On November 16, the “Sixth World Sichuan Cuisine Conference” officially opened in Guang’an, Sichuan. The conference released the “High-Quality Development Report of Sichuan Cuisine Industry (2023)”. The report shows that as of the first half of 2023, the number of Sichuan cuisine stores has exceeded 320,000, far exceeding the number of stores of Cantonese cuisine, Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisines and other cuisines. It is truly the largest cuisine in the country. Spicy, spicy, green pepper and other flavors have become consumers’ favorites. The favorite flavor of Sichuan cuisine provides flavor guidance for the development of innovative Sichuan cuisine. It turns out that Sichuan cuisine is not just spicy. It is worth mentioning that in 2021, the Michelin list will officially land in Chengdu, becoming the fourth Michelin city after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. Do you like Sichuan food?
Introduction to the eight major Chinese cuisines:
The eight major cuisines recognized in China are Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Anhui cuisine, Hunan cuisine and Fujian cuisine.
The eight major cuisines are infiltrated with the Confucian spiritual pursuit of “never tire of fine food, never tire of fine food”. After hundreds of years of inheriting ancient methods and innovations, the cooking techniques are rich and the dishes taste mellow, laying the foundation for Chinese cuisine to be fine, moderate, delicious, beautiful and healthy. good foundation.
Characteristics of the eight major cuisines:
Sichuan cuisine is spicy and fragrant, heavy in oil and flavour;
Cantonese food is rich in color, smooth but not greasy;
Shandong cuisine is fragrant and tender, and the soup is rich and mellow;
Jiangsu vegetables are fresh, crispy and slightly sweet in taste;
Zhejiang cuisine is delicious, crispy and tender, and the food tastes like the scenery;
Anhui cuisine has simple ingredients and mellow taste;
Hunan cuisine uses a wide range of ingredients and is fragrant, sour and spicy;
Fujian cuisine is mainly seafood, sour, sweet and salty.
1
Sichuan cuisine
Characteristics of Sichuan cuisine: spicy and fragrant, famous for its rich, wide, thick and rich flavors. It enjoys the reputation of “one dish, one style, one hundred dishes and one hundred flavors”.
Representative dishes: Kung Pao chicken, fish-flavored shredded pork, boiled fish, couple’s lung slices, etc.
1. Kung Pao Chicken is made with chicken as the main ingredient and supplemented with peanuts, chili and other auxiliary ingredients. It tastes red but not spicy, spicy but not strong, and the meat is smooth. It is served with crispy peanuts. Makes one’s mouth water. Legend has it that this dish was introduced from Shandong in the Qing Dynasty and originated from Shandong cuisine’s “Sauce-fried Chicken”.
2. Fish-flavored shredded pork. This dish is made from stir-fried pork tenderloin shreds soaked in chili peppers, ginger, garlic, sugar and vinegar. It is salty, sour and sweet, with a rich onion, ginger and garlic aroma.
3. Boiled fish is usually made from fresh grass carp, bean sprouts, peppers and other ingredients. Its characteristics are “oily but not greasy, spicy but not dry, numb but not bitter, and the meat is smooth and tender”.
4. Husband and wife lung slices are made with beef scalp, beef heart, beef tongue, tripe and beef as the main ingredients, then sliced into slices, with chili oil, pepper noodles and other auxiliary ingredients, and red oil is poured on top to serve. The taste is soy and spicy.
2
Cantonese cuisine
Characteristics of Cantonese cuisine: The color is heavy and smooth but not greasy, focusing on frying, deep-frying, braising, stewing, etc. The taste is characterized by refreshing, light, crisp and fresh.
Representative dishes: roasted suckling pig, sweet and sour sweet and sour pork, baked lobster in soup, eight-treasure winter melon cup, etc.
1. Roast suckling pig: It is characterized by thin and crispy skin, tender meat and crispy bones, which melts in your mouth. It is one of the Cantonese roasted dishes.
