The Hunan cuisine reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Hunan cuisine

This article is part of the series: Cuisine of China
Eight Great Traditions
Shandong cuisine
Szechuan cuisine
Cantonese cuisine
Fujian cuisine
Jiangsu cuisine
Zhejiang cuisine
Hunan cuisine
Anhui cuisine
Other Important Traditions
Huaiyang cuisine
Yunnan cuisine
Mandarin cuisine
Shanghai cuisine
Taiwanese cuisine
Hakka cuisine
Chiuchow cuisine
Chinese Buddhist cuisine
Chinese Islamic cuisine
American Chinese cuisine
Historical Chinese cuisine

Hunan Cuisine, sometimes called Xiang Cuisine (湘菜 pinyin xiāng cài), consists of the cuisines of the Xiangjiang region, Dongting Lake and western Hunan Province, in China.

While similar to Szechuan cuisine, Hunan Cuisine is often spicier and contains a larger variety of ingredients. Hunan is known for its liberal use of chilli peppers, shallots and garlic. Many Hunan dishes are characterized by a strongly flavored brown sauce. Some rely on sweetness from ingredients such as honey; sweet and sour sauces are also characteristic of the style.

Hunan cuisine is difficult to precisely characterize, as it has absorbed stylistic elements from all over China. For this reason, the region is sometimes regarded as China's culinary center. 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.

Some representative Hunan dishes include:

• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Orange Beef
• Crispy Duck
• Dongan Chicken
• Peppery and Hot Chicken (Hot and Spicy Chicken)
• Lotus Seeds in Sugar Candy

See also: cuisine, Chinese Cuisine, Szechuan cuisine, Cooking

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