China's Many Diverse Cuisines

[liuzhou]

Just to add that there is a China Royal Cuisine Museum (中国皇家菜博物馆 - zhōng guó huáng jiā cài bó wù guǎn) in Beijing at 117 Xisihuanbei Road, Haidian District, Beijing.

 

The museum covers an area of 3,250 m² and has over 1,000 items on display such as food vessels and historical records. There are interactive rooms and opportunities to taste the food.

 

According to the museum's own publicity in Chinese:

 

"The Royal Cuisine Museum is divided into a historical and cultural display of royal cuisine area, a tasting and experience of royal cuisine area, and a lively sightseeing area. The living sightseeing area is an innovative, modern central kitchen that is open and transparent, low-carbon and energy-saving and green and environmentally friendly. The entire kitchen is made of glass curtain walls, and each stove is equipped with a camera, so that the whole process of food processing and production in the kitchen can be seen, and sightseers and diners can watch the dishes in real time through video. In addition, the museum also has an information centre

 

At the Royal Cuisine Museum you can learn about the food related anecdotes of the emperors of the past dynasties, allusions to famous dishes and celebrity chef stories."

 

My translation.

 

Address in Chinese: 北京市海淀区西四环北路117号

Opening Hours: 10:00-14:00 and 17:00-21:00

Tel: 010-88494069, 010-88495181, 010-88495185

No website.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

蒙菜 (méng cài) Inner Mongolia 内蒙古 (nèi měng gǔ) Cuisine

 

China’s administrative system divides places into four main categories: Municipalities, Provinces, Special Administrative Regions, and Autonomous Regions. Wthin each there are many sub-categories.

 

There are currently four municipalities. These are among the largest cities and are controlled directly by the central government. They are Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin.

 

The question of how many provinces there are is complicated by Taiwan still officially being considered a ‘renegade’ province. When it is included, there are 23 provinces, otherwise 22.

 

Hong Kong and Macao make up the two special administrative regions.

 

Then we have the five autonomous regions. These have provincial status but because of their large populations of one particular ethnic minority or another. The have negligible real autonomy. I live not in Guangxi Province but in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The other four are Xinjiang Uighur, Ningxia Hui, Tibet Xizang and Inner Mongolia Mongol Autonomous Region, the second words in each indicating the relevant ethnic minority.

 

Inner Mongolia is in central-north China bordering Mongolia, the independent country formerly known as Outer Mongolia. It also borders Russia and eight other Chinese provinces. The Great Wall, built to keep the Mongols out of China, partly runs by its southern border. It was never finished and didn't stop anyone. The capital is 呼和浩特 (hū hé hào tè), Hohhot, home to almost half the population. Famous for its grasslands (steppes), it can be a bleak place, especially in winter. Many Inner Mongolians are nomadic at least part of the year and there are five times more horses than people, but even the horses are outnumbered by sheep with around 30 sheep for every human. Good place for insomniacs, I suppose. With a population of around 25 million in an area of 1,177,500 km² / 454,600 square miles, it has one of the world’s lowest population density.

 

The cuisine is very much determined by its Mongol traditions and geography and is mostly unlike anything you would normally consider Chinese. Wheat is the main grain, although buckwheat is also often used to make noodles. Rice can be bought in Hohhot, it is very much a minority interest. The main proteins are, of course, mutton but also, beef, goat, horse, camel, venison, chicken and ostrich These are usually roasted with spices, Mongolians’ most common cooking method.

 

Historically they had very few vegetables, but in recent years, at least in cities, modern logistics do supply imported vegetables from other provinces. They also rely a lot of dairy products including milk, yoghurt and cheese.

 

Inner Mongolian Cheese

 

Koumiss, ayrag in Mongolian is fermented mare’s milk, a popular beverage. A common hot drink is an unusual salty milk tea made by cooking black tea then adding it and salt to milk and blending it well. Not my cup of tea! They also make milk wine, which I was offered but declined.

 

 

One notable dish is 烤全羊 (kǎo quán yáng), Whole Roast Sheep. This festive dish is cooked using a three-year old sheep, stuffed with spices, then roasted on its back over coals or in an oven. When done it is flipped over and presented to be carved at the table. Guests are served in order of rank, status or age. Served at banquets, New Year dinners, and wedding receptions. I ate it in 2002 at a friend’s wedding in Hohhot.

 

Whole Roast Sheep.

 

羊杂碎 (yáng zá suì), Lamb Offal Soup is a popular street food. The animal’s heart, liver, lungs, tripe, intestines, head meat, and hooves are all put into the pot and boiled. It is served with sides of coriander leaf / cilantro, chilli powder and salt to be added to the diner’s taste.

 

Mutton Offal Soup

 

小肥羊 (xiǎo féi yáng) was an Inner Mongolian chain of restaurants all over China, then opened branches in first, Canada then the USA. In 2011, it was acquired by Yum! Foods Inc., owners of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, etc. The word ‘fat’ was dropped from the English name for fear of scaring the fat-phobic, but the Chinese remains unaltered in the logo.

 

 

It specialises in the most famous Mongolian dish outside of either Mongolia, 羊肉火锅 (yáng ròu huǒ guō), Lamb Hot Pot. Traditionally this is cooked in a special pot with a central funnel rising from the centre. This chimney contains the fuel. Ingredients are cooked by the diners in the broth in the pan around the funnel. Those are traditionally mutton, but today almost anything can be cooked quickly enough (one to two minutes)

when sliced thinly enough.

 

Traditional Mongolian Hotpot  - image China Daily

 

Little Sheep eschews the traditional pot and goes for the Sichuan style 阴阳(yīn yáng) style with a divided pot containing two broths, one side chilli hot and the other plain. The mutton is served in thinly sliced rolls. A wide range of vegetables of your choice are available. Despite the owners reputation, the food remains otherwise authentically Mongolian.

 

Lamb Rolls

 

烧麦 (shāo mài) Shaomai are a popular staple in Hohhot. These are small steamed dumplings containing minced mutton and scallions with other flavourings. Originally a breakfast food, they are now served in diners at anytime and often made at home.

 

Mongolian Shaomai

 

As is usual in so many Asian countries, probably the best place to eat is in Hohhot’s many food streets  or street food stalls which can be found all over the city.

 

 

[liuzhou]

冀菜 (jì cài), Hebei (河北) Cuisine

 

Hebei is south-east of Inner Mongolia, located on the Bohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea. Besides that, it is bordered by Liaoning to the north-east, Shandong to the south-east, Henan to the south, and Shanxi to the west. Hebei means ‘North of the River’, that being the Yellow river. The province almost surrounds the adjacent municipalities, Beijing and Tianjin only being interrupted by the latter being on the coast. That said, Tianjin was the capital of Hebei until being elevated to municipality status in 1911, so Hebei did surround Beijing until then. After bouncing around for a bit, the capital was finally settled in Shijiazhuang.

 

Its location means that it is heavily influenced by Beijing and the cuisine there, to the extent that they might taken to be the same, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Hebei does have some interesting foods of its own. Nevertheless, this will be a shorter read than usual.

 

For many people, especially visitors, its most fascinating culinary attraction is that the people have a penchant for donkey meat. Every foreign visitor goes straight for the 驴肉火烧 (lǘ ròu huǒ shāo), Donkey Burgers. Donkey meat is slow stewed with up to twenty ‘secret’ spices (according to the vendors) and served in a sort of bun, either round (Baoding style) or rectangular (Hefei style). They taste the same.

 

Donkey Burger

 

However, donkey meat (my favourite red meat), is used in many other ways. It is used in noodle dishes, stir-fries, stews, soups etc. Although undoubtedly having originated in Hebei, donkey restaurants can be found everywhere. There are at least ten here in Liuzhou.

 

Donkey with Green Peppers

 

Donkey Noodles

 

Unsurprisingly, Hebei cuisine features a lot of fish and other seafoods. Despite being coastal, they seem to prefer freshwater fish but sea fish are easily found. Common examples include bream, Mandarin fish, eel, turtle, giant salamander, crab, shrimp, clams etc. Freshwater fish from 白洋淀 (bái yáng diàn), Baiyangdian Lake in central Hubei is especially valued for its fish and freshwater ‘seafood’. These are often steamed or simmered gently.

 

Mandarin Fish

 

Popular dishes include steamed bream (without soy sauce as used in most other parts of China), turtle with wax gourd, boiled fish with tangerine pulp.