2. Sweet and Sour Sweet and Sour Pork: Features golden color, crispy outside and soft inside, crispy skin and tender meat, sweet and sour taste. It enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad.
3. Baked lobster in soup: A seafood delicacy made with lobster as the main ingredient and served with broth, which is especially suitable for nourishing consumption.
4. Eight-treasure winter melon cup: Dice lean pork, chicken, ham, shrimp, mushrooms, magnolia, scallops, etc., add refined salt, monosodium glutamate, cooked lard, and appropriate amount of water, and steam in a cage over high heat. This dish is white in color, tender and soft in winter melon meat, and has a fragrant flavor. It is a delicious seasonal delicacy.
3
Shandong cuisine
Characteristics of Shandong cuisine: It is rich and fragrant, with a preference for onion and garlic condiments, especially seafood, various animal offal and soups.
Representative dishes: Nine-turn large intestine, stir-fried kidney, sweet and sour carp, roasted sea cucumber with green onions, fried clams, braised mullet and egg soup, etc.
1. Nine-turn large intestine is a representative dish of Shandong cuisine and a traditional famous dish in Jinan City, Shandong Province. It was pioneered by the owner of Jiuhualin Restaurant in Jinan in the early years of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. It was first called “Braised Large Intestine” and later changed its name to “Jiuzhuan Large Intestine”. This dish is ruddy in color, soft and tender in texture, and has all five flavors of sour, sweet, fragrant, spicy and salty. It is rated as one of the top ten classic dishes in Shandong “Chinese Cuisine”.
2. Stir-fried kidneys, a classic dish in Shandong cuisine. The mastery of heat when stir-frying kidney beans, sour and sweet taste, are all chef’s competitive skills. This dish tastes particularly tender and leaves a fragrant aroma on your lips and teeth. When you eat it, it feels like it slides into your throat, which is very refreshing.
3. Sweet and sour carp, the most representative dish of Shandong cuisine. The fried carp looks like a carp leaping over a dragon gate, which is very beautiful. The fish body looks particularly bright red after being poured with sauce, and the taste is crispy and sweet, so it has been recognized by many people.
4. Grilled sea cucumber with green onion, using water-cooked sea cucumber and scallions as the main ingredients. The sea cucumber has a soft and smooth texture. The scallions are a specialty of Zhangqiu and have a sweet flavor. Sea cucumber is one of the eight delicacies and is also a very nutritious food. It can improve memory and prevent arteriosclerosis. Therefore, this dish is a famous dish that is both delicious and healthy.
4
Jiangsu cuisine
Characteristics of Jiangsu cuisine: fresh, fragrant and crispy, with a slightly sweet taste. The cooking techniques are famous for stewing, braising, and simmering, and emphasis is placed on adjusting the soup to maintain the original juice.
Representative dishes: squirrel mandarin fish, duck blood vermicelli soup, Qingong meatballs, Nanjing saltwater duck, etc.
1. Squirrel Mandarin Fish (Squirrel Mandarin Fish) is a local traditional dish in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. When the fried mandarin fish (or mandarin fish) is served and poured with steaming marinade, it starts to “squeak” and gets its name because its sound is like a squirrel. Emperor Qianlong once tasted this dish. The characteristics of this dish are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, orange in color, sweet and sour in taste, and has a pine-red aroma.
2. Duck blood vermicelli soup is a traditional famous dish in Nanjing and an important representative dish in Jinling cuisine. Duck blood vermicelli soup is made from duck blood, duck intestines, duck liver, etc., added to duck soup and vermicelli. It is popular all over the country for its mild, fresh and smooth taste, as well as its taste characteristics that are suitable for both north and south.
3. Qingong meatballs are a traditional Huaiyang dish. They were once a famous tribute in the Qing Dynasty, so they are also called “Qinggong meatballs”. It has been produced for hundreds of years and is one of the top ten famous dishes in Jiangsu Province. Its characteristics are: smooth, tender, elastic, white in color, thick in soup, and delicious in taste. There is a saying that “drop it on the ground and jump a few times, and it will be tender and fragrant in your mouth.” Eating meatballs regularly also has therapeutic effects such as fitness and beauty, replenishing vital energy, and improving immunity.
