What is Zhejiang Cuisine Known For?
Zhejiang cuisine, also known as Zhe cuisine, is one of the eight culinary traditions of Chinese cuisine. It is renowned for its freshness, lightness, and delicate flavors, showcasing the best of Zhejiang Province’s culinary heritage.
Key Characteristics of Zhejiang Cuisine:
- Emphasis on Freshness: Ingredients are carefully selected and used at the peak of their season, ensuring the purest and most vibrant flavors.
- Light and Delicate Flavors: The dishes are not greasy or heavy, allowing the natural taste of the ingredients to shine through.
- Wide Use of Seafood and River Food: Zhejiang’s proximity to the East China Sea and numerous rivers provides an abundance of fresh seafood and freshwater fish, which are prominently featured in the cuisine.
- Seasonality: Dishes are often created around seasonal ingredients, showcasing the unique flavors of each season.
- Intricate Cooking Techniques: Zhejiang cuisine boasts a variety of cooking techniques, including stir-frying, steaming, braising, and deep-frying, each used to enhance the specific flavors of the dish.
Famous Dishes of Zhejiang Cuisine:
- West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy: A signature dish featuring tender fish cooked in a sweet and sour vinegar sauce.
- Fried Shrimps with Longjing Tea: Delicately flavored shrimps cooked with fresh Longjing tea leaves, creating a unique and aromatic dish.
- Dongpo Pork: Braised pork belly cooked with Shaoxing wine, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich flavor.
- Braised Bamboo Shoot: Tender spring bamboo shoots braised with oil and sugar, offering a sweet and savory combination.
- Deep-Fried Beancurd Rolls Stuffed with Minced Tenderloin: Crispy beancurd rolls filled with flavorful pork, creating a delightful textural contrast.
- Sliced Lotus Root with Sweet Sauce: A refreshing dessert featuring lotus root, glutinous rice, and osmanthus, offering a sweet and floral taste.
Regional Variations of Zhejiang Cuisine:
Zhejiang cuisine encompasses four distinct styles, each originating from a major city in the province:
- Hangzhou Cuisine: Known for its rich variations and extensive use of bamboo shoots.
- Shaoxing Cuisine: Specializes in poultry and freshwater fish, often cooked with Shaoxing wine.
- Ningbo Cuisine: Emphasizes seafood, with dishes focusing on freshness and salty flavors.
- Wenzhou Cuisine: Characterized by its abundance of seafood, poultry, and livestock, often featuring lighter flavors and intricate slicing techniques.
Where to Experience Zhejiang Cuisine:
- Hangzhou: The capital city of Zhejiang offers a wide range of restaurants serving authentic Hangzhou cuisine, including the renowned Louwailou and Zhiweiguan.
- Shaoxing: Explore the traditional flavors of Shaoxing cuisine at restaurants like Wangjianglou and Daoxiangcun.
- Ningbo: Savor the fresh seafood and salty dishes of Ningbo cuisine at restaurants like Lao Jiefang and Tianyi Ge.
- Wenzhou: Discover the unique flavors of Wenzhou cuisine at restaurants like Xianghu Ge and Wenzhou Seafood Street.
Zhejiang cuisine is a culinary journey through freshness, lightness, and delicate flavors. Its emphasis on seasonal ingredients, intricate cooking techniques, and diverse regional variations make it a truly unique and captivating culinary experience. Whether you’re a seasoned foodie or a curious traveler, Zhejiang cuisine offers a delightful exploration of the rich culinary heritage of this vibrant province.
Main Features â Seafood, Refined Artistry, Freshness…
The main attraction of this culinary style is its excellent seafood dishes. However, most visitors will also find the cuisine’s artistic sophistication to be appealing. Â.
There are many different types of seafood used in Zhejiang cuisine. People in Zhejiang can eat all of these foods as well as items from the sea that most people have never seen, like sea cucumbers and different kinds of sea vegetables that you can explore, unlike most Western seafood restaurants where the main dishes consist of a few varieties of fish and oysters.
Being the richest province in China and known as the “land of milk and honey,” people in Zhejiang expect their food to have a more upscale flavor. It’s not oily, it doesn’t numb the mouth, it’s not overly sweet or sour, but it’s also not boring.
But compared to the Fujianese, they place more of an emphasis on serving fresh food and less emphasis on artistic flair and colorful dishes. The food is fresh, crispy, and seasonal; it is frequently served raw or almost raw. It is more like Japanese food in this way.
