Fujian cuisine
Light yet umami-rich cuisine from China's Fujian Province.
Fujian cuisine, also called Min cuisine, originates from China's Fujian Province and is particularly associated with the cooking style of its capital, Fuzhou. It is known for being light yet flavorful, with an emphasis on umami taste and retaining the original flavor of ingredients. The cuisine draws on diverse seafood and woodland ingredients from the region's coastal and mountainous areas, employing techniques such as braising, stewing, steaming, and boiling.
Quick Facts
- Province
- Fujian
- Capital
- Fuzhou
- Cuisine type
- Min cuisine
- Common seasoning
- fermented fish sauce (shrimp oil)
- Notable ingredient
- peanuts
Facts from the source article.
Styles
Fujian cuisine comprises several distinct styles. Fuzhou style is lighter, often balancing sweet and sour flavors, and is known for its soups and use of fermented fish sauce and red yeast rice. Putian, or Henghwa, style from the coastal town of Putian specializes in seafood dishes such as lor mee and Duotuo clams. Southern Fujian style is stronger in taste, showing Southeast Asian influence with more sugar and spices like shacha sauce and five-spice powder, and features slow-cooked soups and dipping sauces. Western Fujian style incorporates slight spiciness from mustard and pepper, uses steaming, frying, and stir-frying, and tends to be saltier and oilier, focusing on meat rather than seafood.
Seasonings
Unique seasonings in Fujian cuisine include fish sauce, shrimp paste, sugar, shacha sauce, and preserved apricot. Wine lees from rice wine production are commonly used, as is red yeast rice, which imparts a rosy-red hue, pleasant aroma, and slightly sweet taste. The cuisine is also known for its drunken (wine-marinated) dishes and the quality of its soup stocks and bases.
Notable dishes
One of the most famous Fujian dishes is Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, a complex dish containing shark's fin, sea cucumber, abalone, and Shaoxing wine. Another notable item is yanpi, or swallow skin, a thin wrapper made from lean minced pork used to make rouyan, a type of wonton. In Xiamen, a local specialty is worm jelly, an aspic made from marine peanut worms.
More in Regional Cuisines of China
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