Shanghai’s cuisine is the newest in China, despite its age of more than 400 years. Despite being named after the now-defunct East China seaport, Shanghai cuisine, also known as Hu cuisine, actually represents the culinary traditions of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, which are close by in geographic proximity.
It differs from the rest of China because it uses soy and sugar more. It emphasizes the use of seasonings, as well as the usage of natural products and original food flavours. Compared to other Chinese cuisines, Shanghai foods are gentler and lighter in taste, with a somewhat sweet edge. Shanghainese cuisine is known for its use of sweet and sour flavours.
A common Shanghai cooking technique is red cooking, which involves boiling the chicken in soy sauce and other seasonings until it turns a glossy red colour. You’ll also see more alcohol in marinade recipes and more unusual seafood on the menu. While enjoying PlayAmo, check out this article’s top best recipes in Shanghai, China.
Yangchow Fried Rice
Cantonese fried rice and Yangchow fried rice are distinct because just an egg is used for cooking the individual grains of rice in Yangchow fried rice. This recipe does not call for additional seasonings like soy sauce, oyster sauce, or any other kind; the pork, shrimp, onion, and peas are cooked at the very end. Ham that has already been cooked can be substituted for roast pork.
Lion’s Head Meatballs
Bok choy is slowly consumed by large pork balls, which are designed to symbolize the heads of lions and are cooked in chicken broth. The bok choy greens that have been chopped up represent the lion’s mane.
This meal is traditionally prepared with pork fat and clay pots throughout the cooking process. There are specific recipes that call for cabbage instead of bok choy, and although pig is typically used as the meat ingredient, you can also use beef in its place.
Chicken Beggar
The coop’s name comes from an old wives’ story about chickens. According to folklore, a hungry beggar stole a chicken and buried it in the mud to hide it from the farmer, who would have discovered it and killed it. As the story goes, the farmer found the bird. That was followed by an outside barbecue where the mud-coated chicken was perfectly cooked. After that, you get a crunchy slice of meat on the surface but supple and juicy in the middle. The beggar could lift himself out of poverty by selling these clay pots.
In the recipe’s streamlined preparation method, the chicken is not first covered in dirt before being cooked; instead, the chicken is first wrapped in aluminium foil. Other recipes also have unique-sounding titles. Investigate how the names of different Chinese dishes got their peculiar titles.
Pearl Balls
The name of this dish stems from the sight of the sticky rice wrapped around pork balls that have been seasoned (glutinous rice). After being consumed, the meatballs take on the appearance of pearls and become translucent. This recipe, which only requires a few simple ingredients, works equally well as an appetizer or a main course. Ensure the rice is soaked in advance, preferably for a full day.
Four Happiness Of The Pig
Another example of red cuisine is here, where the pork is braised in soy sauce, sherry, and various seasonings over low heat. Due to the lengthy period required to prepare them, you won’t find them on the menus of most Chinese restaurants; however, they are simple to create at home.
Chicken With Soy Sauce
In another one of their red cooking recipes, chicken soy sauce, the chicken is simmered for a long time in a mixture of soy sauce and other seasonings. The tender meat will easily pull away from the bone, and the sauce, which you can keep and use for your following recipe with red cooking, will develop a richer flavour and become even more delicious as time passes.
