Hui cuisine is an intangible cultural heritage of Anhui Province.

Hui cuisine is one of the eight major cuisines in China. It only refers to Huizhou cuisine and cannot be equated with Anhui cuisine. Anhui cuisine comes from Huizhou and is inseparable from the objective conditions provided by Huizhou’s special geographical environment. Huizhou, present-day Huangshan City, Jixi County, Anhui Province, and Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. Because Huizhou is located at the intersection of two climates, it has relatively high rainfall, a moderate climate, and is particularly rich in products. There are more than 1,470 kinds of plants in Huangshan, many of which are edible. Wild animals live in mountains, and Huizhou is a mountainous area, so there are more species. Mountain delicacies and game meat constitute the uniqueness of the main condiments of Anhui cuisine. The main famous dishes include "Stewed Turtle with Ham", "Braised Civet Civet", "Pickled Fresh Mandarin Fish", "Stewed Pigeon from Huangshan Mountain" and hundreds of other dishes.

Anhui cuisine comes from Huizhou and cannot do without the objective conditions provided by Huizhou’s special geographical environment. Because it is located at the intersection of two climates, it has relatively high rainfall, a moderate climate, and is particularly rich in natural products. There are more than 1,470 kinds of plants in Huangshan, many of which are edible. Wild animals live in mountains, and Huizhou is a mountainous area, so there are more species. Mountain delicacies and wild game constitute the uniqueness of the main condiments of Anhui cuisine: arugula, mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, white fungus, black fungus, stone fungus and alpine stone fungus, bracken, day lily, daylily, water celery, etc. In the past, everything was grown and picked in the wild. There are seventeen kinds of bamboo shoots, with different varieties, different eating methods, different cutting methods, and different ingredients. Edible wild vegetables and various flowers, stems, and poles are widely included in Anhui recipes. As far as tofu is concerned, there are water tofu, hairy tofu, stinky tofu, Guanyin tofu, Laba tofu and acorn tofu. As for game, there are 374 species of wild animals (excluding insects) in Huizhou, including 86 species of mammals, 210 species of birds, 52 species of reptiles, and 26 species of amphibians. Hare, pheasant, yellow muntjac, black muntjac, pangolin, giant salamander, pheasant, raccoon dog, otter, even bear, leopard, and Pegasus. The fish are even more abundant and diverse. The goldfish and fish in Huangshan were originally very rare. At that time, there was also a kind of winged fish that could fly up trees. They were all delicacies. Many rare birds and animals are now included in the scope of national protection, and many are included in the diet, such as the pheasants, hares, and domestic silky chickens that look like ducks but not ducks, all of which retain a strong game flavor.

Due to the developed medicine in Huizhou, there were more than 700 traditional Chinese medicine experts in the Ming and Qing dynasties and more than 600 medical works. Medicinal diet for fitness and body building has long been included in Anhui cuisine. Such as stewed silky chicken with wolfberry berries, stewed lily with rock sugar, stir-fried lean meat with perilla, stir-fried ginkgo fruit with sand, etc.

The development of Huizhou cuisine

The heyday of Huizhou cuisine was the period when Huizhou merchants dominated China. Huizhou merchants have made a great contribution to the spread and development of Huizhou cuisine to a certain extent.

There are several theories about the spread and development of Anhui cuisine:

One is that at that time, Anhui merchants would put a table of hometown dishes on the table when discussing business, entertaining, or gathering with friends. To show respect for the distinguished guests. Because the ingredients and characteristics of Anhui cuisine are unique and very representative. So Anhui cuisine began to move towards a trend of focusing on quality and diversified development.

The second is: Huizhou merchants are all over the world, their roots are in Huizhou, and their taste is also in their hometown, so there will be supply when there is demand. As a result, Anhui cuisine restaurants began to appear all over the country. This also promoted the development of Anhui cuisine system.

Once upon a time, Anhui cuisine became a popular product among the masses. It is even said that Anhui cuisine once ranked first among the eight major cuisines in China. However, with the decline of Huizhou merchants, the quality and popularity of Huizhou cuisine began to decline, so it was gradually forgotten and even generalized (i.e., Huizhou cuisine became the whole Anhui cuisine). In fact, this was because others wanted to take advantage of the name of Huizhou cuisine. Using the innate advantages of brand resources to develop oneself is a selfish business behavior and is not conducive to the development of Anhui cuisine.

Features

The cooking techniques of Anhui cuisine include knife skills, heat and operating techniques. In kung fu dishes such as stewing, stewing, smoking and steaming, the use of different fire control techniques in different dishes is an important symbol of the level of accomplishment of Huibang chefs. It is also the basic means for Anhui cuisine to form a unique style of crisp, tender, fragrant and fresh. Anhui cuisine There are more than 50 commonly used cooking techniques in 20 categories, among which the ones that best reflect the characteristics of Anhui style are roasting, stewing and smoking.

The production characteristics of Anhui cuisine

In those days, braised pork was a major category of Anhui cuisine, and the "red" in braised pork was reflected in the use of soy sauce. Huizhou’s soy sauce is made from soybeans and retains its original color.

The oil used for cooking is rapeseed oil grown and squeezed by oneself, and a large amount of wood is used as fuel: warm stewing with charcoal fire, rapid burning with firewood, and slow burning with tree blocks, which is more particular. The traditional emphasis on oil, color, and fire skills has Huizhou's special conditions.

When Anhui cuisine goes nationwide, it still maintains its emphasis on color: the power of color mixing; heavy oil: the power of seasoning; heavy fire: the power of tempering. Such as old or tender, hard or soft, knotted or loose, etc. It is traditional for Anhui cuisine to use ham as seasoning. Making ham is also a popular household technology in Huizhou. Gourmets appreciate Huizhou ham. It's just that people don't understand yet: "Jinhua ham is in Dongyang, and Dongyang ham is in Huizhou." This area belonged to Huizhou or the edge of Huizhou in ancient times and was the first place where Huizhou merchants arrived. Li Bai left the title of his poem in Jinhua: "I heard that Jinhua Crossing is connected to Wubai Beach in the east. He joined hands and paddled into Xin'an (i.e. Huizhou) in the first year of the year." In the Tang Dynasty, he thought of Huizhou from Jinhua, connected by a river, and traveled there ever since. Just more often.