Hui Cuisine Cooking Technique

Hui cuisine was born in old Huizhou (today's Huangshan), shaped by the mountainous produce of "seven parts mountain, one part water, one part field" and by the long travels of the Huizhou merchants; it is one of China's eight great culinary schools and carries a thousand years of Huizhou culture. The cooking technique entered the second national ICH list in 2008.

Hui cuisine prizes "rich oil, deep colour and exacting heat," skilled in braising, stewing and steaming, fond of ham for savour and rock sugar for freshness; signature dishes include stinky mandarin fish, Huizhou hairy tofu, Dao Ban Xiang cured pork, red-braised fish tails and Wenzheng Mountain bamboo shoots, honouring the natural and fermented flavours of the ingredients.

Hui cuisine is Huizhou culture made concrete at the table, carrying the merchants' foodways, the region's mountain produce and its fermentation wisdom, with real value for studying how China's culinary schools formed and evolved.