Huai-Yang Cuisine

Huai-Yang Cuisine originated from the Pre-Qin Period (221-206BC), became famous during the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) Dynasties, and was recognized as a distinct regional style during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. This cuisine includes dishes from Huai'an, Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai.

Raw materials of Huai-Yang dishes include fresh and live aquatic products. The carving techniques are delicate, of which the melon carving technique is especially well-known. The flavor of Huai-Yang cuisine is light, fresh and sweet. If Shandong cuisine is characterized by stirring and frying over a hot fire, Huai-Yang cuisine is characterized by stewing, braising, and steaming over a low fire for a long time. Famous dishes cooked this way are chicken braised with chestnuts, pork steamed in lotus leaf, duck stewed with eight treasures, meatballs with crab meat in Yangzhou style, and butterfly sea cucumber (sea cucumber cut into butterfly shapes and cooked with flavorings). Other famous dishes include stewed crab with clear soup, long boiled dry shredded meat, crystal meat, squirrel with mandarin fish, Sauteed Eel Shreds and Liangxi crisp eel.

The vegetarian banquet is a special feature of Huai-Yang cuisine, and the vegetarian dishes in Beijing cuisine are mostly variants of Huai-Yang cuisine.

Huai-Yang snacks and refreshments are exquisite, such as boiled, shredded, dried bean curd; steamed dumplings with minced meat and gravy; steamed meat dumplings with dough gathered at the top. 

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