal furnace at high temperature. Roasted pigs of high quality have crisp skin and juicy and tender meat. Usually the meat is served plain, but it is sometimes served with soy sauce or hoisin sauce.

Lou mei

Lou mei is the name given to dishes made by simmering in a seasoned soy-based sauce. Often, lou mei is made from internal organs, entrails and left-over parts of animals. It is grouped under the heading siu laap as part of Cantonese cuisine. The most common animals involved are cattle, pigs, duck and chicken. It is widely available in Southern Chinese regions. Selections vary greatly among overseas Chinatowns, and some restaurants do not offer lou mei at all.

Beef entrails

Beef stew

Duck gizzard

Pig tongue

Siu laapJust about all the Cantonese-style cooked meat including siu mei, lou mei and preserved meat can be mixed together under the generic name (Siu laap). Siu laap also includes foods such as:

White cut chicken

Orange cuttlefish

Poached duck in master stock

Soy sauce chicken ( si yau gai)

White cut chicken

White cut chicken or white sliced chicken is a variety of siu mei, or roasted meat dishes, within Cantonese cuisine Unlike most other meats in the siu mei category, this particular dish is not roasted.

The chicken is salt marinated and boiled in its entirety in water or chicken broth with ginger. When the water starts to boil, the heat is turned off, allowing the chicken to cook in the residual heat for around 30 minutes. The chicken's skin will remain light coloured, nearly white and, if cooked correctly, the meat will be quite tender, moist, and flavourful.

Due to the simplicity of the preparation, the quality of the ingredients are highly important for the success of the dish.

Orange cuttlefish

Orange cuttlefish or Orange squid is the most common English name used for the cuttlefish dish within Cantonese cuisine. It is one of the siu mei dishes, though it is not quite roasted. The dish is most commonly found in Southern China, Hong Kong and overseas Chinatowns.

Little pan rice

Little pan rice are dishes that are cooked and served in a flat-bottomed pan (as opposed to a round-bottomed wok). Usually it is a saucepan or braising pan (Clay pot cooking). Such dishes are cooked by covering and steaming, making the rice and ingredients very hot and soft. Usually the ingredients are layered on top of the rice with little to no mixing in between. Quite a number of ingredients are used with many standard combinations.

Layered egg and beef over rice

Layered steak over rice

Tofu pot over rice

Pork spare ribs over rice

Steamed chicken over rice

Preserved chinese sausage over rice

Pork "pastry" over rice

Night dishesThere are a number of dishes that are often served in Cantonese restaurants exclusively during dinner. Some dishes are more standard while others are quite regional. Some are customized for special purposes like Chinese marriages or banquets. Salt and pepper dishes are one of the few spicy dishes.

Crispy fried chicken

Seafood birdsnest

Roasted suckling pig

Taro duck

Roast young pigeon/squabs

Sour spare ribs

Salt and pepper rib

Salt and pepper squid

Salt and pepper shrimp

Fried tofu with shrimp

Crispy fried chicken

Crispy fried chicken is a standard dish in the Cantonese cuisine of southern China. The chicken is fried in such a way that the skin is extremely crunchy, but the white meat is relatively soft.The dish is unique in that it is served almost universally with the same two side dishes, a pepper salt and prawn cracker . Seafood birds nestSeafood birdsnest is a common Chinese cuisine dish found in Hong Kong, China and most overseas Chinatown restaurants. It is also found within Cantonese cuisine. It is usually classified as a mid to high-end dish depending on the seafood offered. BasketThe edible nest holding the seafood is made entirely out of fried taro. There are different intricate netting used in the nest making. In all cases, the basket is tough and crunchy.

FillingsDespite the name there is nothing bird related in this dish. The most common ingredients are scallops, peapods, boneless fish fillet, celery sticks, straw mushrooms, calamari, shrimp. There are no dried ingredients in this dish.

Suckling pig

Suckling pig ( sucking pig is a young pig that has only fed on its mother's milk. The piglet is slaughtered between the ages of two to six weeks, and traditionally it is roasted. The dish is usually reserved for special occasions.

The flesh of the suckling pig is pale and tender and the skin is crispy and highly valued as pork rinds. The texture of the meat is somewhat gelatinous due to the amount of collagen in the young pig.

Dessert

After a night meal or dish, Cantonese restaurants usually offer tong sui(Tong sui, also known as tian tang, is a collective term for any sweet, warm soup or custard served as a dessert at the end of a meal in Cantonese cuisine.), or sweet soups [literally meaning sugar water]. Many of the varieties are shared between Cantonese and other Chinese cuisines. Some desserts are more traditional, while others are more recent with local chef creativity. Higher end restaurants usually offer their own blend and customization of desserts.

Red bean soup

Black sesame soup

Sai mai lo

Sweet potato soup

Mung bean soup

Dau fu fa

Guilinggao

Sweet Chinese pastry

Coconut bar

Shaved Ice

Steamed egg custard

Steamed milk custard

Double skin milk

Black sesame soup

Black sesame soup is a popular Chinese dessert that can be widely found throughout China and Hong Kong. It is generally served hot.

Preparation In Cantonese cuisine, it is a form of tong sui, or sweet soup (similar to Western pudding). The main ingredient is crushed black sesame seeds in a flour form. It is boiled with hot water. Sometimes, granulated sugar is added, though the sesame seeds are usually sweet enough by default. It can now also be easily home-made using instant packets. The soup is perhaps the thickest of all tong sui. Tangyuan is also sometimes added into black sesame soup.Tapioca puddingTapioca pudding (also sago pudding) is a sweet pudding made with tapioca and either milk, or in lactose intolerant cultures, coconut milk. It is made in many cultures with equally varying styles. Its consistency ranges from thin (runny), to thick, to firm enough to eat with a fork.

The pudding can be made from scratch using tapioca in a variety of forms: flakes, coarse meal, sticks, and pearls. Many commercial packaged mixes are available also. Uncooked, tapioca pearls resemble pellets of styrofoam; cooked, they resemble fish eggs.

Sweet potato soup

Sweet potato soup is a Chinese dessert found in Southern China and Hong Kong.

