Everything about Chinese Cuisine – History, Facts, Origins, Classification, Culture & Influences

by | Last updated Feb 12, 2021 | Article, I Say

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History of Chinese Culinary Arts (In brief)

chinese food

Source : imperialpeking.com.au

China has a reputation as the Kingdom of Cuisine. Its unique geographical environment, local produces and ingredients, local customs, cultural traditions, ethnic inheritance, and some of the popular local authentic flavors have played an important influence over the development of Chinese Cuisine as it is today.

Eight Cuisine of China Map

Geography of Eight Cuisine of China (Source : 265g.com)

The Eight Cuisine of China (八大菜系) is Sichuan cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Anhui cuisine.

During the Eastern Zhou period (770–255 BC), Chinese cuisine can distinguish between the northern and Southern dishes by the differing flavors. The characteristic of South cuisine and North cuisine begin to form during the Tang and Song Dynasties and it continues to develop until the early Qing dynasty. Shandong cuisine (Lu), Su cuisine (Huaiyang), Cantonese cuisine (Yue), Sichuan cuisine (Chuan) became the most influential cuisine and famously known as the Four Major Cuisine. During the ending era of the Qing Dynasty, Zhejiang cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Anhui cuisine began to form as the new four local cuisines, constituting the Eight Cuisine of China.

traditional chinese banquet

Source : ancient-origin.net

By the time of late Zhao and Confucius, the arts of the Chinese Culinary have reached certain heights. The principle of dining was discussed and judged based on aroma, taste, color, and texture. A decent meal is expected to balance the Four Nature – hot, warm, cool and cold as well as the Five Taste – sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and pungent.

Today the Chinese cuisine has influence over many other cuisines particularly in the Asia region with local adjustment to cater to the local palate.

CLARIFICATION : Some cooking techniques are unable to be specifically translated due to there is no specific word(s) to accurately describe the true meaning of the word(s). However, the best possible translation to clarify the closes meaning are amended in this article.

Sichuan Cuisine

Hui guo rou 回锅肉

Sichuan Twice Cooked Pork – Hui guo rou 回锅肉 (recipe here)

Also known as Szechuan Cuisine or Szechwan Cuisine is a Chinese cooking style originated from Sichuan province. In China, there is a saying, “dine at China, flavors in Sichuan(吃在中国,味在四川). Due to its sophisticated cooking style, in 2011 UNESCO declare Chengdu, capital of Sichuan as a city of gastronomy. Sichuan is also known as “heavenly country” due to its abundance of food and natural resources. (Read Sichuan Cuisine in-depth)

Characteristic

sichuan hua jiao

Sichuan Peppercorn (Source : npr.org)

Sichuan cuisine emphasizes color, shape, smell, and taste. Most Sichuan dishes are hot and spicy. The taste criteria are composed of 7 criteria – hot, salty, sweet, bitter, numb, sour, and aromatic. There is the famous ma la (麻辣) – hot and numb, suan la (酸辣) – hot and sour and a lot more other interesting flavors. There is a Chinese saying, 一菜一格,白菜百味, literally translated as one dish one character, a hundred dishes hundred flavors. There are 38 types of Sichuan cooking methods, whereas the trendy methods now are fried, pan-fried, deep-fried, roast, marinate as in pickled, braised, stir fry, and others. Sichuan peppercorn is the most important spice in a Sichuan cuisine, it delivers intense citrus-like flavor and a numbing sensation to our mouth.

Shandong Cuisine

shandong cuisine

Braised Spare Ribs (Source : wikipedia.org)

More commonly known in Chinese as Lu Cuisine, can be divided into Jinan style, Jiaodong style, Kongfu style, and other regional styles. Jinan style is the typical style of Shandong cuisine. Modern Chinese cuisine in Northern China is developed from Shandong cuisine. Today Shandong cuisine is formed during the Yuan Dynasty, where it also influenced imperial dishes.

Characteristic

Shandong cuisine uses mainly domestic birds and animals, vegetables, and seafood. With over 50 types of cooking methods, the major cooking techniques include Bao爆 (quick frying), Liu溜 (quick frying with corn flour), Pa扒 (stewing), roasting(烤), boiling(煮), using sugar to make fruit, crystallizing with honey.

