Chinese Cuisine Overview

Chinese cuisine originated from various parts of China. The regional cultures in China differentiate greatly from each other, giving rise to different styles of food. The vast Chinese geography and long history created the richness and varieties of Chinese cooking. China gains the highest reputation in the world for its culinary culture, and is known as the “three major culinary kingdoms” together with France and Turkey. Chinese cuisines belong to one of the Four Schools: Lu (Shandong), Yue (Guangdong), Chuan (Sichuan) and Su (Jiangsu). The School of Lu is the largest due to its history.

Four Leading Cuisines:

Cantonese (Guangdong), Sichuan, Shandong and Huaiyang (Jiangsu) cuisine are often reputed as standouts of Chinese cuisine and are proclaimed as the Four Big Cuisines of China.

Eight Major Cuisines:

Extended from the Four Cuisines, there are eight main regional cuisines called as the Eight Big Cuisines of China, listed as: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang Cuisine.

Ten Great Cuisines:

Occasionally, Beijing cuisine and Shanghai cuisine are also cited along with the aforementioned eight regional styles as the Ten Big Cuisines of China.

Vegetarian and Halal Food:

There are also featured Buddhist and Muslim sub-cuisines within the greater Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on vegetarian and halal-based diets respectively.

Feature and taste of each cuisines:

1. Guangdong (Yue) or Cantonese cuisine (Yue Cai) comes from Guangdong Province in Southern China, specifically from Guangzhou (Canton). Of all the varieties of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese food is best known in the world as ‘Chinese food’. The prominence outside China is due to its palatability to Westerners and the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong.

Representative dishes:

Chinese steamed eggs (Zheng Shui Dan)

Congee with century egg (Pi Dan Zhou)

Cantonese fried rice (Chao Fan)

Sweet and sour pork (Gu Lu Rou)

Steamed spare ribs (paigu) with fermented black beans and chili pepper (Chi Jiao Pai Gu)

Stir-fried vegetables with meat (e.g. chicken, pork or beef) (Qing Cai Chao Rou Pian)

Steamed frog legs on lotus leaf (He Ye Zheng Tian Ji)

Steamed ground pork and salted duck egg (Xian Dan Zheng Rou Bing)

Blanched vegetables with oyster sauce (Hao You You Cai)

Stir fried water convolvulus with shredded chili and fermented tofu (Jiao Si Fu Ru Tong Cai)

2. Sichuan, Szechuan or Szechwan (Chuan) cuisine (Chuan Cai) is a style of Chinese cuisine originating in the Sichuan Province of southwestern China which is famed for its spicy food with chili and wild pepper (Chinese red pepper) commonly used.

Representative dishes:

Kung Pao chicken (Gong Bao Ji Ding)

Tea Smoked Duck (Zhang Cha Ya)

Twice Cooked Pork (Hui Guo Rou)

Mapo dofu (Ma Po Dou Fu)

Fuqi Feipian (Fu Qi Fei Pian)

Chongqing Spicy Deep-Fried Chicken (Chongqing La Zi Ji)

Shuizhu, or literally "Water cooked", fish (Shui Zhu Yu)

Dan dan noodles and Bon bon chicken (Dan Dan Mian)

3. Shandong (Lu) cuisine (Lu Cai) is derived from the native cooking styles of Shandong, an eastern coastal province of China. Shandong cuisine consists of two major styles:

Jiaodong style is characterized by seafood cooking, with light tastes.

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

Representative dishes:

Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallion (Cong Shao Hai Shen)

Braised Mullet Egg (Chao Wu Yu Dan)

Braised Shark’s Fin with Crab Cream (Xie Huang Yu Chi)

Dezhou Grilled Chicken (Dezhou Pa Ji)

Braised Walnut-Shape Pork with Milk (Nai Tang Leng Tao Ren)

4. Jiangsu (Su) cuisine (Su Cai) 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 so soft but would not separate from the bone when being 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.

Representative dishes:

Mud-baked chicken (Jiao Hua Zi Ji)

Mandarin Fish with sweet and sour sauce (Tang Cu Gui Yu)

Sautéed Chicken Slices in Egg-White (Fu Rong Ji Pian)

Nanjing salted duck (Yan Shui Ya)

Steamed crab meat and minced pork balls (Qing Dun Xie Fen Shi Zi Tou)

Steamed hilsa herring (Qing Zheng Shi Yu)

5. Fujian (Min) Cuisine (Min Cai) consists of Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen Cuisine. Fujian Cuisine is distinguished for its choice seafood, beautiful color and magic taste of sweet, sour, salty and savory. The most distinct features are their "pickled taste".

6. Zhejiang (Zhe) Cuisine (Zhe Cai) comprise local cuisines of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing. Zhejiang Cuisine, not greasy, wins its reputation for freshness, tenderness, softness, smoothness of its dishes with mellow fragrance. Hangzhou Cuisine is the most famous one among the three.

7. Hunan (Xiang) cuisine (Xiang Cai) consists of local Cuisines of Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi coteau. It characterizes itself by thick and pungent flavor. Chili, pepper and shallot are usually necessaries in this division.

8. Anhui (Hui) Cuisine (Hui Cai) chefs focus much more attention on the temperature in cooking and are good at braising and stewing. Often hams will be added to improve taste and sugar candy added to gain

9. Beijing (Jin) cuisine (Jin Cai) is also formally known as Mandarin cuisine, which has been influenced by culinary traditions from all over China, especially by the Shandong cuisine. Beijing cuisine also features itself in imperial and aristocrat cuisine since it has been the capital city for centuries, and thousands of cooks from the different parts of China showed their best cooking skills to please royal families and officials. Therefore, it is 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, sesame paste, sesame oil, and scallions, and fermented tofu is often served as a condiment. In terms of cooking method, ways of frying is often used.

Well known Mandarin dishes:

Peking Duck (usually served with pancakes) (Beijing Kao Ya)

Instant-boiled mutton (Shuan Yang Rou)

Sweetened Vinegar Spareribs (Tang Cu Pai Gu)

Stir Fried Tomatoes with Scrambled Eggs (Xi Hong Shi Chao Ji Dan)

Fried Small Meatballs (Zha Xiao Wan Zi)

Sauced Meat (Jiang Rou)

Wood shavings meat (Moo shu pork)

Roast (Mutton/Beef/Pork (Shao Niu/Yang/Zhu Rou)

Peking Dumpling (Beijing Jiaozi)

Peking wonton (Beijing Hun Tun)

Soft fried fish (Ruan Zha Yu)

Fish cooked with vinegar and pepper (Cu Jiao Yu)

Fish soaked with soup (Gan Shao Yu)

Fried tofu with egg wrapping (Guo Ta Do Fu)

Soft fried tenderloin (Ruan Zha Li Ji)

Noodles with Thick Gravy (Da Lu Mian)

Zhajiang mian (Zha Jiang Mian)

10. Shanghai (Hu) cuisine (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.

The use of sugar is common in Shanghainese cuisine and, especially when used in combination with soy sauce, effuses foods and sauces with a taste that is not so much sweet but rather savory. Non-natives tend to have difficulty identifying this usage of sugar and are often surprised when told of the "secret ingredient." The most notable dish of this type of cooking is "sweet and sour spare ribs" ("tangcu xiaopai" in Shanghainese). "Red cooking" is a popular style of stewing meats and vegetables associated with Shanghai.

Distribution of Traditional Four schools of Chinese Cuisine:

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