Generally speaking, Zhangjiajie Food is the typical Hunan Cuisine, one of China's famed eight cuisines. It has a most outstanding characteristic – the delightful combination of sourness and spice. The most famous part of this cooking style is the Tujia ethnic minority group dishes because of their rich national characteristics, particular materials and unique flavors.
Three Foods in a Pot(三下锅)
In ancient times, local Tujia ethnic minority people used to put cured meat, bean curd and radish into a pot and boil them together. Now local people mainly choose intestinal materials from pigs, cows or sheep and cook them in a special pot. The dish is really special and wonderful, especially in the small local restaurants.
Zhangjiajie Tujia Minority Bacon
Bacon food in Tujia Minority is easy to make which is very popular. Not only pork is the maim material of bacon food, but also mutton, pig blood, fish, chicken, duck, beef, bean curd and so on. These fresh materials are firstly pickled with salt, chili powders, Sichuan pepper and peppercorn for 3 or 5 days. Then, they are smoked by firewood smoke until them become brown. Mainly cooking methods of bacon are stir-frying, steaming, or making chaffy dish or others. As bacon dishes have unique nice smelling and taste, many tourists like to bring them home.
Zhangjiajie Steamed Sliced Pork
Steamed sliced pork is a famous dish for treating guests in Tujia Minority. It is cooked by streaky pork. The steamed sliced pork of Tu Minority is fatty but not stodgy. The streaky is often steamed with dried pickles. You can order this dish in almost every restaurant.
Zhangjiajie Loach Stewed with Tofu
The loach stewed with tofu is a funny dish of Zhangjiajie, particularly in Tu Minority. There is a interesting Chinese name-"Niuqiu Zuan Doufu" which literally means the loach dig into the tofu. At first, they put he small loaches into crocks or vats. Then they put some clean water into the crocks or vats and put some salt into them. After one day or two days, the loaches will expel the sand, mud and other impurities from their bellies. After cleaning the loaches, they will put the live loaches into fresh and tender tofu. Then the loaches will dig holes in tofu and dig into them. After a while, people would stew the tofu together with the loaches and add peppercorn, shallot, gourmet power, chopped ginger, sauce and so on other seasonings.
Tuan Nian Cai (Hodgepodge)
Tuan Nian Cai is a sort of hodgepodge. It is a necessary dish during New Year Festival. Every family of Tu Minority will cook the Tuan Nian Cai at that day. The Zhangjiajie Tu Minority people stew rabbit, bean curd, cabbage, shallot, pork and chili pepper all together in a pan. This dish is not only tasty but also has profound meanings. It stands for reuniting of the whole family members and good harvest in the next year.
Sweet Potato Noodles
Sweet potato noodles are made of fresh sweet potato or amylum of the sweet potato. The makings of sweet potato noodles can be divided into traditional process and modernize. Sweet potato noodles before eating need further cooking as they are dried ones. They will firstly need to marinate in pure water till they are soft. Then you can stir fry them with pignuts, capsicum sauce or chopped pork; or you can boiled them with spices and other ingredients.
Huanan Staurois Ricketti of Zhangjiajie (Huanan Tuanwa)
The Huanan Staurois ricketti in Zhangjiajie is also named "Bang Bang" or "Shi Wa" by Zhangjiajie local people. It is a popular food among mountains areas of Zhangjiajie. Huanan Staurois Rickeeti often inhabit in deep pools or ghylls in mountains. Huanan Tuanwa is a sort of frog which is the master hands of catching water snakes. The frog featuring tender meat is nice material for cooing soup which is more delicious than chicken soup. As Huannan Staurois Ricketti containing abundant nutrition, it ranks as one of the costly food in Zhangjiajie.