In Cantonese cuisine it is categorized as a tong sui or sweet soup, hence the Chinese name. The soup is usually thin, but potent in taste. The recipe is simple, consisting of boiling the sweet potato for a long time with rock candy. Sweet potato is one of the most commonly found and abundant vegetable grown in China. With its simple recipe and large crop supply, sweet potato soup is one of the most accessible and affordable tong sui in the region.

Coconut bar

Coconut bar is a refrigerated dim sum dessert found in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southern China and in overseas Chinatowns. It is sweet and has a soft, gelatin-like texture but is white in color rather than translucent like gelatin. It is sometimes referred to as coconut pudding despite not really being a pudding.

PreparationThe dessert is made of coconut paste. It is sweetened, and sometimes sprinkled with desiccated coconuts. The texture is smooth, and the standard dim sum version has no filling.

DelicaciesThere are some dishes that are prized within the culture. These dishes range from being medium price to very expensive. Most of these have been around in the Far East for a long time, while some are just barely becoming available around the world. Many of these prized animals have serious animal rights controversial issues such as finning of Shark cartilages due to increasing price demands.

Braised abalone ( bao yu)

Jellyfish

Shark fin soup ( yu qi tong)

Sea cucumber ( hoi sam)

Swallow's nest soup ( yeen waw)

Bao yu

Bo y is the common Chinese name given to abalone[Abalone (from Spanish Abuln) are medium-sized to very large edible sea snails], a highly prized and expensive ingredient used in Chinese cuisine. In certain regional Chinese cuisines, its status ranks with such prized ingredients as shark's fin, sea cucumber and bird's nest.

Fresh abalone is rarely used in Chinese cuisine. It is often purchased in dehydrated form and rehydrated prior to cooking. Recently, the use of canned abalone in recipes has risen in popularity.

Unlike Japanese cuisine, only the adductor muscle of the abalone is consumed in Chinese cuisine. Abalone innards are rarely, if ever, used in Chinese cooking.

Shark fin soup

Shark fin soup (or shark's fin soup) is a Chinese delicacy that has been a popular item of Chinese cuisine, usually served at special occasions such as weddings and banquets. As a luxury item, the dish is also considered a symbol of wealth and prestige in Chinese culture.

The "finning" of sharks required to make this soup has become highly controversial in recent years, as consumption has grown dramatically following certain sectors of Chinese society becoming more affluent. Animal rights activists and environmentalists have called the practice brutal, and it is also named as a primary contributing factor in the global decline of many shark species. Sea cucumber (Hoi sam)

Hoi sam (also spelled hoi sum) is the name given to sea cucumber or sea slugs when used as an ingredient in a number of Chinese cuisines. Most cultures in East and Southeast Asia classify it as a delicacy.

There is a fresh form and there is a dried form. Both the fresh and dried form are used for cooking. Individually the dried is also used for traditional Chinese medicine. There are a number of dishes made with hoi sam as this ingredient is expected to have a strong cultural emphasis on health. In most dishes, the sea cucumber comes out with a slippery texture. Common ingredients that go with hoi sam dishes include winter melon, dried scallop, broccoli, Chinese black mushroom, and Chinese cabbage.

Bird's nest soup

Chinese cuisine HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birds_Nest_Box.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in . A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup.

The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditionally used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird's nest soup. The Chinese name for bird's nest soup, "yan wo", translates literally as "swiftlet's nest" (yan=swiftlets, wo=nest). When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture used for soup or sweet tong sui.3. Fujian cuisine

A bowl of Fujian style thick soup . Soups, soupy dishes, and stews are indicative of Fujian style cuisine

Fujian cuisine is derived from the native cooking style of the province of Fujian, China. Fujian style cuisine is known to be light but flavourful, soft, and tender, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as "xinwi", as well as retaining the original flavour of the main ingredients instead of masking them.

The techniques employed in the cuisine are complex but the results are ideally refined in taste with no "loud" flavours. Particular attention is also paid on the knife skills and cooking technique of the chefs. Emphasis is also on utilizing broth/soup, and there is a sayings in the region's cuisine: "One broth can be changed into numerous (ten) forms" and "It is unacceptable for a meal to not have soup".

StylesFujian cuisine consists of four styles:

Fuzhou: The taste is light compared to other styles, often with a mixed sweet and sour taste. Fuzhou is famous for its soups.

Western Fujian: There are often slight spicy tastes from mustard and pepper and the cooking methods are often steam, fry and stir-fry.

Southern Fujian: Spicy and sweet taste are often found and the selection of sauces used is elaborate.

Quanzhou: The least oily but with strongest taste/flavor of Fujian cuisine. Great emphasis is placed on the shape of the material for each dish.

SeasoningsUnique seasoning from the province and it regions include shrimp oil, shrimp paste, sugar, Shacha sauce, and preserved apricot. As well, wine lees from the production of rice wine is commonly used in all aspects of the region's cuisine. Red yeast rice is also commonly used in the region's cuisine.

The province is also well know for its "drunken" (wine marinated) dishes and is famous for the quality of the soup stocks and bases used to flavour their dishes, soups, and stews.

Shacha sauce

Shacha sauce (also spelled sa cha sauce) or paste is a Chinese condiment primarily used in Fujian, Chiuchow, and Taiwanese cuisines. It is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilis, brill fish, and dried shrimp. It has a savory and slightly spicy taste.

The ingredient has multiple uses:

as a base for soups

as a rub for barbecued meats

as a seasoning for stir fry dishes

as a component for dipping sauces, for example as used in hot pot meals

Red yeast rice

Notable dishesOne of the most famous dishes in Fujian cuisine is "Buddha jumps over the wall" , POJ: hut thiau chhiun, Pinyin: fotiaoqiang), a complex dish making use of many ingredients, including shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, and Shaoxing wine

Other notable dishes include:

Oyster omelette

Popiah

Ban mian : Flat-shaped egg noodle soup

Bak kut teh

Stuffed fish balls : Fish balls filled with meat

Wuxian : Fried five-spice roll with pork and vegetables, which is known as kikiam in the Philippines

Hongcao chicken : Red yeast rice chicken

Minshengguo : Stir fried raw peanuts

Dancao xiangluopian: Snails(xiangluo) cooked with wine lees

Qngjio rus : Green pepper(qingjiao) and pork strips(rousi). It has been adapted to become "Pepper steak" in Chinese restaurants in the West.