 

Steamed Bream

 

This unusual pairing of ingredients which seem incompatible is a well-noted feature of Hebei cuisine. 海龟猪脊 (hǎi guī zhū jǐ), turtle with pig’s spine; 炒三丝 (chǎo sān sī) is slivers of pork tenderloin, chicken and pig’s stomach, and 龙凤婚 (lóng fèng hūn), dragon and phoenix marriage is a mixture of eels and chicken.

 

莲藕排骨汤 (lián ǒu pái gǔ tāng), pork rib and lotus root soup is believed to have originated in Hebei, but is now available everywhere in China, having been burdened with claims of its TCM ability to cure everything but naivety.

 

Pork Ribs and Lotus Root Soup

 

 

Edited January 20, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

川菜 (chuān cài) - Sichuan (四川)  Cuisine Part One

 

After Cantonese, this is probably the most famous Chinese cuisine internationally, although until relatively recently, only a handful of its dishes appeared on most American or British Chinese restaurants menus. Mapo Tofu (actually 麻婆豆腐 (má pó dòu fǔ) in Sichuan – ‘tofu’ is the Japanese pronunciation) and Kung-po (or kungpao) Chinese (actually 宫保鸡丁 (gōng bǎo jī dīng) in Sichuan) were and are still the only Sichuan dishes on many menus. These non-Mandarin names can be attributed to the restaurants still being Cantonese.

 

Mapo Tofu

 

However, that is changing. When I left Britain in 1996, there were zero real Sichuanese restaurants anywhere in the country. Bar Shu opened at 28 Frith Street, Soho, London, W1D 5LF in 2006, near but significantly not in the Cantonese enclave that was Chinatown. Tel: (+44) 2072878822. They wanted to distinguish themselves, I guess. Fuchsia Dunlop consulted with the restaurant’s opening and menu.

Bar Shu Sichuan Restaurant, London

 

Her book 2019 The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), a revised and expanded version of her original 2001 book, Sichuan Cookery (published as Land of Plenty in 2003 in the USA), is an excellent introduction to the cuisine and the culture behind it. Remember all these three are essentially the same book. Don’t do what one friend did and bought all three, thinking they were different. I suggest the 2019 version. It has even been translated into Chinese and is available here, an extremely rare honour.

 

Much as I recommend the book, I do have one issue with Ms Dunlop, though. In all her books, she gives the Chinese name for ingredients and dishes, but then gives the Pinyin transliteration without the tone marks which are essential for correct meaning and pronunciation in Chinese, making them useless. She also mixes Mandarin and Sichuan dialects without ever saying so. She even gives a few Vietnamese names without the essential diacritics; Vietnamese fish mint, she tells us is diep ca in Vietnamese – no; it’s diếp cá. This may seem pedantic but it’s essential in both languages. Not using them or getting them wrong can often change the meaning. My favourite example is shui jiao. Do you mean boiled jiaozi dumplings (水饺 - shuǐ jiǎo) or go to bed (睡觉 - shuì jiào) or several other possibilities?

 

Sichuanese restaurants had opened in the US slightly earlier, apparently following the publication of two cookbooks: Robert Delf’s 1974 The Good Food of Szechwan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)* and Ellen Shrecker’s 1974 Mrs Chiang’s Szechwan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).

 

* Few people in China, including Sichuan knows what Szechwan means; it was never pronounced that way in China. They’ll maybe guess you are speaking German or Polish for some unimaginable reason.

 

Today Sichuan restaurants are to be found in many of the world’s major cities, if not in the suburbs or smaller towns, yet. But it’s Sichuan food in Sichuan this is about.

 

Sichuan is normally all about big, bold, spicy flavours and these are achieved using some ingredients only introduced in the west recently, if at all. The stand out ingredients are, of course, Sichuan peppercorns, chilli and doubajiang, which I’ll take one by one.

 

花椒 (huā jiāo, literally ‘flower pepper’), Sichuan peppercorns, Zanthoxylum simulans, ain’t necessarily from Sichuan. They are often from neighbouring provinces such as Yunnan and Gansu and can be found in Nepal, but it is in Sichuan they are used most. There are two varieties – red and green. The first are much more common. The second are not unripe red ones, but from a different cultivar of Zanthoxylum. The Japanese sansho (actually 山椒- kona-zanshō), Zanthoxylum piperitum is a closely related cousin.

 

Red Sichuan Peppercorns

 

They are neither flowers or true peppers, but berries of the prickly ash tree. They have a citric and floral taste but their unique feature is that they impart an intense sense of numbness (麻 -má) in the mouth. This is known scientifically as paresthesia and is caused by a compound they contain called hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. The more? fresh the berries, the stronger the sensation.

 

The peppercorns should have had their seeds removed before sale, but a few may linger. They are unpleasant and sand-like. One well known food website which shall remain nameless, recommends using ground peppercorns which I recommend to people who have lost their sense of taste or like musty, stale flavours! They also say they keep for years, to which I say <censored>! I buy them in 50 gram / 1¾ oz bags and can easily tell the difference as I reach the end of the bag a week or two later. They lose potency quickly.

 

Sichuan peppercorn oil is widely used as a condiment. Also known as prickly ash oil, it holds the numbing for longer (but not forever). I occasionally sprinkle some over dishes or into hotpots.

 

The green variety, either 青花椒 (qīng huā jiāo) or 藤椒 (téng jiāo) are green Sichuan peppercorns, referred to in English as rattan vine peppers. These are even more numbing and citric, especially when fresh, the way I usually buy them, though that’s difficult to do outside the immediate area. In fact, they only became available in China recently. When I arrived they were unheard of.

 

 

Fresh Green Sichuan Peppercorns

 

Dried Green Sichuan Peppercorns

 

For 40 years, Sichuan peppercorns were banned from the US, supposedly due to concerns that they may carry a disease known as canker which attacks citrus trees. There was little, if anything to back up those fears. In 2005, the ban was lifted provided that the berries were heated to 60 ℃ / 140℉ for at least 10 minutes. Unfortunately, despite destroying the non-existent canker, this also negatively affected the flavour and numbing qualities. I understand the ban has now been totally lifted (?), but the Chinese producers didn’t get the e-mail and most still routinely carry on doing what they have been doing for the US market for almost 60 years.

 

In the US, Mala Market carries both varieties (dried only) at a price. The red can be found in most larger supermarkets in the UK, but the green are scarcer. Chinese supermarkets and Chinatowns may have.

 

Mention of Sichuan peppercorns naturally leads me on to 辣椒 (là jiāo), literally ‘hot peppers’, chilli peppers. Again not, not true peppers but the fruit of small trees, They were called peppers by the Spanish and Portuguese invaders as they tasted hot. Introduced from the Americas into China in the 16th or 17th centuries (reports vary, although the first written record is in 1617) by the Portuguese. They didn’t arrive to Sichuan until 1749 and were, even then, not taken up as food for a long time, but were thought of as ornamental plants.

 

China has hundreds of different chilli cultivars but Sichuan prefers 朝天椒 (cháo tiān jiāo, facing heaven chillies) aka 指天椒 (zhǐ tiān jiāo), ‘pointing to heaven chillies’. 七星椒 (qī xīng jiāo), 7 star chillies are also used. Guizhou chillies make a good substitute if you can find them, but Thai bird chillies do not. They are too hot and the flavour will be quite different. But possibly the most widely used chillies are 二荆条 (èr jīng tiáo) chillies, used fresh and dried and used in Sichuan’s favourite sauce below. Most chillies are used dried in Sichuan, although they also employ er jing tao make use of in their pickled form.

 

Fresh Facing Heaven Chiilies

 

Dried Facing Heaven Chillies

 

Dried Erjingtao Chillies - detail.1688.com

 

Together, Sichuan peppercorns and chilli make Sichuan’s near ubiquitous signature flavour, 麻辣 (má là) mala, with 麻 (má) meaning numb and 辣 (là) meaning hot: hot and numbing. The combination is used in literally hundreds, if not thousands of dishes.

 

Despite the reputation, Sichuan does not have China’s hottest food, as explained here. I suppose the reputation arises because Sichuan food is the hottest you are like to find in most restaurants outside China.

 

The third key ingredient is 豆瓣酱 (dòu bàn jiàng, literally ‘bean bits sauce’). This is a thick sauce made from broad beans aka fava beans, which are fermented with 二荆条 (èr jīng tiáo) chillies, salt, wheat flour and water. Known in America as tobanjiang, the sauce is pungent, spicy and salty.

 

Doubanjiang

 

The best is said to come from 郫县 (pí xiàn), a county just outside Sichuan's capital, 成都 (chéng dū) Chengdu. If you want the ‘authentic’ flavour of Sichuan, 郫县豆瓣酱 (pí xiàn dòu bàn jiàng) will be on the label. Beware of anything containing soy beans – these are cheap fakes. Also, the widely distributed Lee Kum Kee version is near universally rejected as being the worst of their numerous products – flat and the wrong flavour. Cantonese (LKK is Cantonese) and Taiwanese doubanjiang are not the same thing. Avoid them if it’s Sichuan you want to taste.

