The formation of a cuisine is inseparable from its long history and unique cooking characteristics. At the same time, it is also influenced by the natural geography, climatic conditions, resources and specialties, eating habits and so on. Some people describe the "eight major cuisines" in an anthropomorphic way: Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisines are like beautiful women in the south of the Yangtze River; Shandong and Anhui cuisine is like Gu Zhuo's simple northern healthy Han; Guangdong and Fujian cuisine are like romantic and elegant sons; Sichuan and Hunan cuisine are like celebrities with rich connotations and talents.
The cooking skills of the "eight major cuisines" in China have their own charm, and the characteristics of their dishes are also different.
(1) Shandong cuisine: Shandong cuisine is Shandong flavor cuisine, which consists of Jinan, Jiaodong and Confucius cuisine. Jinan cuisine pays special attention to soup making. There are strict regulations on the use and cooking of clear soup and milk soup. The dishes are famous for their freshness, crispness and tenderness. Jiaodong cuisine originated in Fushan, Yantai and Qingdao, and is good at cooking seafood. Its taste is mainly fresh and tender, with emphasis on lightness and color. Confucian cuisine is a concrete embodiment of "never tired of eating fine food, never tired of eating fine food", and its wide range of materials and rich banquet are comparable to those of imperial meals moved to imperial palaces in the past. Shandong cuisine is very heavily seasoned, pure and mellow, with few complex synthetic flavors. It tries its best to reflect the original taste of raw materials. Another feature is that there are many kinds of pasta. Wheat, corn, sweet potato, soybean, sorghum and millet can all be made into pasta with different flavors, making it a famous feast. Shandong famous flavor dishes include fried scorpion, Dezhou boneless braised chicken, abalone grilled in original shell, Jiuzhuan large intestine, sweet and sour Yellow River carp and so on. Shandong cuisine is the earliest cuisine, which has an important influence on other cuisines, so Shandong cuisine is the first of the eight cuisines.
(2) Sichuan cuisine: The flavor includes the characteristics of Chengdu, Chongqing, Leshan, Zigong and other local dishes. The main feature is the variety of flavors and subtle changes. Pepper, pepper, pepper, bean paste and so on are the main condiments. With different proportions, various flavors such as spicy, hot and sour, pepper hemp, sesame sauce, garlic paste, mustard, red oil, sweet and sour, fish flavor and strange taste are produced, all of which are thick and mellow, with the special flavor of "one dish in a row" and "all kinds of dishes are delicious". The five famous dishes in Sichuan cuisine are shredded pork with fish flavor, diced chicken with kung pao, husband and wife's lung slices, mapo tofu, and Sichuan style pork. Sichuan cuisine is the most distinctive cuisine in China, so it is famous all over the country.
(3) Jiangsu cuisine: Originally Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, it is a famous cuisine in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. It covers a wide area, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai, as well as parts of Jiangxi and Henan. It has the reputation of "the best taste in the southeast" and "the most beautiful in the world", and its reputation is far spread at home and abroad. Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisines can be divided into Huaiyang Cuisine, Nanjing Cuisine, Xuzhou Cuisine, Sunan Cuisine, Zhejiang Cuisine and Huizhou Cuisine. Later, Zhejiang cuisine and Anhui cuisine became one of the eight major cuisines with their distinctive features. In this way, Huaiyang cuisine has become the most famous vegetable in Jiangsu cuisine. Huaiyang cuisine is centered on Yangzhou and Huai 'an, with the Grand Canal as the main food, reaching Zhenjiang in the south, Hongze Lake and Huaihe River in the north, and local flavor dishes in coastal areas in the east. Huaiyang cuisine is rigorous in selecting materials, pays attention to freshness, highlights the main ingredients, is skillful in cutting, is good at stewing, stewing, roasting, attaches importance to mixing soup, pays attention to original flavor, and is good at modeling, and the melon and fruit carving is lifelike. The taste is moderate and salty, suitable for both north and south, and can be used to cook "whole eel seats". Huaiyang is fine, beautiful in shape, varied in taste, exquisite in production, fresh and delicious, and different in four seasons.
