The atlas · A cuisine · Hunan province, south-central China

Hunan

Also Xiang, Xiang cuisine, Hunanese
One of Chinese cooking's regional kitchens · all 13 side by side

Hot and sour and smoky: fresh and salted chillies rather than Sichuan's numbing pepper, with smoked meats from the hearth and a fierce, quick wok.

Where it comes from

Hunan lies south of the Yangtze, a province of rivers, lakes and rice paddies around the Xiang river, which gives the cooking its other name. Chillies arrived from the Americas late in the Ming dynasty and took hold here as nowhere else; Hunan people are often said to eat more of them than even the Sichuanese.

Where Sichuan layers its flavours, Hunan tends to go straight at them: gān là, 'dry heat', from fresh and salted chillies, with the sourness of pickles and the smoke of meat cured over winter fires. The province is also Mao Zedong's birthplace, and a few of its dishes carry his name.

Where in it

  1. ChangshaThe provincial capital on the Xiang river, and a late-night city: black stinky tofu from stalls, spicy crayfish in summer, and small fries of beef and chilli.Changsha stinky tofuChangsha spicy crayfishHunan stir-fried beefSteamed fish head with chopped chillies
  2. Shaoshan and XiangtanMao Zedong's home village, in the hills of Xiangtan, where restaurants serve the red-braised pork he is said to have loved — rich and sweet, and usually without soy sauce.Chairman Mao's red-braised pork
  3. LiuyangA town east of Changsha known for its fireworks and for its fermented black beans, dòuchǐ, which season much of the province's steamed and stir-fried cooking.
  4. Xiangxi and FenghuangThe mountainous west, home to Tujia and Miao people, where pork, fish and chicken are salted and smoked over the hearth through winter — Fenghuang's old town is full of it.Hunan smoked porkSteamed trio of cured meats
  5. HengyangA river city in the south, near sacred Mount Heng, known for fish noodles at breakfast and for rustic, fiercely hot country cooking from the towns around it.

How it cooks

Xiǎochǎo — the small fry
A little meat and a lot of fresh chilli, stir-fried fast over a fierce flame, one plate at a time.
Salting chillies
Fresh red chillies chopped with salt and left to ferment in a jar — duòjiāo, salty, sour and hot.
Smoking over the hearth
Salted pork, fish and chicken hung above a wood fire for weeks in winter, until dark and hard.
Steaming in a bowl
Cured meats or fish steamed with chilli and black beans, so the fat and seasoning run together.

Always in the kitchen

fresh red and green chilliesduòjiāo (chopped salted chillies)dried chilliesLiuyang fermented black beanslàròu (smoked pork)garlicgingerspring onionlight soydark soyblack vinegarpickled vegetableslardtea seed oil

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

HunanChairman Mao's red-braised porkCubes of pork belly braised slowly with caramelised sugar, Shaoxing wine, chilli and spices until glossy, deep red and meltingly soft.No one here has made it yetHunanSteamed fish head with chopped chilliesA large fish head split open, heaped with red salted chillies and steamed, then finished with spring onion and sizzling oil.No one here has made it yetHunanChangsha stinky tofuBlack squares of fermented tofu, deep-fried until puffed and crisp, then pierced and filled with a sauce of chilli, garlic, soy and sesame oil.No one here has made it yetHunanHunan stir-fried beefThin slices of beef stir-fried in moments with a heap of fresh chillies, garlic, ginger and coriander stems — tender, fragrant and very hot.No one here has made it yetHunanHunan smoked porkPork belly salted, then smoked for weeks over a wood fire until dark and firm, sliced thin and stir-fried with garlic shoots or leeks and chilli.No one here has made it yetHunanSteamed trio of cured meatsSlices of smoked pork, cured chicken and cured fish packed together in a bowl with fermented black beans and chilli, and steamed until their fats and flavours mingle.No one here has made it yetHunanChangsha spicy crayfishWhole crayfish stir-fried and braised in a red, oily sauce of chilli, garlic, beer and spices, eaten with the fingers at night-market tables in summer.No one here has made it yet

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Hunan yet.