Although pig's head meat is not considered a high-end dish, Liuhe’s version has a distinctive flavor and has been well-known since the late Qing Dynasty. The main ingredient is local free-range pork, prepared through manual hair removal, complete blood draining, curing in aged brine, boiling over high heat, and slow simmering over low heat. It boasts characteristics of aroma, tenderness, and cleanliness. Diners find it “appetizing upon the scent, melting in the mouth, and vanishing with a sip…”
Nanjing’s Longpao crab roe dumplings have been famous since the late Qing Dynasty, renowned for their thin wrappers, rich broth, tender filling, attractive shape, delicious taste, and non-greasy texture. The production process—including making crab oil, broth, preparing the filling, rolling the dough, shaping the dumplings, and steaming—is subject to strict standards. These crab-filled buns resemble autumn chrysanthemums in appearance and offer a fresh, non-greasy flavor, making them a beloved Nanjing delicacy. Crab roe soup dumplings are a culinary specialty of Longpao in Luhe...
Check out the “Crab Roe Series” from Luhe: Crab Roe Soup Dumplings, Crab Roe Snowflake Tofu, Crab Roe Lion’s Head… The dog meat series from Lishui is also complete: Lotus-Scented Sliced Dog Meat, Dog Shin Boiled with Dried Tofu Shreds, Ginseng-Stewed Dog… The “Lotus Series” submitted by Pukou not only comes in a variety of styles but also has rather elegant dish names: Lianlian Dengke, Yipin Qinglian, Hundred Years…
Nanjing Luhe beef jerky, historically known as "basin beef jerky," was once an imperial tribute to the Qing court and is a local traditional specialty. With over 500 years of production history, it is primarily made from well-marbled yellow cattle forequarter meat, along with soy sauce, salt, and rock sugar as secondary ingredients. It is meticulously crafted using unique traditional techniques. The jerky features an attractive color, delicious taste...
Rain Flower Stones are a unique souvenir of Nanjing. Legend has it that during the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, Monk Yun Guang gave a sermon on Jubaoshan Mountain in Nanjing, which moved the heavens. Flowers rained down and turned into small, colorful stones with brilliant patterns, hence the name “Rain Flower Stones.” They are mainly found in areas such as Yuhuatai, Luhe, and Jiangpu. Rain Flower Stones are hard in texture and are precious gemstones formed from quartz, chalcedony, and opal…
Live embryos come in 15-day, 18-day, and even 34-day varieties. The 15-day ones are the best, the 18-day ones are a notch below. By the 34th day, they’re no longer embryos but nearly hatched chicks—you can still clearly see the hole where the chick pecked its way out of the shell. These finished and semi-finished products are all “murdered” by deliberately cutting off electricity and cooling them down. When it comes to seeking culinary delights, humans have truly reached the peak—eating live embryos is just the beginning; there are even reports of people eating live fetuses, which oddly brings to mind the ancient saying, “The man who retreated fifty paces laughs at the man who retreated a hundred.” Not long ago, I ate two live embryos a day and almost got addicted, even ignoring the point where my gums were so swollen they felt ready to burst. Crack the shell, peel off the skin, and out comes a fuzzy, wet little creature. Dip it in coarse salt that’s been pan-fried, then bite and suck—it’s incredibly rich and flavorful. How people eat them varies: the refined ones chew slowly and carefully, while others gobble them down like Zhu Bajie eating a ginseng fruit.
Jiangxinzhou grapes are a specialty of Jiangxinzhou Subdistrict, Jianye District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. The "Jiangxin Rain Dew" grapes from Jiangxinzhou are a well-known and prestigious brand. Jiangxinzhou actively promotes improved trellis systems, rain-shelter cultivation, and drip irrigation techniques to boost grape yield and quality. It adheres to pollution-free grape farming, utilizing field testing stations and...
The "Red Through" brand lobster at Xinghu Hotel is hailed as China's top lobster brand. The hotel offers classic "Four Famous Dishes": braised, clear broth, spicy, and McAo, along with the "Cellar Aroma Series" featuring eight flavors: mellow, soy sauce, smoked, spicy, milky, five-spice, fish, and plum. While pioneering complex lobster flavors, it also caters to every taste preference, ensuring everyone can find their "favorite."
First of all, the pig’s skin (pigu) is a big deal — only plump, fatty pigs are selected. Carefully remove every bit of fat from the skin, then boil the clean skin in a large pot of water until it becomes semi-transparent. After that, take it out and air-dry it in a ventilated place. Next, fry it in lard rendered from the fat closest to the skin — only then will it be truly fragrant. The frying process requires very precise heat control, and it must be supervised by an experienced elder. This method yields golden, crispy, fluffy, and tender pig’s skin that practically melts in your mouth. Many diners even pay extra to add an additional portion of pig’s skin to enjoy to their heart's content.
Nanjing stinky fertilized eggs, also known as hairy eggs or live beads, are a type of snack. Traditionally, they refer to failed incubated eggs that are boiled in plain water and usually eaten by peeling off the shell and dipping them in refined salt. In recent years, due to hygiene concerns, they have gradually shifted to using healthy eggs that have been normally incubated for about 15 days as the main ingredient. Outsiders consider eating incompletely developed…
Every time I go to eat duck blood vermicelli soup, I can't help but order a few more pieces of duck oil crispy sesame cake. Speaking of duck oil crispy sesame cake, I think many people in Nanjing love it just as much as I do. Nanjing duck oil crispy sesame cake is a traditional delicacy from the Qingzhen Qifangge Restaurant in the Confucius Temple area of Nanjing. Most people may see sesame cakes as ordinary fare, but those from the New Qifangge are truly exceptional...
