The Eight Great Cuisines of China

Chinese food is not one cuisine. It is eight classical traditions, plus a long tail of regional cooking. Pick one to see what defines it and which dishes from our library belong to it.

川菜 chuān cài Sichuan

Sichuan and Chongqing, southwest China

麻辣 (málà): numbing Sichuan peppercorn plus chili heat, built on fermented broad-bean paste, garlic and lard.

The famous dishes are only part of it. A Sichuan table usually includes cold dishes in chili oil, one or two wok dishes, and something steamed or souped to give your mouth a rest.

Order this: Start with a cold dish, add mapo tofu or twice-cooked pork, then one of the water-boiled dishes if you can take the heat.

57 dishes from this cuisine in our library

Showing 12 of 57. Use the dish browser to filter the rest.

Why eight, and what the grouping means

The eight great cuisines (八大菜系) are a rough map drawn by cooks and scholars, not a rule from a government. Each one grew out of a region's climate, its rivers or coastline, and the trade that passed through it. Sichuan cooks around peppercorn and preserved beans. Cantonese cooks around freshness and steam. Shandong cooks around stock.

Knowing which tradition a dish belongs to tells you a lot before the plate arrives: how hot it will be, whether it will be sweet, and whether the kitchen's skill is in the wok or in the braise.

Beyond the eight

Plenty of excellent Chinese cooking sits outside the classical list. Our library also covers:

  • Beijing (20 dishes): Court and northern cooking, best known for roast duck and hotpot.
  • Shanghai (20 dishes): Benbang cooking: sweeter and heavier than Jiangsu, with soy braises and drunken dishes.
  • Shaanxi (20 dishes): Northwest wheat country: hand-pulled noodles, roujiamo, and lamb.
  • Northeast (8 dishes): Big portions, sour cabbage, and stews built for winter.
  • Yunnan (3 dishes): Mushrooms, herbs and rice noodles, with flavours closer to Southeast Asia.
  • Xinjiang and the northwest (4 dishes): Cumin, lamb, hand-pulled noodles and chargrilled skewers.
  • Guangxi (2 dishes): Rice noodles, river snails and a sour, fermented tang.
  • Hubei (10 dishes): River fish, lotus root and hot dry noodles.
  • Henan (2 dishes): Central-plains cooking: peppery soups and wheat staples.
  • Guizhou (2 dishes): Sour and fermented, with a heat that sneaks up on you.

How to use this when ordering

  • Pick a cuisine, then a dish. If you liked one Sichuan dish, the rest of the Sichuan column is a safe bet.
  • Mix two cuisines at one meal. A Cantonese steamed dish next to a Hunan braise is how a lot of Chinese families eat at home.
  • Use the spice scale if heat is your worry. Hunan and Sichuan run hottest; Cantonese, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are mild.

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