Central Chinese cuisine
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One of the most fertile agricultural regions, central China is known as the ‘lands of fish and rice’. Flavours are delicate and dishes are usually sweet and slightly vinegary. The famous local Shaoxing wine is a staple in much of the cooking.
Dominated by the mighty Yangzi river, China’s central region encompasses the port cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou. As the capital of the region moved around over time, the vast imperial kitchens changed locations bringing their staff with them. This meant regional recipes travelled and evolved. A relatively new city, Shanghai is developing its own cuisine influenced by the older schools of Huiyang and Suzhe, as well as by Buddhist vegetarianism.
Try some recipes
Hangzhou
• Longjing shrimps
• Dongpo pork with bamboo shoots
• Poached fish in sweet vinegar sauce
Shanghai
• Shanghai spicy king prawns
• Drunken chicken
• Lion head soup
Staple ingredients
Wheat, rice, barley and corn are all grown here. Freshwater fisheries are abundant in the network of lakes and rivers, while deep sea fishing is established in the coastal regions. The hairy crab and freshwater eel are specialties. Popular flavourings include lotus roots, bamboo shoots, dried tofu skin, hair moss, tiger lily and dried mushrooms.
Cooking style
The region is famous for its ‘red cooking’ – food braised in soy sauce, rice wine, sugar and ginger. Most dishes taste sweet as sugar is used to counteract the slight sourness of soy sauce. In Shanghai, highly flavoured sauces are commonly used in cooking.
Buddhist vegetarianism
As they won't harm living beings, Chinese Buddhists eat no meat. However they don’t believe you need to sacrifice all pleasure to live by this rule. Therefore dishes often have similar names to meat dishes, and because of a skilled use of tofu, gluten and soy sauce they can look and even taste like meat.
Shaoxing wine
The canal town of Shaoxing is renowned for its rice wine made using the ‘pure’ water of Jianhu-Mirror Lake and a brown rice from the area. It is reputed to be the best in the country and they produce 250 thousand tonnes of it a year. As well as using the wine in cooking, Shaoxing is also famous for its pickled foods made with the waste product of production.
Regional dishes
One favourite imperial dish (despite its lowly name) is beggar’s chicken - a whole stuffed chicken, wrapped in lotus leaves and encased in clay before baking and broken open at the table. Lion’s head soup is another specialty - pork meatballs braised with leaves to look like lions’ heads and manes. Shanghai is most famous for its dumplings.Try some recipes
Hangzhou
• Longjing shrimps
• Dongpo pork with bamboo shoots
• Poached fish in sweet vinegar sauce
Shanghai
• Shanghai spicy king prawns
• Drunken chicken
• Lion head soup
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