Fujian cuisine

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Preparation and cooking

Stir frying – Double steaming – Red cooking This box: view • talk • edit

A bowl of Fujian style thick soup (羹). Soups, soupy dishes, and stews are indicative of Fujian style cuisine

Fujian cuisine (Chinese: 闽菜 POJ: Bân chhài or 福建菜 POJ: Hok-kiàn chhài) is 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" (traditional Chinese: 鮮味; simplified Chinese: 鲜味), as well as retaining the original flavour of the main ingredients instead of masking them.

The techniques employed in the cuisine are complex but the results are ideally refined in taste with no "loud" flavours. Particular attention is also paid on the knife skills and cooking technique of the chefs. Emphasis is also on utilizing broth/soup, and there is a 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), are 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. Mee sua (thin, white wheat-flour noodles) are a Fujian specialty.

[edit] Styles

Fujian cuisine consists of four styles:

• Fuzhou: The taste is light compared to other styles, often with a mixed sweet and sour taste. Fuzhou is famous for its soups.
• Western Fujian: There are often slight spicy tastes from mustard and pepper and the cooking methods are often steam, fry and stir-fry.
• Southern Fujian: Spicy and sweet taste are often found and the selection of sauces used is elaborate.
• Quanzhou: The least oily but with strongest taste/flavor of Fujian cuisine. Great emphasis is placed on the shape of the material for each dish.

[edit] Seasonings

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.

The province is also well know 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.

[edit] Notable dishes

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

Fujian is also famous for yenpi (燕皮), a thin flour 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 rouyen (肉燕), a type of wonton.

Other notable dishes include:

• Oyster omelette (蚵仔煎)
• Popiah (薄饼)
• Ban mian (板面): Flat-shaped egg noodle soup
• Bak kut teh (肉骨茶)
• Stuffed fish balls (包心魚丸): Fish balls filled with meat
• Wuxian (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): Radish(luobo) 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".

[edit] References

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