Jitangcuanhaibang: Clams cooked in chicken stock(jitang)

Cuipi yujuan: Fried fish filled yuba skin

Ganbei luobo : Radish(luobo) steamed with conpoy(Ganbei) and chinese ham

Zuipaigu : Wine marinade pork ribs(paigu)

Dongbi longzhu : Meat filled longan fruit

Huangmen tianji: Wine braised frog

Wucai xiasong: Stir-fried diced shrimp(xia) and vegetables

Wucai zenzhuko: Squid pearls braised with vegetables

Oyster omelette

Oyster omelette is a Chinese dish of Teochew/Fujian origin. It is also popular in places with Chaozhou and Fujianese influences such as in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Taiwan (where it is often sold in night markets).

The dish consists of an omelette with a filling primarily composed of small oysters. Starch (typically potato starch) is mixed into the egg batter, giving the resulting egg wrap a thicker consistency. Pork lard is often used to fry the omelette. Depending on regional variation, a savory sauce may then be poured on top of the omelette for added taste.

Spicy or chili sauce mixed with lime juice is often added to provide an intense taste.

Shrimp can sometimes be substituted in place of oysters; in this case, it will be called shrimp omelette.

PopiahPopiah (Poh Piah) is a Fujian/Chaozhou-style fresh spring roll common in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Popiah is often eaten in the Fujian province of China (usually in Xiamen) and its neighboring Chaoshan on the Qingming Festival.In the Teochew (Chaozhou) dialect, popiah is pronounced as "Bo-BEE-a", which means "thin wafer" (also in the Hokkien dialect).

Ban mian

Bn min is a Hokkien-style egg noodle soup common in parts of China's Fujian province, and also in other parts of the world such as Singapore and Malaysia, although the dish itself may vary significantly. Some forms of ban mian, for instance, comprise hand-kneaded pieces of dough, while others use regular strips of noodles.

Ban mian (literally "board noodles") is so named due to the characteristic flat shape of its noodles.

4. Hunan cuisine

Xiang River HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hunan_Cured_Ham.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Hunan cuisine, sometimes called Xiang cuisine, consists of the cuisines of the region, Dongting Lake and western Hunan Province, in China. Hunan cuisine is consisted of three styles: Xiang River style which is represented by dishes of Changsha, Dongting Lake style which is represented by dishes of Hengyang, and western Hunan style which is represented by dishes of Xiangtan.

Hunan cuisine is one of the eight regional cuisines of China and is well known for its hot spicy flavor, fresh aroma and deep color. Common cooking techniques include stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking. Due to the high agricultural output of the region, ingredients for Hunan dishes are many and varied.

Known for its liberal use of chilli peppers, shallots and garlic, Xiang cuisine is known for being dry hot or purely hot, as opposed to the better known Sichuan cuisine, to which it is often compared. Known for its distinctive ml (hot and numbing) seasoning and other complex flavour combinations, Sichuan cuisine frequently employ Sichuan peppercorns along with chilies which are often dried, and utilizes more dried or preserved ingredients and condiments. Hunan Cuisine, on the other hand, is often spicier by pure chili content, contains a larger variety of fresh ingredients, tends to be oilier, and is said to be purer and simpler in taste. Another characteristic distinguishing Hunan cuisine from Sichuan cuisine is that, in general, Hunan cuisine uses smoked and cured goods in its dishes much more frequently.

Another feature of Hunan cuisine is that the menu changes with the seasons. In a hot and humid summer, a meal will usually start with cold dishes or a platter holding a selection of cold meats with chilies for opening the pores and keeping cool in the summer. In winter, a popular choice is the hot pot, thought to heat the blood in the cold months. A special hot pot called lover's hot pot is famous for splitting the pot into a spicy side and a milder side.

HistoryThe history of the cooking skills employed in the Hunan cuisine dates back many centuries. During the course of its history, Hunan cuisine assimilated a variety of local forms, eventually evolving into its own style. Now it contains more than 4000 dishes, among which over 300 dishes are very famous, such as fried chicken with Sichuan spicy sauce and smoked pork with dried long green beans.

Representative dishes Dongan chicken

Mao's braised pork

Beer duck

Changsha vermicelli

Steamed fish heads in chili sauce

Orange beef

Hot and peppery chicken

Spare ribs steamed in bamboo

Changsha-style stinky tofu

Mashed shrimp in lotus pod

Xiangdu roast duck

Sizzling rice soup

Lotus Seeds in rock sugar syrup

Pumpkin cake

Spicy frog leg

Oxtail porridge 5. Jiangsu cuisine

Jiangsu cuisine is one the Eight Culinary Traditions of China. It is derived from the native cooking styles of the Jiangsu region in China. In general, Jiangsu cuisine's texture is characterized as soft, but not to the point of mushy or falling apart. For example, the meat tastes quite soft but would not separate from the bone when picked up. Other characters includes the strict selection of ingredients according to the seasons, emphasis on the matching color and shape of each dish and emphasis on using soup to improve the flavor. Although sometimes simply called Yang cuisine, named after its major style, the Huaiyang cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine actually consists of several styles, including:

Nanjing cuisine: its dishes emphasize an even taste and matching color, with excellent dishes incorporating river fish/shrimps and duck.

Suzhou cuisine: emphasis on the selection of material, stronger taste than Nanjing cuisine, and with a tendency to be sweeter than the other varieties of the cuisine.

Wuxi cuisine: famed for the numerous types of congee.

Huaiyang cuisine

Huaiyang cuisine is a tradition within the cuisine of China derived from the native cooking styles of the region surrounding the lower reaches of the Huai and Yangtze rivers, and centered upon the cities of Yangzhou and Huai'an in Jiangsu province. It is the most popular style within Jiangsu cuisine, to the point that the latter is sometimes misinterpreted as synonymous with Huaiyang cuisine, disregarding its other traditions.

