Stuffed River Snails

Stuffed river snails head Yangshuo's eighteen-stuffing tradition: the meat of Li River snails is taken out, minced with pork, mint, perilla and chilli into a seasoned filling, then returned to the shell and simmered so the snail's freshness and the filling's fragrance become one.

Stuffing is a cooking method unique to the Yangshuo region, where locals say anything with a cavity can be stuffed, so tofu, eggplant, chilli, bitter melon and even river snails are filled, giving rise to the eighteen and more stuffed dishes. Stuffed river snails, drawn from the Li River and demanding in their making, were placed at the head of the eighteen.

Served one snail to a shell, diners lift the filling out with a toothpick and eat it with the snail meat in one bite, the fresh heat threaded with the cool fragrance of mint and perilla, often a drinking dish at Li River banquets and West Street restaurants, and most authentic when ordered alongside beer-braised fish.

Its singular form of being stuffed back into the shell, the layered taste of snail freshness woven with savoury pork, and the clean sweet undertone of the Li River snail are the irreplaceable marks of this dish.