Cuisine of Jiangxi

The climate of Jiangxi is very hot and humid in the summer and so, like neighboring province, Hunan and Hubei, the cuisine is fairly spicy. Like other Chinese regional cuisines, chili peppers are directly used as a vegetable and not just for flavoring. A unique feature of Jiangxi cuisine (also known as Gan cuisine) is that tea oil is used almost exclusively as the only cooking oil in its dishes. The dishes often incorporate douchi (fermented black beans) and doufu (tofu).

The region is known for its freshwater fish and over 170 species of fish, which accounts for 21.4% of the national total of freshwater fish. Lake Poyang is the largest fresh water lake in China. Consequently, Jiangxi cuisine is known for their freshwater fish banquet.

Another specialty is soup. Every restaurant serves soup. Chefs put several small clay pots with water and duck, or chicken, or pig’s foot and ingredients such as ginger and green onion into a large pot over a slow fire. It usually takes at least five hours to cook the soup. Clay pot soup served with rice noodles (banfen) is the breakfast dish of choice for the residents of Nanchang.

The best food areas are along Xiangshan beilu, for fish. Jiangxi food is best tried in the upmarket Wenxuan Restaurant (Wenxuan jiulou), also on Xiangshan lu, or in many of the local hotels. For cheap snacks and fast food, around the railway station is a good place to go. Other places to go to taste genuine specialties such as Nanchang Rice Noodles and Shitou Jie Mahua are Ruzi Lu and Fuzhou Lu. For clay pot soup, Yuzhang Dalaowu Soup Restaurant located near Shengjinta Tower is a place to try.

Recommended restaurants for Gan cuisine:

Jiachang Fan
Hongcheng branch address: No.659, Hongcheng Lu
Ruzi branch address: No.141, Ruzi Lu, Xihu District

Yutu Fanzhuang
Address: No.168, Ruzi Lu, Xihu District

Xiangtang Tuji Dian
Address: Dieshan Lu, Xihu District

Three Cup Chicken (Sanbei Ji)

Three Cup Chicken is a traditional Jiangxi cuisine dish. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Heat up the sesame oil, add garlic and ginger, stir-fry till fragrant, and then add chicken pieces till it changes color. Season with sugar, soy sauce and rice wine. After boiling, turn the heat to medium till the sauce thickens. Turn the heat to high and add basil and green onion, then serve.

Steamed Pork Slices with Glutinous Rice (Mifen Zhengrou)

Nanchang people like to have a bowl of steamed pork slices with glutinous rice around the beginning of summer each year. The main material is the streaky pork.

Cured Meat with Wild Artemisia Selengensis (Lihao Chao Larou)

Artemisia Selengensis Turcz is a kind of wild herb that grows around Poyang Lake. The nutritious herb is known to contain protein and carotene. Nanchang people are fond of it and like to cook it with cured meat.

Yuzhang Duck

A spicy crispy skin duck dish.