4. Nanjing salted duck is a famous specialty of Nanjing and one of the important representatives of Jinling cuisine. Nanjing has a long history of producing salted duck. The produced salted duck has white skin, tender meat, fat but not greasy, and is fragrant, crispy and tender. When the sweet-scented osmanthus blooms around the Mid-Autumn Festival, the salted duck has the best color and taste, so it is also called sweet-scented osmanthus duck.
5
Zhejiang cuisine
Characteristics of Zhejiang cuisine: tender and smooth, mellow and glutinous, refreshing and not greasy.
Representative dishes: West Lake Fish in Vinegar, Dongpo Pork, Longjing Shrimp, Lotus Leaf Steamed Pork, etc.
1. West Lake Vinegar Fish, also known as Shusao Chuanzhen, is one of the top ten classic dishes in Zhejiang and one of the four famous dishes in Hangzhou. It belongs to Hangzhou cuisine. West Lake vinegar fish began in the Southern Song Dynasty. According to legend, Emperor Gaozong traveled to the West Lake in a dragon boat and praised the fish so much that he was later regarded as the “master” of vinegar fish. This dish has a bright red color, tender fish meat with a crab flavor, sweet and sour taste, and is unique.
2. Dongpo Pork, a famous dish in Hangzhou, is based on Xuzhou’s gift meat and is one of the “Four Dongpo delicacies” in Xuzhou. According to legend, it was created by Su Dongpo. Dongpo Pork is a dish with bright red color, half fat and half lean meat, fat but not greasy, with a winey, sweet and salty aroma in the mouth.
3. Longjing Shrimp, a famous traditional dish in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. This dish is fresh and soft, with white and tender shrimps, fragrant buds and leaves, and green color. The shrimp has the aroma of tea, and the tea has shrimp freshness, which will leave you with an endless aftertaste. Longjing Shrimp is rated as one of the top ten classic dishes in Zhejiang Province.
4. Steamed pork with lotus leaves and rice flour is a special traditional dish in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, belonging to Zhejiang cuisine. In the late Qing Dynasty, it was said that its name was related to the “Fenghe Fenghe” in “Ten Scenic Spots of West Lake”. It is steamed with fresh lotus leaves from Hangzhou, wrapped in fried rice noodles and seasoned pork. The characteristics of steamed pork with lotus leaf powder are that the lotus leaves can cool the blood and detoxify, the meat is crispy and the rice flour is soft and waxy, and the meat is fragrant and fat but not greasy.
6
Hunan cuisine
The characteristics of Hunan cuisine are heavy oil, rich color, spicy, fragrant, soft and tender; the preparation methods are famous for simmering, stewing, curing, steaming and stir-frying.
Representative dishes: fish head with chopped pepper, Xiangxi grandma’s dish, Jishou sour pork, Yongzhou blood duck, etc.
1. Fish head with chopped pepper, steamed with bighead carp head and chopped pepper as the main ingredients, and supplemented with soy sauce, ginger, onion, garlic and other auxiliary ingredients. The dishes are bright red in color, rich in flavor and tender in texture. Fat but not greasy, soft and waxy, fresh and spicy.
2. Grandma’s dish in western Hunan, using pickled prunes (potherb mustard), dried radish, dried cowpeas, shredded cabbage, etc., and adding white chili pepper (bu chili), ginger, red pepper, vegetable oil, salt, garlic, chives, etc. Stir-fry and serve.
Features: Spicy and delicious, excellent bibimbap, delicious texture, appetizing with rice.
3. Jishou Sour Pork is a dish made from fatty pork. The ingredients include fatty pork, refined salt, pepper powder, corn flour, dried red chili peppers, green garlic, peanut oil, vinegar, etc.
Characteristics: yellow in color, spicy, slightly sour, fat but not greasy, with a unique flavor.
