Nanjing Salted Duck is a famous specialty of Nanjing with a long-standing reputation, boasting a history of over a thousand years. It can be produced all year round, with a short curing and brining period. Made fresh to order, it is best consumed soon after purchase and not suitable for long-term storage. The duck features tender white skin, succulent meat that is rich but not greasy, and a deliciously fragrant taste. It is known for being aromatic, crispy, and tender. Each year…
When traveling, it's common to order the most representative local dishes wherever you go—that goes without saying. Among Nanjing’s regional cuisine, the most famous and well-regarded dish is undoubtedly Stewed Pork Ball in Clear Soup, and the best version can be found at the Da Pai Dang (big eatery), while others pale in comparison. Nanjing’s “lion’s head” meatball…
Nanjing Five-Spice Beans are also known as “Scholar’s Beans.” Legend has it that during the Qing Dynasty under Emperor Qianlong, Qin Dashi, a poor scholar living in a small alley near Jinsha Well in the southern part of the city, would study late into the night every day. His mother, unable to afford much, would cook soybeans with red yeast rice and red dates, then serve them to him in a small bowl topped with a single red date, encouraging him to study hard…
Origin: Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. Craftsmanship: To make vegetarian pig intestine, fresh, yellowish, highly tensile, soft and thin bean curd sheets (also known as “thousand sheets”) are selected as the main ingredient. Soak the sheets in a 5% alkaline solution at around 40 degrees Celsius for 3 minutes. When the sheets feel slick to the touch, take them out and lay them flat on the cutting board. Using a bamboo stick, wrap two bean curd sheets around the stick and roll them into a coil. Then, wrap the coil diagonally with a square white cloth, rolling it tightly. Twist the two ends of the cloth inward toward the middle to create folds, and tuck the ends securely inward. This wrapping technique ensures the cloth forms defined folds that hold during cooking; otherwise, if the cloth is not tightly rolled, the sheets may not adhere well, the vegetarian intestine may become bloated and fall apart easily, without proper folds, and the ends may come undone. After shaping and wrapping, boil the roll in water for about half an hour, then remove, soak to cool, and finally pull out the stick and unwrap the cloth to finish. If the cooked “intestine” is cut diagonally into half-inch lengths, it can be seasoned to make side dishes such as spiced intestine, soy sauce intestine, or braised intestine. It can also be stir-fried or simmered into a meat-and-vegetable “full happiness” dish. The taste is well-balanced between sweet and salty, tender yet chewy. Features: Delicate texture, tender yet resilient, white and refreshing in color, lifelike in appearance, and delicious in flavor. (Nanjing)
Nanjing is a famous producer of cherries in China, with many grown around Xuanwu Lake. The area known as Yingzhou on Xuanwu Lake gets its name from the abundance of cherries produced there. Varieties include Dongtang, Chuisi, and Qingye. Dongtang cherries are considered the best—large, delicious, juicy, and brightly colored, with excellent quality. …
Shrimp with Dragon Tail is a classic dish from Nanjing (Jinling cuisine), first recorded in the local culinary text *Baimen Shipu* (The Recipes of Baimen). The main ingredient is freshwater shrimp, complemented by egg whites and peas. Not only is it highly nutritious—nourishing blood, strengthening vitality, and delaying aging—it also boosts the body’s disease resistance and immune function. So how exactly is this dish made? Let me...
Ten-Ingredient Mixed Vegetables is what the old residents of Nanjing called it, also known as "Vegetable Medley." It's an essential dish during the Spring Festival for traditional Nanjing families. From my childhood memories to the present day, relatives, neighbors, and my own family would stir-fry a large basin-sized portion of “Ten-Ingredient Mixed Vegetables” every New Year’s Eve, to serve as a refreshing side dish when the meat-heavy meals of the holiday season start to feel too rich...
Whitebait is a famous specialty of Taihu Lake. According to the "Records of Natural History" by Zhang Hua of the Jin Dynasty, “When the King of Wu was boating on the river, he had leftover minced fish which he discarded into the middle of the stream. They turned into fish and were named 'leftover fish of the King of Wu'.” Therefore, whitebait is also called “leftover minced fish” or “king’s leftover fish”. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, it was ranked as one of the “Three Treasures of Taihu Lake” along with spiny hairtail and white shrimp. The whitebait is shaped like a jade hairpin, tender, translucent, and soft as if boneless, with a silvery sheen. Taihu Lake has been abundant in whitebait since the Spring and Autumn Period. Varieties include the large whitebait, Lei’s whitebait, the short-snout whitebait of Taihu Lake, and the few-toothed short-snout whitebait. They usually inhabit coastal waters but swim upstream in schools in late spring and early summer to spawn on reeds and aquatic grass stems. “Gleefully watching the silvery blades emerge from the net” (Su Dongpo) depicts the scene of whitebait fishing. The flesh of whitebait is tender, delicious, and highly nutritious. Dishes such as scrambled eggs with whitebait, whitebait balls, hibiscus-style whitebait, and whitebait wontons are famous local delicacies around Taihu Lake. Taihu Lake whitebait enjoys a long-standing international reputation.
