Anhui cuisine is called Hui Cai for short. The Anhui cuisine cooking style is also known as “Hui Bang”, and is one of the eight most famous cuisines of China. Anhui cuisine originated in the Southern Song Dynasty in ancient Huizhou (now the region of Shexian County in Anhui Province) and it was previously the local flavor of Huizhou’s mountainous area. The rise of Anhui merchants was a fast one, thus the region’s flavor which became gradually introduced to shops, became popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shanghai, Hubei and even the Lower-Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River as a result of its extensive influence.
安徽菜系，简称徽菜。徽菜菜系又称“徽帮”，是中国著名的八大菜系之一。徽菜南宋时期的古徽州（今安徽歙县一带），原是徽州山区的地方风味。由于徽商的崛起，这种地方风味逐渐进入市肆，流传于苏、浙、赣、闽、沪、鄂以至长江中下游区域，具有广泛的影响。

Representative dishes
代表菜品
Braised masked civet, ham and stewed soft-shelled turtle, fried bamboo shoots and salted mustard with roast pheasant, Fuliji style red-roasted chicken, honeycomb tofu, Wuwei smoked duck etc.
红烧果子狸、火腿炖甲鱼、雪冬烧山鸡、符离集烧鸡、蜂窝豆腐、无为熏鸭等。

The characteristics of Anhui cuisine
徽菜的特点
Anhui cuisine is, fragrant and fresh; its taste is moderate; the selection of ingredients is rigorous; duration and degree of cooking is original and unique; chefs attach great importance to the maintenance of good health through the intake of nourishing food as well as being concerned with the original flavors of the food; it includes a variety of dishes. Cooking techniques: cooking with medium-heat oil, boiling in clear soups and smoking of raw materials. Anhui cuisine is known for the cooking of mountain delicacies and Anhui cuisine chefs excel at roasting, stewing and braising; they seldom fry. Thickening with a mixture of cornstarch and water is frequently used in Anhui cuisine preparations, and the cuisine is rich in oil and colors as well as being simple and substantial.
清雅纯朴、原汁原味、酥嫩香鲜、浓淡适宜，选料严谨、火工独到、讲究食补、注重本味、菜式多样。烹饪技法：滑烧、清炖和生熏法。它以烹制山珍野味著称，擅长烧、炖、蒸，而少爆炒。其烹饪芡大、油重、色浓、朴素实惠。

The history of Anhui cuisine
徽菜历史
The formation and development of Anhui cuisine are closely related with those of the Anhui merchants which rose to power and fortune. Anhui merchants were known as “Xin’an merchants” in ancient times. They developed from the Eastern Jin Dynasty onwards and flourished increasingly in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The period from the late Ming Dynasty to the late Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty was the most flourishing period for Anhui merchants when the greatest number of merchants in Huizhou and their extensive scope of operations and abundant funds were superior to those of many other non-Huizhou merchants at that time. From the period between Emperor Jiajing’s reign in the Ming Dynasty to the Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, there were roughly 80 famous merchants in Yangzhou, of which the Anhui merchants accounted for more than 60. They also accounted for more than half of the ten major salt merchants. Anhui merchants were the richest in the world and they preferred their hometown’s flavor. Their rich and sumptuous foods and luxurious banquets promoted the development of Anhui cuisine. Where there were Anhui merchants, there were Anhui cuisine restaurants. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Anhui merchants were in full bloom in Yangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan, and the number of Anhui cuisine restaurants in Shanghai had even risen to more than 500.
徽菜的形成、发展与徽商的兴起、发迹有着密切的关系，徽商史称“新安大贾”，起于东晋，唐宋时期日渐发达，明代晚期至清乾隆末期是徽商的黄金时代，其时徽州营商人数之多，活动范围之广，资本之雄厚，皆居当时商团之前列。明嘉靖至青乾隆年间，扬州著名商贾约80人，其中徽商就占60之多；十大盐商中，徽商竟居一半以上。徽商富甲天下，而又偏爱家乡风味，其饮馔之丰盛，筵席之豪华，对徽菜的发展起了推波助澜的作用，哪里有徽商哪里就有徽菜馆。明清时期，徽商在扬州、上海、武汉盛极一时，上海的徽菜馆一度曾达至500余家。

The number of Anhui cuisine dishes
徽菜品种
The number of traditional Anhui cuisine dishes amounts to more than one thousand and the flavors of Anhui cuisine contain the characteristics of the dishes of Southern Anhui, the area along the Yangtze River and the area along the Huai River.
徽菜的传统品种多达千种以上，其风味包含皖南、沿江、沿淮三种地方菜肴的特色。

