During my week long visit to Jiangsu, my eyes were opened to the breathtaking beauty, rich history and fascinating cuisine of the Chinese province. Jiangsu cuisine is one of the Eight Great Culinary Traditions of China.
Out of the Eight greats - Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese and Jiangsu Cuisine
are considered the greatest Four.
Jiangsu is one of China's 23 provinces.
Jiangsu is a coastal province with 13 prefecture-level divisions each
with a prefecture-level city. Nanjing is the provincial capital. China's largest city, Shanghai was once part
of Jiangsu province but was elevated to a self-governing municipality in
1927.
The Huai River is a 1,000km long tributary that joins the Yangtze near Nanjing. The Huai River runs west-east with its source at Tongbai Mountain of Henan province.
The area between Huai River and Yangtze River is considered the heart of Jiangsu cuisine. From here, cuisine from the cities of Huai'an, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang is referred to as Huaiyang cuisine, which is considered the core of Jiangsu cuisine.
Jiangsu cuisine prioritise quality of ingredients - freshness is key. Seasoning and cooking techniques are to bring out and complement the natural flavours of the quality ingredients - never to overpower or displace it. Main cooking methods include steam, stew / braise and boil / simmer with emphasis on temperature control and timing. Jiangsu cuisine stir fry, deep fry and roast less compared to say Cantonese cuisine.
Jiangsu flavours are sweet-savoury complementing the fresh ingredients'
natural taste. Food textures are delicate, smooth, tender-soft but not mushy
e.g. meat is tender but not fall-off-the-bone soft.
I was blessed to be able to experience all these regional cuisines during
my 7-day Jiangsu tour. The following are the most memorable and just
whetted my appetite to return to Jiangsu for more, .... much more which I
have yet to taste.
Nanjing Salted Duck 盐水鸭.
Nanjing Salted Duck is Jiangsu's answer to Beijing's roast
duck. Nanjing is China's "Duck Capital 鸭都" and there's a saying here
"without duck it is not a banquet 无鸭不成席".
The duck seasoned with salt and boiled / simmered in stock with ginger
and spices may look pale and plain but is packed with flavour. The meat
is juicy and the skin has a subtle soft crunch to the bite. The tender
succulent flesh is savoury-salty and sweet without much, if any gamey
duck taste. Salted duck is sold everywhere in Nanjing and you must not
leave Nanjing or Jiangsu without tasting it.
In Singapore,
some restaurants have it on their menu
and you can also get it at
Benson Salted Duck stall in Toa Payoh
👈 click
Xuzhou Dongpo Rou 東坡肉.
Dongpo Rou, the tender juicy cube of savoury-sweet pork belly stewed in
soy sauce originated from Xuzhou in the north of Jiangsu. Dongpo Rou is almost melt-in-the-mouth tender and juicy. The meat, fat and skin shimmering with a smothering glazy sauce outside is well infused with soy sauce and spice savoury flavours which overlay the natural sweetness of pork. The popular dish
is named after Su Dongpo (1037 - 1101), a poet and statesman of the Song
dynasty who is credited for creating this current version of the
dish.
Dongpo Rou is quite common in
Chinese restaurant menus in Singapore and Malaysia
👈 click
The famous hairy carbs usually associated with Shanghai come mainly from
Taihu lake and Yangcheng lake of Jiangsu. The most sought after hairy
crabs are from Yangcheng lake but most of us won't have a chance to taste
it as
demand far exceeds supply.
I am pretty contend with hairy crabs from Taihu lake. The crabs are
simply steamed and eaten with soy sauce, vinegar and fine slivers of
julienned ginger. The tender juicy white meat is sweet, the orangey colour roe sweeter and the gut is
savoury-umami sweet. Personally, I enjoy it neat, without any
condiments.
Xuyi Lobster 盱眙龙虾.
These little lobsters or crawfish originated in Louisiana, USA and
brought to Jiangsu by the Japanese in the 1930s, so it is a recent addition to Jiangsu cuisine. But, its prominence cannot be denied. Today, crawfish
restaurants are everywhere in Shanghai, Jiangsu and beyond in China. The
little crustaceans are done in many styles - the most popular include
13-spice and mala spicy flavours. The water critters are 4 - 6
inches long from head to tail. The head make up more than half the
crawfish and only the tail is edible. The meat is slightly softer than
prawns and tastes sweet but in a different way from prawns.
When in Jiangsu, join the locals in
indulging in this crustacean obsession 👈 click
The little lobsters are also popular in
Wuhan city in Hubei province further west along the Yangtze 👈 click
Yangzhou Lion Head 獅子頭.
Lion Head dish has nothing to do with roaring lions but is a large pork
ball cooked in cabbage, chicken, ham soup. The diced pork used to make the meat ball
has a high percentage of fat, so the pork ball is tender-soft and juicy.
It tastes sweet-savoury with nice porcine flavour from the
fat. There is also a version where the pork ball is first pan seared to lock in the porcine juices and then
stewed in a savoury stock.
It is call Lion Head because the coarse surface of the large pork ball
resembles the head of stone guardian lions at the doors of important Chinese
buildings.
Lion Head are often on the menu of Chinese restaurants around the
world:
Taihu white shrimp is small and simply cooked by blanching. Its meat is
sweet and soft but the shell is rather stiff. Taihu white bait is often
made into omelette with eggs. It is a sweet eggy homely comfort
dish.
Yangzhou Wen Si Tofu 文思豆腐.
Wen Si Tofu is an example of the importance of cutting skills in Jiangsu cuisine. This tofu dish was created for Qing emperor Qianlong (1711 - 1799) by a monk named Wen Si in Yangzhou when the emperor was inspecting his southern realm.
Wen Si Tofu is made by hand slicing cubes of tofu into five thousand soft silky threads and simmering it in chicken soup with shredded fried egg, finely julienned spring union and shelled white prawn. The tofu threads are thin enough to thread through the eye of a needle. Humble ingredients, this dish is all about cutting skills. The sweet savoury dish is delicious and the feel of silky smooth soft threads of tofu in the mouth is unforgettable.
We can get Wen Si Tofu at Grand Shanghai Restaurant 👈 click
Yangzhou Fried Rice is probably the best known Jiangsu cuisine dish globally - most Chinese restaurants have a fried rice dish in their menu and it is often the Yangzhou style. The main ingredients are overnight rice (silver) and beaten egg yolk (gold). Other ingredients vary and often include shelled prawns, chopped carrot, peas, scallion etc.
The rice and beaten egg yolk are stir fried together to produce an eggy sweet savoury fried rice dish with a slight toasty taste from caramelisation of the starch. The resulting dish looks richly yellow and white like "gold wrapping silver 金包银". The other ingredients added more texture, flavours and colours to the mainly eggy sweet savoury dish.
This dish is called Yangzhou fried rice because it was created by Qing dynasty official, poet and calligrapher Yi Bingshou 伊秉绶 (1754–1815) who was from Yangzhou.
Highlights from my Jiangsu trip. So much to see, learn and eat in Jiangsu.
Qinhu National Wetland Park & Medicine Buddha near Taizhou 👈 click
Da Bao'en Temple of Great Gratitude & Porcelain Tower of Nanjing 👈 click
Grand Buddha at Ling Shan near Wuxi 👈 click
Usnisa Palace on Niushou Shan Mountain near Nanjing 👈 click
Nantong Langshan Guangjiao Temple 👈 click
South Gardens Teahouse in Tongli, Suzhou 👈 click
Written by Tony Boey on 19 Feb 2021 | Reviewed 9 Jul 2023
Teochew cuisine is part of Cantonese cuisine as Teochew cities are in 广东省。
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