Taihu Boat Dishes Thehistory of Taihu Boat Dishes can be traced to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).Rich officials and merchants 1,000 years ago held banquets on boats to enjoythe beautiful scenery.Today,there are more than 2,000 Taihu Boat Dishes, of which the most famous one isthe Taihu Three Whites made of white fish, whitebaits and white shrimps.TaihuBoat... [MORE] Shrimp and Bean Curd Themain ingredients for the dish are shrimps and bean curd.Thefirst step is to divide the heads, roes and main bodies of the shrimps. Thenstir-fry them together with diced bamboo shoots, pork and bean curd with lard.The shells of the shrimps can be used to make a soup.Tomake this dish, the cook must have excellent skills of controlling th... [MORE] Dumpling Balls Fried in Oil DumplingBalls Fried in Oil is a famous Suzhou-style dessert, featuring a wrapper madefrom glutinous rice flour and a filling made of minced pork.Theballs are fried in oil till their wrappers turn golden. This process usuallytakes about 10 minutes. Theballs are crisp outside and soft inside. Even a small bite can release its aromawhic... [MORE] Orange Cake Theareas in the east and west banks of Taihu Lake abound with oranges. When the orangesripen between the ninth and tenth months of the Chinese calendar, the orangecakes will appear in the local markets.Thecake boasts a color like that of a fresh orange. It is sweet and a little bitsour, with refreshing aroma. It can be also used to sober ... [MORE] Mifeng Rice Cake It issaid there used to be a store called Zhou Wan Xing which sold authentic MifengRice Cakes in the Gongxiang Lane to the south of Xuanmiao Temple. However, therecipe has been lost since the 1930s following the death of the store owner. It issaid that the cake was made from glutinous and non-glutinous rice flours mixedwith fermented glut... [MORE] Fried Assorted Ingredients with Original Colors Thisdish seems monotonous in color, but often amazes the dinners with itsdiversified ingredients and unique flavor. It is a traditional dish in Suzhou,but the recipe is on the verge of being lost.The ingredientsinclude sea cucumbers, beef tendon, shrimps, fish fillets, steamed egg curds,mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. The biggest characteri... [MORE] Lard dregs Fatpork is cut into small pieces and then put into the heated wok. After a while,the fat pork pieces shrink and turn into hard, golden dregs. The lard can beused as cooking oil, and the dregs   can be made into a dish bysimply adding some salt. Some people add sugar instead.Thelard dregs can be also used as a side dish for salty... [MORE] Pingwang Chili Sauce PingwangChili Sauce was created in 1885. Crocks were used as the only kind of containerfor the chili sauce before cans became another option in 1935.PingwangChili Sauce is a typical Suzhou-style chili sauce boasting well-mixed spicy,sweet and fresh taste along with a beautiful color and unique aroma. It can beused as seasonings for a long... [MORE] Chicken in a Watermelon Chickenin a Watermelon is steamed chicken served in a watermelon without pulp. It wasonce very popular for about half a century in Suzhou, only cooked in summer dueto difficulties in storage.Tomake the dish, the chicken and watermelon have to be steamed together so thatthe flavors of the fruit and the chicken can mix well.Thewatermelon mu... [MORE] Zhazigai Thisdish is as famous as other Suzhou-style dishes like Sweet and Sour MandarinFish, Cracking Eel Paste, and Stir-fried Shrimps with Biluochun Tea. To makeit, the pork must be braised first and then sliced into pieces which are thencoated by egg liquid before being fried.Therecipe sounds very simple, but actually it is not easy to cook. O... [MORE]