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The cooking skills employed in the Hunan cuisine reached a high
standard as early as the Western Han Dynasty, giving it a history
of more than 2,100 years. Hunan is located in southeastern China
along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, north of the Five
Ridges. It contains rivers, lakes, mountains, rolling hills,
plains, and pools, which provide abundant delicacies, such as game,
fish, shrimp, crab, and turtle. Making full use of these rich
resources, local people created a wide variety of delicacies. Hunan
cuisine consists of more than 4,000 dishes, among which more than
300 are very famous. Hunan food is characterized by its hot and
sour flavor, fresh aroma, greasiness, deep color, and the
prominence of the main flavor in each dish. It consists of regional
cuisines from the Xiangjiang River Valley, the Tongting Lake
region, and the western mountainous area.
Human food is hot because the air is very humid, which makes it
difficult for the human body to eliminate moisture. The local
people eat hot peppers to help remove dampness and cold.
The Xiangjiang River Valley is represented by Changsha, Xiangtan,
and Hengyang. The region has good transportation, talented people,
and abundant resources. Local dishes require meticulous care of the
raw materials and stress cutting skill, length and degree of
cooking, color, and appearance. Cooking methods include stewing,
simmering, curing, steaming, stir-frying, frying, and quick frying.
The flavors are pungent, chili, fresh and fragrant, and thickly
fragrant. Such dishes as fried chicken with hot and spicy sauce,
stir fried tripe slivers, tripe in duck's web soup, dried scallop
and egg-whites, and dog meat in hot pot are all typical foods.
The Dongting Lake region, surrounded by Changde, Yiyang, and
Yueyang, is a tourist area. The Story of Yueyang Tower,
written by Fan Zhongyan, a man of letters and a statesman during
the Song Dynasty, stressed the beauty of the landscape, and gave a
cultural aspect to the making and naming of local dishes.
Representative dishes are Xiaoxiang Turtle, Wuling snake in its own
soup, mashed shrimp in lotus pod, Tongting wild duck, jade belt
fish roll, and fish fillet in velvet. Deep color, hot and salty
flavor, aroma, softness, and beautifully shaped and patterned
serving dishes characterize these famous local dishes.
Jishou, Huaihua, and Dayong represent the western mountainous area.
Because this area is mountainous, it has abundant game, mushrooms,
and fungi. Its dishes are simple, rich, and pure. The mountain
dwellers also make smoked, cured meats that are salty, fragrant,
hot, sour, and delicious. For example, steamed cured meat, Double
Ninth Festival could fungi, deep fried loache (a fish similar to a
carp), and hot and spicy frog legs all have the rich flavors of
this mountainous region. Hunan cuisine stresses a pungent flavor,
and dishes made of cured products also make an important
contribution to Hunan food.
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