Illustrated Huai’an food
The Ancient City with Amazing Delicious Food!
Huai’an is the origin of Huaiyang cuisine, one of China’s four major cuisines. Let’s get to know Huai’an cuisine together!
Ruandou eel
Ruandou eel is the most prestigious dish in Huaiyang cuisine. The ingredients must be the tenderloin of the rice eel. In ancient time, the live eel was tied with gauze and placed in a boiling pot with water, green onions, ginger, salt, and vinegar to cook until the body becomes curled. When the mouth of the eel opened, cut the tenderloin of the eel. The fish is sweet and tender after being cooked. When it is picked up with chopsticks, both ends of the meat will hang down, just like a dudou. When eating, you can hold it with a spoon, hence people named it “Ruandou eel”.
Chasan
Chasan is one of the famous souvenirs of Huai’an. In the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, Yue Wenguang, a famous Chasan pastry chef next to Zhenhuai Tower, improved the process of making Chasan and produced the famous Gulou Chasan. When making the Chasan, use the best quality of flour, pull out the thin noodles like twine, and wind them into a loop that is more than four inches long and one inch wide. Each one can form into comb-like, chrysanthemum-like, and other net-like patterns. Then, fry it in a sesame oil pan and scoop up.
Pingqiao Tofu
Pingqiao tofu is the “top representative” of Huaiyang cuisine. It is cheap and delicious. According to legend, when Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River and passed through Pingqiao, the local merchants cooked tofu with crucian fish brain and chicken soup, which made Qianlong praised and became a famous Huaiyang dish.
Huai dumpling
Huai Dumpling is the local snack of Huai’an. The stuffing has carefully selected the pork of front and back leg, remove the fatness and tendons, the chopped it into paste with the knife back. Add ingredients such as green onions, ginger juice, mixed with sesame oil, soy sauce, bamboo shoots, then stir with the meat paste. The dumpling wrapper is as thin as paper, and the filling is fine. After being cooked in boiling water, put it into a bowl of bone soup soaked with fried rice, then serve with sesame oil, pepper, and green onions. Huai dumplings are smooth in the mouth and delicious.
