A journey through Jiangsu is not only a chance to experience beautiful river town scenery and some of the most brilliant achievements in Chinese culture, but also a great chance to try one of the major components of Chinese cuisine - Jiangsu Cuisine. Jiangsu Cuisine, also called Huaiyang Cuisine, consists of the styles of Yangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou and Zhenjiang dishes. Known as "a land of fish and rice" in China, Jiangsu Province has a rich variety of ingredients available for cooking. Using fish and crustaceans as the main ingredients, it stresses freshness and aliveness freshness. Its high carving techniques are delicate, of which the melon carving technique is especially well known. Due to using the methods of stewing, braising, quick-frying, warming-up, stir-frying, wine sauce pickling and adding some sugar as condiments, Jiangsu dishes taste fresh, light and mellow. In Huaiyang cuisine, ingredients are strictly chosen and carefully prepared to maintain the original flavor. Huaiyang cuisine also pays special attention to the seasonally of each ingredient so that each ingredient is in its prime state for eating. For example, Yangzhou Cuisine is light and elegant; Suzhou Cuisine is slightly sweet; and Wuxi Cuisine is fairly sweet. Light and tasty soups are also a key part of Huaiyang cuisine and perfectly in tune with the latest health food trends.
In 1949, Huaiyang cuisine was the selected cuisine for the first state banquet of the new People's Republic and, in 1999, Huaiyang cuisine was also featured on the menu of the People's Republic's 50th anniversary state dinner. In 2002, Huaiyang cuisine was also selected for the dinner hosted by President Jiang Zemin for visiting US President George W. Bush.
Jiangsu dishes can be classified into that of Suzhou-Wuxi style and Zhenjiang-Yangzhou style. The feature of Suzhou-style dishes is their natural flavor in original stock and a mixture of salty and sweet taste. The characteristics of Zhenjiang-Yangzhou style food are best described by the saying that "the soup is so clear that you can see the bottom of the bowl and the sauce is so thick that it turns creamy white".
Typical courses of Jiangsu cuisine are Jinling salted dried duck (Nanjing's most famous dish), Squirrel with Mandarin Fish, Yangzhou Style Fried Rice, "Lion-Head" Meatball with Crab Roe, Wuxi Sweet and Salty Spare Ribs. Crystal meat (pork heals in a bright, brown sauce), clear crab shell meatballs (pork meatballs in crab shell powder, fatty, yet fresh), Yangzhou steamed Jerky strips (dried tofu, chicken, ham and pea leaves), triple combo duck, dried duck, and Farewell My Concubine (soft-shelled turtle stewed with many other ingredients such as chicken, mushrooms and wine), etc.
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Nanjing Style Dried Salty Duck It has a long history of over 1,000 years. apart from its plumpness in appearance. It, the duck tempts people with characteristics of tasting crisp, fresh, fragrant, and rich but not greasy. The cooking method of the duck was invented 600 years ago. The salted duck is slathered with roasted salt, steeped in clear brine, baked dry and then kept under cover for some time; the finished product should have a creamy-colored skin and red, tender flesh. It was the tribute to the royal palace during the Qing Dynasty. |
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Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish Tradition has it that once stopping at the Crane House during his south Yangtze tour, Emperor Qian Long saw a carp frisking on the holy table and ordered it cooked for him. The chef, knowing it was the emperor's order, spared no effort in flavoring and seasoning. In order to be exempted from the sin of killing the "holy fish", he made the carp into the shape of a squirrel with its head and tail soaring high. The dark reddish brown fish, crisp outside and tender amid, was sour and sweet enough to the taste of emperor, whose appreciation raised the name of Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish to the world. Being the raw material, the mandarin fish is characterized by its tenderness of the flesh and sparseness of the bones as well. After scaling and frying, the head of the fish looks big with its mouth wide open, the tail bends upwards, and the flesh imitates the erecting hair of a squirrel. It will be squeaking like a squirrel if it is sprinkled with shrimp meat, dried bamboo shoots and tomato ketchup. Thus the Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish is complete in color, smell, flavor and sound, and it is to arouse the appetite of whoever sees it. |
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Yangzhou Style Fried Rice: Rice is the main ingredient in this dish. It is first pounded and then stir-fried with shrimp, ham, egg, peas and seasonal vegetables. Because a variety of seasonal vegetables are used, you taste a variety of wonderful flavors and textures! |
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"Lion-Head" Meatball with Crab Roe: This dish is the symbol of Huaiyang cuisine and it requires very complicated procedure. First mix the ground pork, egg white, crabmeat, rice wine, salt, scallions and ginger into a rather stiff mixture. Then divide it into 4 portions and roll each portion into a meatball. Add cabbage, chicken broth together with meatballs into casserole and place on low heat and simmer for long time until its done. It has the fragrance of the pork and crab and the color of the dish is as bright as orange. It tastes rich but not greasy. |
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Wuxi Sweet and Salty Spare Ribs Wuxi Spare Ribs is the most popular local dish and is the specialty to look out for people come to Wuxi. It features the common eastern technique of "Red cooking" in a stock of rice wine and soy sauce and spiced with ginger, anise, cloves and black peppercorns and has unique red-sweet sauce on the top in order to give rich taste. |
References:
http://english.china.com/zh_cn/gourmet/food/11020891/20040929/11899271.html
http://www.jiangsu-cuisine.com/hub.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-01/09/content_297518.htm
http://www.yangtzecruises.com/gallery/cuisine/yangzhou_snacks.html