Typical featuresHuaiyang cuisine characteristically founds each disch on its main ingredient, and the way that ingredient is cut is pivotal to its cooking and its final taste. The cuisine is also known for employing its famous Chinkiang vinegar, which is produced in the Zhenjiang region. Huaiyang cuisine tends to have a sweet side to it and, in contrast to that of Sichuan cuisine, is almost never spicy. Pork, fresh water fish, and other aquatic creatures serve as the meat base to most dishes, which are usually more meticulous and light compared to the more brash eating styles of northern China.

Characteristic dishesBy far the most famous creation of Huaiyang cuisine is the Yangzhou fried rice.

Yeung Chow fried rice

wok HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_fried_rice_by_stu_spivack_in_Cleveland,_OH.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

"Yeung Chow Fried Rice" or "Yang Zhou Chao Fan" is a popular Guangdong style fried dish in most Chinese restaurants in North America and Hong Kong. The ingredients vary, but there are staple items like:hot cooked rice ,barbecued pork / 'cha siu' ,cooked shrimp ,scallions, chopped, including green ends ,eggs slightly stirred ,cabbage.

Chinese barbecued pork or 'cha siu' is an essential ingredient in Yang Zhou Fried Rice. It is the barbecued pork that gives it its special sweetish flavour

Huaiyang cuisine also includes several breakfast choices such as crab soup dumplings ( xie huang tangbao), thousand layer cake ( qian ceng gao), steamed dumplings (zheng jiao), tofu noodles (da zhu gan si), and wild vegetable steamed buns ( yecai baozi).

Other standard Yangzhou dishes include:

Duck Egg and Pork Porridge (pi dan shou rou zhou)

Sour Vegetable Fish Pot (suan cai yu)

Pot Stickers (guo tie)

Pork and Shrimp Dumpling Noodles (xiazi jiaomian)

Giant lions head Meatball (shizi tou)

Steamed Pork Rice Wraps (shao mai)

Yangzhou Fried Rice (yangzhou chaofan)

Sliced Fatty Pork Slices (hou pi xiang zhu)

6. Shandong cuisine

Shandong cuisine more commonly known as Lu cuisine is one the Eight Culinary Traditions of China. It is derived from the native cooking styles of Shandong, an eastern coastal province of China. Shandong cuisine consists of two major styles:

Jiaodong style: This style encompasses dishes from Fushan, Qingdao, Yantai and surrounding regions. It is characterized by seafood cooking, with light tastes.

Jinan style: This style encompasses dishes from Jinan, dezhou, Tai'an and surrounding regions. It is famed for its soup and utilizing soups in its dishes.

IngredientsThough modern transportation methods have greatly increased the availability of ingredients throughout China, Shandong cuisine remains rooted in its ancient traditions. Most notable is the staggering array of seafood, including scallops, prawns, clams, sea cucumbers, and squid, all of which are well known in Shandong as local ingredients of exemplary quality.

CornBeyond the use of seafood, Shandong is somewhat unique for its wide use of corn, a local cash crop that is not widely cultivated in northern China. Unlike the sweet corn of North America, Shandong corn is chewy and starchy, often with a grassy aroma. It is often served simply as steamed or boiled cobs, or removed from the cob and lightly fried.

PeanutsShandong is also well known for its peanut crops, which are fragrant and naturally sweet. It is common at meals in Shandong, both formal and casual, to see large platters of peanuts, either roasted in the shell, or shelled and stir-fried with salt. Peanuts are also served raw in a number of cold dishes that hail from the region.

GrainsShandong is also distinct from most of China's other culinary traditions in its wide use of a variety of small grains. Millet, wheat, oat and barley can be found in the local diet, often eaten as porridge (Zhu), or milled and cooked into one of the many varieties of steamed and fried breads eaten in Shandong. More so than anywhere else in China, Shandong people are known for their tendency to eat steamed breads, rather than rice, as the staple food in a meal.

Staple vegetablesDespite its rich agricultural output, Shandong has not traditionally used the wide variety of vegetables seen in many southern styles of Chinese cooking. Potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, mushrooms, onions, garlic and eggplants make up the staple vegetables in the Shandong diet. Grassy greens, sea grasses, and bell peppers are also not uncommon. The large, sweet cabbages grown in central Shandong are renowned for their delicate flavor and hardiness. As has been the case for generations, these cabbages are a staple of the winter diet throughout much of the province, and are featured in a great number of dishes.

VinegarPossibly Shandong's greatest contribution to Chinese cuisine has been in the area of brewing vinegars. Hundreds of years of experience combined with unique local methods have led to Shandong's prominence as one of the premier regions for vinegar production in China. Unlike the lighter flavored, sharper vinegars popular in the southern regions, Shandong vinegar has a rich, complex flavor which, among some connoisseurs, is considered fine enough to be enjoyed on its own merits.

7. Szechuan cuisine

Szechuan cuisine, Szechwan cuisine, or Sichuan cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine originating in Sichuan Province of southwestern China famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavour of the Sichuan peppercorn . Although the region is now romanized as Sichuan, the cuisine is still sometimes spelled 'Szechuan' or 'Szechwan' in the West. There are many local variations of Sichuan cuisine within Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, which was politically part of Sichuan until 1997. The four best known regional sub-styles are Chongqing style, Chengdu style, Zigong style, and Buddhist vegetarian style.

Szechuan cuisine often contains food preserved through pickling, salting, drying and smoking, and is generally spicy. The Sichuan peppercorn is commonly used; it is an indigenous plant producing peppercorns which has an intensively fragrant, citrus-like flavour and produces a "tingly-numbing" sensation in the mouth. Also common are garlic, chili, ginger, star anise and other spicy herbs, plants and spices. Broad bean chili paste is also a staple seasoning in Sichuan cuisine

Sichuan pepper

Sichuan pepper (or Szechuan pepper) is the outer pod of the tiny fruit of a number of species in the genus Zanthoxylum (most commonly Z. piperitum, Z. simulans, and Z. schinifolium), widely grown and consumed in Asia as a spice. Despite the name, it is not related to black pepper or to chili peppers. It is widely used in the cuisine of Sichuan, China, from which it takes its name, as well as Tibetan, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Japanese and Konkani and Batak Toba cuisines, among others

Representative dishesSome well-known Szechuan dishes include.

