Houston Asian Restaurant Guide > Chinese Food Articles > Chinese Cuisines > Huai-Yang Cuisine
Huai-Yang Cuisine originated from the Pre-Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), became famous during the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and Tang Dynasty (618-907), and was recognized as a distinct regional style during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty(1644-1911). This cuisine includes dishes from Huai'an, Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai.
Raw
materials of Huai-Yang dishes include fresh and live aquatic products. The
carving techniques aredelicate, of which the melon carving technique is
especially well-known. The flavor of Huai-Yang cuisine is light, fresh and
sweet. If Shandong cuisine is characterized by stirring and frying over a hot
fire, Huai-Yang cuisine is characterized by stewing, braising, and steaming over
a low fire for a long time. Famous dishes cooked this way are chicken braised
with chestnuts, pork steamed in lotus leaf, duck stewed with eight treasures,
meatballs with crab meat in Yangzhou style, and butterfly sea cucumber (sea
cucumber cut into butterfly shapes and cooked with flavorings). Other famous
dishes include stewed crab with clear soup, long boiled dry shredded meat,
crystal meat, squirrel with mandarin fish, Sauteed Eel Shreds and Liangxi crisp
eel.
The vegetarian banquet is a special feature of Huai-Yang cuisine, and the vegetarian dishes in Beijing cuisine are mostly variants of Huai-Yang cuisine.
Huai-Yang snacks and refreshments are exquisite, such as boiled, shredded, dried bean curd; steamed dumplings with minced meat and gravy; steamed meat dumplings with dough gathered at the top.
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