Jiangsu cuisine includes local cuisines such as Nanjing Cuisine, Suzhou Cuisine and Xuzhou Cuisine besides Huaiyang Cuisine mentioned above. Nanjing cuisine is good at stewing, stewing, forking and roasting. Pay special attention to seven flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, fragrant and smelly; Fresh, rotten, crisp, tender, crisp, thick and fat. Nanjing cuisine is famous for its good preparation of duck gizzards, and is known as "Jinling duck gizzards are the best in the world". Su Xi cuisine is good at stewing, stewing, simmering and simmering, paying attention to maintaining the original flavor, fine color, seasonal freshness, moderate sweetness and saltiness, crisp and delicious, fresh and delicious. In recent years, it has also cooked "Wuxi Ganlong Jiangnan Banquet", "Wuxi Xishi Banquet", "Suzhou Cuisine Banquet" and Taihu Boat Cuisine. The flavor of Xuzhou cuisine belongs to Shandong cuisine in history. With the changes of the times, its cuisine has been between the two major cuisines of Jiangsu and Shandong, with a moderate taste of fresh and salty, and it is clear but not light, thick but not turbid. No matter what the food is taken from, it pays attention to the role of "diet therapy and food supplement". In addition, Xuzhou cuisine mostly uses big crabs and dog meat, especially the whole dog mat. Jiangsu famous dishes include stewed chicken with mushrooms, goo-goo meat, squirrel mandarin fish, sweet and sour pork ribs, whitebait in Taihu Lake and hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake. Others include stewed lion's head, stewed silver carp's head, grilled whole pig's head, steamed crucian carp, crystal trotters, three sets of ducks, soft-pocked eel, baked tiger's tail, fried butterfly slices, winter melon cups, three-diced buns, roasted jade, crab yellow soup packets, and thousand-layer oil cakes. Jiangsu snacks are rich in characteristics, such as Qinhuai snacks, Suzhou cakes and soup packets, all of which are very famous.
Among many old Chinese restaurants, the Deyue Building in Suzhou is worth mentioning, which was built in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. When Emperor Qianlong made a southern tour, he came to Suzhou Deyuelou for dinner. Because of its delicious dishes, the title of Deyuelou was "the first restaurant in the world".
(4) Cantonese cuisine: Cantonese cuisine, which is developed from the special dishes in Guangzhou, Chaozhou and Dongjiang, is a late-starting cuisine, but it has a great influence. Most Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong and Macao and other countries in the world are mainly Cantonese cuisine. Guangdong cuisine, which has its own unique flavor, absorbs the strengths of various cuisines and forms a variety of cooking forms. Guangzhou cuisine is clear but not light, fresh but not vulgar, with well-chosen materials and diverse varieties. It is also compatible with many western dishes and pays attention to the momentum and grade of the dishes. Chaozhou belongs to Fujian in ancient times, so Chaozhou cuisine combines the flavor of Fujian and Guangdong, and is good at cooking marine dishes and sweets, with a mellow taste, among which soup dishes are the most distinctive. Dongjiang cuisine, also known as Hakka cuisine, is a Han Chinese from the Central Plains who migrated southward, living in the mountainous areas of Dongjiang Yu. Its dishes are rich in local flavor and are good at frying, frying, baking and stewing. On the whole, Cantonese cuisine is characterized by wide selection of materials, novelty and freshness, light taste, rich taste, clear but not light, tender but not raw, oily but not greasy, and there are five flavors (fragrant, loose, soft, fat and strong) and six flavors (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty and fresh). Strong seasonality, light in summer and autumn, rich in winter and spring, and many dishes have unique flavor.
In addition, Cantonese people, especially Guangzhou people, have an inexplicable obsession with making soup, and there are quite a few kinds of soup, which is also an important reason why Cantonese cuisine stands out from other different cuisines. Guangdong people will definitely taste a pot of "old fire soup" when they go home for a long time (such as studying or working outside)
Guangdong's famous dishes are: barbecued pork, fried chicken, Long Hudou, roast suckling pig and beef in oyster sauce.
(5) Fujian cuisine: Fujian cuisine is a cuisine mainly formed by local flavor dishes in Fuzhou, southern Fujian and western Fujian. Fuzhou cuisine is fresh, refreshing, sweet and sour, especially paying attention to soup mixing. Another feature is that it is good at using brown sugar as ingredients, which has the functions of preventing deterioration, removing fishy smell, enhancing fragrance, improving taste and color matching. Minnan cuisine, represented by Xiamen, also has the characteristics of freshness and lightness, and pays attention to the use of spices such as Chili sauce, mustard sauce and so on. West Fujian is located at the junction of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, with Hakka dishes as the main body, and many exotic products unique to mountainous areas as raw materials, which have a strong mountain flavor. Fujian cuisine is characterized by frying, stir-frying, stewing, frying, stewing and steaming. It is especially good at cooking seafood, with exquisite knives, interesting people and mostly soups. It has a unique flavor of fresh, fragrant, rotten, light and slightly sweet and sour. Fujian snacks and snacks have another merit. They are made from all kinds of seafood in coastal shoals and are flavored with special flavors. They are delicious.
The most famous flavor dishes are: Buddha's Leaping Wall, Chicken Soup, Braised Duck Pieces in Shanai, Seven-Star Fish Pills, Braised Chicken, Fried Eel, Half Moon Shenjiang, Swallow Skin Wonton, Fuzhou Noodles, Oyster Fried and so on.