Tea smoked duck

Twice cooked pork

Mapo dofu

Sichuan hotpot

Fuqi Feipian

Spicy deep-fried chicken

Shuizhu, or literally "Water cooked", dishes

Dan dan noodles and Bon bon chicken

Szechuan Chicken Similar to Kung Pao but with a more savory sauce.

Zhangcha duck

Zhangcha duck, or tea-smoked duck, is a quintessential dish of Szechuan cuisine. It is prepared by hot smoking a marinated duck over tea leaves and twigs of the camphor plant. Due to its complicated preparation, zhangcha duck is eaten more often in banquets or festive events than as a daily household item.

Twice cooked pork

Twice cooked pork; also called double cooked pork), along with , hot pot and Kung Pao chicken , is probably the best-known Sichuan-style Chinese dish. The process of cooking Twice Cooked Pork involves boiling pork rib steak chunks in hot water with slices of ginger and salt first, then after being cut into thin slices, the pork is returned to a wok and shallow fried in hot oil. The most common vegetables to accompany the pork in Twice-Cooked Pork are cabbage and peppers.

Mapo doufu

Mapo doufu, or mapo tofu, is a popular Chinese dish from the Sichuan (Szechuan) province. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, and often topped with minced meat, usually pork or beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions, other vegetables, or wood ear fungus, but these are rarely considered authentic Sichuanese.

Fuqi feipian

Sichuan dish HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuqi_Fei_Pian.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Fuqi feipian; literally "Married Couple's Slices of Lung" is a popular - often served cold - which is made of thinly sliced beef, beef lung/stomach/tongue, and a generous amount of spices, including Szechuan peppercorns. True to its roots, the desired taste should be both spicy and mouth-numbing.

Shuizhu

Chinese dish HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shuizhufish2.JPG" \o "Enlarge"

Shuizhu is a that recently became popular in China as well as other countries. It is originated in Sichuan and the name literally means "water-boiled meat slices". The preparation of this dish usually involves some sort of meat (usually it is pork, beef, or fish), chili pepper, and a large amount of vegetable oil.

Dan dan noodles

Dan dan noodles is a classic dish of Chinese Sichuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan peppers, pork, and scallions served over noodles. In American Chinese cuisine and with many modern vendors, ground peanuts, peanut butter, or sesame paste are added, resulting in a stark contrast from the old, authentic version.

8. Zhejiang cuisine

Zhejiang cuisine is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China. It is derived from the native cooking styles of the Zhejiang region in China. Food made in the Zhejiang style is not greasy, having instead a fresh and soft flavor with a mellow fragrance.

The cuisine consists of at least three styles, each originating from a city in the province: the Hangzhou style is characterized by rich variations and the utilization of bamboo shoots, the Shaoxing style specializes in poultry and freshwater fish, and the Ningbo style specializing in seafood, with emphasis on freshness and salty dishes. Some sources also include the Wenzhou style as a separate subdivision, characterized as the greatest source of seafood as well as poultry and livestock.

Hangzhou cuisine is the most well-known of the four styles. Some of its representative dishes include Dongpo rou Fried pork belly stewed in soy sauce and wine), Jiaohua ji (beggar's chicken) and Xi Hu cu yu (West Lake fish in vinegar). About half the dishes on a Hangzhou menu contain bamboo shoots, which add a tender element to the food. Ningbo cuisine is regarded as rather salty.

In modern times, Beijing cuisine and Shanghai cuisine on occasion are also cited along with the classical eight regional styles as the Ten Great Traditions . There are also featured Buddhist and Muslim sub-cuisines within the greater Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on vegetarian and halal-based diets respectively.

Beijing cuisine

Beijing cuisine("capital cuisine") is the cooking style in Beijing, China. It is also formally known as Mandarin cuisine. There are numerous dishes that has been developed and elvolved along the history that some may prefer to call Lao Beijing Cuisine ( traditional Beijing cuisine). There are also a number of new dishes developed since recent economic take-off that many people calls Xin Beijing Cuisine (new Beijing cuisine) or New Chinese Cuisine .

Lao Beijing cuisineSince Beijing has been the Chinese capital city for centuries, its cuisine has been influenced by culinary traditions from all over China, but the cuisine that has exerted the greatest influence on Beijing cuisine is the cuisine of the eastern coastal province of Shandong. Beijing cuisine has itself, in turn, also greatly influenced other Chinese cuisines, particularly the cuisine of Liaoning, the Chinese imperial cuisine, and the Chinese aristocrat cuisine. "The Emperor's Kitchen" was a term referring to the cooking places (means kitchen) inside of the Forbidden City, Beijing where thousands of cooks from the different parts of China showed their best cooking skills to please royal families and officials. Therefore, it is at times rather difficult to determine the actual origin of a dish as the term "Mandarin" is generalized and refers not only to Beijing, but other provinces as well. However, some generalization of Beijing cuisine can be characterized as follows: Foods that originated in Beijing are often snacks rather than full courses, and they are typically sold by little shops or street vendors. There is emphasis on dark soy paste (zhajiang), sesame paste (majiang) sesame oil (xiangyou), and scallions and fermented tofu (choudoufu) is often served as a condiment. In addition to materials, many different processing methods are also applied to make differnt tastes. These processes including pan-frying, saute, steam, deep frying. There is a lesser emphasis on rice as an accompaniment than in many other areas of China, as local rice production is limited by the relatively dry climate.

