Hunan Cuisine

As one of the eight major cuisines of China, Hunan cuisine is famous for its hot and spicy. People may be confused that what the difference is between Hunan cuisine and Sichuan cuisine, for the characteristics of them are hot and spicy. Sichuan cuisines are widely used chili peppers, especially prickly ash, giving it a distinctively spicy taste which leaves a slight numb sensation in the mouth, while Hunan cuisine doesn't has. Hunan cuisine mainly originates from Dongting Lake area and western Hunan mountain area. Aquatic food and poultry are main cooking materials of Dongting Lake area cuisine, which taste salty and spicy. However, game and many kinds of meat are the main cooking materials of western Hunan mountain area cuisines, the tastes are salted fresh spicy and sour.

Chinese Bacon Fried With Peppers

The cooking skills employed in the Hunan cuisine reached a high standard as early as the Western Han Dynasty, giving it a history of more than 2,100 years. Hunan is located in southeastern China along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It contains rivers, lakes, mountains, rolling hills, plains, and pools, which provide abundant delicacies, such as fish, shrimp, crab, and turtle. Making full use of these rich resources, local people created a wide variety of delicacies. Hunan cuisine consists of more than 4,000 dishes, among which more than 300 are very popular. Hunan cuisine is characterized by its hot and sour flavor, fresh aroma, greasiness and deep color.

Hot Hunan cuisines

•Chinese bacon fried with pepper
People in Hunan have an affinity to smoked meat, such as smoked pork, smoked fish, smoked chicken and so on. The dish mainly includes smoked pork and hot peppers. The smoked pork contains fat, protein, carbohydrates and other trace elements.

•Steamed fish head with chopped pepper
The first and most characteristic of Hunan cuisine is very hot and spicy. Due to humid weather makes human body hard to eliminate moisture, the local people eat hot peppers to help remove dampness to keep healthy. The steamed fish head is tender, pouring oil with chopped pepper, gingers, and garlic. The dish is attractive to eye and appetizing to the taste.

Steamed Fish Head With Chopped Pepper