Jinan style emphasizes more on clear aromatic broth and soup. Whereas Jiaodong style is much lighter in flavor and uses lots of seafood, dried and fresh. The Kongfu style on the other hand is a delicate cooking style with much complex cooking techniques, often require more than 3 to 4 steps to produce a dish.

Cantonese Cuisine

cantonese cuisine

Cantonese Dim Sum (Source : theloophk.com)

Locally called Yue Cuisine, which consists of Guangzhou, Chaozhou, and Hakka cooking style. In general, when Westerners mentioned Chinese food, they usually refer to Cantonese cuisine due to a large number of emigrants from Guangdong province during the Chinese diasporaGuangzhou dishes is the major influence of Cantonese Cuisine and also very well known for the phrase 食在广州, literally translated as dine at Guangzhou (Learn about visiting Guangzhou). Cantonese cuisine is often regarded as the quintessence of Chinese Cuisine.

Characteristic

Cantonese dishes should be well balanced and not greasy. Usage of herbs and spices should be modest to maintain the flavors of the primary ingredients, ingredients, on the other hand, has to be freshest possible. As for Chaozhou style also known as Teochew cuisine, uses plenty of seafood – dried and fresh, poultry and are also famous for their vegetarian dishes. Cooking methods includes, stir fry, deep-fried, stew, double boiling, roast, bake, braise, boil, smoke and others, with clear soup being their notable specialty. Hakka style, in another word, Dongjiang style, uses more meat, emphasizes flavors of the primary ingredients. Temperature control is the key to this cuisine for stew, roast, braise, baked, especially for their casserole dishes.

Fujian Cuisine

fujian food

Buddha Jump Over The Wall (Source : youlinmagazine.com)

Also known as Min cuisine, originated from Fuzhou province. Fujian cuisine consists of 3 stylesFuzhou, Southern Fujian, and Western Fujian. Famously known for their local products, salty produce – shrimp sauce, shrimp oil (also known as a fermented fish sauce), soy sauce, shacha sauce, etc, sweet produce – brown sugar, rock sugar, etc, sour produce – white vinegar, pickled bulbous onion, etc. Fujian cuisine is also known for its “drunken” dishes (wine marinated). Fujian cuisine makes exceptional quality soup stocks and bases. A very good example is the well known Buddha Jump Over the Wall.

Characteristic

It is famous for its flavorful yet light taste similar to umami taste, delivering the original flavor of the main ingredients. Seafood and freshwater ingredients (freshwater fishes, turtles, and shellfish) are commonly used. Their cooking method consists of boiling, steaming, pan-fried, deep-fried, stew, roast, braise, stir fry, smoke, simmer, etc. Knife skills are also trained to the finesse among their chef. In Fujian cuisine, they also use a lot of distilled grain, namely, wine lees and red yeast rice which delivers a rosy-red hue and taste slightly sweet. Fuzhou style is lighter in taste compared to the other two styles and is famous for its soups. Southern Fujian style is slightly heavier than Fuzhou style. Incorporating various slow cooking methods with the usage of sugar and spices. Whereas Western Fujian style, it is often slight spicy flavor from the usage of pepper and mustard. Dishes are commonly stir fry, frying, and steaming. Their dishes are saltier and oilier, focusing more on meat than seafood.

Jiangsu Cuisine

Jiangsu cuisine food

Huaiyang’s Lion Head (Source : tctzgroup.com)

Jiangsu cuisine, sometimes called Su cuisine, is heavily developed from Huaiyang cuisine. Jiangsu cuisine famous chefs usually specialize in traditional Huaiyang cuisine. As the Huaiyang cuisine is one of the sub-regional styles within Jiangsu Cuisine. Jiangsu cuisine also consists of a blend of Suzhou style, Nanjing style, Wuxi style, and Nantong style.

Characteristic

Jiangsu cuisine is very delicate in shape, color, and appearance. They produce soft texture but not to the point of falling apart or mushy. Seafood is a common ingredient as Jiangsu province is located just right beside the sea. Nanjing style produces well balance flavor with attractive colors. Suzhou style emphasizes on quality of ingredients and tastes sweeter than the other style. Wuxi style is famous for its caramelized soy dishes – hongshao 红烧. Nantong style, on the other hand, emphasizes the flavors from the freshness of ingredients – local freshwater ingredients such as fish, shrimp, mussels, etc.