 

The sauce is best fermented in large jars under the sun for up to five years, being stirred frequently, but modern methods have reduced that time considerably. Aficionados still insist on the traditional method. Basically the darker it is, the longer it has been aged and developed flavour. These two brands are highly reputable and available overseas.

 

Dandan Doubanjiang

 

Juancheng Doubanjiang

 

A couple of other ingredients Ms Dunlop briefly mentions but doesn't give much detail on are:

 

山胡椒 (shān hú jiāo, literally ‘mountain pepper’) or 木姜子 (mù jiāng zǐ, literally ‘tree ginger seeds’) are Litsea seeds, Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers.). Not native to Sichuan, they are nevertheless used there, particularly in the south of the province. From Guizhou and western Hunan, the trees are a member of the laurel family and the seeds intensely citric in taste. The seeds are available, both fresh and dried, but most is made into litsea oil, used as a condiment. It is similar in taste to lemongrass.

 

Litsea seeds

 

Litsea Oil

 

If you search for it online you will be directed to dozens of sites proclaiming it the greatest thing ever, but not for food use. The wellness charlatans are leaping all over it when they need a rest from their vagina-scented candles.

 

The other ingredient is 保宁醋 (bǎo nìng cù), Baoning vinegar, as opposed to Zhenjiang (often Chinkiang in America) vinegar, the default choice in the rest of China, Baoning is the one Sichuan prefers. They must be locavores. This local black vinegar dates to the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Unlike most Chinese vinegars which are made using rice as the main grain, Baoning uses wheat. It also includes many herbs in the preparation but these are strained out before you buy it. It can be aged from anywhere from 1 to 10 years – the longer the better and more expensive, of course.

 

Baoning Vinegar

Now you've got the main ingredients sorted out, it's time to look at some dishes. However, I am going to be busy the next week or two. So the next part of this may be delayed. I worked out this is the 21st cuisine I’ve written about (including sub-categories). Many more to come. Eight cuisines in China? Bah! Humbug!

 

 

Edited January 20, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

川菜 (chuān cài) - Sichuan 四川 (sì chuān) Cuisine Part Two

 

I have no intention (or ability) to outshine Fuchsia Dunlop or anyone else, but I would like to make some observations on a few Sichuan dishes I know and love.

 

I am fairly certain that the most eaten Sichuan dish is what is usually referred to as Kung-po or Kung-pao chicken. In China, including Sichuan it is 宫保鸡丁 (gōng bǎo jī dīng), Gong Bao (pronounced ‘bow’ as in what you should do to the king, (baʊ) in IPA) Ji (as in Gee!, the expression of surprise (dʒiː)) Ding. It literally means ‘palace guardian chicken cubes’ and is said to be named after one 丁宝桢 (dīng bǎo zhēn), Ding Baozhen who was tutor to the emperor’s children, a job that carried the honorary title of ‘palace guardian’. This happened far away in Shandong and Tutor Ding was from Guizhou province, although he did move to Sichuan in 1876. The dish is certainly Sichuanese (and supposedly Ding’s favourite) but most versions in the west are noticeably sweeter than in Sichuan. The peanuts are sometimes replaced by cashews in western restaurants but this is not traditional, although I have seen them replaced by carrot in Sichuan – again not traditional.

 

Gong Bao Chicken

 

Gongbao Chicken with Carrots instead of Peanuts

 

The other popular dish internationally is 麻婆豆腐 (má pó dòu fǔ). Known in the west as Mapo Tofu, it is often made using pork outside China, but traditionally is a beef and tofu dish. Vegetarian versions are called 麻辣豆腐 (má là dòu fu). Those who complain that tofu is bland and boring haven’t eaten mapo tofu.. The unrestrained use of chilli, doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorns permeates the mouth melting tofu.

 

Mapo Tofu

 

Other classic dishes using a Sichuanese technique are called 回锅 (huí guō) which literally means ‘back to the pan’ but is usually translated as ‘twice cooked’ or ‘double cooked’. By far the most common is 回锅肉 (huí guō ròu), Twice Cooked Pork. The technique is believed to date back to the Song dynasty, (960–1279), but the dish would have been very different then; chillies were still 500 years away from arriving in Sichuan. Doubanjiang contains chillies, so it wasn’t available either.

 

Today, chunks of fatty pork belly are first simmered in water for around 30 minutes with garlic, garlic shoots, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, green onions and Shaoxing wine, then left to cool before being thinly sliced. It is then stir-fried with more garlic, ginger, green onion, green chilli, doubanjiang, fermented back beans, soy sauce and a touch of sugar.

 

Twice-Cooked Pork Belly

 

鱼香 (yú xiāng) is another Sichuan technique of note. Literally if means ‘fish fragrant’, but contains no fish. Rather fish fragrant dishes are made using ingredients and flavours more commonly used in cooking fish. It employs a seasoning that typically contains garlic, scallions, ginger, sugar, salt and chilli. 鱼香肉片 (yú xiāng ròu piān), fish fragrant pork slices and 鱼香茄子 (yú xiāng qié zi), fish flavour eggplant are the most common dishes using this technique.

 

Fish Fragrant Pork

 

水煮 (shuǐ zhū) is yet another Sichuan technique. It literally means ‘water boiled‘, but is much more than that. Some websites claim it is ‘boiling in oil’ – total nonsense. The two favourite dishes to use the technique are 水煮鱼 (shuǐ zhǔ yú) and 水猪牛 (shuǐ zhū niú). The relevant proteins are boiled in chicken stock, flavoured with chilli, Sichuan peppercorns, chilli oil and doubanjiang along with vegetables (especially bean sprouts in the fish version). The ’boiling in oil’ myth arises from the dish having hot oil poured over it immediately before serving, resulting in a sizzling sound when it is presented to the table. Fuchsia Dunlop calls the fish version ‘Boiled Fish in a Seething Sea of Chillies’ and the beef version ‘Boiled Beef Slices in a Fiery Sauce’. Her book (see below for link) has recipes for both.

 

'Water Boiled' Beef

 

My favourite Sichuan dish is not actually from Sichuan, but Chongqing next door. However, it was part of Sichuan until 1997 when it was made a Municipality of its own, coming under the direct control of Beijing. It remains however inextricably linked to Sichuan cuisine. The dish is 辣子鸡 (là zi jī), chilli chicken. Fuchsia Dunlop refers to it as 'Chongqing chicken with chillies'. This formidable looking dish uses 50 grams or more of chillies to 500 grams of chicken meat, preferably dark meat from the legs, but sometimes breast. The chillies are not to be eaten, but it is fun digging out the cubes of meat hiding in the mountain of chillies which have imparted their flavour to the dish. This is a dish I often make at home.

 

Laziji

 

兔子 (tù zi), rabbit is incredibly popular in Sichuan. 70% of China’s rabbits end up in Sichuan stomachs and have to be supplemented by imported rabbits, mainly from France. I have made a version of 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) using rabbit instead of the usual chicken. 辣子兔 (là zi tù), I suppose. It is roasted and also used in many dishes. I ate rabbit noodles in Sichuan a few years ago. But a huge favourite, especially in the capital, Chengdu is 麻辣兔头 (má là tù tóu), hot and numbing rabbit head. This street food is hugely popular and can also be found in restaurants.

 

Roast Rabbit

 

Mala Rabbit Head

 

夫妻肺片 (fū qī fèi piàn), literally ‘husband and wife lung slices’, despite the name, does not include any lungs. It is a cold dish of sliced beef with sliced heart, tongue, and tripe finished with peanuts, Chinese celery, chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. Supposedly invented by Guo Chaohua and his wife in the 1930s, it was originally a Chengdu street food but later made its way to the dining table.

 

 

自贡 (zì gòng) Zigong, a city in southern Sichuan has been a major salt producing area for around 2,000 years and is well known as such throughout China. It is also known for having some of Sichuan's spiciest food. 自贡盐煎肉 (zì gòng yán jiān ròu), Zigong Salt Fried Pork is lean pork slices marinated with onion and fresh green chillies, then pan fried with dried red chillies, rice wine, fermented black beans, doubanjiang bean paste, salt and sesame seeds, then finished with red chilli oil.