(6) Zhejiang cuisine: Zhejiang cuisine has a long history, and its flavor includes the characteristics of dishes in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing. Hangzhou cuisine attaches importance to the freshness, liveliness and tenderness of raw materials, mainly fish, shrimp and seasonal vegetables, and pays attention to knife work, with fresh taste and outstanding original flavor. Ningbo cuisine is salty and fresh, and it is good at cooking seafood. It pays attention to freshness, softness and smoothness, emphasizes the original flavor and emphasizes the taste. Shaoxing cuisine is good at cooking seafood poultry. The dishes emphasize that the entrance is fragrant, crisp and waxy, and the soup is rich in flavor and rich in rural flavor.
Zhejiang cuisine has the characteristics of bright colors, delicious and tender taste, crisp, soft and refreshing, small and exquisite dishes, handsome and beautiful. It is good at stewing, frying, stewing and steaming, and it is original. There are many kinds of dumplings, cakes, soups and pastries in Zhejiang Dianxin, which are delicious.
Famous dishes include: Longjing shrimp, West Lake water shield soup, fried eel back with shrimp, vinegar fish in West Lake, fried bell, crab grabbing, fresh eel, yellow croaker with pickles, rock sugar soft-shelled turtle, oyster scrambled eggs, lotus root stuffed with honey, Jiaxing zongzi, Ningbo dumplings, Huzhou thousands of steamed buns and so on.
(7) Hunan cuisine: Hunan cuisine includes the characteristics of dishes in Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake Area and Xiangxi Mountain Area. Xiangjiang River Basin, centered on the Yangtze River, Hengyang and Xiangtan, is the main representative of Hunan cuisine. It is characterized by strong oil color, emphasis on material benefits, attention to fresh fragrance, hot and sour, soft and tender, especially stewed vegetables and preserved vegetables. The dishes in Dongting Lake area are good at cooking fresh river, poultry and livestock. They are characterized by large quantity, thick oil, salty, spicy and soft, and are famous for stewing and cooking. Xiangxi cuisine is good at making delicacies, smoked bacon, all kinds of cured meat and chicken. Its taste focuses on salty, sweet and sour, and it has a strong mountain flavor. One of the biggest characteristics of Hunan cuisine is spicy and the other is wax.
The famous dishes are: Donganzi chicken, steamed bacon, shark's fin in Zuan, rock sugar Xianglian, red pepper preserved beef, hundred pages of hair cattle, stinky tofu in Huogong Palace, sour meat in Jishou, heart-changing eggs and so on.
(8) Anhui cuisine: the flavor of Anhui cuisine includes the characteristics of dishes in southern Anhui, along the river and along the Huaihe River. Southern Anhui cuisine includes Huangshan Mountain, Shexian County (ancient Huizhou), Tunxi and other places. It pays attention to fire power, is good at cooking game, is heavy in oil, simple and affordable, and maintains its original flavor. Many dishes are stewed and simmered with charcoal. The soup is clear and mellow, and the original pot is full of fragrance. Although there are not many aquatic products in southern Anhui, the cooked and salted "osmanthus fish" is well known. The dishes along the Yangtze River are represented by Wuhu and Anqing, and later spread to Hefei. It is good at cooking fresh river and livestock, paying attention to knife work, paying attention to color and shape, and making good use of sugar to flavor, especially smoked dishes. The dishes along the Huaihe River are represented by Bengbu, Suxian and Fuyang. The dishes are salty and spicy, the soup is thick and heavy, and coriander is also used to color matching and seasoning.
Famous flavor dishes include: Wuwei smoked duck, Mao Feng smoked shad, Fuliji roast chicken, Fang La fish, Stewed chicken with stone ears, cloud meat, mung bean pancakes and butterfly noodles.
Kong Ziyun: Food is the most important thing for the people. Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine and Guangdong cuisine are known as the "eight major cuisines", and together with Beijing cuisine and Hubei cuisine, they are the "ten major cuisines". Here are eight cuisines and four flavors. The four flavors are Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine and huaiyang cuisine.
At the foot of the Emperor of Beijing, Beijing cuisine is well-made, because Beijing cuisine is complex and diverse, with all kinds of flavors and many famous dishes, which are difficult to classify. In the past, in Beijing's catering industry, Shandong Pavilion was the largest. At that time, there were so-called top ten halls, namely, Qingfengtang and Juxiantang. Eight big houses refer to the house names of Tongheju and Casserole House; Eight buildings refer to the building names of Dongxing Building, Zhimei Building and Taifeng Building; There is also Eight Da Chun, which refers to the name of Qinglinchun and other spring brands. Most of these restaurants are Shandong-style. By the time of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing had all kinds of nationalities, such as Han, Manchu, Mongolian and Hui. Therefore, Manchu snacks like Aiwowo and Saqima, which are deeply loved by the royal family, are popular today.
Hubei's "Hubei cuisine" travels around with fish. Relying on Hubei's unique freshwater fishery resources, Hubei cuisine has become a "dark horse" in China's catering industry with its growing reputation and increasing market share.