Fujian cuisine

Fujian cuisine
A bowl of Fujian thick soup, or geng (羹). Fujian style cuisine contains soups, soupy dishes, and stews.
Chinese 福建菜
Min cuisine
Traditional Chinese 閩菜
Simplified Chinese 闽菜

Fujian cuisine is one of the native Chinese cuisines derived from the native cooking style of the province of Fujian, China. Fujian style cuisine is known to be light but flavourful, soft, and tender, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as "xiānwèi" (simplified Chinese: 鲜味; traditional Chinese: 鮮味), as well as retaining the original flavour of the main ingredients instead of masking them.[1][2]

Many diverse seafoods and woodland delicacies are used, including a myriad of fish, shellfish and turtles, or such edible mushrooms and bamboo shoots, provided by the coastal and mountainous regions of Fujian.[2] The most commonly employed cooking techniques in the region's cuisine include braising, stewing, steaming and boiling.[2] Particular attention is paid on the finesse of knife skills and cooking technique of the chefs, which is use to enhance the flavor, aroma and texture of seafood and other foods.[2] Strong emphasis is put on the making and utilizing of broth and soups.[3]. There are sayings in the region's cuisine: "One broth can be changed into numerous (ten) forms" (－湯十變) and "It is unacceptable for a meal to not have soup"(不湯不行).[1]

Fermented fish sauce, known locally as shrimp oil (虾油), is also commonly used in the cuisine, along with oysters, crab, and prawns. Peanuts (utilized for both savory dishes and desserts) are also prevalent, and can be boiled, fried, roasted, crushed, ground or even turned into a paste. Peanuts can be used as a garnish, feature in soups and even be added to braised or stir-fried dishes. Mi soan (simplified: 米线; traditional: 米線； Mandarin: mĭxiàn, also known as mĭfěn (米粉) (thin, white wheat-flour noodles), are a Fujian specialty.

Contents

Styles

Fujian cuisine consists of four styles:

Seasonings

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Unique seasoning from the province include fish sauce, shrimp paste, sugar, Shacha sauce, and preserved apricot. As well, wine lees from the production of rice wine is commonly used in all aspects of the region's cuisine. Red yeast rice (紅麴/紅槽醬) is also commonly used in the region's cuisine, imparting a rosy-red hue to the foods, pleasant aroma, and slightly sweet taste [4]

The province is also well known for its "drunken" (wine marinated) dishes and is famous for the quality of the soup stocks and bases used to flavour their dishes, soups, and stews.

Notable dishes

One of the most famous dishes in Fujian cuisine is "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" (佛跳墙), a complex dish making use of many ingredients, including shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, and Shaoxing wine.

Fujian is also notable for yanpi (燕皮), a thin wrapper made with large proportions of lean pork. This wrapper has a unique texture due to the incorporation of meat and has a "bite" similar to things made with surimi. Yenpi is used to make rouyan (肉燕), a type of wonton.[3]

Notable dishes[1]
English Chinese Description
Fo Tiao Qiang, "Buddha jumps over the wall" 佛跳墙 Contains over 30 ingredients, including shark's fin, abalone, sea slug, dried scallops, duck, chicken breast, pig's trotters, mushrooms, pigeon eggs and other ingredients.[5] A legend is that after the dish is cooked the aroma lingers, and that after smelling the aroma, a monk forgot his vegetarian vows and leapt over the wall to acquire some.[5]
Oyster omelette 蚵仔煎 Omelette with oyster filling.
Popiah or Lunpiah 薄饼 or 潤餅 Crepe with bean sauce or soy sauce filling.
Ban mian 板面 Flat-shaped egg noodle soup
Bak kut teh 肉骨茶
Stuffed fish meat balls 包心魚丸 Fish balls filled with meat
Wuxiang 五香 Fried five-spice roll with pork and vegetables, which is known as kikiam in the Philippines
Hongcao chicken 紅糟雞 Red yeast rice chicken
Minshengguo 閩生果 Stir fried raw peanuts
Dancao xiangluopian 淡糟香螺片 Snails(xiangluo) cooked with wine lees
Qīngjiāo ròusī 青椒肉絲 Green pepper (qingjiao) and pork strips (rousi). It has been adapted to become "Pepper steak" in Chinese restaurants in the West.
Jitangcuanhaibang 雞湯汆海蚌 Clams cooked in chicken stock (jitang)
Cuipi yujuan 脆皮魚卷 Fried fish filled yuba skin
Ganbei luobo 干貝蘿蔔 Diakon steamed with conpoy (Ganbei) and Chinese ham
Zuipaigu 醉排骨 Wine marinade pork ribs (paigu)
Dongbi longzhu 東壁龍珠 Meat filled longan fruit
Huangmen tianji 黄燜田雞 Wine braised frog
Wucai xiasong 五彩蝦松 Stir-fried diced shrimp (xia) and vegetables
Wucai zenzhuko 五彩珍珠扣 Squid pearls braised with vegetables

There are many eating places around the province that sell these specialties for two yuan, and which are thus known as "two-yuan eateries". In Xiamen, a local specialty is Sipunculid worm jelly (tusun dong / 土笋冻), an aspic made with a species of marine peanut worm

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c 中国烹饪协会 (China Cuisine Association). 中国八大菜系:闽菜 (China's Eight Great Schools of Cuisines : Min). 福建大酒家: 中国职工音像出版社.  ISRC： CN-A47-99-302-00/V.G4
  2. ^ a b c d 徐, 文苑 (2005), 中国饮食文化概论, 清华大学出版社, pp. 79–80 
  3. ^ a b Grigson, Jane (1985-01), World Atlas of Food, Bookthrift Company, ISBN 978-0671072117 
  4. ^ Hu, Shiu-ying (2005), Food plants of China, Chinese University Press 
  5. ^ a b "Fujian Cuisine. Beautyfujian.com. Accessed June 2011.