Liaoning cuisine

Liaoning cuisine is derived from the native cooking styles of the Liaoning region in China, and it is the most famous Northeastern Chinese cuisine. Liaoning cuisine has gained increased popularity in China recently and its chefs have continuously won awards in the national culinary competitions in China, and the cuisine is heavily influenced by Beijing cuisine. The main characteristics of Liaoning cuisine is that it is colorful, tastes are strong, food is soft, and one dish has many flavors/tastes, however, the sweet taste and the salty taste are very distinct

Chinese Imperial cuisine

Chinese imperial cuisine is derived from a variety of cooking styles of the regions in China, mainly Shandong cuisine and Jiangsu cuisine. The style originated from the Emperor's Kitchen and the Empress Dowager's Kitchen, and it is similar to Beijing cuisine which it heavily influenced. The characteristics of the Chinese imperial cuisine is the elaborate cooking methods and the strict selection of material, which are often extremely expensive and rare. Visual presentation is also very important, so the color and the shape of the dish must be carefully arranged. The most famous Chinese imperial cuisine restaurants are both located in Beijing: Fang Shan is in Beihai Park while Ting Li Ting is in the Summer Palace.

The Imperial cuisine is popular among tourists.

Chinese aristocrat cuisine

Chinese aristocrat cuisine traces its origin to the Ming and Qing dynasties when the Imperial officials stationed in Beijing brought their private chefs and such different variety of culinary styles mixed and developed overtime and formed a unique breed of its own, and thus the Chinese aristocrat cuisine is often called private cuisine. The current Chinese aristocrat cuisine is a mixture of Shandong cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine and Cantonese cuisine.

Well known Mandarin dishes

Peking Duck

Peking Duck, or Peking Roast Duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era, and is now considered one of China's national foods.

Hot and sour soup

Hot and sour soup can refer to soups from several Asian culinary traditions. In all cases the soup contains ingredients to make it both spicy and sour.

Instant-boiled mutton

Instant-boiled mutton( Shun Yngru) is a very popular Chinese hot-pot dish.

Eating methodIn China, when having instant-boiled mutton, people put a hot-pot filled with water at the middle of a table. Normally food materials boiled in the pot include Tofu, Chinese leaves, bean vermicelli etc.

Lamb is pre-sliced and served on the table. The requirement on the lamb slices is that the slice must be very thin like a paper, and each slice is complete.

Because lamb can be cooked in very short time and longer cooking will make the lamb more solid, the way of having the lamb is to take some pre-sliced raw lamb using chopsticks, put it in the boiling hot-pot and take out as soon as the lamb changes color.

Each person has a small bowl to hold some sauce. Cooked lamb is eaten with the sauce. The sauce normally is a mixture of sesame sauce, chili oil, leek etc.

Soft fried tenderloin (Ruan Zha Li Ji)Soft fried tenderloin is a traditional dish of Beijing cuisine. The traditional culinary method of this dish begins with the preparation of the main ingredients that include 200 grams of tenderloin, four eggs, 30 grams of cooking wine, 30 grams of flour, 10 grams of sesame oil, 1 kg of pork fat, and salt. The tenderloin is cut into slices 4 cm long and 2 cm thick, and soaked in the mixture of rice wine and salt. Egg whites are mixed with flour in a container to form a paste thick enough to keep a chopstick in a standing position. Pork fat is heated and the marinated meat slices are fried for five minutes. When the cooked tenderloin slices are ready for serving, sesame oil is added.

Zha jiang mian

Zha jiang mian (lit. "fried sauce noodles") is a northern Chinese dish consisting of thick wheat noodles topped with a mixture of ground pork stir-fried with fermented soybean paste.

Laobing

Laobing is a type of unleavened flatbread sold in parts of northern China and used in Beijing cuisine. It is sometimes referred to as a Chinese pancake.

Laobing can be the size of a large pizza, about one centimeter thick, and is doughy and chewy in texture. The bing is made by pan frying a thick unleavened batter consisting of salt, flour, and water. Most laobing are plain, although some have scallions inside the pastry. Laobing is usually cut into slices and served as a staple food, or can be stir-fried with meat and vegetables to make chaobing (stir-fried Chinese pancakes).

Almond jelly (Almond tofu)

Almond jelly is a popular dessert in Hong Kong. The dessert is also popular in Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan and often found in dim sum restaurants worldwide. Almond jelly can be made using instant mix or from scratch. It can be eaten alone or with fruit.

Tangyuan

Tngyun is a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour. Glutinous rice flour is mixed with a small amount of water to form balls and is then cooked and served in boiling water. Tangyuan can be either filled or unfilled. It is traditionally eaten during Yuanxiao, or the Lantern Festival.The Lantern Festival ( Yunxioji ) is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar.

Xin Beijing cuisineSince China's economic boom, local consumption in Beijing evolves quickly to accommodate increasingly diversified new taste among Beijingers as well as travelers. This trend has been led by two groups of people. The first group of people are cooks looking for ways to differentiate themselves among others. The second group are local gourmets constantly looking for new tastes. The creative ideas that feed into the recent development in Beijing come from other cuisines. As a result, non-traditional ingredients and processing methods have been introduced or developed into Beijing Cuisine, which is now commonly referred as New Beijing Cuisine. These new ingredients include pepper, onion, cheese, pepper oil, and salad dressing. Baking, which is not popular among the Old Beijing Cuisine, has become increasingly popular

Popular dishes among new Beijing cuisineSea Food

Fresh abalone pumpkin soup

Spicy & sour fish fillets soup

Spicy & fermented crab

Deep fried fish w/ special sauce

Crispy & spicy shrimp

Rosted Cumming Pork

Pork, Chiken and Beef

Deep fried pork w/ tea leaves

Fried egg w/ pickled radish

Rosted Cumming Pork

Fried Pork ribs w/ Coffee

Fried chicken gristle w/ fresh chilies

Vegetarian

Vegetarian spicy & sour fish fillets soup

Fried mushroom w/ XO sauce

Fried vegetable w/ barbecued pork

Fried dried bean curd w/ chilies

Snacks

Spicy codfish puff

Durian puff

Fresh cream tart

Steamed green tea cake

Shanghai cuisine

Shanghai cuisine , also known as Hu cai is a popular style of Chinese cuisine.

Shanghai does not have a definitive cuisine of its own, but refines those of the surrounding provinces (mostly from adjacent Jiangsu and Zhejiang coastal provinces). What can be called Shanghai cuisine is epitomized by the use of alcohol. Fish, eel, crab, and chicken are "drunken" with spirits and are briskly cooked/steamed or served raw. Salted meats and preserved vegetables are also commonly used to spice up the dish.

