China is an ancient land and a huge country, with kilometers and kilometers of extension, variety of landscapes, climates, cultures and traditions.
Therefore, it is impossible to speak of a single Chinese cuisine. There are many, although the Chinese themselves have reduced them to eight varieties that have to do with particular regions of the country. A sightseeing trip is also a trip of gastronomic discoverySo when you go to China get ready to try a thousand flavors.
Chinese gastronomy
It can be divided into different cooking styles and ingredients as each region produces its own. A) Yes, We can talk about western, eastern, southern, northern, and central Chinese cuisine.
While the cuisine of the center of the country is more spicy, that of the south is more sour, that of the east is light and sweet and the western one has lamb as the absolute protagonist. The northern one is salty, simpler and with fewer vegetables and more wheat.
Precisely It is the cuisine of northern China that is usually liked the most by Westerners. In Beijing is the Peking duck, beef and dairy products from Inner Mongolia or unleavened breads from Muslim minorities. But as we will see, it is far from the best or the only one.
The eight traditional cuisines of China
First we have the guangdong cuisine, typically Cantonese. It is sweet, contains sauces and is one of the best known internationally. It's Hong Kong cuisine and Guangdong province, with a lot of rice and a lot of fish and shellfish, barely seasoned.
Coliander, rice vinegar, anise, oyster sauce, sugar, ginger or hoisin sauce reign supreme. Among the most popular dishes of Cantonese cuisine are the popular dim sum, steamed eggs, roasted pork or char siu. How Chinese emigrants mostly come from this part of the country It is the best known Chinese cuisine in the world.
Sichuan cuisine is very spicy and flavorful. They are the typical dishes of Chongqing or Chengdu, with pepper, star anise, shallots, chili peppers, chili paste, cinnamon, fennel, cloves and garlic. There are hot and spicy casseroles, spiced chickens, or spicy pork. It is baked, grilled and steamed, but frying is the most popular cooking.
Jiangsu cuisine is the reigning cuisine in Shanghai and Jiangsu province. It has a reputation for Gourmet kitchen for its refined techniques and good presentation of the dishes. There is money here so you can see that in the kitchen too.
It is composed of unusual fish and shellfish among which sea vegetables stand out. Do you know them? The emphasis is on natural flavors so not many seasonings and natural flavors and aromas are preferred. Rice, wheat, lotus, bamboo root, and many herbs are eaten.
Although there is frying, in the same dish different cooking techniques are often combined such as stewing, steaming and braising. In turn, there is an internal division into six more styles that relate to six cities, for example the Nanjing style.
Zhejiang cuisine can be reduced to bamboo, fish, and different cooking styles. It is a similar style to the previous one because geographically they are close, but is more simple and less elaborate. The idea is to eat fresh so sometimes it is eaten raw directly. Something like Japanese food, but in China.
It is not a spicy or spicy cuisine, it is a cuisine based on fish and seafood that is born by the proximity to the Pacific. It is not a greasy kitchen and not sour and Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing are the best cities to try it. Do you like Chinese sweets? Well with wheat, rice and beans this kitchen works wonders.
Fujian cuisine features dishes with ingredients of marine and mountain origin. It is subdivided into three styles, one sweeter, others spicier. The soups and stews they are the specialty, the same are the mushrooms, the bamboo and the herbs. No calories, many nutrients and a range of ways of cooking product of its historical relationship with other peoples.
Hunan cuisine is always served hot and spicy. It beats the one from Sichuan because use a lot of pepper. Many varieties of peppers and citrus are grown and hence the Hunan Orange Chicken be a genius.
Anhui cuisine is the cuisine of the China of the Yellow Mountains. It may not be very well known but it is great since it comes from a land that is not very fertile. We could say that It is a simple and powerful peasant kitchen. Frogs, turtles, shrimp, wild mushrooms, bamboo, tea leaves, rice, potatoes - it all goes into your soups and stews. The favorite meat is pork, even as a filling in dumplings.
And finally we come to the cuisine of Shangdon, more salty and crunchy. The seafood They are the order of the day since it is a coastal area. Sea and river fish, shellfish, noodles, salt and vinegar and exquisite dishes are made.
In general the cooking method is the fry with oil well hot but the result is not oily. Use garlic, chives, ginger, red pepper, various types of vinegar, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, cabbage, and soy sauce.
OK, so far the eight cuisines of China. You have to try them all, that's for sure, but if we can't travel all over the country here I leave the dishes that you have to try:
- Gong Bao Chicken: It is a chicken from Sichuan cuisine that Chinese and foreigners alike adore: chunky chicken, chili, and fried peanuts.
- Sweet and sour pork: the meat has a lovely reddish and orange color and the taste… exquisite!
- Ma Po Tofu: it is a hyper popular dish in Chuan cuisine with more than one hundred years since its creation. It has a spicy and strong flavor because it contains powdered pepper. It is accompanied by meat and minced chives.
- Dumplings: a classic because they are over 1.800 years old. It is pasta filled with minced meat and vegetables that are steamed or fried.
- Chow Mein: Cantonese boiled noodles that after being boiled are sautéed in the wok with chicken, pork, meat or shrimp plus some vegetables.
- wontons: It is a dish that dates back to the Tang Dynasty and it is a tradition to eat them on the winter solstice. It is a triangle-shaped filled pasta that is boiled and served in a soup. They are sometimes deep fried and always stuffed with minced pork or shrimp.
- Peking Duck: Do not miss trying it in a classic restaurant in the Chinese capital. The meat is crisp and is usually served with pancakes and sweet bean sauce or with soy sauce and crushed garlic.
- Spring rolls: it is a Cantonese dish, a dough roll filled with vegetables or meat, sweet or salty, that is fried.