Fujian cuisine or Fujianese cuisine, also known as Min cuisine, is one of the native Chinese cuisines derived from the cooking style of China's

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, most notably from the provincial capital, Fuzhou. "Fujian cuisine" in this article refers to the cuisines of Min Chinese speaking people within Fujian. Other cuisines in Fujian include

Hakka cuisine Hakka cuisine is the cooking style of the Hakka people, and it may also be found in parts of Taiwan and in countries with significant overseas Hakka communities. There are numerous restaurants in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, M ...

, and the ethnic minority cuisines of the

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

and

Tanka people The Tankas or boat people are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China who have traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and along the Yangtze river, as well as Hong Kong ...

. Fujian cuisine is known to be light but flavourful, soft, and tender, with particular emphasis on

umami Umami ( from ja, 旨味 ), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and ...

taste, known in Chinese cooking as ''xianwei'' (), as well as retaining the original flavour of the main ingredients instead of masking them. Many diverse seafood and woodland delicacies are used, including a myriad variety of local fish, shellfish and turtles, or indigenous edible mushrooms and

bamboo shoot Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of many bamboo species including ''Bambusa vulgaris'' and ''Phyllostachys edulis''. They are used as vegetables in numerous Asian dishes and ...

s, provided by the coastal and mountainous regions of Fujian. The most commonly employed

cooking techniques This is a list of cooking techniques commonly used in cooking and food preparation. Cooking is the art of preparing food for ingestion, commonly with the application of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, refle ...

in the region's cuisine include

braising Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, coco ...

, stewing, steaming and boiling. As the people of Fujian often travel to and from the sea, their food customs have gradually formed a unique cuisine with creative characteristics. Fujian cuisine is famous for preparing mountain and seafood based on good color, aroma, and shape, especially "fragrance" and "taste." Its fresh, mellow, meaty, non-greasy style characteristics and the features of a wide range of soups take a unique place in the field of Chinese cuisine. Particular attention is paid on the finesse of knife skills and cooking technique of the chefs, which is used to enhance the flavour, aroma and texture of seafood and other foods. Strong emphasis is put on the making and utilising of broth and soups. There are sayings in the region's cuisine: "One broth can be changed into numerous (ten) forms" () and "It is unacceptable for a meal to not have soup" (). ISRC： CN-A47-99-302-00/V.G4 Fermented fish sauce, known locally as "shrimp oil" (), is also commonly used in the cuisine, along with

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

, crab and shrimp.

Peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

s (utilised for both savoury dishes and desserts) are also prevalent, and can be boiled, fried, roasted, crushed, ground or even turned into a paste. Peanuts can be used as a garnish, feature in soups and even be added to braised or stir-fried dishes. Fujian cuisine has had a profound impact on

Taiwanese cuisine Taiwanese cuisine (, Bopomofo:ㄊㄞˊㄨㄢˉㄌㄧㄠˋㄌㄧˇ, or , Bopomofo:ㄊㄞˊㄨㄢˉㄘㄞˋ) has several variations. The earliest known cuisines of Taiwan are that of the Taiwanese indigenous peoples. Over hundred years of histor ...

and on the overseas Chinese cuisines found in Southeast Asia (particularly the Malay Archipelago) as the majority of Taiwanese and Southeast Asian Chinese people have ancestral roots in Fujian province.

Styles

Fujian cuisine consists of several styles: * '' Fuzhou'': The taste is lighter compared to other styles, often with an equally-mixed taste of sweet and sour. Fuzhou is famous for its soups, and its use of fermented fish sauce and

red yeast rice Red yeast rice (), red rice ''koji'' (べにこうじ, lit. 'red ''koji), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red ''koji'' rice, ''anka'', or ''angkak'', is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its color from being cultivate ...

. * '' Putian/Henghwa'': From the coastal town of Putian, best known for seafood dishes including lor mee and Doutuo clams. * ''Southern Fujian'': The taste is stronger than other Fujianese cuisines, showing obvious influence from Southeast Asian dishes. Use of sugar and spices (like

shacha sauce Shacha sauce (; also spelled sa cha sauce) is a savory, slightly spicy Chinese condiment used in Teochew, Fujian, and Taiwanese cuisines. It is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilies, Chinese brill, and dried shrimp. It is also someti ...

and

five-spice powder Five-spice powder () is a spice mixture of five or more spices used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine. It is also used in Hawaiian cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine. The five flavors of the spices (sweet, bitter, sour, sa ...

) is more common. Various kinds of slow-cooked soup (not quite similar to the Cantonese tradition) are found. Many dishes come with dipping sauces. * ''Western Fujian'': There are often slight spicy tastes from mustard and pepper and the cooking methods are often steaming, frying and stir-frying. The food is saltier and oilier compared to other parts of Fujian, usually focusing on meat rather than seafood.

Seasonings

Unique seasonings from Fujian include

fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao ...

shrimp paste Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed shrimp or krill mixed with salt, and then fermented for several weeks. They are ei ...

, sugar,

and preserved apricot. Wine lees from the production of rice wine is also commonly used in all aspects of the region's cuisine.

Red yeast rice Red yeast rice (), red rice ''koji'' (べにこうじ, lit. 'red ''koji), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red ''koji'' rice, ''anka'', or ''angkak'', is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its color from being cultivate ...

() is also commonly used in Fujian cuisine, imparting a rosy-red hue to the foods, pleasant aroma, and slightly sweet taste. Fujian is also well known for its "drunken" (wine marinated) dishes and is famous for the quality of the soup stocks and bases used to flavour their dishes, soups and stews.

Notable dishes

One of the most famous dishes in Fujian cuisine is " Buddha Jumps Over the Wall", a complex dish making use of many ingredients, including shark's fin, sea cucumber, abalone and

Shaoxing wine Shaoxing wine (''Shaohsing'', ''Hsiaohsing'', ''Shaoshing''), also called "yellow wine", is a traditional Chinese wine made by fermenting glutinous rice, water and wheat-based yeast. It must be produced in Shaoxing, in the Zhejiang province of ...

. Fujian is also notable for yanpi (), literally "

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

skin," a thin wrapper made with large proportions of lean minced pork. This wrapper has a unique texture due to the incorporation of meat and has a "bite" similar to things made with surimi. Yanpi is used to make ''rouyan'' (), a type of

wonton A wonton () is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun in transliteration from Cantonese () and wenden from Shanghainese (). There are many different styles o ...

There are many eating places around the province that sell these specialties for two yuan, and which are thus known as "two-yuan eateries". In

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an ...

, a local specialty is worm jelly (), an

aspic Aspic or meat jelly () is a savory gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as ''aspic gelée'' or ' ...

made from a species of marine peanut worm.

References

{{Authority control Regional cuisines of China

Styles

Seasonings

Notable dishes

See also

References