4. Yongzhou blood duck, choose 2-3 pounds of live duck, slaughter the duck and keep the blood for later use, and cut the duck meat into pieces. Use an iron pot to add peanut oil. When the oil is 70% hot, add the chopped ginger, onions, garlic and dried red peppers and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the eggplant cubes and coriander and stir-fry. Then add the duck cubes and stir-fry. Then add the soup. Simmer. Add the duck blood to the sauce, stir-fry, add cooking wine, pepper, and sesame oil and serve.
Features: This duck blood-brown dish is bright, black and red, spicy in taste, tender in meat, rich in oil and rich in gravy, salty and delicious, and can be eaten with wine or rice.
7
Anhui cuisine
Characteristics of Anhui cuisine: simple selection of ingredients and mellow taste. It uses ham for flavor and rock sugar for freshness. It is good at stewing and is particular about firework.
Representative famous dishes: Huizhou smelly mandarin fish, gourd duck, Huangshan cured fish and Huizhou Yipin hotpot, etc.
1. Huizhou stinky mandarin fish is a traditional famous dish in Huizhou. This “flavored mandarin fish” smells bad but tastes delicious. The meat is tender, mellow and refreshing, maintaining the original flavor of mandarin fish. The production process is very particular. The fresh mandarin fish is marinated in a wooden barrel with light salt water at a room temperature of about 25°C. Then fry it lightly in a pan, add pork slices and bamboo shoot slices, and braise over low heat until the soup is concentrated.
2. Gourd duck, which belongs to Huaiyang cuisine, is a traditional Suzhou dish with a long history. The dish is shaped like a gourd, the duck meat is tender and boneless, fat but not greasy, the filling is loose and glutinous, and the taste is fresh, salty and mellow, making it very suitable for the elderly and children.
3. Huangshan Preserved Fish is one of the traditional famous dishes of Anhui cuisine. Fang La, the leader of the rebel army in the Northern Song Dynasty, once used raw fish and shrimp to fight off enemy soldiers. The locals created this dish to commemorate him. This dish uses mandarin fish and shrimp as the main ingredients, and is made using different cooking methods such as frying, simmering, and steaming. It has multiple shapes and three flavors in one dish. The taste is salty and delicious, sour and sweet.
4. Huizhou Yipin Hot Pot is a hot pot delicacy often eaten in Huizhou in winter. It is made with rich ingredients, such as shark’s fin, abalone, hen, etc. It is very delicious, with good color, aroma and taste.
8
Fujian cuisine
Characteristics of Fujian cuisine: using seafood as the main raw material, focusing on sweet, sour, salty aroma, delicious color and freshness.
Representative dishes: Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Chicken Silk Bird’s Nest, Jade Pearl Abalone and Lychee Pork.
1. Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a famous dish among the top ten representative dishes of Fujian cuisine. Therefore, this dish will be included in many banquets, especially state banquets. Its ingredients are relatively expensive, such as abalone, shark fin and sea cucumber, but they are also really delicious.
2. Shredded chicken and bird’s nest is a relatively high-standard dish. It tastes relatively light, but it tastes very delicious and very nutritious. It is very suitable for pregnant women and the elderly.
3. Jade Pearl Abalone is a traditional famous dish in Fuzhou. It is made with abalone and scallop as the main ingredients and is exquisitely crafted. Because it looks like jade, it is called jade pearl abalone. This dish is rich in nutrients, beautiful in appearance, delicious in taste, and made of fine and expensive ingredients. It is naturally a top choice for banquets.
4. Lychee meat is one of Fuzhou’s traditional famous dishes and one of the five representative dishes of Fujian cuisine. It has a history of more than two hundred years. Lychee meat is so named because it has a tender texture, sweet and sour taste, and looks and tastes like lychee.
Original title: Sichuan cuisine has become the largest cuisine restaurant in the country with more than 320,000 stores
Editor in charge: Zheng Lili
Tags: Sichuan cuisine largest cuisine country number stores exceeded #320000Minnan Net
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