The Ingredients of Anhui cuisine
徽菜原料
Anhui lies in the central region of Eastern China, and its climate is mild with moderate rainfall. The area’s four seasons are distinct and the province is a richly productive one. The Southern Anhui and Dabie Mountainous areas are abound with tea leaves, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fungus, Chinese chestnuts, Chinese yarns and mountain delicacies including chukars, stonefish, rock tripe, soft-shelled turtles, big-headed turtles and masked civets etc.
安徽地处华东腹地，气候温和雨量适中，四季分明、物产丰盈，皖南山区和大别山区盛产茶叶、竹笋、香菇、木耳、板栗、山药和石鸡、石鱼、石耳、甲鱼、鹰龟、果子狸等山珍野味。

Cooking techniques of Anhui cuisine
徽菜的烹饪技法
The cooking techniques of Anhui cuisine include cutting techniques, skilled use of cooking times, methods and temperatures, and operational skills. Chefs of Anhui cuisine have a long lasting fine tradition of paying comparatively more attention to temperature, and their specialized characteristics are embodied in the expertly time-consuming dishes such as roasted, stewed, smoked and braised dishes. The Fuliji style red-roasted chicken is fried and then roasted with a technique employing the alternate use of gentle heat and high heat. In the end the bone is crispy and the chicken is easily taken off and maintains its original shape; Anhui style fried fish can be prepared within a few minutes. The fish is tender and delicious with richness and color. This dish is a great example of the use of high heat. “Mount Huang stewed chicken” and “Wenzheng Mountain bamboo shoots” stewed over a charcoal fire in a draft furnace are dishes with pure, fresh, palatable, crisp, savory and mellow flavors, which are the fruit of stewing by gentle heat. “Smoked reeves shad with Maofeng tea” and “Wuwei smoked chicken” are two dishes which are the embodiment of the traditional technique of Anhui style smoking. The frequently used cooking techniques of Anhui cuisine are classified into 20 categories and have over 50 styles, of which cooking with medium-heat oil, boiling in clear soup and raw ingredients smoking are typical of Anhui style.
徽菜的烹饪技法，包括刀工、火候和操作技术。徽菜之重火工是历来的优良传统，其独到之处集中体现在擅长烧、炖、熏、蒸类的功夫菜上，“符离集烧鸡”先炸后烧，文武火交替使用，最终达到骨酥肉脱原形不变的质地；“徽式烧鱼”几分钟即能成菜，保持肉嫩味美、汁鲜色浓的风格，是巧用武火的典范；“黄山炖鸡”、“问政山笋”经过风炉炭火炖熬，成为清新适口酥嫩鲜醇的美味，是文火细炖的结晶；而“毛峰熏鲥鱼”、“无为熏鸡”又体现了徽式烟熏的传统技艺。徽菜常用的烹饪技法约有20大类50余种，其中最能体现徽式特色的是滑烧、清炖和生熏法。

The pattern of Anhui cuisine
徽菜的款式
The common forms of Anhui cuisine include feast dishes, set meals, the five Guis (a round bamboo vessel for holding grains as an ancient offering or feast), eight plates and ten bowls, common and simple dishes and home style dishes etc. They are all broadly accepted. Feast dishes are those used to entertain guests and usually comprised of a certain number of cold dishes, hot dishes, main courses and several exquisite pastries along with an appropriate amount of fruit. The selected ingredients are determined by prices. Thanks to their high-quality raw ingredients, complicated cooking techniques, exquisite seasoning, rich variety and elegant dinnerware, feast dishes are welcomed by up-market consumers. Set meals are a combination of dishes featuring set quantities. Set meals have a lower status than feast dishes but are more prized than common and simple dishes. They are frequently used for dinner parties involving several friends and in instances of group dinning involving a relatively small number of guests: they are convenient and flexible as well as economical and practical; the five Guis, eight plates and ten bowls are the traditional dishes used at weddings and funerals or other important festivals or senior people’s birthday parties to entertain the guests among the locals in Anhui. The common and simple dishes are a kind of convenient and efficient dish as well as being economical and practical foods which are commonly served in the restaurants. These dishes generally belong to one of three categories: scattered dishes, guest dishes and dished prepared in a large cauldron.
徽菜常有的款式有筵席大菜、和菜、五簋八碟十大碗、大众便菜和家常风味菜等，其适应性很广。筵席菜式是筵宴宾客的菜式，通常都是由一定数量的冷菜、热菜、大菜和数道精细面点及适量水果所组成的系列菜式，菜品用料视售价多少而定。因原料上乘、烹调工艺复杂、调味精美、品种丰富、餐具讲究，很爱高层次消费的欢迎；和菜（有的叫“合菜”）是低于筵席菜，高于大众便菜的一种限定数量的组合菜式，常用于三朋四友的聚餐和人数较少的集体用餐，方便灵活、经济实惠；五簋八碟十大碗是安徽民间红白喜事或其他重大、节日、寿诞筵宴宾客的传统菜式；大众便菜是饮食店普遍供应的一种方便快捷、经济实惠的菜式，大体可分点菜、客菜、大锅菜三类。