Are you a huge Chinese food fan? Ready for a challenge?
After taking the now famous Omnivore’s 100 quiz, I realized 1) my score’s pretty good, and 2) it’s because the author ran the gamut of Eastern and Western cuisines, high and low end, like a true omnivore. I decided to create my own 100 list of Chinese foods and drinks that, in keeping with the spirit of this blog, focuses on a broad definition of Chinese food.
I’ve avoided a few well-known delicacies (like bird’s nest and shark’s fin) that I personally think are either overrated or too scarce to put on any such list. Some foods here are also present in other Asian countries, but I included them because they’re so entrenched in Chinese cuisine. In addition to traditional Chinese dishes and ingredients, there are also some international interpretations of Chinese food and foods in Hong Kong and Macau that have developed in the past hundred or so years. In short, a modern take on Chinese food.
So copy and paste the list, highlight the ones you’ve tried, and let me know how you score. Which ones do you absolutely love, which ones would you not eat even on a dare?
Enjoy!
(Also check out Just Hungry’s list of 100 Japanese Foods to Try, which was posted just as I was finishing this list.)
- Almond milk
- Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name)
- Asian pear
- Baby bok choy
- Baijiu
- Beef brisket
- Beggar’s Chicken
- Bingtang hulu
- Bitter melon
- Bubble tea
- Buddha’s Delight
- Cantonese roast duck
- Century egg, or thousand-year egg
- Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork)
- Char kway teow
- Chicken feet
- Chinese sausage
- Chow mein
- Chrysanthemum tea
- Claypot rice
- Congee
- Conpoy (dried scallops)
- Crab rangoon
- Dan Dan noodles
- Dragonfruit
- Dragon’s Beard candy
- Dried cuttlefish
- Drunken chicken
- Dry-fried green beans
- Egg drop soup
- Egg rolls
- Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese
- Fresh bamboo shoots
- Fortune cookies
- Fried milk
- Fried rice
- Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Gobi Manchurian
- Goji berries (Chinese wolfberries)
- Grass jelly
- Hainan chicken rice
- Hand-pulled noodles
- Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers)
- Haw flakes
- Hibiscus tea
- Hong Kong-style Milk Tea
- Hot and sour soup
- Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger
- Hot Pot
- Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin)
- Jellyfish
- Kosher Chinese food
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Lamb skewers (yangrou chua’r)
- Lion’s Head meatballs
- Lomo Saltado
- Longan fruit
- Lychee
- Macaroni in soup with Spam
- Malatang
- Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk
- Mapo Tofu
- Mock meat
- Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety)
- Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf)
- Pan-fried jiaozi
- Peking duck
- Pineapple bun
- Prawn crackers
- Pu’er tea
- Rambutan
- Red bean in dessert form
- Red bayberry
- Red cooked pork
- Roast pigeon
- Rose tea
- Roujiamo
- Scallion pancakes
- Shaved ice dessert
- Sesame chicken
- Sichuan pepper in any dish
- Sichuan preserved vegetable (zhacai)
- Silken tofu
- Soy milk, freshly made
- Steamed egg custard
- Stinky tofu
- Sugar cane juice
- Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp
- Taro
- Tea eggs
- Tea-smoked duck
- Turnip cake (law bok gau)
- Twice-cooked pork
- Water chestnut cake (mati gau)
- Wonton noodle soup
- Wood ear
- Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)
- Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style)
- Yunnan goat cheese
{ 85 comments… read them below or add one }
I say, what VGT started was brilliant. And of course all the separate cuisines are breaking out like vegetarian, vegan, British, etc.
Being Chinese, I can safely say I’ve eaten most of what’s on your list. (You HAD to put in macaroni with Spam, though, didn’t you!)
Wow, what a great list (erm, tho’ don’t know if I can’t extend myself to Spam!).
Yesterday’s Asian supermarket shopping was indulging my sweet tooth – haw flakes, sesame candies, Japanese red bean mochi, and (one off the Omnivore’s 100 list) Pocky (tick!). And to the drinks aisle – rose iced tea, coconut juice and a packet of Yunnan tea.
On my Asian-must-try list at the moment are the tantalising fresh spring greens available at our local (Auckland, NZ) Sunday market. The friendly market vendors can tell me their Chinese names but I’ve only just this week found an English identification (and cooking, phew!) guide/book, so I can now name my targets as: snowpea shoots, choko tendrils and eryngo (long-leafed or thorny coriander/saw-tooth herb).