 

My favourite Sichuan restaurant in Liuzhou is near my old second home in the countryside north of the city. It is a husband and wife operation with the man doing the cooking and the wife handling front of house assisted by young students from the nearby colleges. Lovely couple from a small village in Sichuan. I remember well the day I noticed a strange dish on their menu. 外婆飘香骨 (wài pó piāo xiāng gǔ) translates as ‘Maternal Grandmothers Fluttering Fragrant Bones'! I was baffled, so immediately ordered it, as you do. It was of course pork ribs with chilli and more chilli along with the usual Sichuan peppercorns etc. And absolutely delicious. I ordered it often.

 

Granny's Bones

 

However, probably the favourite Sichuan food in China is 四川火锅 (sì chuān huǒ guō), Sichuan Hotpot , also described as 重庆火锅 (chóng qìng huǒ guō), Chongqing Hotpot. There is some justification in Chongqing claiming to own it. It originated among boatmen on the Yangtze River which does flow past Chongqing, but the concept rapidly spread throughout Sichuan and then the rest of China, then the world. Hotpot dining is very much a communal affair; friends and families gather together round a table containing a large 阴阳 (yīn yáng) pot containing two broths, one spicy, one plainer. They gather or are brought sticks of thinly sliced meats, offal, tofu, mushrooms and vegetables and cook these themselves in the broth of their choice. There is a basic charge for the broth, then the number of empty sticks you have on the table is used to calculate the final bill, over which everyone fights to pay. All great fun. The last time I had it was with friends in Guilin and I could feel the chilli and Sichuan Peppercorns running through my veins for days!

 

Enjoying Hotpot

 

Yin-Yang Pot

 

Things on Sticks

 

The Bill

 

Recipes for most of the dishes I have mentioned can be found in Fuchsia Dunlop's The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). No mention of Granny's bones, though.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

新菜 (xīn cài) - Xinjiang (新疆) Cuisine

 

新疆维吾尔自治区 (xīn jiāng wéi wú ěr zì zhì qū), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is China’s westernmost region, bordering within China on Qinghai, Gansu and Tibet to its south-east and internationally bordering Mongolia to the north-east, a tiny part of Russia to the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west. Its capital is Ürümqi (Chinese: 乌鲁木齐 - wū lǔ mù qí). It is China’s largest administrative region.

 

Its autonomous region status is by virtue of its large population of Uygur (also spelled Uighur), Chinese: 维吾尔 (wéi wú ěr),  Muslim ethnic minority people. Its real autonomy is virtually zero. The Uygur are a Turkic people and their language and culture is much closer to Turkish than to Chinese. Their food is strongly influenced by Turkic cuisine, too and especially by its immediate neighbours, especially the ‘-stans’.

 

Xinjiang, literally means ‘new border’ and has been part of China since 1884 during the Qing dynasty. Its historic name is East Turkistan, although that name has been denied them by the communist regime. It remains a troubled region. There are tensions between the ethnic minorities and the many Han Chinese immigrants, especially in recent years. But I’m not getting into the politics here.

 

Its food, despite being far from what most people consider to be Chinese cuisine, is very popular across China, today. Xinjiang was a major part of the Silk Road linking China to the west and that brought spices and techniques from the west, but it also absorbed influences from its eastern neighbours in China while still retaining its own unique identity. Although ‘regular’ Chinese food is widely available there now, I intend to focus more on the native ethnic minorities’ cuisine

 

For religious regions, they do not eat pork; instead lamb/mutton is their main protein, supplemented by beef, horse and chicken. Much of the food is halal. Saltwater fish is far, far away, so what fish etc there is is mostly freshwater. Whereas the Chinese use chopsticks for most of their eating, in Xinjiang it’s hands.

 

The Xinjiang food most widely found around China is certainly 羊肉串 (yáng ròu chuàn), or in Beijing dialect 羊肉串儿 (yáng ròu chuàn ér), exactly the same thing. These are fatty lamb cubes on sticks, grilled over charcoal and spiced with Xinjiang’s favourite spice, cumin and chilli along with other spices. All over Xinjiang and in every city I’ve visited in China, night markets have the Xinjiang kebab people, mostly street food but also available in many restaurants. And they are damned delicious. Cubes of fat, ideally from the sheep’s tail, are interspersed with lean lamb; the fat renders flavouring the meat. Sold by the stick in the streets. I ate them nearly evening in Xi’an, outside North-West University. Excellent beer food. I must have eaten thousands of them in the year I lived there. I still eat them here, around 3,000 km/1,864 miles from Xinjiang.

 

 

Lamb Skewers

 

Another lamb favourite is 孜然羊肉 (zī rán yáng ròu), Cumin lamb, a simple dish of fried lamb flavoured with whole toasted cumin seeds, chilli peppers, and coriander leaf/cilantro. It is similar to the kebabs above, but stir fried rather than grilled and is flavoured with soy sauce and Shaoxing wine.

 

Cumin Lamb

 

Also popular is 羊肉抓饭 (yáng ròu zhuā fàn). In Uygur language, this is known as polo and is a form of pilaf or pilao and is rice flavoured with cumin, onions, carrots and lamb. In some versions it is sweetened with raisins. The Chinese name means ‘hand-grasped mutton rice’, referring to it traditionally being eaten using the hands. It is usually served as a lunch dish.

 

Polo

Before leaving lamb behind, I should mention that a good Xinjiang snack food is 烤包子 (kǎo bāo zi). These are bao buns containing lamb but instead of being steamed in the usual Chinese manner, are fried or grilled.

 

Roasted Bao Buns

 

The most famous Xinjiang chicken dish has been mentioned here several times in the past. 大盘鸡 (dà pán jī), literally ‘big plate chicken’. Many of visitors assume that they are eating some ancient, traditional Muslim dish but they are wrong. The most widely accepted story of its origin is that the dish was invented in the north Xinjiang county of Shawan (沙湾县 - shā wān xiàn) in the early 1990s by an immigrant named Li Shilin from Sichuan who was trying to recreate his home town flavours, but using locally available chicken and potatoes. The inclusion of Sichuan peppercorns in nearly all recipes supports this theory as Sichuan peppercorns are not otherwise part of Xinjiang cuisine. I remember being introduced to it in Xi'an in 1997, when it was described as a 'new dish'. The dish caught on in its birthplace, then spread out along what was the Silk Road to Xi'an, then all over China. Some say it was aided in this by its popularity with long distance truck drivers.

 

Warning: When they ‘big’, they mean BIG. A normal serving is easily enough for four to five hungry people and, if they get through that, they will be served extra noodles to ‘soak up the juices’. Most restaurants offer a smaller version, which is what a friend and I normally share. It, too is more than enough.

 

Big Plate Chicken

Alternatively, instead of the noodles, some restaurants serve Xinjiang’s famous bread - 馕 (náng). Linguistically related to naan bread, this usually circular bread made from a fermeted dough, is often flavoured with, you guessed, cumin and chilli and there is a saying "One can go without eating meat for three days, but can't live one day without nang".

 

Nang Bread

 

Xinjiang is also famous for its fruit, especially 哈密瓜 (hā mì guā), Hami melon, a sweet type of large musk melon. These are ‘exported’ all over China and are highly prized. Dried fruits, especially raisins are sold on the streets of many Chinese cities by travelling vendors. This man turned up here every summer until he retired and sent his son instead.

 

Xinjiang Raisin Seller

 

and his dried grapes

 

Hami Melons

 

Also, sold on the street from carts or tricycles is 新疆切糕 (xīn jiāng qiē gāo), a type of cake made from nuts, glutinous rice, dried fruit and melon seeds. I always buy this when I see it. The main nuts used are walnuts and peanuts (technically not a nut).

 

 

Here, I can only give a brief introduction but I hope it gives an idea of the very different foods and flavours from this part of China. Why it wasn’t included in the list of eight cuisines I started from, I have no idea. It is one of the best and enjoyed everywhere.

Next? Another very different Chinese cuisine.

 

Edited January 11, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

藏菜 (zàng cài) / Tibetan: བོད་ཀྱི་ཟས་མཆོག, Tibetan (西藏) Cuisine Part One

 

Cue the Mississippi Sheiks’ Sitting on Top of the World and sit back.

 

藏菜 (zàng cài), Tibetan cuisine is one of the least well known, even within China. Internet information is sparse and often inaccurate. There are very few Tibetan restaurants outside Tibet itself. There are a few in Beijing, of which again few are authentically Tibetan. There are no Tibetan restaurants in this province, so far as I can determine.

So, I have little experience of the cuisine, although some years ago, I did go to one of the better Tibetan restaurants in Beijing. I know it was authentic as I was taken there by a Tibetan I knew and trusted.