Yixing in Jiangsu Province is located close to Taihu Lake, with a mild climate and fertile soil. The lilies produced here not only yield high quantities but also rank among the best in quality nationwide. The cultivation of Yixing lilies has a history of three to four hundred years. Lilies are rich in nutrients such as starch, protein, calcium, and phosphorus, offering benefits such as moistening the lungs to relieve coughs, clearing the spleen and removing dampness, invigorating the middle and benefiting qi, as well as calming the heart and soothing the nerves…
Yixing purple clay pottery originated in the Song Dynasty and flourished during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 1976, during the construction of the Dao Kiln project in the Yixing ceramic production area, the ancient Yangjiaoshan purple clay kiln site and a large number of early purple clay pottery fragments were discovered. According to expert appraisal, this ancient kiln was in operation during the mid-Northern Song Dynasty. By the Yuan Dynasty, the firing techniques of purple clay pottery had gradually matured, …
Yixing purple clay pottery flower pots are made from a local type of purple clay, featuring a wide variety of shapes and sizes—tall or short, large or small, square or round, straight or curved. Their forms are diverse and ever-changing. The rims of the pots range in size from as large as seven feet to as small as half an inch. Tall pots are suitable for planting cliff-style plants, while shallow pots are ideal for arranging water stones and tree stump bonsai, creating a harmonious display. Their production began in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming…
Nanjing locals especially love the sweet, lingering taste of red beans, which are boiled together with hand-rolled small rice balls and finished with brown sugar. The flavor is sweet but not cloying, probably making it one of the most beloved desserts in Nanjing. Shop name: Baixia Sweet Rice Ball Store Address: No. 4, General An Lane, Xuanwu District…
Nanjing locals traditionally make small wontons using an old-fashioned wood-fired stove, and enjoy adding a bit of spicy oil when eating them. “Want some spicy oil?” Shop name: Guan’an Red Soup Wontons; Address: No. 56, Lane 4, Yushi Street, Xuanwu District…
Sweet taro is a traditional specialty snack from Wuxi. It was first created in 1858. The dish uses premium taro roots sourced locally. The taro is peeled, washed, treated with alkali, and cooked until it turns a purplish-red color. Then the heat is reduced to simmer it. Brown sugar and sweet osmanthus are added, and once it comes to a boil, the dish is ready. It features soft and tender taro, a bright reddish hue, a sweet and clear broth, and a rich aroma. It is a beloved...
Water shield, also known as water greens or water hibiscus, is a perennial aquatic herbaceous plant that grows in lakes. Its underground stems are white and creep along the muddy lakebed. The main stem and branches bend with the flow of water. In April, leaves resembling lotus pads gradually unfold and float on the water’s surface — green on the front and dark red with a transparent gelatinous coating on the back. Every year from the Qingming Festival to...
Wuxi’s food industry is particularly distinctive. Its signature local specialties—“Wuxi Meaty Bones” with their tender, fragrant meat and crispy bones, golden-hued and thin-skinned crispy clear-water wheat gluten, and Huishan crisp cakes that are flaky, savory, and fragrant with scallions and salt—are renowned far and wide, and are sold both within and beyond Wuxi...
Taihu Meci, known as one of the “Three Treasures of Taihu,” has an oval, laterally compressed body with a pointed tail that resembles a bamboo knife. Its silvery-white color, along with its deeply forked tail that is short, red-tipped, slender, and narrow, gives it the appearance of a phoenix tail—hence the name “Forktail Fish.” It is a prized fish in Taihu and accounts for 40% of the lake’s total fish production. It also serves as a natural food source for carnivorous fish...
Glutinous Rice Balls with Starch Coating, also known as Five-Color Glutinous Rice Balls, are a traditional specialty of Wuxi. They are made using 70% premium polished round-grain rice and 30% premium polished long-grain rice, which are washed clean with water and soaked. The soaked rice is then ground with water into a starchy paste, which is placed in cloth bags and pressed with stones to remove excess moisture. The paste is then kneaded and smoothed before being wrapped around fillings such as fresh pork, vegetable lard, sesame, red bean paste, rose petals, and white sugar. When served, the balls are boiled in boiling water until cooked through. They have a soft, chewy, and smooth texture, with fresh and clean-tasting fillings. (Wuxi)
Glutinous Rice Balls with Starch Coating were first created in the early years of the Republic of China. They are called "Glutinous Rice Balls with Starch Coating" because they are made using water-milled rice flour. These rice balls are both chewy and tender, soft and smooth on the palate. The fillings include fresh meat, vegetable lard, red bean paste, sesame, and rose-flavored white sugar—collectively known as the Five-Colored Glutinous Rice Balls with Starch Coating. They are available at sweet dumpling shops throughout the city, with those from Fengshou Sweet Dumpling Shop at Chong'an Temple being particularly renowned for their quality.…
“Mother’s Brew Boat Duck” is a famous autumn and winter dish from the Suzhou-Wuxi region. Its meat is rich, tender, and succulent, falling off the bone without breaking apart, with a strong aroma and unique flavor, and has always been highly popular. Originating in Wuxi, it is a renowned Taihu Lake boat cuisine. Over a hundred years ago, there were many pleasure boats in the Wuxi area, where boatmen cooked meals on board to serve visitors…