Hefei's Winter Favorites: Beyond Roasted Sweet Potatoes
People in Hefei can't live without these foods in winter, besides roasted sweet potatoes. It's seriously drool-worthy.
Gu Hua Gao: This is a really good pastry, and it's especially popular during this season. You can often find hot, steaming Gu Hua Gao being sold at various roadside stalls. It's irresistible to buy a few when you pass by.
Duck Oil Burner: It's said that duck oil burner was meticulously crafted. Now, the apprentices don't want to see fragrant duck oil drip and be wasted, so they use duck oil to make crispy dough, combined with meat filling and dough to bake into duck oil burner.
It's a tiny one, actually resembling a thousand-layer pie. The burner is filled with a lot of duck oil, baked golden and crispy, and it's best to eat it while hot. With each bite, you'll get a hint of saltiness, the aroma of scallions, and the deliciousness of duck oil mixed with sesame. It's crispy and flaky – one burner isn't enough!
Li Hongzhang's Big Stir-Fry: This is a classic Anhui dish. It uses a combination of chicken, abalone, ham, and other ingredients. It's named after Li Hongzhang.
Legend has it that once Li Hongzhang entertained foreign guests, the chef prepared a main course, but the main course was already finished, so the chef simply cooked the remaining seafood and scraps. It turned out to be a great success, and the foreigners asked for the name of the dish. Li Hongzhang replied in Hefei dialect: 'Za sui' (Za sui is a homophone for 'Big Stir-Fry'). After that, 'Big Stir-Fry' spread abroad, and it was also imitated and popularized in Hefei and surrounding areas, and eventually spread throughout the country.
Lotus Egg Roll: This is a typical street snack in Hefei. The pastry is filled with meticulously stir-fried and seasoned tripe, bean sprouts, and other ingredients, topped with chopped preserved eggs, fragrant cilantro, and rolled up. Then, it's drizzled with red oil and garlic sauce. Just looking at it makes you want to drool – perfect for a tired shopper to grab and eat.
Old Chicken Soup, Round Meat Dumplings, and Egg Meatballs: Actually, some people say that the foods that truly represent Hefei winter cuisine are the classic three dishes on the table during Chinese New Year: old chicken soup, round meat dumplings, and egg meatballs.
This is because the foods that represent Hefei cuisine should be classic dishes that are commonly eaten on the table, and they need to be nutritious and hygienic to keep up with the times.