Thank you so much for sharing your adventures in food. I love reading your postings and really enjoyed eating your kung pao chicken during the Olympics!
64
http://lizzieeatslondon.blogspot.com/2008/09/chinese-one-hundred.html
Great list! I didn’t recognise many Beijing specialities, it was good to learn new things!
Nate -But of course. :)
If you’re truly Chinese, your list wouldn’t have been 100 long, it would have been 888! ^_^
Where’s the lemon chicken, shark’s fin soup, bird’s nest soup, dragon well tea, dimsum as a whole category, jin dui, black sesame desserts, almond jello, steamed fish, salted duck eggs….? See…you could go all the way to 888 if you want.
Annie -888 might be a bit too much work. I did mention I chose to exclude a few delicacies…so shark’s fin and bird’s nest are absent because I find them to be too rare, over-priced and (consequently) over-hyped. Other stuff, like salted duck eggs and lemon chicken, are off due to repetitiveness and similaries with other things I chose to include.
I went for brevity and diversity. :) And things that suited my own tastebuds.
Stephanie – Eek…I had to look up choko and found out they’re what I know as chayote. So many global variations in food names, even within the same language! Don’t think I’ve seen eryngo before, though.
That’s what I get when I look at this list. So many of my favorites: Hainan chicken, egg tarts, jellyfish, hand-pulled noodles, and shave ice. There’s a good number I haven’t tried, too. Hot Cola with ginger is a new one to me, and it sounds really intriguing.
Think I got about 90%. See http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/09/chinese-100.html.
I got quite a few of the recipes on the blog.
There are a few I don’t think should be listed as chinese.
6. Beef brisket – that is a cut of meat. Should be more specify what dish you are referring to.
23. Crab Rangoon – an American fushion, don’t think this is heard of outside US, unless you are referring to nai yau ha, HK style dim sum.
39. Gobi Manchurian, is this really chinese?
57. Lomo Saltado, this is not chinese? Surely this is Peruvian.
Think I got about 90%. See http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/09/chinese-100.html.
I got quite a few of the recipes on the blog.
There are a few I don’t think should be listed as chinese.
6. Beef brisket – that is a cut of meat. Should be more specify what dish you are referring to.
23. Crab Rangoon – an American fushion, don’t think this is heard of outside US, unless you are referring to nai yau ha, HK style dim sum.
39. Gobi Manchurian, is this really chinese?
57. Lomo Saltado, this is not chinese? Surely this is Peruvian.
Sorry guys posted the last message twice.
The message took ages to load, 1st time it bounced me off then I send again. Didn’t know it loaded both.
Anyone finds this site very slow to load on the comments? Or is it my computer?
I love Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf), Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers), & Peking duck. I also think the Chinese make the best fish dishes–whole steamed fish is my favorite.
My big list of “things you must eat” lists is up.
Now to get cracking and try to actually score 100 on them…
Everything except the Yunnan goat’s cheese. Damn.
I spent about three months in China recently, but only got through about 60% of this great list. The hand-pulled noodles from Xinjiang became a quick favorite, as were Sichuan dishes with the addictive, numbing pepper. Hot coke with ginger was surprisingly good. Oh, I could go on!
Now that I’m back in Europe, I’ve been reminiscing about Chinese food – http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2008/09/real-chinese-food-a-photo-essay/
I wish I could return to China with this list as a culinary guide. Thanks for the inspiration!
I got 63 on the list. There are stuff on that list I never even heard of and I am Chinese. /hides in shame ;)
By the way, I have an award for you on my page. Just my way of saying “love your blog”.
sunflower – I mentioned that this list would include a few international takes on Chinese food that aren’t found in China. It fits in with my take on food in general, that cuisines evolve. Curry is now the most popular dish in England, insofar that it’s now considered a British food.
"In addition to traditional Chinese dishes and ingredients, there are
also some international interpretations of Chinese food and foods in
Hong Kong and Macau that have developed in the past hundred or so
years. In short, a modern take on Chinese food. "
Crab rangoon – Popularized by Chinese-Polynesian-themed restaurants in the U.S. Chinese-American immigrants in the US. Fortune cookies weren’t created in China either (in fact, it’s now hypothesized that they were created by Japanese-Americans), but are now associated with Chinese food.