Tibet, བོད་ལྗོངས། in Tibetan, 西藏 (xī zàng) in Chinese, is overall the highest inhabited place in the world, with an average elevation of 4,500 meters/ 14,750 ft above sea level. The capital Lhasa, Tibetan:  ལྷ་ས, Chinese 拉萨 (lā sà) sits at 3,650 m / 12,000 ft. It borders India, Nepal and Bhutan to the south and south-west. It also borders Yunnan, Sichuan, and Gansu to the west, and to the north are Qinghai Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Its population is around only four million, but another three million ethnic Tibetans live in neighbouring provinces of China as well as in other countries, especially in India.

The elevation is boosted by the Himalayas on its southern side. Tibetan: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ། (Qomolangma), which Chinese borrowed as 珠穆朗玛 (zhū mù lǎng mǎ), is what the west calls Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at around 8,850 metres / 29,000 feet and so named by Colonel Sir George Everest (1790-1866), British Surveyor-General of India (1830-1843) who, being an entitled imperialist moron, sensibly decided to name it after himself. The peak lies on the border of Tibet and Nepal. In Nepalese, it is सगरमाथा। (Sagarmatha).

 

Qomolangma

I have never been to Tibet. Two reasons.

a) It difficult to go. Despite having a residence permit supposedly covering all of China, I still require a separate permit to enter Tibet. This can only obtained by travel agents in certain cities; none where I live. Even those permits can be suspended any moment depending on the political whim of the paranoid communists. Local holidays and anniversaries are a prime target.

 

b) All travellers there are troubled to some degree by altitude sickness. My idea of an enjoyable vacation does not include gasping for air with every breath.

 

However, I have seen Tibet (and Everest). Many years ago, when I was much younger and fitter, I did visit Nepal and India and saw them from there. At that time, all of China was closed.

 

Being so high the land is mainly grasslands and mountains, cool to very cold. Little grows there, so the people, despite their strong Buddhist culture, depend very heavily on meat and dairy products. Many Tibetan Buddhists are not vegetarian as so many people presume; the Dalai Lama states in his autobiography that he eats meat. However, there are rules about what meat they can eat. Only hoofed animals are allowed. Small animals are prohibited as they are seen as wasteful. A rabbit doesn’t feed many people.

 

Vegetables, until very recently were rare. Main proteins are yak, cattle, sheep, deer, antelopes and gazelles. Fish is extremely rarely eaten. Yak predominates; it is eaten raw, cooked in many ways, dried and as sausages.

 

Yak - image 51miz.com

 

Tibetan Yak Sausages

Yak butter is ubiquitous and is used to make ཇ་མར, yak butter tea, a bit of an acquired taste. It's sweet and gamey at the same time, with a creamy milk flavour following it. Yak yogurt is thick and pleasant, thanks to its high fat content.

 

Tibetan Butter Tea

 

Their main grain is barley which does grow in these extreme conditions. A roasted barley flour known as རྩམ་པ tsampa in Tibetan, 糌粑 (zān bā) in Chinese is ground into flour which is made into bread cakes and buns, eaten as a breakfast cereal, mixed with yak butter and tea to make a kind of meatball and also made into beer and a type of barley wine called chang.

 

Tsampa

 

Mushrooms do grow there, as everywhere. The most important mushrooms economically are caterpillar fungus, Cordysep sinensis and matsutake, tricholoma matsutake, which are harvested from the wild. The locals rarely ear them. Too valuable. Most are exported to Japan where they fetch high prices.

 

Cordycep sinensis

 

Tibet has not only influenced its neighbours, but the traffic is two way. Indian curries are found, especially in Lhasa. There is also Nepalese spilt-pea pancakes and several noodle dishes from China.

 

Next time, I’ll look at some specific dishes.

 

Note all images are mine or public domain, unless stated otherwise.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

藏菜 (zàng cài) / Tibetan: བོད་ཀྱི་ཟས་མཆོག, Tibetan (西藏) Cuisine Part Two

 

I forget why I abandoned this project, if I indeed deliberately did. I was only about two-thirds of the way through my list. I came across it today, so, now I’ll resume.

 

I left it hanging for some reason after promising a part two to the previous post.

 

Here I will mention some typical Tibetan dishes. As I said before, I’ve never been to Tibet itself but have been to Tibetan restaurants in other neighbouring areas of China. Yet, this post will be lighter on images than I would prefer. The food is not that well documented (or is so very badly).

Tibet relies on barley as its staple grain. It is made into རྩམ་པ (tsampa) which is a roasted barley flour used to bake various breads known as Balep བག་ལེབ།. Perhaps the best known is Sha balep (ཤ་བག་ལེབ), which are a kind of fried beef pie which remind me of Cornish pasties!

Various noodle soups (thukpa  - ཐུག་པ)   are also popular, Among these thenthuk (འཐེན་ཐུག་) is common in the capital Lhasa.

 

Thenthuk

As said before, the main protein (and source of dairy products is yak (གཡག། - gyag)

 

Braised Yak

but celebration meals often consist of Lunggoi Katsa (ལུག་མགོ།་) which is a curried sheep’s head stew.

Tibet is also one of the few Chinese areas where they make cheese, again from yak milk. Churpi (ཆུར་བ།) comes in two types – a soft cheese and as an extremely chewy type.

 

Tibetan Cheese

I must mention momo (མོག་མོག), although these originated in northern China as jiaozi and were introduced to the Himalayas by the Mongols. Whether they went first to Nepal or Tibet and which introduced them to the other is uncertain, although I favour them being from China to Tibet then to Nepal. My reasoning is that Tibetan momos are made in the traditional jiaozi crescent shape, suggesting they are direct introductions, whereas Nepali momo are round like bao buns. Whatever, they are more popular in Nepal these days.

The Tibetan type contain yak, potato or cheese.

 

Tibetan Yak Momo
 

 

Edited June 14 by liuzhou (log)

[Smithy]

Are yaks raised for specific purposes (meat vs. dairy vs. working) or are the meat yaks typically used as working animals until they're old and tough, then slaughtered when they're of no further working use? How does the meat compare to, say, beef or sheep? And are there dedicated dairy yak breeds, the way there are dairy cows vs. meat cows?

[liuzhou]

50 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Are yaks raised for specific purposes (meat vs. dairy vs. working) or are the meat yaks typically used as working animals until they're old and tough, then slaughtered when they're of no further working use? How does the meat compare to, say, beef or sheep? And are there dedicated dairy yak breeds, the way there are dairy cows vs. meat cows?

 

I'd say a bit of both. Most are working animals, but excess males more often for meat. The working yaks are milked.

 

The meat is similar to beef but in my experience fattier. It wasn't my favourite, but interesting.

 

I have no idea about yak breeds. I'll report back if I find out.

 

I forgot to mention that dried yak dung is a common fuel in Tibet, both for heating and cooking.

 

 

[liuzhou]

海南菜 (hǎi nán cài), Hainan Cuisine

 

Unlike Tibet (above), I have been to Hainan. Unforgettable, for a very wrong reason. As I was leaving to fly back home, then plane had just reached take-off speed down the runway when the pilot slammed on the brakes and we skidded to a halt then evacuated the plane down an emergency chute. Had the pilot delayed for another second I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale. Now I know why we wear seat belts for take off. The thing nearly cut me in half.

 

About four hours later a replacement plane finally arrived to take us home. I’ve never been a happy flier and that was a nightmare.

 

Hainan has been China’s southernmost province since 1988, previously having been included in Guangdong Province. It is a beautiful tropical island and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit until I tried to leave.

 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

The food is mild, similar in many ways to Cantonese but even more heavily seafood-centric with both shellfish and ocean fish widely available. It is also coconut central in China and, unlike anywhere else, coconut features in many dishes.

 

Much of the tropical fruit I buy locally is also from Hainan.

 

Many people will think of Hainanese Chicken Rice in connection with the island, but that is actually a Singaporean / Malaysian dish introduced by Chinese immigrants. It is however, loosely based on a different dish – 文昌鸡 (wén chāng jī), Wenchang Chicken.

 

Wenchang chicken is both a yellow-skinned breed of chicken and a dish incorporating it. The breed is a small variety, always kept free range and fed on peanut bran and coconut. The birds are cooked by the white cut method of placing it whole into cold water, raising to the boil and then turning the heat off, leaving the meat to cook in the residual heat. The result is a soft, tender meat.

 

 

 

Indeed poultry is also important here, with other well known chicken, duck and goose dishes all on offer.

 

Another favourite dish is 文昌椰子鸡 (wén chāng yē zi jī),Wenchang Coconut Chicken in which the birds are poached In coconut water with coconut flesh, garlic, sand ginger, green loquat and 'facing heaven' chillies and served with rice.

