Anhui cuisine is derived from the native cooking styles of the Huangshan Mountain region in China. It is similar to Jiangsu cuisine. It comprises the specialities of South Anhui, Yanjiang and Huai Bei.
Anhui cuisine is known for its use of wild game and herbs, both from the mountains and the sea. Chefs have strict control of the cooking process and pay close attention to the cooking temperature and are good at braising and stewing. In contrast, frying and stir-fry methods are much less frequently used in Anhui cuisine.
Most ingredients in Anhui cuisine, such as pangolin, stone frog, mushroom, bayberry, tea leaves, bamboo shoot, dates, games, etc., are from the mountain area. Huangshan Mountain has abundant products for dish cooking. Huangshan Chukka has tender flesh and a sweet taste. It can be boiled in clear soup or braised in soy sauce. The dishes help relieve internal fever and build up vital energy. The white and tender bamboo shoots produced on Huangshan Mountain can be made into very delicious food. Xianggu, a kind of top-grade mushroom, grows on old trees and is also very tasty.
Anhui dishes preserve most of the original taste and nutrition of the materials. Generally the food here is slightly spicy and salty. Some master dishes are usually stewed in brown sauce with stress on heavy oil and sauce. Ham is often added to improve the taste and sugar candy added to gain freshness.
Main Dishes
Superior pot (一品锅 Yi Pin Guo)
The famous master of Chinese learning and the pioneer of the New Culture Movement Mr. Hu Shi, was born in Jixi County of Anhui Province. He loved eating the “Superior Pot” of his hometown and he believed it calmed his homesickness, so people named this dish as “Hu’s superior pot”. Each time when he returned to his hometown, the villagers would make “the superior pot” for him. Over the years this dish gradually became a local speciality and was renamed as “Hu Shi Superior Pot”. “Hu Shi Superior Pot” in Mr. Hu Shi’s hometown – Shangzhuang village is the most authentic. This dish is made by cooking rare local mountain produce. It is tender and salty, slightly hot but very delicious. It has a strong taste and retains its original flavour and claims to be very restorative.
In Jixi and Lingbei area, people eat the Superior Pot throughout the year especially at weddings and funerals. The cooking of “the Superior Pot” is very meticulous since it is generally divided into four, six, or seven layers but the sequence of each layer of food is constant regardless of the number of layers. In the hot pot, dried bamboo shoots are spread at the bottom, meat cubes are spread on the second layer, fresh tofu or fried tofu on the third layer, meat balls on the fourth layer and vermicelli is covered on the fifth layer and adorned with spinach or lily flower together with some seasonings and a suitable amount of water and simmered over a low flame until it is cooked. This dish has a strong local flavour, a strong taste and is very delicious.
Red-Cooked Chicken, Fuliji Style (符离集烧鸡 Fuliji Shaoji)
Well known internationally, it is produced at the Fuli Town 15km away in the north of Suzhou City of Anhui Province, which is situated on the main artery of Jing(Beijing)-Hu(Shanghai) Railway. It has a history of over eighty years and enjoys a high reputation far and near due to its unique flavour.
The process of making Fuliji roast chicken is very delicate. A fat and healthy Ma cockerel Chicken is selected from the current year and is used as the main ingredient. Before killing the chicken, it is fed with water to wash it clean. Once killed, it is hung up to dry before being coated with malt extract and fried in sesame oil. The Chicken is placed in a ten year old aged soup with thirteen rare spices including ShaRen (amomun fruit), BaiZhi (dahurian angelica root), RouKou (nutmeg), DingXiang (lilac), XinYi (lily magnolia), YuanHui (anise etc) and brought to the boil over a high heat. Once boiling, the heat is reduced and simmered for 4 to 6 hours before serving. Roast chicken made in this way has a delicious smell, a rich colour and excellent taste. The meat is white, tender and juicy and once cooked the meat falls off the bone.
Salted fresh mandarin fish (腌鲜镢鱼 Yan Xian Guiyu)
Mandarin fish is a special local product. Cooking direction:
Preserve the fresh mandarin fish at 25°. After 6 or 7 days the fish will smell odorous. Wash it clean and make several oblique cuts on both sides. After air drying put it in a frying pan and fry both sides of the fish briefly until the skin becomes light brown. Move the fish into a strainer to remove the oil. Put some oil in a saucepan then add the sliced meat and bamboo shoots and stir-fry them gently. Add to it soybean sauce, Shaoxing wine, white sugar, minced ginger and chicken gravy. Bring to the boil over a high heat and then simmer for 40 minutes. Mix starch with an equal amount of cold water and whisk it into the saucepan to thicken the sauce. Drop in some chopped chives and add a knob of melted lard to the top and serve.
The fish is crisp and delicious and has its own special flavour. It represents a delicacy of Hui style cuisine.
Hui style tofu dumplings (徽式豆腐饺 Huishi Tofu Jiao)
This dumpling uses tofu as the pastry. Both appearance and taste are light, which represents the simplicity of blue bricks and gray tiles of Anhui houses and symbolises the grace of a small bridge with water flowing beneath.
Crispy duck (酥鸭 Su Ya)
This is a famous traditional food of Sanhe Town, Feixi County. It is not only served separately as a dish, but also served with noodles.
Quickly fry the duck until the outside is crispy, then stew the duck in a pot in a saucepan of water (put the duck and seasonings in a sealed porcelain jar, and put the jar into a deep saucepan with water and simmer for 2 or 3 hours). Due to the special cooking method the soup is clear, the duck’s skin is non-greasy and the meat is tender and tastes delicious. The taste is crispy so it’s called “Crispy duck” which is very famous in Hefei region.
Huangshan stewed pigeon (黄山炖鸽 Huangshan Dun Ge)
Huangshan Mountain (the Yellow Mountain) is a world famous tourist scenic spot, located in the mountain area of south Anhui Province with a circumference of 250km. Modern litterateur and archaeologist Guo Moruo praised the Yellow Mountain as “No. 1 mountain in the world.” The Yellow Mountain is famous not only for its scenery but for the mouthwatering rare mountain-grown produce. Huangshan stewed pigeon is a famous dish. Chinese yam (Rhizoma Dioscoreae) nourishes yin and tones the kidney’s, and is thus regarded as the top grade product for nourishing the body and prolonging life. The pigeon meat is crisp and tender, the Chinese yam is soft and sticky and comes with a clear and delicious soup. It is one of Hui’s famous, traditional dishes.
Grape fish (葡萄鱼 Putao Yu)
This is a famous innovative dish of Hui cuisine. Winning the silver medal at the Second National Cook-off, the cooking techniques and dish shapes are praised by gastrologers.
Xiaoxian County of Anhui Province is a nationwide famous grape-growing region. The wine here is well-known internationally. With this inspiration Xiaoxian chefs invented this Grape fish dish. The colour, flavour, taste and shape are exactly like grapes, which is a great innovation of modern Hui cuisine.
This dish uses mackerel cooked with grape juice and requires delicate knife cutting skills to shape it into a string of grapes before frying. This lively sculpture and ambrosial grape taste make it a sumptuous and refreshing dish for any dinner.
Snacks
Drinks
Gujing Wine (古井贡酒)
Manufactured in Haozhou, Anhui province, Gujing Wine is made of kaoliang, barley, wheat and peas. It has won numerous top prizes at International food and wine fairs in Hong Kong, Paris and the US. There are currently three types of Gujing Wine on the Chinese market, according to the percentage of alcohol. The current alcohol ranges are 38 per cent, 55 per cent and 60 per cent respectively.
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