As one of the eight major cuisines of China, Jiangsu Cuisine (Su Cuisine) comprises of three local cooking styles of Yangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou, all of them are in Jiangsu Province. For the Jiangsu cuisine is similar to Zhejiang cuisines, both of them are called a joint name-Jiangzhe cuisine. Jiangsu cuisine stress the original flavors of well-chosen materials, it features carefully selected ingredients. In addition, the artistic shape and bright colors of the dishes add more ornamental value. Yangzhou cuisine is essentially a combination of the best elements of northern and southern cooking. 

Jiangsu cuisine is characterized by stirring, braising, steaming, and so on. People in Jiangsu try to make their cuisine keep the natural and original flavor of the material. They stress to make the cooking soup of dishes delicious, tasting light but not blank, strong but not greasy.

The most preventative cuisine of Jiangsu cuisine is Yangzhou cuisine. Yangzhou was a military fort and a cultural center in ancient times, and was one of the most flourishing commercial cities in China. Extravagant consumption stimulated the thriving catering trade and the development of cookery. Every rich salt merchant employed a skilled cook who specialized in cooking a certain delicious dish. When a salt merchant treated his guests to a banquet, he often borrowed cooks from other salt merchants. In this way, the cooks exchanged their cooking skills with each other and improved the cooking style in Yangzhou.

Notable Jiangsu Dishes: Nanjing Salted Duck, Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, Braised Meat Balls in Brown Sauce, Stewed Tortoise and Chicken, Beggar’s Chicken, Yangzhou Fried Rice, Boiled Shredded Dry Bean Curd, Pork Trotter Aspic Jiangsu Style, Mutton in Fish Maw