Guizhou Cuisine

Formation and Characteristics of Guizhou Cuisine

Guizhou situated in the northeastern part of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Guizhou borders Chongqing, Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan, and Guangxi. Guizhou is a transportation hub in the southwest of China. Mountains scatter about the entire province. Guizhou is the only province in China that does not have any plains. A saying goes like this: “Flat roads stretch no more than three miles in Guizhou.” Because of such geographical conditions, mountain tourism flourishes in Guizhou. Many attractions in the province have become world-famous tourist destinations.

During the Yuan dynasty, aside from the policy of stationing troops to guard the frontier, the government of Guizhou also issued policies to open up the economy to people from other places. As a result, Guizhou's agriculture and economy made great headway. And the culinary cultures of different ethnic groups exchanged with each other on a large scale. In the early Ming dynasty, the culinary culture in Guizhou had become very mature. Since Guizhou is adjacent to Sichuan, Sichuan Cuisine has exerted a great influence on Guizhou Cuisine. Despite the spicy taste in the Guizhou cuisine, which makes the Guizhou food stands out is the mixture of sour and spicy taste.

The Guizhou people are good at cooking and inventing dishes using locally produced raw materials. Guiyang is the capital of Guizhou Province, in which a large number of people are from the north of China. Accordingly, Guiyang Cuisine shows the characteristics of North China, the spicy taste of the Sichuan Cuisine, and the ancient and unique local flavor. The cuisines of ethnic minority groups in the province have absorbed the advantages of the cuisines of the Han people and Guiyang Cuisine. In the meantime, they also retain the traditional dietetic habits of their own heritage.

Famous Dishes and Snacks of Some Cities in Guizhou

(1). Guiyang

Guiyang is the capital of Guizhou Province. It is the political, economic, cultural, educational, and transportation center of the Guizhou province. There are over thirty different ethnic minorities and more than thirty-two types of tourist attractions in the city. With such a complex population composition, the catering business in Guiyang is one of the most diverse catering industry in the country. Here, one can not only taste dishes of the eight major Chinese cuisines but also enjoy the traditional delicacies of various ethnic minorities.

Special Local Dishes:

Stir-fried Diced Chicken with Chili and Peanuts (Kung Pao Chicken)—宫保鸡丁

The ingredients of the dish include diced chicken meat, peppers, fermented glutinous rice, ginger, onions, garlic, soy sauce, and broth. This dish has tender meat, a hot taste, and a strong smell. It is said that the dish was invented by the home cook of Ding Baozhen, a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty who was born in Guizhou.

Fish on Bamboo Board—竹板鱼

Braised Sour Vegetables and Fish—腌酸菜烧鱼

The ingredients of the dish include the sour vegetables peculiar to the Dushan County, and fresh fish, as well as a wide variety of seasonings. The fish is delicious, sour and spicy, with a light smell of sour vegetables.

Stir-fried Amorphophallus rivieri and Tofu with Chili and Peanuts—宫保魔芋豆腐

The ingredients of the dish include magic taro, garlic, red chili, scallion, ginger, white sugar, caltrop starch, sweet bean sauce, and lard. The dish is prepared according to the same procedure as cooking Stir-Fried Diced Chicken with Chili and Peanuts.

Special Local Snacks:

Taiji Minced Beans—太极豆泥

Rose Cake Stuffed with Meat—玫瑰肉糕

Wan’er Cake—碗耳糕

Yipin Large Bun with Stuffing—一品大包

The buns are stuffed with minced meat, sweetened bean paste, and sugar.

Lover Bean Curd Slice—恋爱豆腐果

Lei Family Bean Curd Balls—雷家豆腐丸子

Jiaozi Dumpling with Chili Oil—红油水饺

(2). Zunyi

Zunyi is the tourism center in North Guizhou, and a famous historical and cultural city of China.

Special Local Dishes:

Steamed Chicken with the Tubers of Elevated Gastrodia—天麻蒸鸡

Steamed with a stripped chicken and the tubes of elevated gastrodia, plus a wide variety of condiments, this dish is delicious and nutritious.

Vinegar Mutton—醋羊肉

Procedure: Cut mutton into cubes; fry the mutton cubes and chopped cooked entrails of sheep with salted and fermented soy paste; add mutton broth, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt to them; stew them over a low fire.