Hand-torn Chicken is eaten this way: a steamed young chicken served with a dipping sauce made with soy sauce on the side. The small chicken isn’t as tender, juicy, or delicious as expected—it’s somewhat like something boiled in light saltwater.…
Pickled plums, sweet and sour with a crisp texture. On the morning of July 22, 2005, the China Blackberry High-Level Forum was held in Baima Town, Lishui County, Nanjing. Experts on blackberries from both within and outside the province unanimously designated Baima Town as the "Hometown of Blackberries in China." Native to North America, blackberries are a vine plant with fruits that are sweet and tangy. In 198…
Blackberry Blackberry is a plant of the genus Rubus in the Rosaceae family, and its fruit is an aggregate of small berries. Blackberries were introduced and cultivated in China in 1986 by the Jiangsu Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, from the United States. Using fresh blackberries or individually quick-frozen fresh blackberries as the main ingredients, the produced blackberry fresh juice retains a natural rosy red color, offering a refreshing, elegant taste...
Dongba Dried Tofu has a long history and is renowned worldwide for its superior quality, delicious taste, moderate firmness with resilience, and suitability for eating on its own or as an accompaniment to dishes. Traditional Dongba Dried Tofu uses high-quality soybeans from the current year as raw material, undergoing more than ten meticulous steps including soaking, stone grinding, filtering the soy milk, boiling the milk, coagulating with brine, coarse wrapping, fine wrapping with small cloth pieces…
Shredded Wind-Dried Fish 1. Slogans for Shredded Wind-Dried Fish: ⑴ The world’s most delicious wind-dried fish made by our elders ⑵ Simple, natural, and authentic local flavor ⑶ Low in salt, calories, fat, and cholesterol ⑷ High in protein, nutrition, and quality ⑸ One “fish” reveals all the freshness secrets！ ⑹ Fish is what I desire ⑺ Perfect for home dining, travel, banquets…
Shiqiu dog meat enjoys widespread fame and is hailed as a renowned delicacy of the Jiangnan region. A fascinating local legend is also associated with dog meat. One year, while a dog meat vendor in Shiqiu Town was preparing the meat, a wild-eyed monk suddenly walked by and said, “Your dog meat smells amazing—could you spare me a little to try?” The female vendor generously replied…
To make vegetarian pig intestine, use fresh, yellowish, strong, soft, and thin bean curd sheets (also called thousand-layer sheets) as the main ingredient. Soak them in a 5% concentration alkaline solution at around 40 degrees Celsius for 3 minutes. When the bean curd sheets feel slippery to the touch, take them out and lay them flat on a cutting board. Take a bamboo skewer and roll two bean curd sheets around the skewer to form a tube. Then wrap the tube firmly diagonally with a square white cloth, pressing tightly from both ends of the cloth toward the center along the skewer to create wrinkles. Tuck the ends of the cloth inward tightly. This wrapping method ensures the cloth wrinkles hold their shape during cooking and prevents them from falling apart. Otherwise, if the cloth roll isn't tight enough, the bean curd layers won’t stick well, the vegetarian pig intestine will easily fall apart or swell up without proper wrinkles, and the two ends will come apart. After wrapping, the bean curd rolls are boiled to set the shape. After about half an hour, remove them, soak to cool, then remove the skewer and unwrap the cloth to complete the process. If the cooked “intestines” are cut diagonally into half-inch pieces, they can be seasoned to make side dishes such as five-spice pig intestine, soy sauce pig intestine, or braised pig intestine. They can also be stir-fried or braised in dishes that combine meat and vegetables, creating a “full house” feast. The taste is sweet and salty in perfect balance, tender yet chewy.
Blackberry cultivation in China began with trial introductions in the 1980s. In our town, the blackberry industry has grown from a trial planting of 5.8 mu in 1986 to a current cultivation area of 22,000 mu, accounting for 80% of the town’s total economic orchard and fruit crop area. The number of farming households has increased from just 2 to 6,200. The labor force involved has grown from 5 people to 12,000, representing 45% of the town’s farming households and 40% of its labor force. Fresh fruit production has surged from 1,500 kg initially to 5,700 tons currently, with average yield per mu rising from 250 kg to 750 kg. The industry now generates an output value of 20.52 million yuan, increasing per capita income by 570 yuan and per planting household income by 3,940 yuan. The blackberry industry has become one of the town’s five key agricultural pillars, the largest standardized blackberry demonstration base in the province, the largest national blackberry base, and the world leader in blackberry production. It has earned the title "Hometown of Blackberries in China."
Cuisine from Lishui County: Shiqiu dog meat series, Mingjue Phoenix Fish series, Qunli old goose, Dongrun Company's ready-to-eat products, stinky tofu with chili and dog meat, vegetable-stuffed purslane braised pork, crispy crucian carp with fish maw, braised eel with dried cowpeas, lotus-baked wild eel…