Authentic Chinese Food - Hunan Cuisine

Authentic Chinese food is not the sort of food that you get from your local takeaway restaurant. Authentic Chinese food is regional, provincial and one of those regional cuisines is from the Hunan province.

More than sixty four million people live in the Hunan province of central China where the cooking has been influenced by all sorts of cuisines. The region has vast areas of agricultural land producing plentiful crops as well as being home to one of the largest freshwater lakes in China, which naturally has had its own influence on the cuisine.

There are so many ingredients from which to choose that Hunan chefs can't just make a simple meal by chucking meat and vegetables into a wok. No, Hunan cuisine consists of complex flavours and is prepared very carefully, taking as long as necessary to get the results absolutely perfect.

One typically elaborate dish is Orange Beef - beef which has been left to marinate overnight in wine, white pepper and egg whites then deep fried in very hot oil, drained then fried again until crisp. The beef is then added to stir fried dried chillies, ginger, garlic, fresh chilli, spring onions and orange peel. A sauce mix of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, Chinese white rice vinegar, chicken stock and ground white pepper is then added to coat the beef.

Another characteristic of Hunan cooking is the liberal use of chillies. Dishes are often made using lots of fresh chillies, complete with seeds, so if you're tasting Hunan cookery for the first time, be sure to have plenty of yoghurt or bread to hand to mitigate the heat or you may find that beer is more pleasant and equally effective. Oh and you'll need paper handkerchiefs to mop up the tears as well....... tears of delight, of course.

Rice is prevalent in Hunan province, so unlike other Chinese cuisines, such as Mandarin which uses more wheat, Hunan cookery features rice as well as beef and pork which are abundant here.

Naturally, the Dongting lake is home to fish and seafood as well as ducks. Shellfish is often served dressed with shallots and garlic while the duck (and chicken too) is often seared before being simmered or fried, giving it a wonderful crispy skin, also typical of this region.

Steamed and stewed meat are also typical of Hunan cooking which together with the use of chilles, result in a tasty and healthy meal. Often, the meat used is smoked, cured pork which is a local speciality and results in a delicious dark gravy.

Hunan cuisine is very varied, depending on the season. In summer the climate is very hot and humid so spices are used liberally to open the pores and allow sweating. In winter a dish called Lover's Hot Pot is frequently eaten which is part spicy and partly mild.

Whatever you eat of this cuisine, you're bound to love it.

Regional Cuisine Hunan Cuisine

Hunan cuisine shares many commonalities with its close, more well-known cousin, Szechwan cooking, Both cuisines originate in the Western region of China. The climate there is sub-tropical – humid and warm enough to encourage the use of fiery spices to help cool the body, and to require high spicing of food as a preservative. With similar climate, the two regions also share many ingredients – rice is a major staple in both diets, and chili peppers are an important part of most dishes. The two styles of regional cuisine are similar enough that many restaurants and cookbooks lump them together under ‘Western Chinese cooking’ or simple refer to both as Szechwan cuisine.

There are some important differences, though. Hunan cooking is, for one thing, even more fiery than most Szechwan dishes. Szechwan dishes often include chili paste for rubbing into meats, or including in sauce. Hunan chefs include the entire dried chili pepper, with its intensely spicy seeds and rind.

The differences in the actual land of the two regions also has an effect on the differences in their cuisine. The Szechwan region is mountainous jungle, with little arable land for farming. The Hunan region, by contrast, is a land of soft rolling hills and slow rivers. Because of its fertile hillocks and valleys, the Hunan region has access to an amazing variety of ingredients that aren’t available to Szechwan chefs. Seafood and beef are both far more common in Hunan cooking, as are many vegetables.

The land, and the hardships associated with it, also give the Hunan more time to concentrate on food. Hunan cooking features complex and time-consuming preparation time. Many dishes begin their preparation the day before they are to be served, and may be marinated, then steamed or smoked, and finally deep-fried or stewed before they reach the table. The same attention is paid to the preparation of ingredients, and it is said that Hunan cuisine is the most pleasing to the eye of all Chinese cuisines. The shape of a food in a particular recipe is nearly as important as its presence in the final dish. Hunan chefs are specialists with the knife – carving fanciful shapes of vegetables and fruits that will be used in preparing meals, or to present them.

Hunan cuisine is noted for its use of chili peppers, garlic and shallots, and for the use of sauces to accent the flavors in the ingredients of a dish. It is not uncommon for a Hunan dish to play on the contrasts of flavors – hot and sour, sweet and sour, sweet and hot – pungent, spicy and deliciously sweet all at once. Hunan chefs are noted for their ability to create a symphony of taste with their ingredients. A classic example is Hunan spicy beef with vegetables, where the beef is first marinated overnight in a citrus and ginger mixture, then washed and rubbed with chili paste before being simmered in a pungent brown sauce. The end result is a meat that is meltingly tender on the tongue and changes flavor even as you enjoy it.

More and more, restaurants are beginning to sort out the two cuisines, and Hunan cuisine is coming into its own. Crispy duck and Garlic-Fried String Beans are taking their place alongside Kung Pao Chicken and Double Cooked Spicy Pork. But there is no battle between the two for a place of honor among Chinese Regional cuisines – rather, there are only winners – the diners who have the pleasure of sampling both.