every time I travel to a city, besides punching in my favorite scenic spots, I also walk the streets to find local food and eat.

The city of Suzhou always gives people a gentle and safe feeling. People who have lived there for a long time also give people a feeling of calmness and indifference.

Suzhou cuisine has also inherited this style, which may be related to their preference for cooking with natural and fresh ingredients.

To taste, the biggest feature of Suzhou cuisine is "fat but not greasy, clear but not light".

Suzhou people's passion for food lies not only in taste, but also in cooking techniques and freshness of ingredients.

Bai Juyi once overhauled the water conservancy during his tenure in Suzhou, and Qili Shantang Street was his achievement. It was also Bai Juyi's success in turning a muddy street into a rich and romantic place in Suzhou, and it was also Bai Juyi's promotion of boat banquets to the people.

In Bai Juyi's own works, there are many beautiful sentences about Wu cuisine: "The thread of silver carp is still thin, and the silk ribbon is smooth and soft", "Fish and mustard sauce are mixed, and water sunflower is salted with soy sauce". It shows that Suzhou cuisine is delicious in ingredients and exquisite in production. It can be seen that Bai Juyi is not only a good official, but also a proper foodie.

In addition to pursuing freshness, seasonality and meticulous production in ingredients, Suzhou cuisine also pursues the aesthetic feeling of dishes, and incorporates artistic techniques such as painting, calligraphy and sculpture on the basis of good color, flavor and taste.

and the most representative ones are the cold pots of Suzhou cuisine, such as brown smoked fish, red fried shrimp, white boiled chicken, green peppers and black preserved eggs.

If you travel to Suzhou, you must try the following famous dishes when you have the opportunity. They are not only delicious and famous, but also have stories.

1. Squirrel Siniperca chuatsi

Squirrel Siniperca chuatsi is one of the most famous representatives of Jiangsu cuisine. This dish is characterized by sour and sweet taste, crisp outside and tender inside, perfect shape, the fish head and tail are upturned, and the fish body stands up like a squirrel after being carved with a flower knife and fried. When serving, it is poured with steaming marinade, and it will also make a "squeaky" squirrel cry, which is very vivid.

Squirrel mandarin fish originated from "fried fish", which was originally not named by this name. It is said that Ganlong tasted Squirrel mandarin fish in Songhelou during a trip to Suzhou, and he was full of praise for this dish, so he took this name according to the shape of this dish, and the Squirrel mandarin fish in Songhelou became famous all over the world.

In fact, this dish is basically popular now. It is served in many restaurants in many places, but it is an authentic Suzhou dish. If you come to Suzhou, wouldn't it be a pity not to try the authentic squirrel mandarin fish?

2. Shrimp with Biluochun

As the saying goes, there is paradise on earth and Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth. On food, there are shrimps from Longjing in Hangzhou and shrimps from Biluo in Suzhou. Taking tea into dishes can not only add fragrance, but also add color, adding a leisurely feeling to the dishes.

As we all know, Suzhou is a famous land of fish and rice, and its unique geographical advantages allow people living here to feast on seafood.

For example, it is not difficult for the citizens here to have a fresh river shrimp meal, but the most common way here is to fry the river shrimp in oil and stir-fry the shrimps. One of Suzhou's famous dishes, Biluochun Shrimp, is improved from the stir-fry shrimps.

only take the second tea of Biluochun. Sizing the shrimps with refined salt, egg white and dry starch, heating the oil in the pot to 5% heat, frying the shrimps until they are milky white, draining the oil with a colander, frying them with Biluochun tea water, turning them over several times, and taking them out of the pot. The edge of the dish is decorated with tea soaked in the past, which adds a green color and a fragrance of tea.

Fresh shrimps are added to famous tea, and then cooked by exquisite methods. The prepared shrimps are crisp, tender, elastic and crystal clear, and the tea is Qing Xiang-friendly. The unique fresh fragrance of river shrimps pours into the mouth with the mellow beauty of "Biluochun", and the perfect combination of taste and vision makes you truly realize what Jiangnan is on the tip of your tongue.

3. Sauced meat

Sauced meat, formerly known as "stewed meat with wine", is popular among Suzhou people for its bright color, fat but not greasy meat and no residue in taste.

many people will think that the sauce meat is similar to the braised pork, but in fact it is quite different.

Sauced meat doesn't need to be fried with sugar. During the period of "braised meat with wine", it was colored with latosolic red rouge, and later it was changed to red yeast. The rock sugar adds a sweet taste, and the wine flavours the meat. The color of the meat is like cherry, and the taste is sweet and salty, which is very attractive.

People in Suzhou pay attention to the season when they eat, and the seasons change all year round. Even the pork that is supplied all the year round has different ways at four seasons. Steamed pork with lotus leaf powder in summer is oily and greasy; The braised pork in autumn has a long taste; The sauce in winter is moist and full; In spring, the sauce meat is crispy and tender, with a crimson luster, just like the flowers in full bloom in spring.

The sauce meat recommended by Lu manuscript is the most famous. Every year around Qingming Festival, local people line up in Guanqian Street, waiting for this bite every year. The sauce meat recommended by Lu manuscript in a square plastic box is bright in color, fat and thin, and looks particularly attractive. With a bowl of hot white rice, there will be a great sense of satisfaction.

if you are going to Suzhou at this time, you must try it when you have time.

In fact, seriously speaking, as long as you are willing to look for and dig, you can still eat many delicious foods in Suzhou, such as braised pork noodles, crispy duck and oily eel paste all over the street. Any fly shop can do very well, not to mention the famous dishes carefully managed by chefs. When you come to a city's scenic spots and taste local dishes, the combination of scenery and food will make your trip more full.