Anhui

What it is

Anhui cuisine — Hui cai — comes from the rugged Huangshan and Dabie mountain ranges of central China. With limited farmland, cooks lean on what the forests give: wild bamboo shoots, mountain mushrooms, river fish, and herbs found on rocky slopes.

How it tastes

Hui cooking embraces an earthy, sometimes funky depth. Several signature dishes rely on controlled fermentation — the mandarin fish marinated until it smells gamey, the tofu coaxed into a fuzzy mycelial bloom — that mellows into something nutty and complex once cooked.

Signature dishes & techniques

Stinky mandarin fish, pan-fried to lock in its aromatic crust, is the province’s defining plate. Slow-stewed ham with winter bamboo shoots showcases the Hui way of letting time do the heavy lifting. Li Hongzhang hotchpotch — a Qing-dynasty banquet stew — is the cuisine’s most famous historical export.