Chiuchow cuisine

Chiuchow cuisine or Chaozhou cuisine originates from Chiuchow (潮州 Chao2 zhou1 in pinyin, aka Swatow, 汕頭, shan4 tou2) a city of China in the Guangdong province, very close to Canton. Hence the cooking style is very similar to Cantonese cuisine. However, Chiuchow cuisine does have some unique dishes that are not in Cantonese cuisine.

Chiuchow cuisine is served with rice soup in addition to steamed rice. The rice soup is quite different from Cantonese porridge or congee which is very thick and gluey. The Chiuchow rice soup is very watery with the rice sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl. Authentic Chiuchow restaurants serve very strong oolong tea in very tiny cups before and after meal.

There is a famous feast in Chiuchow cuisine called "Gau Dai Gui" (九大簋) which roughly means "nine big courses" in the dinner. Chiuchow chefs pride themselves on their skill in vegetable carving. They are used as garnishes on cold dishes and banquet table.

Chiuchow is also famous for late night dinner called "Da Loun" (打冷). Chiuchow people like to eat out in restaurants or at roadside food stalls close to midnight before they go to bed. Some restaurants stay open till dawn.

Some famous Chiuchow dishes include:

• Steamed goose,
• Cold crab,
• Fun Goh (a steamed dumpling[?] that fills with dried raddish, peanuts and ground meat),
• Shrimp balls,
• Oyster pancake (similar but quite different from the oyster pancake in Taiwanese cuisine),
• Tiet Kwun Yum (a premium grade Oolong Tea),

etc.

See also: cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, cooking