Gobi Manchurian – One of the most popular dishes at Indian-Chinese restaurants
Lomo Saltado – a Peruvian stir-fry that uses soy sauce, influenced by Chinese immigrants to Lima
Beef brisket – I meant to include "braised" in there…ngau lam, especially with thick rice noodles, is one of my favorite Cantonese concoctions.
sunflower – It was slow for a while but should be better now. ::Crossing finger::
I am sort of surprised to find I’ve had most of these at one time or another, considering I’ve never been to China! But I probably will never have chicken feet, because those tiny bones creep me out. And macaroni with Spam… O_O (just can’t get to like Spam!)
I suspect my score might be higher if you had included putonghua names. I like the inclusion of baijiu, but I would’ve added huangjiu, too. And I would add 炸酱面，麻豆腐 and 煎饼- at least the version we get here in Beijing. I’m told the Shandong version is even better. And the entirety of Hunan cuisine… It must’ve been really hard to keep your list to only 100.
What a fantastic blog you have here!!
I will be adding a link to your blog on mine. I love your pictures too.
83 out of 100, with a few more that I’ve definitely seen, but not tried. I’ve been enjoying your blog!
http://culinarynerd.blogspot.com/2008/09/100-chinese-foods-to-try-before-you-die.html
On my copied list, my comments on favorites are italicized.
Audrey – I love the photos on your site. Haven’t been to Kashgar yet, but it seems wonderful through your lens.
judyfoodie – Thanks! Your Japadog looks quite interesting.
I got 97… that just means there’s more out there to try!
Yipee!
http://suimai.blogspot.com/2008/09/follow-up-100-chinese-foods.html
This is a great list–I can’t believe I’ve eaten almost all of it! For those of us who’ve had kosher/halal Chinese food because it corresponds to religious dietary requirements, completing this list is a little impossible. :)
I am really glad I found this blog, there needs to me more food blogs on Chinese cuisine!
Also, I am wicked pumped Yunnan goat cheese made the cut!
Hope to talk to you again sometime.
I am only at 36, and that is thanks to a recent trip to Hong Kong where I enjoyed dragonfruit, jelly fish, milk tea, mantau and roast duck. Obviously I need to plan another trip. I wish I had bought some rambutans to try. I really enjoy your blog and the education on Chinese food you are giving me.
Carol Peterman – Thanks! Also, I saw on your blog that you spent a day at Martha Sherpa’s. Can’t wait to read your account!
Excellent list! :D Although you’ve forgotten popiah (yep, it’s Chinese, specifically Teochew/Hokkien) argh!
90/100. I guess I’m pretty Chinese! Haven’t had some of the fusion dishes like lomo saltado and gobi manchurian. And what’s this macaroni soup with spam?
Jenny – Do you happen to know a good recipe for popiah?
Rachel – It’s a really popular breakfast and afternoon tea food in Hong Kong. The popularity of both Spam and macaroni is a holdover from the British colonial days.
Well I’m still working on perfecting the popiah skin/wrappers so no recipe (quality at least) for that yet. Although depending on where you live, it may be readily available.
As for the ingredients inside, it’s rather simple and I’ll try to list what’s on top of my head hehe
- Stir fry julienned jicama and carrots in a wok with a bit of salt and sugar. When almost cooked, add some water to the wok as the jicama-carrot juice will be essential later. Sprinkle coriander/cilantro on top.
-fresh lettuce
-lap cheong (Chinese sausauge); lightly pan-fried and then thinly sliced
-shredded cooked pork (stir fried in a little soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil and garlic)
-shredded omelette
-thinly sliced fried tofu
Condiments:
-hoisin sauce (which is mixed with the jicama-carrot juice)
-fried shallots
-crushed peanuts
Once a piece of lettuce is arranged on the popiah skin, you can add as little or as much of the other ingredients (in whatever order you like, although the peanuts and fried shallot is preferably last) as you want. Now…wrap! Sort of like wrapping egg rolls or Vietnamese summer rolls.
Some people like to add the hoisin-jicama juice mix into the wrap but I prefer to dip.
Anyway, I know I’ve provided really bad instructions but I hope I could help in some way at least :D
Enjoy!
i’m surprised at the addition of general tso’s chicken and the like – i can do without these!
Great list – I think I’ve had all but 3 or 4! Gotta say the stinky tofu definitely falls under the “been there, done that, don’t need to go there again” category.
where can you find lomo saltado in beijing? or are there any peruvian restaurants around?
