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| This article is part of the series: Cuisine of China |
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| Eight Great Traditions |
| Shandong cuisine |
| Szechuan cuisine |
| Cantonese cuisine |
| Fujian cuisine |
| Jiangsu cuisine |
| Zhejiang cuisine |
| Hunan cuisine |
| Anhui cuisine |
| Others |
| Huaiyang cuisine |
| Yunnan cuisine |
| Mandarin cuisine |
| Shanghai cuisine |
| Taiwanese cuisine |
| Hakka cuisine |
| Chiuchow cuisine |
| Chinese Buddhist cuisine |
| Chinese Islamic cuisine |
| American Chinese cuisine |
| Hong Kong-style American cuisine |
| Historical Chinese cuisine |
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Hunan Cuisine, sometimes called Xiang Cuisine (湘菜 pinyin xiāng cài), consists of the cuisines of the Xiangjiang region, Dongting Lake and western Hunan Province, in China.
While similar to Szechuan cuisine, Hunan Cuisine is often spicier and contains a larger variety of ingredients. Hunan is known for its liberal use of chilli peppers, shallots and garlic. Many Hunan dishes are characterized by a strongly flavored brown sauce. Some rely on sweetness from ingredients such as honey; sweet and sour sauces are also characteristic of the style.
Hunan cuisine is difficult to precisely characterize, as it has absorbed stylistic elements from all over China. For this reason, the region is sometimes regarded as China's culinary center. Common cooking techniques include stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking. Due to the high agricultural output of the region, ingredients for Hunan dishes are many and varied.
Some representative Hunan dishes include:
See also: cuisine, Chinese Cuisine, Szechuan cuisine, Cooking
Chinese cuisine