 

Wenchang Coconut Chicken  - Image Meituan shopping app.

 

 嘉積鴨 (jiā jī yā), or Jiaji Duck raised by being force-fed a diet consisting of tofu and cereal three times a day, then steamed.

 

Jiaji Duck - Image: lvdaotianxia.com 

 

溫泉鵝 (wēn quán é ), Wenquan goose is a local hybrid breed which is fattened in a mix of rice bran and silage.

 

Wenquan Goose - Image: lvdaotianxia.com 

 

Most unusually for southern China. Lamb is popular here. Except it’s often actually goat! Chinese rarely distinguishes the two. 东山羊 (dōngshān yáng), Dongshan ‘lamb’ is either roasted or braised in coconut juice.

 

Dongshan 'Lamb' - Image: k.sinaimg.cn

 

Noodles dishes are common and usually served cold or at room temperature as a ward against Hainan’s heat.

 

 

Edited June 15 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

贵州菜 (guì zhōu cài) 黔菜 (qián cài)

 

I spent the years two years of March 1997 to January 1999 living in Western Hunan aka 湘西 (xiāng xī). This was and to an extent still is wild but beautiful mountainous territory and home to several ethnic minorities. Today the area is best know for 张家界 (zhāng jiā jiè), Zhangjiajie, home to China’s first national park and site of the famous mountains seen in the movie Avatar.

 

To the west is 贵州 (guì zhōu) Guizhou Province. In fact, I was much nearer to Guizhou’s capital, Guiyang than to Hunan’s capital, Changsha. So I spent a lot of time crossing and re-crossing the border.

 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

Both areas are hugely influenced by the local ethnic minorities, particularly the Miao, Dong and Tujia. These groups make up 37% of the population. Guizhou also borders the Guangxi to the south, Yunnan to the west, Sichuan to the north-west, Chongqing to the north. 

 

The cuisine reflects it’s location, being influenced by and in turn influencing its neighbours, but also incorporating the ethnic minority cuisine. This means that it is often to tell what is Guizhou cuisine and what is those of its neighbours.

 

For most Chinese, Guizhou’s major claim to fame is two-fold. First up is a type of 白酒 (bái jiǔ) baijiu, a colourless Chinese liquor, usually made from sorghum and typically measuring between 35% and 60% alcohol by volume (ABV). Despite being relatively unknown in many countries, Baijiu is the most sold liquor in the world, in 2019 outselling whisky, vodka, gin , rum and tequila combined.

 

There are various types of bai jiu, but by far the best known is 茅台 (máo tái), labelled ‘moutai’ as it is one of only a handful of products allowed to keep its pre-revolutionary romanisation. This was allowed because it was so well-known outside China and they didn’t want to lose the export market. Maotai is only made in the Guizhou city of the same name.

 

 

The most famous brand, officially dubbed China’s official beverage, is that of Kweichow Moutai (again the old romanisation), to the extent that many people incorrectly think it’s the only one. In fact, several companies make it. The only stipulation is that it’s made in Maotai city to strict standards and by strictly controlled methods. Kweichow Moutai is the world’s highest valued spirits brand. Their product can be very expensive- even the cheapest is over ¥220 /$31 USD and prices can go up to an incredible $35,000 a bottle. Maotai is served to world leaders at all official banquets. Whether such leaders like it is another story. Personally, I can’t even stand to smell it.

 

The second most famous Guizhou product is Laoganma, made by the eponymous chilli sauce and chilli crisp company founded by Tao Huabi in the 1980s in her noodle shack in Guiyang. Her product (in various permutations) is now sold around the world.

 

 

Contrary to popular belief laoganma doesn’t mean ‘angry lady’. It means ‘old godmother’ (or less often, ‘old adoptive mother’). I have met her though and she comes across as cross and miserable as she looks, despite her immense success and wealth.

 

Moving on, I feel I must talk about the minority influence on Guizhou. The province has a reputation for sour favours, the sourness being derived not from vinegars as elsewhere in China, but from fermented foods. This reputation stems entirely from the ethnic minorities, in the case of Guizhou, particularly the Miao people. (It is important to remember it also applies to other minorities and to other provinces including here in northern Guangxi and in Hunan.)

 

Pickled vegetable, known as (醃菜; yān cài) is lacto-fermented using ambient yeasts. The vegetable, often mustard leaf but many others, is salted then pressed under stones for weeks to months, then used in multiple dishes. Meat and fish are also pickled.

 

凯里 酸汤鱼 (kǎilǐ suān tāng yú), ‘Kaili sour soup fish’ is a hugely popular dish. Kaili is a city in eastern Guizhou which is considered to be the ‘capital’ of the Miao people. The name Kaili comes from their language Hmu and means ‘newly cultivated land’ The city has a large Miao population, but also the Dong and Tujia people.

 

Sour Soup Fish - image pic2.zhimg.com

 

The soup contains the pickled vegetable mentioned but also various herbs and spices, including 山胡椒  (shān hú jiāo), literally mountain pepper, but in English, ‘litsea’.  

 

Litsea Seeds

 

These seeds grow on small trees in Guizhou and Hunan provinces, as well as in Taiwan. They are distinctly lemon scented - like lemongrass - with notes of ginger and a mild pepperiness.. Locally sourced freshwater fish is simmered in this soup and makes a delicious and surprisingly filling meal.

 

Guizhou has one of the spiciest cuisines, rivalling Hunan and outstripping Sichuan. They grow and use 贵州子弹头 (guì zhōu zǐ dàn tóu) - Bullet Head Chillies which can be hard to source outside southern China. ‘Facing Heaven Chillies’ from Sichuan can be acceptably subbed.

 

Bullet Head Chillies

 

These chillies are processed in four ways.

 

1. 糊辣椒 (hú là jiāo) is heat dried chillies crushed to form a paste

2. 糍粑辣椒 (cí bā là jiāo), is made by mashing the chillies to a paste.

3. 糟辣椒 (zāo là jiāo) made by preserving minced chilli pepper ginger and garlic.

4. 烙锅辣椒 (lào guō là jiāo) is spice-flavoured chilli flakes.

 

You may be surprised to see 辣子鸡 (là zi jī), Chicken with Chillies on a Guizhou menu. It is, after best, known as a Chongqing / Sichuan dish. However Guizhou does its own, slightly different version, using the 糍粑辣椒 (cí bā là jiāo) above.

 

Carolyn Phillips, now inactive eG member, has a recipe here. She prefers the Guizhou version, I like both but lean more to the Sichuan.

 

Guizhou Laziji - Image: materials.cdn.bcebos

 

Another Guizhou dish is 腊肉炒折耳根 (là ròu chǎo shé ěr gēn). This is cured pork fried with the root of 鱼腥草 (yú xīng cǎo), ‘fish mint’, Houttuynia cordata.

 

Fish Mint Root

 

Wikipedia’s car crash of an article on Guizhou cuisine claims this ingredient is unique to Guizhou and not liked elsewhere, which comes as a great surprise to the many people of Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Japan, Vietnam and more. In fact there is strong evidence the dish was actually invented in Sichuan where it is is still made. This short video shows how to make the dish. It is subtitled but the chef is describing it in a strong Sichuan accent! Not a Guizhou accent!

 

 

 

遵义 (zūn yì) Zunyi is a city in the north of the province and is well known in China as being the location of the Zunyi Conference in 1935, where Mao became leader of the Chinese Communist Party during the Long March.

 

It is also known for 羊肉粉 (zūn yì yáng ròu fěn), Zunyi Mutton Noodles made using rice noodles,

 

Zunyi Mutton Noodles - Image: pic3.zhimg.com

 

状元 (zhuàng yuán) meant the top scorer in the highest rank of the Imperial examination system). Today it refers the highest in the Gaokao, China’s infamous college entrance exam. By extension, it also means top grade’.

So, I’m going to translate 状元蹄 (zhuàng yuán tí) as ‘top grade pig’s trotter, another renowned Guizhou dish. The trotters are simmered with 卤水 (lǔ shuǐ),an aged brine soup that includes chicken bones, pork belly and various spices, enhancing the aroma of the trotters. Some lu shui have been used for decades.

 

Zhuangyuan Trotters -  Image: news.2500sz.com

 

Now that we’ve seen of any lingering vegetarians with that image, I will reveal that Guizhou does cater to them in the form of 丝娃娃 (sī wá wa), vegetarian spring rolls. The name does carry very childish connotations in Chinese!

 

 

All uncredited images are mine.

