Cantonese Cuisine
Many claim that this is the most refined cuisine in China, and there is some truth to this, considering that the fertile lands and favorable climate of the southern part of the country allow for the widest selection of fresh products.
Cantonese chefs are known for their inventiveness and ability to skillfully use a variety of seasonings and spices. A tourist should by no means miss the opportunity to taste the famous Cantonese dishes known as dim sum (in Beijing dialect – dianxin). Served in Guangdong usually for breakfast, dim sum includes a whole set of steamed or fried culinary items that are traditionally placed in miniature woven baskets and then transported between tables in a restaurant or tea house on tray carts. Such treats include dumplings with ready-made filling of pork or seafood, wrapped in a thin wrapper of rice or wheat dough (made from flour), called wonton in Cantonese; bao steamed buns with a lot of filling; stuffed mushrooms, peppers or other vegetables in chili sauce; deep-fried balls of sweet potato, yam; tiny balls of spring greens and many other culinary masterpieces, each more delicious than the last.
Cantonese chefs enjoy a well-deserved reputation as skilled masters of preparing fried poultry and pork, which are usually served as thinly sliced pieces in a sauce, slightly seasoned with sesame oil, on a bed of boiled rice.
Although the Chinese usually do not serve dessert, among the dim sum offered to customers there are a couple of delicacies that literally melt in the mouth: baked pies with a sweet egg cake filling and cubes of coconut milk jelly. Be sure to try this treat!
Sichuan Cuisine
The cuisine prevalent in the westernmost province – Sichuan – is the most aromatic in China. This characteristic is explained by the widespread use of chili peppers. Sichuan food is very spicy, described in Chinese by the word "la", which can be translated as "numbing dish" (after tasting it, one feels as if the mouth has gone numb). Peppers are used here in various forms: dried or fried slices with other spices; finely ground and turned into a paste (with added oil); as pepper oil or powder. Another highlight of Sichuan cuisine is the use of an especially spicy seasoning: dried berries or seeds of a local pepper plant.
The Sichuan cuisine menu includes many excellently prepared dishes. Among them is duck, which is first smoked over a mixture of camphor and tea leaves, then well fried and covered with tofu (soybean curd) mixed with finely chopped pork and spicy seasonings. This dish is called "mapo doufu" in Chinese and is especially popular in some restaurants in Chongqing.
A typical Sichuan custom is eating from a samovar-like hot pot (huoguo), especially popular in Chongqing. Here there are entire streets filled with small restaurants with two or three tables, where food is specially prepared in such pots. The hot pot is placed in the middle of the table and heated by a gas burner connected to a gas cylinder under the table. In the pot, a reddish-brown broth boils, generously seasoned with spices and Sichuan pepper. Inside, the pot is usually divided into several small compartments: their number usually corresponds to the number of people sitting at the table.
On the table, various vegetables, meat, fish, tofu, and offal are placed on plates. Everything that guests order is washed and placed on the table in finely chopped form. These pieces are lowered into the boiling broth using chopsticks or a small strainer. The food cooks very quickly, and to cool it, each piece taken out of the broth is dipped into a small bowl with sesame oil or beaten egg.
Huaiyang Cuisine
This cuisine is typical of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, especially around the cities of Huainan and Yangzhou. The name of the cuisine of China's eastern coast – Huaiyang – comes from combining the first syllables of their names.
In this land of fish and rice, a great variety of agricultural products are produced, and huge quantities of fish, shrimp, crabs, and eel are caught. Dishes common in other places – Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang – are also attributed to Huaiyang cuisine, which is not surprising, as they were invented by wealthy merchants who once lived in Yangzhou.
Freshness is a distinctive feature of dishes in this cuisine, especially fish. Natural flavors are of paramount importance. Spicy Sichuan seasonings are not used here. Huaiyang chefs prefer to cook food either by steaming or by slow boiling, rather than by quick and strong frying. Signature dishes include pork steamed in lotus leaves, duck with eight ingredients, meatballs called "lion's head". All of this can be tasted in any good restaurant in Shanghai.
Northern Chinese Cuisine
The common belief that the main component of the Chinese diet is rice is erroneous when it comes to Northern China. In this region, the population generally prefers wheat flour products such as noodles, steamed buns (mantou or baozi), or dumplings (jiaozi), which are small pieces of dough with meat or vegetable fillings (they are eaten boiled, steamed, or fried).
Food in Northern China is prepared in a fairly simple way compared to the complex manipulations in other regions of the country. Onions and garlic are used in large quantities, but very few of the vegetables that are available in the southern provinces. The reason lies in the difference in climatic conditions. Even in Beijing, there is a shortage of vegetables in winter, and often for several weeks there is nothing on street stalls and markets except heads of Chinese cabbage stacked in piles.
As for the variety of dishes, Beijing is an exception to the rule, because for centuries people from all over China came and settled here. The imperial court hired only the best cooks; the chief cook could rise to the rank of minister. In the palace kitchens, dishes of the highest quality were created, which later became part of the culinary tradition of the empire. These include Peking duck, phoenix in the nest, mandarin fish, lotus crabs, rice crust soup, moo shu pork, thousand-layer cake, and others.