Zhejiang Cuisine

Braised dongpo pork

Dong Po Pork (Source : foodfornet.com)

Zhejiang cuisine or in short as Zhe cuisine dependent on seasonal ingredients, fine and delicate knife skills, temperature control, emphasizes the freshness of the ingredients with each dish having its own charm.

Characteristic

The cooking style consists of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Wenzhou. Hangzhou cuisine produces fine and beautiful dishes, particularly good at stir fry, deep fry, braise, and some other techniques. As for Ningbo cuisine, they use a lot of seafood, the cooking method includes stew, braise, steam, and baked the dishes are moderately seasoned as not to mask the freshness of the ingredients. Shaoxing cuisine is famous for is aromatic dishes and delicate flavors, authentic broth, just like the historic riverside town, simple and peculiar. Lastly, Wenzhou cuisine also known as Ou Cuisine serves plenty of fresh seafood and their cooking is based on a saying, “two light one heavy” (二经一重), technically translated as light oil, light gravy, and heavy knife skills, indicated their cooking emphasizes good knife skills, less usage of oil and delicate and exquisite flavors!

Hunan Cuisine

stinky tofu

Changsha Stinky Tofu (Source : swt158.com)

Hunan cuisine, also called Xiang cuisine, is known as the land of fish and rice because of its abundant resources around the Xiang River region and Dongting Lake. For foreigners, Hunan Cuisine is often mixed up with Sichuan Cuisine, both are their dishes and have a similar trait which is hot and spicy. However, Sichuan Cuisine is easily distinguished by its complex flavor and hot and numbing sensation which is in contrast with Hunan Cuisine. Hunan Cuisine, on the other hand, is hot and spicy and the flavor of the dish is greatly dependent on the primary ingredient used, minus the numbing sensation.

Characteristic

Hunan cuisine uses a liberal amount of chili, very well known for its hot spicy flavor, incorporating the saltiness from the northern region and sweetness from the southern region. Hunan cuisine emphasizes flavor not only at the exterior but also the interior flavor. Diverse cooking technique – roast, stir fry, steam, smoked, and others. Hunan cuisine is also famous for its local produce such as tempeh, tea oil, chili oil, chili sauce, pepper, fennel, cinnamon, and so on.

Anhui Cuisine

anhui food

Typical Anhui Cuisine (Source : anhuitravel.com.tw)

Also known as Huizhou cuisine, originated in the Southern Song Dynasty of Huizhou (now Anhui Province, Huangshan City), was originally the local flavor of Huizhou mountain regions, particularly Huangshan Mountains. As the era of Ming and Qing develops, Huizhou cuisine gradually influences and flourishes to the local flavors of the lowlands alongside the Yangtse River, namely, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Shanghai. The International Huizhou Food Culture Festival is held annually at Anhui province.

Characteristic

During the early development of Anhui cuisine, the braising technique is the major cooking technique. They mostly use rapeseed oil and the rapeseed oil is homegrown and homemade. A large amount of wood is used to fuel the fire to the extent that different types of firewood are used for the purpose of temperature control. Charcoal was used for braising, firewood for quick roast and woodblock, and chips for a slow roast. Traditional Huizhou cuisine emphasizes oil, color, and fire. Huizhou produces delicate dry-cured ham, with a Chinese saying, 金华火腿在东阳,东阳火腿在惠州, literally means the famous Jin Hua Ham is at Dongyang (Zhejiang), Dongyang ham is at Huizhou. Anhui cuisine emphasizes knife skills, temperate control which is shown in their ability to roast, smoke, stew, and steam. An Anhui chef will commonly use about 20 cooking techniques out of their total 50 cooking techniques, which is best represented with roasting, clear stew, and smoke.

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2 Comments

  1. Larry Ng

    Dear Ethan: I’m in my 70s and still don’t know many of the cuisines you described here. Good job.

    One point: “infamous” means well-known in a very bad way – something with a terrible reputation. I don’t think you mean that.

    Sincerely,

    Reply
    • Ethan Wong

      Hey Larry, thank you!
      Amended!

      Reply

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Ethan Wong

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