Always had a burning question but not sure who to ask? In our regular Ask The Expert section, we do all the noseying so you don’t have to. In this edition, Wang Yong, Chinese executive chef of Jin Sha in Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou At West Lake, one of the most acclaimed Chinese restaurants in Hangzhou, sheds light on the classical cuisine of Hangzhou.
The Shanghai-born chef, who has 28 years of cooking experience, is a maestro at cooking Hangzhou, Shanghainese and Cantonese dishes. The 80-seat restaurant is near West Lake, which is one of China’s top scenic sights.
Some of Wang Yong's signature dishes include Pian Er Chuan (noodle cooked in wild rice stem, preserved vegetables and bamboo shoots), Shanghainese braised pork with abalone in sweet soy sauce, beef tendon and papaya baked in puff pastry, and deep fried grass carp in sweet soy sauce. He was in Singapore recently at the one-Michelin-starred Summer Palace for a four-hands dinner.
Dear Chef Wang Yong,
What is Hangzhou cuisine?
Hangzhou cuisine is light, mild and slightly sweet. In the south, we like to add a bit of sugar when we cook, which helps to bring out the freshness of the dish. As Hangzhou is an historic city, many famous dishes, which use local produce, are related to Hangzhou’s history and have strong cultural significance. You can find fish and lotus root from the city’s beautiful West Lake. One of Hangzhou’s representative dishes is West Lake Fish In Vinegar (xi hu cu yu), which instantly reminds people of the beautiful West Lake.
Another popular dish is Beggar’s Chicken (ren shen fu gui ji), which is wrapped in lotus leaves and clay before being baked. When one opens the outer covering, the aroma of a succulent baked chicken wafts out. As Hangzhou is the capital city of Zhejiang province, which is historically one of the most prosperous regions in China, many dishes are presented in an exquisite and refined banquet style.
What is the most important cooking technique in Hangzhou cuisine?
The most important aspect of the Hangzhou style of cooking is being very particular about how the food is cut. If you want to cook a Hangzhou dish, you have to practise and develop great knife skills — cutting food in shreds, slices and cubes.
Hangzhou cuisine is mainly divided into two sections, lake cuisine and city cuisine. What is the difference?
Chefs in Hangzhou have access to a rich bounty of seasonal ingredients throughout the year as the city is close to the mountains and sea. At Jin Sha, I work with four seasons, on top of the usual four weather seasons. In summer, in-season ingredients include tomatoes, winter melon and white asparagus. Other seasonal ingredients that I use are hairy crabs and Yunnan mushrooms
Lake cuisine focuses on fish, shrimp and vegetable which were mainly cooked for officials, businessmen and distinguished personages in ancient times. On the other hand, city cuisine gives priority to domestic animals and fowls, and the food is usually for citizen themselves. However, such distinctions are seldom used these days.
What is the main difference between Hangzhou and Shanghai cuisines?
Shanghai cuisine refers to complex and developed styles of cooking under profound influence from the neighbouring Jiangsu province and from Hangzhou. Shanghai cuisine is sweeter as sugar is an important ingredient in Shanghai cuisine, especially when used with soy sauce.
What is the difference between the classic Hangzhou dish of Dongpo pork and Shanghainese braised pork with abalone in sweet soy sauce, one of Jin Sha’s signature dishes?
Yellow wine is a key ingredient in Dongpo pork. The wine breaks down the fat to make the braised pork belly flavoursome, succulent and gives it a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The meat is so tender that it can easily be separated into small pieces with chopsticks.
For the Shanghainese braised pork with abalone in sweet soy sauce, it is sweeter — like with most Shanghai-style dishes. The sauce of this dish is very simple, which comprises soya sauce, sugar and yellow wine. The taste of this dish is a little heavy and not very fattening. The difference between braised Dongpo pork belly and Shanghainese braised pork with abalone in sweet soy sauce lies in the use of sugar.
What is your favourite Hangzhou dish?
Pian Er Chuan, a popular Hangzhou noodle dish that is cooked with wild rice stem, shredded pork, lard, bamboo shoots and preserved vegetables. The noodles have to be tossed in a rich and milky broth is brewed with pork meat and pork ribs. People in Hangzhou can eat this street food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They can choose from more than 20 types of ingredients such as pork innards and pork lard to eat with the noodles.
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