Edited Monday at 06:47 AM by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

安徽菜 (ān huī cài) Anhui Cuisine, 徽菜 (huī cài) Hui Cuisine

 

安徽 (ān huī), Anhui Province is on the Traditional list of the Eight Cuisines of China, yet it remains the least known, even within China. There are, I would suggest, stronger candidates, not that there is anything wrong with Anhui cuisine. It is however seriously outshone by its neighbours.

 

Anhui, capital Hefei, is in eastern China. 

 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

It is known for its use of wild foods terrestrial, airborne and aquatic. Wild herbs, wild mushrooms and bamboo shoots are widely used as are game meats. Although it is landlocked both fresh- and seawater fish are widely used.

 

Techniques such as braising, boiling or steaming are used much more than the rest of China and stir frying or deep frying much less.

 

Anhui is also known for being the alleged birthplace of 豆腐 (dòu fu), tofu or soy bean curd. Chinese folklore credits its invention to a Han dynasty prince named 刘安 (liú ān), Liu An, not that princes tend in my very limited experience of such people to indulge in kitchen matters. Sadly, tofu did not grant him longevity as he took his own life at the age of 57. I don’t think that was brought about by tofu, though.

 

Also, according to Chinese legend, stinky tofu (fermented tofu) was invented by one aspiring scholar, 王致和 (wáng zhì hé), Wang Zhihe who sold his product in Beijing to make a living after failing the imperial examination. He later became a writer; not a chef. Chefs never invent foods in Chinese legends. Chefs never became legendary. His claim to stnky tofu is dubious as different types appear across China, including Taiwn. 八公山臭豆腐 (bā gōng shān chòu dòu fu), Bagong mountain stinky tofu is a traditional local snack in Anhui.

 

Bagong mountain stinky tofu

 

蛋饺 (dàn jiǎo), also reputed to be from Anhui but found across China today, are jiaozi dumplings with a twist. Instead of the wrapper being made from wheat flour, it is egg. Sort of a one bite omelette, in fact. Fillings vary widely but pork and chives is most common.

 

Dan Jiao

 

Discovering Dan Jiao: A Lunar New Year Dumpling Delight 🥟✨#recipe #shorts - YouTube

 

One interesting dish from Anhui, 李鸿章杂碎 (lǐ hóng zhāng zá suì), Li Hongzhuang Hotchpotch. This wasn’t invented by Li Hongzhang, a prominent Qing dynasty statesman from Anhui but named so in his honour. The name is often translated as Li Hongzhuang Chop Suey, surely a misnomer. It doesn’t resemble what most of us know as chop suey in any way. The dish is in fact a soup, using among among other ingredients sea cucumber, fish, squid, bamboo, dry tofu, chicken, ham and assorted vegetables.

 

Lihongzhuang Hotchpotch - Image: n.sinaimg.cn

 

The province is also known for sweet potato cellophane noodles 红薯粉丝 (hóng shǔ fěn sī), usually sold dried. These I find a bit gummy.

 

Sweet Potato Noodles

 

Steamed stone frogs 清蒸石蛙 (qīng zhēng shí wā) are ugly critters resembling, you guesses, stones. However, once skinned and cooked, they are delicious. One of my favourites.

 

 

黄山炖鸽子(huáng shān dùn gē zi), Huangshan Braised Pigeon is considered to be a medical tonic served in soup. TCM nonsense as usual. There is no scientific for any significant benefit, but it tastes good. When In I need a tonic, I add gin and maybe a slice of lime, but no pigeon or soup.

 

Pigeon Soup - Image: guangyuanol.cn

 

Finally, 臭鳜鱼 (chòu guì yú), stinky mandarin fish sounds terrible, but isn’t so bad. It’s just fermented then fried fish. Nothing like Icelandic hákarl, fermented shark or Swedish surströmming, fermented herring!

 

Stinky Fish

 

Otherwise uncredited images are from Meituan online shopping app.

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 02:38 PM by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

 

山西菜 (shān xī cài), Shanxi Cuisine, 晋菜 (jìn cài) Jin Cuisine

 

This won’t take long.

 

Shanxi Province (山西), not to be confused with Shaanxi (陕西)*, its neighbouring province to the west, is in the north of China, also bordering Hebei to the east, Henan to the south and Inner Mongolia to the north. The capital is Taiyuan. The region has a reputation in China for being poor and very conservative. It is China’s largest coal-mining province and also host to satellite launching sites.

 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

Unlike most of China, they eat pork much less and little beef (with none exception), Shanxi people tend to favour lamb, mutton or goat much more.

 

The cuisine is not well known (or much liked) in the rest of China, with only a few exceptions. These are vinegar and noodles. I tend to agree with the rest of China apart from these exceptions and despite my love of sheep and goats, I believe this is the least appealing province in China in which to eat to eat.

 

So, the exceptions:

 

山西老陈醋 (shān xī lǎo chén cù), literally Shanxi aged vinegar, is a type of dark vinegar made in the province, as it has been done for over three centuries. It is one of the most popular dark vinegars in China, only outshone by Zhenjiang vinegar from Jiangsu province. This vinegar is inexplicably rendered as 'Chinkiang vinegar' only in North America.

 

At a minimum, the vinegar is aged for 9 months before being sold, but better quality examples can be up to ten years old. The vinegar can be used as a condiment, but is more commonly used in prepared dishes as an ingredient. It is a protected origin product in China.

 

Shanxi Aged Vinegar

 

A couple of foods traditionally ascribed to Shanxi have made their way into neighbouring provinces and beyond – especially its noodles where they have been popularised. 刀削面 (dāo xiāo miàn), or knife shaved noodles are one such example. These are made, as the name suggest by the chef taking a lump of dough and theatrically shaving off small pieces directly into boiling water.

 

Knife Shaved Noodles  - Image: p1.ssl.qhmsg.com

 

猫耳朵 (māo ěr duo) literally ‘cat’s ears’ are basically a Chinese version of the Italian orecchiette pasta and found everywhere. There are some in my pantry, many, many miles from Shanxi and bought five minutes away from home.

 

Cat's Ears - Image: n.sinaimg.cn

 

Then we have 凉皮 (liáng pí), literally ‘cold skin (noodles), reportedly another Shanxi invention, but now probably much more associated with Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi. These are rice noodles made from the starch extracted from the rice by long soaking. It then forms a soft paste which is sliced into noodles.

 

Liangpi

 

Despite the general disinterest in beef, Pinyao, an ancient city in central Shanxi has a long tradition of making 平遥牛肉 (píng yáo niú ròu), a type of cooked and pickled calf leg.

 

Pingyao Beef - Image: pic.nximg.cn

 

Almost finally, I’m going to get in your head and play with your brain. Two perhaps odd Shanxi dishes.

 

First up is 傅山头脑 (fù shān tóu nǎo), Fushan brains which, like many people has no brains. It is a winter soup made from lamb, rice wine, yam and other spices. It is named after Fu Shan (1607–1684), a scholar and artist from Taiyuan. Maybe he had the brains.

 

Fushan Brains - image: static.yueya.ne

 

Then, if you’ll still short of brains we have 太原头脑 (tài yuán tóu nǎo), literally ‘Taiyhuan brains’ from the capital (pun intended) city. It is still brainless. It’s a kind of porridge with mutton, rice wine, and various vegetables and TCM herbage that do nothing they claim to do.

 

Taiyuan Brains - Image: soho.co

 

Finally, the most popular local spirit is 汾酒 (fén jiǔ), Fenjiu, a "light fragrance" variety of sorghum baijiu that is generally sweeter than other northern Chinese spirits. It is the most palatable type of baijiu for most people – but only just. Maybe it’s this that has done for their brains.

 

Fenjiu

 

Next, I’ll go to somewhere more interesting.

 

* I known these province names seem ridiculously similar to most western ears and did to me for a while. I could never remember where I lived when I was in Xi’an. However, they are not in the least confusing to native Chinese speakers’ ears or eyes. Different characters and different tones. The double ‘a’ in Shaanxi is one of the few times pinyin breaks it own rules, but was introduced to placate ignorant foreigners like me.

 

Otherwise uncredited images are mine.

 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 05:53 AM by liuzhou (log)

[Smithy]

Very cleverly written, @liuzhou. Thanks for the giggles!

[liuzhou]

江西菜 (jiāng xī cài) Jiangxi Cuisine, 赣菜 (gàn cài) Gan Cuisine

 

Jiangxi Province lies on the south bank of the Yangtse River and borders Anhui to the north, Zhejiang north-east, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west and Hubei to the north-west. Despite bordering five of the eight traditional cuisines of China, it never ranked itself.

