Anhui Province — particularly southern Huizhou mountain region
Anhui cuisine (one of the Eight Great Cuisines) is defined by its use of mountain and forest ingredients: wild herbs, bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, and preserved mountain vegetables. The Huizhou mountains produce ingredients not found elsewhere in Chinese cooking: xiansun (fresh bamboo shoots preserved in salt), stone chicken (rock frog — shi ji), and the prized Huizhou black mushroom (huang shan zhi ye hei gu). The cuisine embraces strong preserved flavours alongside fresh mountain produce.
Earthy mountain depth from dried mushrooms and preserved pork; wild green freshness from mountain herbs; the deliberate stinks of fermented preparations — a cuisine that embraces complexity and strong flavour
{"Wild mountain bamboo shoots braised with pork belly in a specific Anhui style: salty-preserved vs fresh bamboo interact differently","Huizhou three stinks (Hui Cai san chou): smelly mandarin fish (chou gui yu), stinky tofu, and fermented amaranth stalk — the three deliberately pungent preparations","Dried mushroom hydration: Huizhou mushrooms require 2+ hours soaking; the soaking water is the stock","Mountain herbs: water shield (shui xian), pennywort, various fiddlehead ferns used fresh in brief stir-fries"}
{"Chou gui yu (smelly mandarin fish): this is deliberately fermented for 1–2 days; the smell is intended and transforms during cooking","Water shield (shui xian): a spring aquatic vegetable with a distinctive glutinous coating — briefly blanch and dress with vinegar and sesame oil","Huizhou sesame oil has a different character from mainstream Chinese sesame oil — the local sesame variety gives a lighter, greener note"}
{"Overcooking fresh mountain herbs — they need only seconds in a hot wok","Substituting commercial bamboo shoots for fresh or properly preserved Huizhou mountain varieties","Ignoring the Huizhou preserved pork traditions — ham and salt pork are fundamental to the cuisine"}
Every Grain of Rice — Fuchsia Dunlop