Hello there,
These recipes sound really tasty & I can’t wait to try them :)
A blogger next door :)
Have 22 left to try outta 100 (Tried 88)!
(* = have tried)
Some I haven’t tried by choice, some because I didn’t know it well before (it’s food popularised in other areas of the world where I haven’t come across yet.)
1. Almond milk *
2. Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name)*
3. Asian pear *
4. Baby bok choy *
5. Baijiu
6. Beef brisket *
7. Beggar’s Chicken
8. Bingtang hulu
9. Bitter melon *
10. Bubble tea *
11. Buddha’s Delight
12. Cantonese roast duck *
13. Century egg, or thousand-year egg *
14. Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork) *
15. Char kway teow *
16. Chicken feet *
17. Chinese sausage *
18. Chow mein *
19. Chrysanthemum tea *
20. Claypot rice *
21. Congee *
22. Conpoy (dried scallops) *
23. Crab rangoon
24. Dan Dan noodles *
25. Dragonfruit *
26. Dragon’s Beard candy *
27. Dried cuttlefish *
28. Drunken chicken *
29. Dry-fried green beans
30. Egg drop soup
31. Egg rolls *
32. Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese *
33. Fresh bamboo shoots
34. Fortune cookies *
35. Fried milk
36. Fried rice *
37. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli) *
38. General Tso’s Chicken
39. Gobi Manchurian
40. Goji berries (Chinese wolfberries) *
41. Grass jelly *
42. Hainan chicken rice *
43. Hand-pulled noodles *
44. Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers) *
45. Haw flakes *
46. Hibiscus tea
47. Hong Kong-style Milk Tea *
48. Hot and sour soup
49. Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger *
50. Hot Pot *
51. Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin) *
52. Jellyfish *
53. Kosher Chinese food
54. Kung Pao Chicken
55. Lamb skewers (yangrou chua’r)
56. Lion’s Head meatballs *
57. Lomo Saltado
58. Longan fruit *
59. Lychee *
60. Macaroni in soup with Spam *
61. Malatang
62. Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk *
63. Mapo Tofu
64. Mock meat *
65. Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety) *
66. Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf) *
67. Pan-fried jiaozi *
68. Peking duck *
69. Pineapple bun *
70. Prawn crackers *
71. Pu’er tea *
72. Rambutan *
73. Red bean in dessert form *
74. Red bayberry
75. Red cooked pork *
76. Roast pigeon *
77. Rose tea *
78. Roujiamo
79. Scallion pancake *
80. Shaved ice dessert *
81. Sesame chicken *
82. Sichuan pepper in any dish
83. Sichuan preserved vegetable (zhacai)
84. Silken tofu *
85. Soy milk, freshly made *
86. Steamed egg custard *
87. Stinky tofu
88. Sugar cane juice *
89. Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp *
90. Taro *
91. Tea eggs *
92. Tea-smoked duck
93. Turnip cake (law bok gau) *
94. Twice-cooked pork *
95. Water chestnut cake (mati gau) *
96. Wonton noodle soup *
97. Wood ear *
98. Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) *
99. Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style)
100. Yunnan goat cheese
I’ve tried many of these, but I would add one Szechuan dish to the list: Chicken With Strange Taste (guai wei ji). I ate an entire order of it while trying to decide whether I liked it or not, then finished off a second order.
Hi, anyone have recipe for xiamen lu mien? Thank you.
Glad to say that I’ve tried MOST of them!
http://pigpigscorner.blogspot.com/2008/12/100-chinese-foods-to-try-before-you-die.html
Loved the idea and think i’ll do my own, and post it on my blog (with a link to yours). Thanks for sharing your list.
Impressive list. Where do I begin on this thing?? Yeah yeah first one I suppose. Sadly I’ve hardly had experience in this cuisine. I shall jump in with both feet!
I just saw this post from your more recent 2008 reflection post, and I was intrigued by the fact that silken tofu is on the list. I actually just recently have been realizing how many different types/textures of tofu there are and how little I know about the subject.
I cook with tofu fairly frequently (tonight for instance I made tofu and vegetable pad thai) and I usually just put some oil in a wok, fry the tofu a bit, and then mix in all the other stuff. I noticed recently that the “silken tofu” I get at Safeway actually doesn’t cook as well as the tofu I get from Trader Joe’s. The Trader Joe’s tofu is more porous and seems to maintain it’s structural integrity better when I make a stir-fry (or pad thai, as the case may be).
