Chines Eight schools of cuisine

China is a vast country and there are big differences in geography and climate in different regions. This naturally results in the growth of different agricultural products and cuisines vary from regions to regions. Although modern times have blurred some of the regional lines and food ingredients can be available every where, the traditions of region cooking are retained- flavors, ingredients, and techniques that go with regional cooking have their distinctions. In general, people in North China favor noodles, dumplings and other staple food made from flour while the majority in the South almost consume rice daily. Northern cuisine is more salt while southern cuisine is more sweet, western cuisine is chillied and eatern cuisine is mild. Trying different regional cuisines is a interesting experience. There are different views on how to dividing Chinese regional cuisines, one of popular opinions is that Chinese cuisine has developed into eight major categories: Beijing Cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Guangdong Cuisine, ShangDong Cuisine, Jiang-Zhe Cuisine, Fujiang Cuisine, Anhui Cuisine and Hunan Cuisine.

Beijing Cuisine

Beijing has been the capital city more than 500 years ago. It was the gathering place of the literati and officials and had many cultural and trade exchanged with other parts of the country. many skilled chefs from different parts of country also went to Beijing. These chefs brought the different cuisines to the capital and greatly enriched the flavors of Beijing cuisine. Among them, the Shandong cuisine influenced most strongly Beijing cuisine. Southern east cuisines, like Huai-Yang cuisine, Suzhou and Hanzhou cuisine also greatly influenced the Beijing cuisine. Most Beijing dishes made from common ingredients with tastes that are very agreeable. Mutton and lamb are popular due to Mongolian influences. It is China’s most typical cuisine.

Manchu and Han banquets, which gradually became popular during Emperor Qianlong’ s reign, included nearly 200 cold dishes and dozens of refreshments and pastries. The main courses were Manchu style roast dishes, shark’s fin, edible bird’s nest, sea cucumbers, jellyfish, and abalone served southern style. It is representive of Beijing cuisine. but it is too extravagant.

The typical Cooking styles of Beijing cuisine are stir-frying, pan-frying, braising, and barbecuing. Favorite seasonings are garlic, chives, leeks, star anise, and sweet bean sauces. The most famous beijing dish is Beijing Duck. The duck is roasted in Huai’an and Yangzhou style to emphasize the color and taste, then seasoned with fermented flour sauce, and eaten with onions and pancakes baked Shandong style. Other typical dishes include: Lamb Fire Pot, Moo Shu Pork With Mandarin Pancakes, Quick-fried Mutton with Spring Onion.

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Sichuan Cuisine

As a unique style of food especially for its hot and strange taste, Sichuan cuisine was already famous more than 800 years ago. Sichuan has been known as the land of plenty since ancient times. it produces abundant domestic animals, poultry, and freshwater fish and crayfish. The hot pepper was introduced into China from South America around the end of the 17th century. Once it came to Sichuan, it became a favored food flavoring. Sichuan has high humidity and many rainy or overcast days. Hot pepper helps reduce internal dampness, so hot pepper was used frequently in dishes, and hot dishes became the norm in Sichuan cuisine. The prevailing Sichuan food consists of popular dishes eaten by common people . Sichuan cooking style are that flavorings and condiments are combined for intricate blends of hot, sour, sweet, and salty in one mouthful. Sichuan cuisine tends to use quick – frying, quick stir – frying, dry – braising, and dry – stewing. In quick – frying and quick stir – frying, the food is fried over a hot fire and stirred quickly without using another pan. For example, it takes about one minute to stir – fry liver and kidney to keep it tender, soft, delicious, and fresh. Favorite seasonings are chiles (fresh, dried, and in pastes), peppercorns, ginger, garlic, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and nuts.

Sichuan cuisine also has many delicious snacks and desserts, such as Bangbang chicken, chicken with sesame paste, lantern shadow beef, husband and wife’s pork lung slices, steamed beef, noodles with chili sauce, and rice dumplings stuffed with sesame paste. Sichuan pickles also are very famous, which have an appealing smell, and are crisp, tender, salty, sour, hot, and sweet. Other typical Sichuan dishes include:Pock-ma Bean Curd, Shredded Pork with Fish Flavouring Sauce, Kung Pao Chicken,

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Guangdong Cuisine

Guangdong(Cantonese)cuisine is unique among the Chinese cuisines. Its raw materials, cooking methods, and flavorings all differ from the other cuisines. Guangdong has retained many eating habits and customs of the ancient people, such as eating snakes. To the people of Guangdong, everything that walks, crawls, flies, or swims is edible. Especially Guangdong cuisine emphasizes seafood, and unique, mixed flavorings. Guangdong food is well known in the West because many families emigrated to Europe and America in the 19th century.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Guangdong has become more prosperous, and has developed closer contacts with the hinterland. As Western culture has been introduced, Guangdong cuisine has absorbed the cooking skills of the West as well as the cooking skills of other Chinese regions to develop its own unique methods. The Cantonese prefer food slightly undercooked to preserve natural flavours and colours. stir-Frying and steaming are thus popular cooking methods. The other characteristic cooking methods are cooking in salt, cooking in wine, baking in a pan, and soft – frying.

