A place where treats are truly sweet
The one feature of Wuxi food that distinguishes it from other cuisines in the Yangtze River Delta region is its sweetness.
According to Zhou Guoliang, vice-president of the Wuxi Food and Beverage Industry Association, this unique feature could be due to a variety of reasons, including people’s belief that adding sugar helps to enhance the taste of local specialties such as braised pork ribs, deep-fried crispy eel and fried gluten. He notes that as Wuxi sees frequent rainfall, locals also like seeking comfort in a bowl of hot, sweet soup.
“No one knows the exact reason behind this sweetness in our food, but I’m guessing that it is partly because people traditionally view the consumption of sugar as a means to recover energy after a long day of work,” says Zhou, who has been working in the culinary industry since 1978.
“In the past, only rich families could afford to consume sugar, so sweetness also represents property in our culinary culture. Sweetness in Chinese culture also signifies happiness, so these could all be reasons.”
The main characteristic of regional cuisine is that it is always closely related to an area’s climate and geography, adds Zhou. As a place that has many waterways, freshwater aquaculture, such as the famous “three whites” — white shrimp, white fish and silver fish — are a staple in Wuxi cuisine.
Zhou, who is also a master chef and the inheritor of Wuxi cuisine, always seeks to highlight the freshness and taste of the ingredients by avoiding the addition of too much seasoning.
“We usually stew and steam as these cooking methods allow us to retain the original flavors of the three types of aquaculture. The only things we add are salt, rice liquor and scallions,” says Zhou, who is the executive chef of Wuxi Grand Hotel.
Zhou’s signature dishes at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant include steamed white fish with liquor and ham, dumplings using the “three whites” and fried shrimp. Aquaculture aside, his Wuxi pork ribs and steamed dumplings (Wuxi xiaolongbao), which taste much sweeter than their Shanghai counterparts, are also popu- lar among customers.
Born into a family of chefs in Wuxi, Zhou this year celebrated the 40th anniversary of his illustrious culinary career. Today, he typically spends 12 hours every day at the hotel mentoring young chefs, experimenting and seeking inspiration for new dishes. Despite being in the industry for four decades, Zhou says he is still able to find new things to learn.
“Cooking is an art form that requires lifelong exploration. The more I cook, the more I am interested in the culinary arts. I’m never bored,” he says.
In light of the increasing competition presented by the slew of Sichuan and Cantonese restaurants opening in the city, chefs have to be innovative in order to stay relevant with younger diners. Despite this need to come up with modern versions of Wuxi cuisine, Zhou says that his focus is always on ensuring that the authentic flavor of the food is retained.
Apart from restaurants, another popular venue for Wuxi diners is on boats on Taihu Lake. But though the food served on board has its own name — boat cuisine — it’s actually just dishes made with aquaculture.
Boat cuisine is believed to have first emerged more than a thousand years ago during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when government officials and aristocrats would indulge in lavish feasts on boats so that they could savor the picturesque surroundings. Located on the boundary between Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the lake is one of the largest freshwater bodies in China and is famed for being a famous scenic spot that features 72 peaks and peninsulas. One of the most popular places to take in the views of the lake is from Xihui Park in western Wuxi.
Apart from the “three whites”, Taihu Lake is also where an increasing number of restaurants are getting their hairy crabs, a seasonal delicacy in China. Due to the limited supply at Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou, which is considered to be the best breeding ground for these crustaceans, many farmers have entered the business in the Taihu region over the past few years.