This dish features beautiful color and tender and delicious meat. It doesn’t have the smell of raw mutton. Vinegar is one of the main seasonings in preparing the dish, hence the name. Vinegar Mutton is a famous dish of Zunyi.

Steamed Chicken in Jar—罐罐鸡

The ingredients of the dish include cubes of chicken meat, cuttlefish, squid slices and various kinds of seasonings. These ingredients are steamed in a jar in the shape of a pen container

Special Local Snacks:

Bean Curd Jelly and Noodles—豆花面

This snack is prepared with water bean curd, noodles, bean milk, minced pork, tendons of pork, squids, and cubes of chicken meat. Served in soup, the dish is delicious and nutritious. Bean Curd Jelly and Noodles is a popular local snack.

Mutton and Rice Flour—羊肉粉

It is a snack prepared with mutton and rice flour. When finished, the content of the dish will be in soup.

Glutinous Rice Dumpling in Sweet Wine—甜酒汤圆

(3). Dishes of Certain Ethnic Minority Groups in Guizhou

Guizhou is inhabited by more than 30 ethnic minority groups, such as Miao, Buyei, Dong, Shui, Hui, Gelao, Yao and Zhuang, each having its traditional culinary customs and special dishes and snacks. For example:

Tartary Buckwheat Cake—苦荞粑 (Made by the Yi people)

Sour Vegetable Soup—酸汤菜 (Made by the Miaos)

(Made of preserved sour vegetables)

Sour Fish—酸鱼 (Made by the Dongs)

Dong people like to eat sour fish very much. The way to prepare sour fish is as follows: Clean a fresh fish; add glutinous rice, pepper powder, rice wine, ginger, garlic, Chinese prickly ashes, and salt to the fish; preserve the fish in a bucket for several months.

Rice Cake Wrapped with Leaves—叶儿粑 (Made by the Yao people)

Pig Bone with Peppers—辣椒骨 (Made by the Gelao people)

Procedure: Add pepper powder to pig bones and chicken meat; crush the bones; add cooking wine, salt and Chinese prickly ashes to them; put them in a jar and seal the jar. Usually, the meat and the bone need to be preserved for half a month.

Fish Chafing Dish—鱼火锅 (Made by the Shui people)

Interesting Stories of Some Guizhou Dishes and Snacks

Lover Bean Curd Slice—恋爱豆腐果

Lover Bean Curd Slice is a famous snack of Guiyang. During the Chinese people’s resistance against Japanese aggression, the Japanese airplanes often attacked Guiyang with bombs, despite the fact that Guizhou was not an important city like Chongqing and Nanjing. During the day, local people had to stay out of the town to avoid the enemy’s bombs and come back home in the evening.

Zhang Huafeng and his wife made a living selling fried bean curd slices in a vegetable garden outside of the Liuguang Gate. During the bombing, the vegetable garden was always crowded with people who had come downtown to avoid air raids. The small hut of Zhang Huafeng attracted lots of customers every day, many of them frequently came to the thatched hut to eat fried bean curd slices. As time went by, many of the customers fell in love with the people they met here and married them. Therefore, the snack was given the name: Lover Bean Curd Slice.

Lei Family Bean Curd Ball—雷家豆腐丸子

Lei Family Bean Curd Ball is a famous snack in Guizhou. In 1847, a person by the surname of Lei began to sell fried bean curd balls in Guiyang. In 1874, Emperor Tongzhi passed away, and the Qing government issued an order that the people throughout the country should neither slaughter pigs and chickens, nor eat meat. Therefore, many people chose to eat bean curd products instead. The bean curd balls sold by the Leis were very delicious, but before the order was issued, people did not pay enough attention to the snack. After the order was issued, their bean curd balls were well received. The Leis sold out of all the bean curd balls they could make every day, and the business was flourishing. Since then, the Leis have passed on the recipe of such bean curd balls from generation to generation.

Laobuguan Wonton—老不管馄饨

Laobuguan Wonton is a famous snack of Guiyang. A popular saying that has been spread in Guiyang for half a century goes like this, “The Laobuguan Eatery is located in Xiaojingkan. Each small bowl holds eight wontons.” Now the Laobuguan Restaurant is located in Zhonghua South Road rather than in Xiaojingkan. Besides the wonton, other snacks served by the Laobuguan Restaurant are also delicious, such as Yibin Steamed Bun with Stuffing, Noodles with Spicy Chicken, Crisp Spicy Noodles, and Noodles with Minced Meat Dressing.