Guangdond cuisine use sweet and sour, soy, hoi sin, oyster and black bean sauces. Typical dishes include: Sweet and Sour Pork, Char-siu (Cantonese Roast Pork), Steamed Sea Bass With Black Bean Sauce, Hoisin Barbecued Chicken, Stir-fried Broccoli With Oyster Sauce, and Shrimp Fried Rice. Its dim sum (snacks) are also very famous.

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Jiang-Zhe Cuisine

This area lie on the Yangtze delta and well-known as "home of fish and rice". The fertile land provides a rich variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, wheat, rice, barley, corn and soy beans. The long coastline and the Yangtze River offer up plenty of fish and shellfish. Since the Song Dynasty, this area is most prosperous in China. All these made its cuisine exquisite. Jiang-Zhe cuisine includes Hui-Yang cuisine(represented by Yang Zhou) and Su-Hang cuisine (represented by Su zhou and Hang Zhou).

The Jiang–Zhejiang cuisine has many famous fish, shrimp, crab and mussels dishes. In this area the fish and shrimp are often kept alive until they are cooked, so the foods are very fresh. They also stresses the use of vegetables, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and water shield, which gives the food a light, fresh taste. Fish or meat dishes are often cooked together with vegetables;

Jiang– Zhe dishes prefer light, delicate seasonings to complement the natural flavours of the bountiful fresh ingredients. They use cooking techniques like stir-frying, steaming, blanching, stewing, braising, boiling in covered pot and red-cooking (slow simmering in dark soy sauce and rice wine). Most dishes are served in delicious soup. Sugar, oil and rice wines are widely used.

Its typical dishes includes: Spring Bamboo Shoots Braised in Oil, Crisp Stir-fried Shrimp, Steamed Eel, Yangchow Fried Rice, Lion's Head(pork ball), West Lake fish steamed in vinegar, Its cakes and balls, made of glutinous rice stuffed with sweet red-bean paste or with sesame seeds and sugar, are famous throughout the two province.

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Shangdong Cuisine

Shangdong border the sea, and had mountains and fertile plains, they had abundant aquatic products and grains. Shangdong cuisine is well-known for its seafood dishes. Shandong cuisine was created during the Yuan Dynasty. It gradually spread to north China, Beijing, Tianjin, northeast China, and the palace where it influenced the imperial food.

People in Shandong like to eat onions and use onions as a seasoning. Shandong cuisine is characterized by quick – frying, stir- frying, braising, deep – fat frying, and stewing. Its dishes are crisp, tender, delicious, and greasy with salty and some sweet and sour flavors. Its main condiment is salt, but it also uses salted fermented soybeans and soy sauce.

The most typical Shangdong dishes are: Sea Cucumber with Mat Balls; Braised Shark’s Fin with Shredded Chicken; Sea Cucumber, Mushroom and Bamboo shoots; Clam in Egg White; and Fried Oysters; Yellow River Carp in Sweet and Sour Sauce; Stewed Pork Leg, and Quick – fried Double Crisps.

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Fujian Cuisine

Fujian lie on southeast China along the coast. Fujian cuisine emphasizes seafood, river fish, and shrimp. The most characteristic aspect of Fujian cuisine is that its dishes are served in soup. Its cooking methods are stewing, boiling, braising, quick-boiling, and steaming, The most famous dish is Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. The name implies the dish is so delicious that even the Buddha would jump over a wall to eat it once he smelled it. A mixture of seafood, chicken, duck, and pork is put into a rice-wine jar and simmered over a low fire. Sea mussel quick-boiled in chicken soup is another Fujian delicacy.

Fujian dishes are slightly sweet and sour, and less salty. Sweetness makes a dish more tasty, while sourness helps remove the seafood smell. In the Fujian cuisine, an important flavoring and coloring material is red distiller’s grain. It is a glutinous rice fermented with red yeast. After being kept in a sealed vessel for one year, the grain acquires a sweet and sour flavor and a rose-red color. Chicken, duck, fish, and pork can be flavored with the red grain as well as spiral shells, clams, mussels, bamboo shoots, and even vegetables. When the red distiller’s grain is used for flavoring, the fishes can be cooked in many ways, including quick-frying, frying, quick-boiling, and pickling.

As Fujian people emigrate overseas, their cuisine has become popular in Taiwan and abroad.

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Anhui Cuisine

Anhui lie on just west of Jiangsu, in east China. Anhui dishes are good at braising and stewing. using more brown sauce. Often hams will be added to improve taste and sugar candy added to gain freshness. Typical dishes are Smoked Duck, Stewed Snapper; Huangshan Braised Pigeon.

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Hunan Cuisine

Hunan is located in southeastern China along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, north of the Five Ridges. It contains rivers, lakes, mountains, rolling hills, plains, and pools, which provide abundant delicacies.. Making full use of these rich resources, local people created a wide variety of delicacies. Like Sichuan cuisine, Hunan food is also famous for its hot, but has different flavor without Sichuan peppercorns. Hunan cuisine is also characterized by its sour flavor, fresh aroma, greasiness, deep color, and the prominence of the main flavor in each dish. Dishes made of cured products also make an important contribution to Hunan food.

Hunan food mainly use cooking methods such as stewing, simmering, curing, steaming, stir-frying, frying, and quick – frying. The famouse dishes include fried chicken with hot and spicy sauce, mashed shrimp in lotus pod, fish fillet in velvet, hot and spicy frog legs.

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