Sunday, October 5, 2008

Guizhou cuisine

Guizhou cuisine is derived from the native cooking styles of the Guizhou region in China. Guizhou cuisine is similar to Szechuan cuisine and Hunan cuisine, but it's unique in that its dishes emphasize the mixed taste of sour and spicy, similar to that of Shaanxi cuisine of Shaanxi province, another neighbor of Sichuan. Despite both sharing sour and spicy flavors, Guizhou cuisine can be distinguished from Shaanxi cuisine in lacking the salty taste that is present in Shaanxi cuisine .

Guizhou cuisine is often specially cooked to match the flavor of locally produced Chinese liquor that are famous in China, such as Maotai, which is consumed with the cuisine.

A distinct characteristic of Guizhou cuisine is its unique salt pickled vegetable, or Yan Cai in Chinese:

Fresh vegetables are dried without the exposure to sunlight after being cleaned, and when the vegetables are dried, it was salted and sealed in containers for four or five days to allow fermentation to begin. After the fermentation is completed, the salt pickled vegetables are ready to be served.

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