Name: Shandong cuisine

Place: Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Beijing and Tianjin

Features: Shandong cuisine consists of two major styles. Jiaodong style is characterized by seafood cooking with light tastes. Jinan style is characterized by using soup and utilizing soups in its dishes.

Representative dishes:

1) Mooshu pork, which consists of sliced or shredded pork chop meat and scrambled eggs, stir fried in sesame or peanut oil together with thinly sliced wood ear mushrooms (black fungus) and day lily buds.

2) Fried carp with sweet and sour sauce

Mooshu pork

 

Name: Sichuan cuisine

Place: Sichuan and Chongqing

Features: The cuisine is famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavor of the Sichuan peppercorn. Peanuts, sesame paste and ginger are also prominent ingredients in Szechuan cooking.

Representative dishes:

1) Kung pao chicken (chickencubeswithhotpepper)

2) Spicy deep-fried chicken

3) Poachbeefwithhotchili

4) Beef and ox tripe in chili sauce

Spicy deep-fried chicken

 

Name: Huaiyang cuisine

Place: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai

Features: The cuisine tends to have a sweet side and uses Zhenjiang vinegar. pork, fresh water fish and other aquatic creatures serve as the base to most dishes. The way that ingredient is cut is pivotal to its cooking and taste. Generally, the cuisine is more meticulous and light.

Representative dishes:

1) Sweet and sour pork

2) Giant "lion's head" meatball

3) Sour vegetable fish pot

4) Crab soup dumplings

Giant "lion's head" meatball

Name: Cantonese cuisine

Place: Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hong Kong and Macao

Features: Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats. Steaming and stir-frying are the most favored cooking methods. Other techniques include shallow frying, double boiling, braising and deep-frying.

Representative dishes:

1) Sweet and sour pork

2) Steamed scallops with ginger and garlic

3) Braised abalone

Steamed scallops with ginger and garlic