Fujian food taste
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The using of red vinasse is a unique feature of Fujian cuisine, making the dishes have a wine aroma and beautiful red color. In addition, pickling with red vinasee is the distinctive cooking technique of Fujian cuisine, such as Steamed Fish in Red Vinasse, the fish is pickled with red vinasse and then steamed.
Chiefs attaches great importance to cutting techniques as well.
The chefs take cutting skills and seasonings seriously, and the condiments often used include red vinasse, sugar, vinegar, satay, shrimp sauce and so on. In a result, a lot of delicacies from both land and sea become Fujian cuisine ingredients, such as mushrooms, bamboo shoots, rice, cane sugar, vegetables, fruits, freshwater turtles from land, and fishes, shrimps, clams from sea, etc.
Condiments Used in Fujian Cuisine – Red Vinasse, Sugar & Vinegar
As for the condiments, red vinasse, sugar and vinegar are the mostly used condiments in Fujian cuisine recipes.
As sugar and vinegar are the daily seasonings, many Fujian dishes tastes sweet and sour. The beef slices are cut off from nine different parts of cattle, and people eat the beef from a hotpot that the soup is boiled with rice wine as well as herbs.
- Last updated on Aug. 08, 2025 by Gabby Li -
Fujian Cuisine: A Complete Guide to Authentic Chinese Food
Introduction to Fujian Cuisine
Famous for soups, seafood, and umami-rich flavors
At China Food Show, we’re passionate about sharing the authentic flavors and rich culinary traditions of Fujian cuisine with American food lovers.
Chefs in western Fujian are good at cooking delicacies from mountains, and ginger is the most-used seasoning. Fujian cuisine flourished and formed its own system.
Fujian Cuisine Ingredients – Woodland Delicacies and Seafoods
Fujian Province is by the sea, and there are mountains and plains in land.
The "drunken" (cooked in wine) dishes that are prevalent in Fujian Province are famous throughout China.
Soup making: The people of Fujian love soup more than most of the rest of the Chinese. Unlike most Western seafood restaurants where the main dishes include a few varieties of fish and oysters, the people of Fujian eat all these and things from the sea most people have never seen.
Fujian cuisine dishes taste light but flavorful, fresh, mellow and not greasy in general. China Food Show provides resources and guides to help you discover authentic flavors wherever you are.
Cooking Techniques
Fujian cuisine employs various traditional cooking methods that have been refined over centuries, each technique chosen to bring out the best in the ingredients.
Mastering these techniques takes practice, but the results are incredibly rewarding.
From the late Western Jin Dynasty (265 - 316 AD) to Five Dynasties and Ten States (907 - 960 AD), especially after the Min State (909 – 945 AD) was founded in Fuzhou, many people from the central plain migrated to Fujian and Fujian cuisine had a rudiment in this formative stage.
As there were more than one important harbors for international trade and Quanzhou in Fujian became the starting point of Maritime Silk Road in Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD), Fujian food, absorbing the cooking techniques of other places, developed quickly.
Red vinasse is the vinasse of rice wine or yellow wine fermented with red yeast, which is highly nutritive. A common saying about their food is "不汤不行" (bù tāng bù xíng). It literally means: "No soup is not OK." Or, a meal without soup isn't a good meal. The oversea trade also introduced some new seasonings to Fujian dishes, like satay, mustard and curry, which became important condiments of Min cuisine later.
In late Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD), featured restaurants and skilled chiefs mushroomed in Fujian.
The food tells the story of the people who have lived there for generations, their traditions, and their connection to the land. When you try these dishes, you’re experiencing a piece of Chinese culinary history.
Where to Find Authentic Fujian Dishes
Finding authentic Fujian cuisine can be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort.
It is good at using condiments, especially spicy ones, however, it has a light flavor in general. Not a few Fujian dishes are soups, and Boiled Sea Clam with Chicken Soup is the representative. Satay, mustard, orange juice, Chinese medicine, fruits could also be added into dishes, which makes Southern Fujian cuisine unique. Sugar is used to remove unwanted bad smell; vinegar is used to make food have a refreshing taste.
The sea clams used are from Changle, Fujian.
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Sweet and Sour Litchis
Because the fried chopped pork with red vinasse look like litchis both in shape and color, this dish was named after litchi.