Hubei cuisine

Hubei cuisine (Chinese: 湖北菜; pinyin: Húběi cài), also known as E cuisine (Chinese: 鄂菜; pinyin: È cài), is derived from the native cooking styles of Hubei province in China.

History

Hubei cuisine has more than 2,000 years of history. The names of dishes and the cuisine style can be found in works of literature such as Qu Yuan's Chuci.

Ingredients

As Hubei has plenty of lakes, rivers and marshlands, freshwater produce are used as major ingredients in the local cuisine.

Style

Hubei cuisine emphasises on the preparation of ingredients and the matching of colours. It specialises in steaming techniques. Its style is influenced by the cooking methods of the cuisines of neighbouring provinces such as Sichuan and Hunan. As a result, Hubei cuisine also uses dried hot pepper, black pepper and other spices to enhance the flavour of dishes.

Hubei cuisine comprises three distinct styles:

• Wuhan style, which specialises in soups. Wuhan is also known for its noodle dishes, such as hot dry noodles.
• Huangzhou style, which is more oily and tastes more salty than the others.
• Jingzhou style, which specialises in fish dishes and uses steaming as the primary method of cooking.

• 

  Freshly made noodles drying in the sun in Futu, Huangshi Municipality

• 

  Chilli peppers sold in Wuhan

See also

• List of Chinese dishes