"Red cooking" is a popular style of stewing meats and vegetables associated with Shanghai

Red cooking

English HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedCookedPorkBelly.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Red cooking is an umbrella term used to describe two slow braising Chinese cooking techniques: hng sho or l. While the former can be done in less than 20 minutes and usually does not require much water, the latter usually requires prolonged cooking upwards to several hours and the items must be more or less submerged in the cooking liquid. These two Chinese cooking techniques are popular and common throughout most of northern, eastern, and southeastern China. The name is derived from the dark red-brown colour of the cooked items and its sauce.

Red cooking can also be referred to as Chinese stewing, red stewing or red braising, and sometimes also described with the term flavour potting.

"Beggar's Chicken" is a legendary dish of Beijing origin, called "jiaohua ji" in the Shanghainese dialect, wrapped in lotus leaves and covered in clay. Though usually prepared in ovens, the original and historic preparation involved cooking in the ground. The lion's head meatball and Shanghai-style nian gao are also uniquely Shanghainese, as are Shanghai fried noodles, a regional variant of chow mein that is made with Shanghai-style thick noodle. Lime-and-ginger-flavoured thousand-year eggs and stinky tofu are other popular Shanghainese food items.Shanghainese people are known to eat in delicate portions (which makes them a target of mockery from other Chinese), and hence the servings are usually quite small. For example, famous buns from Shanghai such as the xiaolong mantou (known as xiaolongbao in Mandarin) and the shengjian mantou are usually about four centimetres in diameter, much smaller than the typical baozi or mantou elsewhere.

Lion's head

Huaiyang cuisine HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lions-head-MCB.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Lion's head is a dish from the of eastern China, consisting of large pork meatballs (about 7-10 cm in diameter) stewed with vegetables. There are two varieties: the white (or plain), and the red ( cooked with soy sauce). The plain variety is usually stewed or steamed with napa cabbage. The red variety can be stewed with cabbage or cooked with bamboo shoots and tofu derivatives. The minced meat in the meatball tends to be made from fatty pork (lean pork making for a less desirable taste), often with some chopped water chestnut for textural variation.

The name derives from the shape of the cabbage, which together with the meatball and a bit of imagination, resembles a lion's head.

Shanghai fried noodles

Shanghai-style noodles HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shanghaifriednoodles.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Shanghai fried noodles is a dish made from , which can be found in most Chinese food markets. The more commonly known Japanese udon can be used as a substitute. The noodles are stir-fried with beef cutlets, cabbage or spinach, and onion. The dish is a staple of Shanghai cuisine, which is usually served at dumpling houses.

Chow mein

Chow mein (chao mian in Mandarin-speaking communities) is a generic Chinese term for a dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties. Chow mein is generally made of soft noodles, however Hong Kong-style chow mein is made from thin crispy noodles. Cu mian

Cu mian or thick noodles are a type of Chinese noodle commonly used in the cuisines of northern China. In addition, it may also be found in Hong Kong, as well as in restaurants specializing in northern Chinese cuisine in other parts of China.

Stinky tofu

Stinky tofu is a form of fermented tofu, which, as the name suggests, has a strong odor. It is a popular snack in East and Southeast Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and China, where it is usually found at night markets or roadside stands, or as a side dish in lunch bars.

Baozi

A baozi or simply known as bao, bau, nunu, pow is a type of steamed, filled bun or bread-like (i.e. made with yeast) item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations. In its bun-like aspect it is very similar to the traditional Chinese mantou. It can be filled with meat and/or vegetarian fillings. It can be eaten at any meal in Chinese culture, and is often eaten for breakfastMantou

Mantou sometimes known as Chinese steamed bun, is a kind of steamed bun originating in China. It is typically eaten as a staple in Northern parts of China where wheat rather than rice is grown. Made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents, they are similar in nutrition and eating qualities to the white bread of the West. In size and texture, they range from 4 cm, soft and fluffy in the most elegant restaurants, to over 15 cm, firm and dense for the working man's lunch.

They are often sold pre-cooked in the frozen section of Asian supermarkets, ready for preparation by steaming or heating in the microwave oven.

A similar food, but with a filling inside, is baozi. In some regions, mainly in Southern China, mantou can be used to indicate both the filled and unfilled buns.

Shanghai FoodsDim sum

Dim sum (literally meaning "touch heart") is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day. Dishes come in small portions and may include meat, seafood, and vegetables, as well as desserts and fruitSheng Jian ("Sangji" - in Shanghainese)Breakfast is commonly bought from corner stalls which sells pork buns, for the best xiaolongbao (small steamer bun). These stalls also sell other types of buns, such as Shengjian mantou ( literally "fried bun") and Guo Tie (fried jiaozi), all eaten dipped in black vinegar.

A typical breakfast combination is youtiao, a dough-like food that is deep fried in oil until crisp and is eaten in all parts of China, wrapped in thick pancake, accompanied by soy milk.

Xiaolongbao

Xiolngbo, also known as soup dumpling, is a type of baozi from eastern China, including Shanghai and Wuxi. It is traditionally steamed in small bamboo baskets, known as xiao long

You tiao

You tiao, you char kway, or yau ja gwai , sometimes known in English as Chinese cruller fried bread stick or Chinese doughnut, is a long, golden-brown, deep fried strip of dough in Chinese cuisine and other East and Southeast Asian cuisines and is usually eaten for breakfast. Conventionally, youtiao are lightly salted and made so they can be torn lengthwise in two. Youtiao are normally eaten as an accompaniment for rice congee or soy milk.

Typical Shanghainese breakfastShanghainese people do not usually spend too much time on having breakfast, so breakfast in Shanghai is pretty simple. Shanghainese people are used to grabbing some food in small snack stores or having a bowl of pao fan ( rice in soup or water) at home.

"Four Heavenly Kings"The most well-known food for breakfast is Four Heavenly Kings, which includes da bing (Chinese pancake), youtiao (deep-fried twist stick), ci fan tuan (steamed sticky rice ball) and soymilk beverage.

