Hunan cuisine

Hunan cuisine
Hunan cured ham with pickled yardlong beans
Chinese	湖南菜
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Húnán cài
Xiang cuisine
Chinese	湘菜
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin xiāng cài

This article is part of the series
Chinese cuisine
Regional cuisines Four Great Traditions Chuan Lu Yue Huaiyang Eight Great Traditions Anhui Cantonese Fujian Hunan Jiangsu Shandong Sichuan Zhejiang Ten Great Traditions Anhui Beijing Cantonese Fujian Hunan Jiangsu Shandong Shanghai Sichuan Zhejiang Twelve Great Traditions Anhui Beijing Cantonese Fujian Henan Hunan Jiangsu Shaanxi Shandong Shanghai Sichuan Zhejiang Fourteen Great Traditions Anhui Beijing Cantonese Fujian Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Liaoning Shaanxi Shandong Shanghai Sichuan Zhejiang Sixteen Great Traditions Anhui Beijing Cantonese Fujian Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Liaoning Shaanxi Shandong Shanghai Sichuan Tianjin Zhejiang Yunnan New Eight Great Traditions Gansu Hangzhou Jilin Liaoning Ningbo Shaanxi Shanghai Shanxi Beijing and the vicinity Beijing Imperial Aristocrat Tianjin Other regional styles Chaozhou Guangxi Guizhou Hainan Hakka Hong Kong Jiangxi Macanese Manchu Northeastern Qinghai Taiwanese Tibetan Xinjiang
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Hunan cuisine, also known as Xiang cuisine, consists of the cuisines of the Xiang River region, Dongting Lake, and western Hunan province in China. It is one of the Eight Great Traditions of Chinese cuisine and is well known for its hot spicy flavour, fresh aroma and deep colour. Common cooking techniques include stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking. Due to the high agricultural output of the region, ingredients for Hunan dishes are many and varied.

History

The history of the cooking skills employed in Hunan cuisine dates back to the 17th century. During the course of its history, Hunan cuisine assimilated a variety of local forms, eventually evolving into its own style. It now contains more than 4,000 dishes, such as fried chicken with Sichuan spicy sauce (麻辣鸡丁; 麻辣雞丁; málà jīdīng) and smoked pork with dried long green beans (干豆角蒸腊肉; 干豆角蒸臘肉; gāndòujiǎo zhēng làròu).

Hunan cuisine consists of three primary styles:

Style	Regions of origin
Xiang River	Changsha
	Xiangtan
	Hengyang
Dongting Lake	Yueyang
	Yiyang
	Changde
Western Hunan	Zhangjiajie
	Jishou
	Huaihua

Features

Known for its liberal use of chili peppers, shallots and garlic, Hunan cuisine is known for being dry hot (干辣) or purely hot, as opposed to Sichuan cuisine, to which it is often compared. Sichuan cuisine is known for its distinctive mala (hot and numbing) seasoning and other complex flavour combinations, frequently employs Sichuan peppercorns along with chilies which are often dried, and utilises more dried or preserved ingredients and condiments. Hunan cuisine, on the other hand, is often spicier by pure chili content and contains a larger variety of fresh ingredients. Both Hunan and Sichuan cuisine are perhaps significantly oilier than the other cuisines in China, but Sichuan dishes contains a lot more oil than Hunan dishes. Another characteristic distinguishing Hunan cuisine from Sichuan cuisine is that, in general, Hunan cuisine uses smoked and cured goods in its dishes much more frequently.

Another feature of Hunan cuisine is that the menu changes with the seasons. In a hot and humid summer, a meal will usually start with cold dishes or a platter holding a selection of cold meats with chilies for opening the pores and keeping cool in the summer. In winter, a popular choice is the hot pot, thought to heat the blood in the cold months. A special hot pot called yuanyang huoguo (simplified Chinese: 鸳鸯火锅; traditional Chinese: 鴛鴦火鍋; pinyin: yuānyāng hǔogūo; literally: "lovers' hot pot") is notable for splitting the pot into two sides - a spicy one and a mild one. One of the classic dishes in “Xiang” cuisine served in restaurants and at home is Farmer Pepper Fried Pork. It is made with several common ingredients: pork belly, green pepper, Douchi ( a special bean that is easy to find in Hunan), and also spicy flavors.

Chilies are an entire class of flavorings in Hunan.

List of notable dishes

English	Traditional Chinese	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin	Notes
Beer duck	啤酒鴨	啤酒鸭	píjǐu yā
Changsha-style rice vermicelli	長沙米粉	长沙米粉	Chángshā mǐfěn
Changsha-style stinky tofu	長沙臭豆腐	长沙臭豆腐	Chángshā chòu dòufǔ
Changde-style stewed beef with rice vermicelli	常德牛肉米粉	常德牛肉米粉	Chángdé níuròu mǐfěn
Cured ham with cowpeas
Dong'an chicken	東安子雞	东安子鸡	dōng'ān zǐjī
"Dry-wok" chicken	干鍋雞	干锅鸡	gānguō jī
Homemade-style bean curd	家常豆腐	家常豆腐	jiācháng dòufǔ
Lotus seeds in rock sugar syrup	冰糖湘蓮	冰糖湘莲	bīngtáng xiānglián
Mao's braised pork	毛氏紅燒肉	毛氏红烧肉	Máo shì hóngshāo ròu
Mala chicken	麻辣子雞	麻辣子鸡	málà zǐjī
Smoky flavours steamed together	臘味合蒸	腊味合蒸	làwèi hézhēng
Spare ribs steamed in bamboo
Steamed fish head in chili sauce	剁椒蒸魚頭	剁椒蒸鱼头	duòjiāo zhēng yútóu
Stir fried duck blood	炒血鴨	炒血鸭	chǎoxuéyā
Stir fried meat with douchi and chili peppers	豆豉辣椒炒肉	豆豉辣椒炒肉	dòuchǐ làjiāo chǎoròu
Mashed shrimp in lotus pod
Pearly meatballs	珍珠肉丸	珍珠肉丸	zhēnzhū ròuwán
Pumpkin cake	南瓜餅	南瓜饼	nánguā bǐng
Shredded pork with vegetables	農家小炒肉	农家小炒肉	nóngjiā xiǎo chǎoròu

See also

• Chinese cuisine
• Sichuan cuisine
• List of Chinese dishes