August 19, 2015 TnH Global 0

Huaiyang Cuisine, One of China’s Top Four Major Styles of Cooking

Huaiyang Cuisine, also called Jiangsu cuisine, is one of China’s top four cooking styles and enjoys a great reputation at home and abroad. It originates from the dishes and cooking styles of Hua’an, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang, the cites surrounding the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

History and current status

Traditional Huaiyang cuisine came into being in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and was particularly popular in the Qing Dynasty. Nowadays, Huaiyang cuisine has become a symbol of Chinese food culture and plays a key role in banquets for big events such as the first grand banquet for the ceremony of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the grand banquet for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and President Jiang Zeming’s entertainment of U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002.

Features

Known as “a land of fish and rice” in China, Jiangsu Province highlights a grand variety of food ingredients, and the typical raw materials are fresh and live aquatic products. Other cooking ingredients are often carefully selected tea leaves, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and pears.

The flavor of Huaiyang cuisine is light, fresh and sweet and its presentation is delicately elegant. It highlights the freshness, exquisite workmanship, elegant shape, and rich cultural traits. Traditional Huaiyang cuisine features delicate carving techniques, of which the melon carving technique is especially well known. Typical cooking methods of Huaigyang cuisine include stewing, braising, steaming, quick-frying, stir-frying, and wine sauce pickling.

Representative dishes

The famous dishes of Huaiyang cuisine include Braised Giant Meatball, Stewed Crab with Clear Soup, Long-boiled and Dry-shredded Meat, Crystal Meat, and Sour Vegetable Fish Pot.

Huaiyang cuisine also includes several snacks and breakfast choices such as Crab Soup Dumplings, Thousand Layer Cake, Steamed Dumplings, Tofu Noodles, and Wild Vegetable Steamed Buns.

For the vegetarian and non-vegetarian travelers from India, there will be always some delightful dishes of Huaiyang Cuisine to choose from.