Ci fan tuan

C fn tun is a kind of food in Chinese cuisine, originated in Shanghai. It is made by tightly wrapping a piece of youtiao (fried dough) with glutinous rice. It is usually eaten as breakfast together with sweetened or savory soy milk in Eastern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Main course

Da Zha XieChinese mitten crab (Da Zha Xie ) a kind of crab found in the Yangcheng Lake. And it is normally consumed in the winter (September & October in every year). The crabs are tied with ropes/strings, placed in bamboo containers, steamed and served.

Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, also known as the big sluice crab( d zh xi) and Shanghai hairy crab ( shng

HYPERLINK "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/h%C7%8Ei" \o "wikt:hi" hi mo xi), is a medium-sized burrowing crab that is native in the coastal estuaries of eastern Asia from Korea in the north to the Fujian province of China in the south, but has been introduced to Europe and North America where considered an invasive species.

Crispy chickenOne of the local favourites in Shanghai is Shanghai crispy chicken. Crispy chicken is made by first boiling the body of a chicken until its flesh is tender, then roasting it for long periods of time or until the skin goes dry and crispy.

La mian

La mian is a type of hand-made or hand-pulled Chinese noodle. It is also the name of the dishes that use these noodles.

Zongzi

Zongzi (or zong) is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. They are cooked by steaming or boiling. They are known in Japanese as chimaki. Laotians, Thais, Cambodians, and Vietnamese (bnh tro) also have similar traditional dishes influenced by zongzi.

Etymology and preparationDishes using la mian are usually served in a beef or mutton-flavored soup, but sometimes stir-fried and served with a tomato-based sauce. Literally,(l) means to pull or stretch, while (min) means noodle. The hand-making process involves taking a lump of dough and repeatedly stretching it to produce many strands of thin, long noodle.

Five Chinese cereals

The Five Chinese cereals (sometimes known as the five sacred grains or crops) are a group of five grains important in ancient China and regarded as sacred. They are first listed in Fah Shn-chih's text on farming circa 2800 BCE entitled Fah Shn-chih Shu.

There are various versions of which five crops are represented in the list. One version includes soybeans, rice, wheat, proso millet, and foxtail millet. Another version, given in the Classic of Rites(also known as the Book of Rites, the Record of Rites), excludes rice and includes hemp. All but soybeans are cereal grainsChinese desserts

sweet HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Waterchestnutcake.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Chinese desserts are foods and dishes that are served with tea or at the end of meals in Chinese cuisine. The desserts encompass a wide variety of ingredients commonly used in East Asian cuisines such as powdered or whole glutinous rice, sweet bean pastes, and agar. Due to the many Chinese cultures and the long history of China, there are a great variety of desserts of many forms.

TypesThe desserts found in China can be roughly divided into several types.

BingBing are baked wheat flour based confections, these are either similar to the short-pastry crust of western cuisine or flaky like puff pastry, the latter of which is often known as su. The preferred fat used for bing is usually lard. One of the more commonly known bing is the moon cake.

Mooncake

Mooncakes are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching; moon cakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy on this occasion. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival, one of the three most important Chinese festivals.

Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

CandiesChinese candies and sweets,called tng), are usually made with cane sugar, malt sugar, and honey. These sweets often consists of nuts or fruits that are mixed into syrup whole or in pastes to flavour or give the candies their textures. Tanghulu, dragon's beard candy, and White Rabbit Creamy Candy are a some examples of this category.

Tanghulu

Tang hu lu is a popular traditional winter snack in northern China, especially in Beijing, Tianjin and cities of Northeast China, and particularly for children. It consists of candied fruits on bamboo skewers that are approximately 20cm long. This snack can be found widely along the snack street of Wangfujing but there are street vendors who travel from place to place selling it.

Tang hu lu typically has a hardened sugar coating that comes from dipping the skewer in sugar syrup, but versions can also be found with a second chocolate coating, or sesame sprinkles.Chinese hawthorn (or shnzh in Chinese, is a fruit of a small to medium tree. The tree bears bright red fruits that are 1.5 inches diameter, which ripen in September.) but in recent times vendors have also used mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, pineapples, kiwifruit, bananas, or grapes, resembling a fruit kebab.

Dragon's beard candy

Dragon's beard candy (or Chinese cotton candy) is a form of spun sugar traditional in China. It is said to have been invented for the emperor about 2,000 years ago. It consists of many very fine strands of sugar, giving it the appearance and consistency of a fine beard hence its name.

White Rabbit Creamy Candy

White Rabbit Creamy Candy is a brand of candy manufactured by Shanghai Guan Sheng Yuan Food, Ltd.

GaoGao or Guo are rice base snacks that are typically steamed and may be made from glutinous or normal rice. In Fukien speaking Chinese populations, these are known as Kuei, which are based on the pronunciation of . These rice based snacks have a wide variety of textures and can be chewy, jelly-like, fluffy or rather firm. One of the more commonly known gao is the niangao.

Nian gao

Nian gao, Rice cake, Year cake or Chinese new year's cake is a food prepared from glutinous rice and consumed in Chinese cuisine. It is available in Asian supermarkets and from health food stores. While it can be eaten all year round, traditionally it is most popular during Chinese New Year. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time, because "nian gao" is a homonym for "higher year."

JelliesChinese jellies are known collectively in the language as ices . Many jelly desserts are traditionally set with agar and are flavored with fruits, though gelatin based jellies are also common in contemporary desserts. Some Chinese jellies, such as the grass jelly and the aiyu jelly set by themselves

Grass jelly

Grass jelly, or Leaf jelly , is a jelly-like dessert found in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. It is sold in cans or packets in Asian supermarkets.

Aiyu jelly

fig HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aiyu_jelly_by_abon_in_Taiwan.jpg" \o "Enlarge"

Aiyu jelly is a jelly made from the gel on the seeds of a variety of (Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang) found in Taiwan and East Asian countries of the same climates and latitudes. The jelly is not commonly made or found outside of Taiwan though it can be bought fresh in specialty stores in Japan and in canned in Chinatowns. It is known as -gi in Taiwanese and used in Taiwanese cuisine.

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