Chinese Hunan cuisine

Hunan cuisine

TheHunan cuisine, commonly knownas xiāng cai,the kitchen of a southern province of China.The capital of Hunan Changsha,located on the Xiang River.

The cuisine has evolved based on thecuisines of Xiangjiang basin of the LakeTongting and the mountainous region ofwestern Hunan.

The cuisineis known for its spicy flavors, freshness and importance of colors in hisdishes. It focuses on casseroles, frying, braising and smoking. Agriculturalproducts in the region are very abundant and varied. Dishes dark and flavorfultastes, sour, spicy and mild, characterize the cuisine of Hunan. It consists of three styles,associated with regions of three cities in the east of the province, Changsha, Hengyang and Xiangtan.

The cuisine is distinguished from the Sichuan cuisine, to which it is oftencompared, by its spiciness “dry” (gān there) or pure, that is tosay, without the effect of “anesthetic” caused by the Sichuan pepper.In addition, the cuisine uses a wide variety of fresh ingredients and tends to be oilier. Ituses little sugar unlike Sichuancuisine.

Theuse of many ingredients including chilies and salted and smoked meat, thickflat and dark and savory tastes, sour, spicy and tender characterize Hunan cuisine.

Itsmain preparation methods are: (salting) xun (smoked meat) wei (cook over highheat until the sauce to spice), zheng (steam), dun (cook over low heat), zha(to fried), chao (blow).

Sometypical dishes of Hunancuisine:

The Chicken with spices , The Beef orange peel (Chenpi niúròu) , The Shrimp crispy rice(Guoba Xia) The sugar lotus seeds (Bingtang xiāng Lian) Pumpkin Cake (nánguāgāo)

The cuisine is known for dishes such as “assortment of curedmeats,” “Fried chicken Dong’an”, “Chicken Spice,”“Shark Wings cooked brown sauce”, “tripe soup”, “SeedsLotus to candy “,” Fish Jinqian “etc.

Representative recipes:

Sauteed chicken Dong’an (东 安 子鸡, Dong’an zǐjī)

Chicken with spices (痲辣 子鸡, Mala zǐjī)

Thighs and spicy spicy frog (麻辣 田 鸡腿, Mala Tianji tuǐ)

Beef with orange peel (陈皮 牛肉, Chenpi niúròu)

Hongshao rou (literally, “red meat simmered”), cooked pork belly in soy sauce and caramelized (红烧肉, hongshao rou)

Pork braised in red to how Mao (毛氏 红烧肉, máo shì hongshao rou) variant ROU hóngshāo.

Shrimp with crispy rice (p = Guoba Xia)

Stinking tofu, style Changsha (长沙 臭豆腐, Changsha dòufǔ cabbage)

sweet dishes [edit | modify the code]

lotus seeds candy (冰糖 湘莲, Bingtang xiāng Lian)

pumpkin cake (南瓜 糕, nánguā gāo), pumpkin donut, probably under the influence of Cantonese cuisine.

Luchaxiang Yubing, fragrant taro cake, green tea (绿茶 香芋 饼, lǜchá xiāng yù bǐng).

Overview on Chinese cuisine

5 Chinese diet elements

Chinese diet Yin Yang

Chinese culinary art

Chinese healthy cooking

Chinese food preparation methods

Chinese food preparation tips

Chinese food cooking methods

How to choose the nature of Chinese food

How 5 food flavors are linked to your health

The philosophy of Chinese food

Go to health home page

Return to Chinese food culture