Shanghai cuisine, known as Hu Cai among the Chinese, is the youngest of the ten major cuisine in China, with a history of more than 400 years. Traditionally it was called Benbang cuisine, originated in Ming and Qing years. Good at pickling in wine and cooking methods like baking, stewing, teaming, deep-frying, they usually look red and shiny. In the later part of 19th century after Shanghai became a major domestic and international trading port, Benbang dishes underwent some substantial changes by adopting certain merits of other cuisine. It formed a complex flavor structure, cooking style and technique norms. It stresses using condiments and keeping the original flavors of the materials and has features of being fresh, smooth and crispy.
In fact, Shanghai does not have a definitive cuisine of its own, but refines those of the surrounding provinces (mostly from adjacent Jiangsu and Zhejiang coastal provinces). "Shanghai cuisine" today defines an area much greater than the city and immediate environs of Shanghai. What can be called Shanghai cuisine is epitomized by the use of alcohol. Fish, eel, crab, chicken are "drunken" with spirits and usually served raw. Salted meats and preserved vegetables are also commonly used to spice up the dish. The use of sugar is very unique to Shanghai cuisine and, especially when used in combination with soy sauce, effuses foods and sauces with a taste that is not so much sweet but rather savory. A typical Shanghai household will consume sugar at the same rate as soy sauce, even excluding pastry baking. Non-natives tend to have difficulty identifying this usage of sugar and are often surprised when told of the "secret ingredient."
Facing the East China Sea, seafood in Shanghai is very popular. Locals favor freshwater fish just as much as saltwater products like crabs, oysters, and seaweed.
Late autumn is the best time for eating crabs in Shanghai. During that time, the best quality Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs with green shells and white bottoms, rich in fat and ovary, are shipped to restaurants. When the crabs are properly cooked, the fragrance appeals to diners' palate. There are such famous dishes like the crab meat bean curd, lily fruit in crab fat, rice cake in crab meat, delicacies much appreciated by diners. The most popular one is the steamed crab which maintain the original flavor of the crab. It focuses on bringing out the natural crab flavor. The meat is tender, juicy and delicious.
Sweet and Sour Pork is generally sweeter and more sour than the Cantonese version. Beggar's Chicken is a legendary dish wrapped in lotus leaves, covered in clay and oven baked to steamy, tasty perfection (the hardened clay can be chipped away from the tender chicken)- in olden times, it was baked in the ground. Soup Dumpling is filled with a broth, then steamed. The soup squirts out in the diner's mouth as he bites into the dumpling. Ten Varieties Hot-Pot is a plate of sliced meats and vegetables which the diners cook in a communal pot of steaming broth. Yangzhou Fried Rice is leftover rice stir-fried with an especially rich mixture of foods. Lion's Head is a casserole dish of huge steamed pork balls. Soused Shrimp uses live shrimp placed in spiced wine to be inebriated, and eaten in that condition. Squirrel Fish is a flattened deep-fried fish served whole and smothered in sweet-and-sour sauce. Eight Precious Rice is a sweet rice pudding with mixed dried fruit, often served in mid banquet.
Sweet and Sour Pork is generally sweeter and more sour than the Cantonese version. Beggar's Chicken is a legendary dish wrapped in lotus leaves, covered in clay and oven baked to steamy, tasty perfection (the hardened clay can be chipped away from the tender chicken)- in olden times, it was baked in the ground. Soup Dumpling is filled with a broth, then steamed. The soup squirts out in the diner's mouth as he bites into the dumpling. Ten Varieties Hot-Pot is a plate of sliced meats and vegetables which the diners cook in a communal pot of steaming broth. Yangzhou Fried Rice is leftover rice stir-fried with an especially rich mixture of foods. Lion's Head is a casserole dish of huge steamed pork balls. Soused Shrimp uses live shrimp placed in spiced wine to be inebriated, and eaten in that condition. Squirrel Fish is a flattened deep-fried fish served whole and smothered in sweet-and-sour sauce. Eight Precious Rice is a sweet rice pudding with mixed dried fruit, often served in mid banquet.
Sweet and Sour Pork is generally sweeter and more sour than the Cantonese version. Beggar's Chicken is a legendary dish wrapped in lotus leaves, covered in clay and oven baked to steamy, tasty perfection (the hardened clay can be chipped away from the tender chicken)- in olden times, it was baked in the ground. Soup Dumpling is filled with a broth, then steamed. The soup squirts out in the diner's mouth as he bites into the dumpling. Ten Varieties Hot-Pot is a plate of sliced meats and vegetables which the diners cook in a communal pot of steaming broth. Yangzhou Fried Rice is leftover rice stir-fried with an especially rich mixture of foods. Lion's Head is a casserole dish of huge steamed pork balls. Soused Shrimp uses live shrimp placed in spiced wine to be inebriated, and eaten in that condition. Squirrel Fish is a flattened deep-fried fish served whole and smothered in sweet-and-sour sauce. Eight Precious Rice is a sweet rice pudding with mixed dried fruit, often served in mid banquet.
There are some other famous specialties of Shanghai cuisine.
Sweet and Sour Pork is generally sweeter and more sour than the Cantonese version. Beggar's Chicken is a legendary dish wrapped in lotus leaves, covered in clay and oven baked to steamy, tasty perfection (the hardened clay can be chipped away from the tender chicken)- in olden times, it was baked in the ground. Soup Dumpling is filled with a broth, then steamed. The soup squirts out in the diner's mouth as he bites into the dumpling. Ten Varieties Hot-Pot is a plate of sliced meats and vegetables which the diners cook in a communal pot of steaming broth. Yangzhou Fried Rice is leftover rice stir-fried with an especially rich mixture of foods. Lion's Head is a casserole dish of huge steamed pork balls. Soused Shrimp uses live shrimp placed in spiced wine to be inebriated, and eaten in that condition. Squirrel Fish is a flattened deep-fried fish served whole and smothered in sweet-and-sour sauce. Eight Precious Rice is a sweet rice pudding with mixed dried fruit, often served in mid banquet.