Shandong Cuisine · FFET10009
Kong Family Cuisine Cooking Techniques
The cooking techniques of the Kong family kitchen entered the national heritage list in 2011, with a light, tender and soft-stewed flavour.
On the table blue-and-white plates hold scallion-braised sea cucumber and a sweet-and-sour carp with its body arched, a bowl beside them holds milky white soup, and a hand lifts a piece of nine-turn braised intestine with chopsticks.
Represented by the cooking of Jinan and the Jiaodong coast, strong in quick-fire and braising methods, with stock-making as its hallmark.
On the China Intangible Cultural Heritage website, the cooking techniques of the Kong family kitchen are listed as a traditional craft declared from Qufu, Shandong, and were added to the third batch of the national representative list in 2011. The item page says the craft follows Confucius's view of eating, that grain can never be too finely polished nor meat too finely sliced. The page sums up its flavour as light, tender and fresh, soft-stewed and fragrant.