 

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This may be because rather than elegant fancy dishes, Jiangxi has a reputation for a more homely style of cooking, even in its restaurants – not that that is a negative criticism. It is also the most eastern of China’s provinces with a reputation for spiciness, with chilli peppers often be using as a vegetable rather than a seasoning. They also often make heavy use of fermented black beans.

 

Jiangxi Chopped Mixed Chillies

 

Simmering and stir-frying are the major techniques used and cold or raw dish are very rarely featured. The abundance of freshwater (Jiangxi is landlocked) leads to plethora of fish dishes, often stewed and served at popular fish banquets. Smoked and dried meat is often cooked.

 

Unusually, compared to most of China, most of Jiangxi’s frying employs 山茶油 (shān chá yóu), camellia oil, aka tea seed oil as its go-to. That said it is also widely used here in Guangxi and in Hunan among the ethnic minorities. Do not confuse it with tea tree oil, which is inedible.

 

Camellia Oil

 

Perhaps the most famous dish from this province is 宁都三杯鸡 (níng dū sān bēi jī), Ningdu Three Cup Chicken, although there is another version in Taiwan. This dish originated among the Hakka people of Jiangxi and the name refers to the sauces used in its preparation, usually soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. It is cooked in an earthenware pot until all the liquids have been absorbed and served dry.

 

Sanbei Ji - Image: pic. niximg.cn

 

Another is a unique collection of ingredients is used in a dish called 庐山三石 (lú shān sān shí), Lushan Three Stones. No. you’re not expected to be eating stones, although I've been in some restaurant where I suspected I might be. The three stones refers to:

 

a) 庐山石鸡 (lú shān shí jī), literally stone chicken, but actually here meaning a type of frog – stone frog which lives in rocky outcrops and caves. Some regard it as tasting like chicken; I think it tastes like frog.

b) 庐山石鱼 (lú shān shí yú), stone fish is a freshwater variety which lives in the waterfalls or springs around Mount Lu and builds its nest in stone crevices.

 

c) 庐山石耳 (lú shān shí ěr), stone mushroom, a type of wild wood ear growing on steep cliffs.

 

These all are found only in Jiangxi and are relatively expensive due to their rarity, making this a more luxurious dish than most in the area.

 

Three Stones - Image: httpnwzimg.cn

 

Of the smoked foods, 萍乡烟熏肉 (píng xiāng yān xūn ròu), Pingxiang salted and smoked meat is the best known meat but also 井岗烟笋 (jǐng gǎng yān sǔn), Jinggang stir-fry smoked bamboo' is a favourite.

 

Pickled Bamboo Shoot

Another common fish dish 鄱湖胖鱼头 (pó hú pán yú tóu) is a big head carp from Poyu lake

 

Big Head Fish Image: sinaimg.cn
 

Finally,  粉蒸肉 (fěnzhēngròu), rice steamed meat is a classic Jiangxi dish with which comes in two forms – beef or pork. It is fatty pork belly or beef mixed with spices and ground rice and then steamed until soft.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 02:50 PM by liuzhou (log)

[Ddanno]

Wonderful thread, thank you liuzhou

Edited 16 hours ago by Ddanno (log)

[liuzhou]

湖北菜 (hú běi cài), Hubei Cuisine, 楚菜 (chǔ cài ), Chu Cuisine

 

Hubei borders Henan to the north, Anhui and Jiangxi to the east, Hunan to the south, and Chongqing and Shaanxi the west. The famous Three Gorges Dam is located at Yichang in the west of the province. Hunan means ‘south of the lake’, whereas Hubei means ‘north of the lake’, the lake being Dongting Lake, China’s second largest freshwater lake. Unsurprisingly this has an impact on the cuisine and it is also well-known in Chinese culture as the place of origin of rice, dragon boat racing and is home to the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise.

 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

The recorded history of Hubei cuisine as known today stretches back over 2,000 years with recipes and descriptions recorded in the text known as the ‘Chuchi’ of Qu Yuan.

 

Clearly, water is important here. Not only is it in the lake but also in the five main rivers feeding the lake as well as many minor lakes, irrigating Hubei and Hunan’s fertile lands as well as supplying freshwater fish, far from the sea. I didn’t eat a seawater fish in all the time I lived in Hunan in the 1990s. It is said that Hubei’s waters are home to over 50 different fish species.

 

The watery aspect of their life extends perhaps into their meals. Soups are particularly popular. These are made using the usual meats beef, chicken, pork etc, but pork rib with lotus roots is probably favourite and has now spread across the nation. I avoid it. It’s what every hospital in China serves you to ‘build you up’.

 

Turtle soup is considered the most nutritious, but I don’t see how. You’re unlikely to get that on your sickbed however – too expensive. The range of vegetation you might find in your soup besides lotus root is infinite.

 

They also love to play with balls. Meat balls, fish balls, prawn balls turn up in your soup, or elsewhere. There are literally hundreds of variations and even ‘ball restaurants’ around town. So go to Hubei and have a ball!

 

Two things more stand out in their cuisine. First is an aversion to using colourful garnishes or decorations on their food, instead believing that to truly appreciate the meal you should be able to see the food as nature intended and dishes are required to maintain the original colour, taste and sauce while cooking.

 

The other is that Hubei dishes are often served with multiple ingredients in any one dish in combinations you might not expect. Fish, pork, crab and tofu or anything else could turn up together in any one dish.

 

Some dishes.

 

I guess it makes sense to start with breakfast. This is arguably Wuhan, Hubei’s capital’s favourite breakfast. 热干面 (rè gān miàn) the rather prosaic sounding ‘hot dry noodles’. These are eaten by workers rushing to their labours, by schoolkids dawdling to school, by everyone. Of course they aren’t just hot dry noodles. The come mixed with  soy sauce, sesame paste, pickled vegetables (carrots and beans), chopped garlic chives and chili oil at minimum and can be bought from street carts up to restaurants, from down at the docks to plush business areas. Truly, the people’s food.

 

Hot Dry Noodles

 

Later we might have 龙凤配 (lóng fèng pèi), Dragon and Phoenix. This is a stew of, not of Hollywood stars, but good old fish and chicken. This is also a popular dish to serve at wedding banquets. China likes dragons – whereas they are generally considered heralds of evil in the west, in China they are the polar opposite. Similarly phoenixes are good, signifying rebirth. Chickens’ feet are served as ‘phoenix claws’.

 

Dragon and Phoenix

 

Yingshan is a county in the east of the province and well-known for its dish 应山滑肉 (yìng shān huá ròu), a dish of fatty pork belly in a sauce. This is an ancient dish sometimes called Yingshan Smooth Pork. It was, according to legend, invented when Taizong, the second Emperor of the Tang Dynasty lost his appetite and his chef saved the day. Most Chinese dishes have a fanciful story!

 

Emperor's Fat Pork

 

红烧野鸭 (hóng shāo yě yā) is a captive-reared mallard, braised with sugar. This I was wary of. I was concerned it may be too sweet for me, but it was OK – not up there with a roast duck, though. I have no objection to braised dusk but prefer it in wine. Then I discovered it is just actually "red-cooked" i.e. braised in soy sauce with a little rock sugar.

 

Braised Mallard

 

红菜苔炒腊肉 (hóng cài tāi chǎo là ròu) The menu in one restaurant (unusually in English) described this as sautéed preserved pork with red vegetables – not very helpful. It’s actually cured pork with Chinese kale. They got the ‘sautéed’ part right!

 

Red Kale with Cured Pork - Image: pic.nximg.cn

 

And finally, for your encouragement and well-being, a recipe for Hubei’s favourite contribution to the health service, 排骨藕汤 (pái gǔ ǒu tāng) Lotus Root Soup, supplied by Hubei government.

 

Get Well Soon

 

 

[liuzhou]

... and so I reach the end of my quest.

I have covered 26 distinct cuisines here (but there are countless subcategories.

 

There are more provinces but they are mostly very similar do their neighbours and I don't think merit a 'cuisine' category of their own.

 

Hong Kong and Macao I'm leaving out, too. When they are being Chinese they are predominantly Cantonese but are also heavily influenced by Europe and beyond, particularly the UK for HK and Portuguese for Macao.

 

Finally, the cuisine my home region of Guangxi has its own topic here where I've dived deeper.

 

.

Edited 14 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

Thanks a lot for this.  I'm sure it entailed hours of research and writing - I, for one, truly appreciate it.

[Smithy]

Truly, it's been a labor of love and a glimpse into a country and its regions that many of us on this forum are unlikely to experience firsthand. And if I, personally, am ever offered "dragon and phoenix" I'll jump at the chance!

 

Thank you.