Her response to the younger brother’s remark about its peculiar flavor was, “This fish is sweet and sour, just like life.” After you have experienced the joys of a fulfilling life, remember the bitter oppression that we commoners endure. This sentiment struck a deep chord with the younger brother, who felt moved by it and carried the words with him as he departed. Years later, as a government official, he attained enormous fame and wealth. Because of his great position, he was able to go back to Hangzhou and eventually get Zhao detained for his crimes. However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to locate his sister-in-law. Then, one day, while attending a banquet, he discovered a dish that, for the first time in his memory, tasted precisely like the one his sister-in-law had made for him all those years prior.
In an attempt to obtain justice, the younger brother and his sister-in-law went straight to the local magistrate. Little did they know, though, that the magistrate was close to Zhao. The older brother went unpunished after they were assaulted and ejected from the courtroom. They went back to their house by West Lake, where the sister-in-law, feeling helpless and defeated, insisted that the younger brother leave, fearing Zhao would pursue him next. She only had one request of him: if he became wealthy, he had to swear that he would one day return to get her. She prepared him a special meal using sugar, vinegar, and a West Lake fish before he left.
To make this dish, which is brightly colored and refreshing, the freshly caught shrimp are first marinated in a mixture of egg whites, salt, starch, water, and Shaoxing rice wine. After that, the Longjing tea is brewed separately while the shrimp are flash-fried in hot oil. Both the shrimp and the tea leaves are taken out of the boiling water and returned to the hot pan after approximately five minutes of frying and steeping, respectively. After that, the oil is changed, and more salt, Shaoxing rice wine, and Longjing tea leaves are added before the shrimp are added again. Lastly, a tiny quantity of the liquid tea is added to the pan and heated until it reaches a boiling point. The sharp, bitter tea leaves perfectly balance the plump sweetness of the shrimp. This dish is considered so highly in China that President Nixon had it as part of a government banquet in 1972.
Another Hangzhou classic, West Lake Vinegar Fish, is based on a less cheerful local legend. According to legend, the Song family formerly had two extremely intelligent brothers. They had the option to pursue careers as officials, but they chose to forgo a life of academia in favor of a rustic lifestyle spent fishing and living close to West Lake. Yet it seemed their simple dream was not to be. A wealthy landowner named Zhao once noticed the elder brother’s wife taking a bath while he was strolling past West Lake. Enthralled by her beauty, he had the elder brother killed in order to claim her as his own.
When he got to an inn at dusk, he ordered a plate of fried shrimp. The waiter noticed the imperial gown concealed beneath his cloak as he reached inside his sleeve to retrieve the tea leaves when he was asked to brew him some tea. In a panic, the chef thought the tea leaves were spring onions and unintentionally mixed them into the fried shrimp when the waiter hurried to tell him. Though it looked like trouble was the only thing the kitchen was cooking at this point, the emperor was quickly won over by the dish’s vibrant appearance and distinct flavor, and Longjing Shrimp was born.
Signature cuisine from Zhejiang province
FAQ
What is Zhejiang food known for?
What does Zhejiang food taste like?
Is Zhejiang cuisine spicy?
What are the 4 main cuisines in China?
What is Zhejiang cuisine?
The notable Zhejiang cuisine dishes include West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy, Fried Shrimps with Longjing Tea, Dongpo Pork, Braised Bamboo Shoot, Stir-Fried Beancurd Rolls Stuffed with Minced Tenderloin, etc. Up to the late Spring and Autumn Period (770 – 476 BC), many famous dishes in Zhejiang cuisine had been invented.
Is Zhejiang a good place to eat seafood?
Zhejiang is a seafood lover’s dream come true. Zhejiang cuisine (or Zhe Cuisine) boasts exquisite seafood dishes and is ranked as one of the eight major cuisines in China. The extensive variety of seafood dishes is the main allure of Zhejiang cuisine, although most foreign travelers find the artistic refinement attractive as well.
What to eat in Zhejiang?
The famous Zhejiang food Dongpo Pork is cooked with Shaoxing yellow wine instead of water. Zhejiang cuisine has the light and fresh flavor as a whole, which focuses on maintaining the original taste of raw materials. In addition to condiments, the scientific arrangement of ingredients is also excellent.
What is Zhejiang known for?
Zhejiang province has been known as the land of fish and rice since ancient times. According to written records, Zhejiang cuisine dates all the way back to the Hemudu Culture in the Neolithic Age and took further shape in the period between the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. (202 BC – 907 AD).