Featured Hubei Cuisine

Mianyang Three Steamed Dishes

The three steamed dishes refer to steamed fish, pork, and meat or shrimp balls. Mianyang (currently called Xiantao City in Hubei Province) natives have maintained the traditional method of preparing steamed dishes for centuries. The difference is that now modern chefs have tailored the ingredients, cooking methods, and techniques to suit the palette of a wider range of people, not only the Mianyang locals.

Hubei Cuisine

Hubei used to be the state of Chu in ancient times. Hubei food began to develop its own unique style during the Warring State Period. Through development and change over the last 2,000 years, it has become today’s Hubei cuisine. Hubei food is famous for its freshwater fish dishes since almost every fish available in Hubei can be prepared into different dishes. There are all-fish, bream, Mandarin fish, eel, turtle, giant salamander, crab, shrimp, clam, water chestnut, lotus root, wild duck, and preserved – duck – egg dinners. Among the dishes, steamed bream without soy sauce, turtle with wax gourd, instant – boiled fish with tangerine pulp, and braised chicken with chestnuts are all well – known.

An important feature of Hubei food is its blending of fish with other ingredients. The reason why a single variety of fish can be prepared into so many different dishes is that the cooks are very skilled at blending fish with other ingredients. Many of the famous dishes are prepared from two or more raw materials, giving prominence to the major ingredient while attaching importance to the auxiliary materials. For example, stewed turtle is a dish of turtle and pig’s spine, sauted three slivers consists of shredded pork tenderloin, shredded chicken and shredded pig’s stomach, and dragon and phoenix marriage is a mixture of eel and chicken. The names of the dishes indicate that Hubei dishes are prepared from more than one ingredient.

The main cooking methods are steaming and simmering. Steaming has been well discussed earlier in this book. Simmering is used to cook dishes with soup. It is done this way: First, fry the major ingredients in oil with seasoning, then put them in an earthen pot and heat them over a low fire for a long time. The special features of Hubei dishes are crisp bones, tender meat, and thick, genuine soup that go well with rice.

Hubei food is divided into four schools: Jingnan, Xiangyang, E’zhou and Han – Mian. The Jingnan school is known for its braised and stewed game, Xiangyang is famous for meat dishes, E’zhou is well known for its vegetarian food, and Han – Mian is famous for its seafood, poultry, and meat dishes. The three steamed dishes in Mian-yang (steamed with rice flour, steamed with soy sauce and pickles, and steamed without soy sauce) are typical dishes of the Han – Mian school.

爽口海鲜拌凉菜

杏仁煮干丝

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About Chinese Food and Cooking

Do you know that more than a third of the world's population eat Chinese food daily? Even if it was eaten regularly by some only, Chinese cooking would still be acknowledged as one of the greatest and original cuisines of the world. There is an ever increasing interest in and appreciation of Chinese food in the West. The fact that Chinese restaurants are mushrooming in the West is ample testimony to the variety and quality of Chinese food.

"Have you eaten already?" is a popular greeting among the Chinese.

The culinary appeal of Chinese cusine has taken the Western culture by storm because those who experimented know how good and economical Chinese food can be. They discovered how easy it is to create Chinese dishes in their own kitchen and the joy of eating Chinese food can be experienced regularly rather than as an occasional treat.

The art of Chinese cooking does not, contrary to popular belief, present any real difficulty as you will soon find out at Chinesefood-recipes.com. All the ingredients in Chinese recipes such as bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts and so forth can be readily purchased from most general food stores and supermarkets, and even online!

"Color, aroma and flavor are not the only the key elements in Chinese cooking; nutrition is also a priority."

Chinese food appeals to the majority and its variety of flavors is so cleverly contained in each dish that there is nothing incongruous in the serving of meat and poultry in the same course. Both the cooking and consumption of Chinese food are great culinary experiences. Besides appealing to our taste buds and eyes, food prepared in the Chinese manner is highly nutritious, retaining all its vitamins with quick and minimum cooking.

The reward of cooking Chinese are obvious to anyone who has tasted popular Chinese dishes like a well-cooked Sweet and Sour Pork, Kung Pao Chicken or Chinese dumplings or was sustained by a plate of steaming Chow Mein or Fried Rice. Chinesefood-recipes.com has a massive selection of free, easy-to-cook and delicious Chinese recipes and Oriental recipes. Helpful sections such as Ingredients and Cooking tips are available to make your cooking experience easy and fun. Happy cooking!

Confucius (551-479 B.C.) said, "The path to your friend's heart and soul begins from your cooking."