Fujian Cuisine

Introduction

The regional cooking of Fujian, using sea produce and mountain ingredients together, with a strong tradition of soups.

Fujian cuisine is the regional cooking of Fujian and is often divided into a sea route and a mountain route, with the styles of Fuzhou, southern Fujian, the western Fujian Hakka area and Putian-Xianyou among the common ones. With a long coast and many mountains, the province uses seafood, river fish and mountain ingredients together, gives soups special care and often seasons with red rice-wine lees. Fuzhou cooking is sweet and sour and known for soups, and often uses shrimp oil; southern Fujian cooking is light and makes much use of shacha sauce; the Hakka cooking of the west is good with game. Red lees are what is left after filtering rice wine brewed with red yeast, and cooking with them is tied to the Fujian tradition of brewing red yeast rice wine. Famous dishes include Buddha jumps over the wall, lychee pork and sea clams poached in chicken broth.