Anyway, your post (which is a great list, btw) reminded me that I want to learn more about tofu!
I just saw this post from your more recent 2008 reflection post, and I was intrigued by the fact that silken tofu is on the list. I actually just recently have been realizing how many different types/textures of tofu there are and how little I know about the subject.
I cook with tofu fairly frequently (tonight for instance I made tofu and vegetable pad thai) and I usually just put some oil in a wok, fry the tofu a bit, and then mix in all the other stuff. I noticed recently that the “silken tofu” I get at Safeway actually doesn’t cook as well as the tofu I get from Trader Joe’s. The Trader Joe’s tofu is more porous and seems to maintain it’s structural integrity better when I make a stir-fry (or pad thai, as the case may be).
Anyway, your post (which is a great list, btw) reminded me that I want to learn more about tofu!
Just found this site and I love it. Finally, some easy to understand answers to all the food I’ve been eating the past two years (living in Guangzhou). I’ve had 74.5% (the half point is for the halal Chinese food I had in Malaysia, can’t be too far off from kosher Chinese food) of this list. Favorites are HK milk tea, pineapple buns, cong you bing, and anything ma la. Tried once and hopefully never again are bitter melon, chicken feet, and baijiu. Most interested to try Yunnan goat cheese (never heard of such a thing).
Spikyfruit – If you can find a Yunnan restaurant in Guangzhou, I highly recommend the goat cheese. Imagine the texture of smoked mozzerella, but sautéed, with some salt and pepper on top. Heaven. I’m not a huge fan of baijiu either.
I am probably 85%, not bad for a Lo Fan. Missed the Gon Chow Nga Ha. Love those Sha Ho Fun noodles. Sherby
Some of the food on this list is Americanized Chinese food! Foods like Sesame Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork/Chicken/Shrimp and Fortune Cookies, I’m pretty sure, were made here in America. :)
Great list nonetheless! :)
We have lived in Hong Kong since August and I did much better on the list than I thought. The fried milk description had our mouths watering–any ideas where to find it in HK?
Oh wow. Looking at this and being in the United States is too much. I need a plane. NOW.
Hmmm…getting a plane to China would be great. But I guess for the time being it woud be much easier to check some Chinese restaurants where you are. I know quite many and most of these dishes can be easily found… Have a look at some restaurants in your area http://www.bestmealdeals.com/category/chinese/region/w-us/
Hi. Im from south africa. There are lots of chinese places opend up. I went to one of the bakeries, i ate something called “baby shoes” or dats wat they told me its called. It was so simple yet so delicious. Its like a small round cake wid somethng like custard in the centre. Does anybody knw anythng bout this heavenly taste. Plz let me knw. Especialy would love to knw hw to make it. steff.jade@gmail.com.
only 20 on the list, much to look forward to.
even though i grew up in a traditional Chinese family, i would have a very hard time to make that kind of list, bravo!! i kept nodding quietly..yumm!! makes me hungry!
You’ve got to have zhu rou Jiaozi on this list…. I don’t see it anywhere!
That would fall under pan-fried jaozi. In China pork is the default stuffing. Unless a menu specifies vegetarian, chicken, or some other filling, pork is just assumed.
On my recent trip to China, I have to say that 刀削面 was one of my favorite new dishes, and I’m surprised it isn’t on your list. It’s just so GOOD! I’ve looked around, but can’t seem to find a decent recipe for them. I’ve managed something close, but not quite there.
Being an American with a score in the upper 80s…that makes me happy. I just can’t believe you have stinky tofu on the list! I thought that was just a local Shaoxing dish. I can say, with complete honesty, trying that was almost embarrassing! Future wife + her entire extended family…not a crowd you want to gag on food in front of. Especially when you can’t exchange more than about 10 words (my mandarin vocab is limited, their mandarin accents are worse than mine)! Fortunately, I kept it together. They were all laughing at my reaction, so it was ok…especially since I later found out they specifically didn’t want me to know what it was before I tried it.
I love this blog, by the way, and so does my Chinese fiance. I’m slowly going through all the old entries. I miss China, especially for the food!
Very interesting..
just about half of them and only that many because i’m a vegetarian… but you forgot boiled peanuts!
Wow the hand pulled noodles looks good if the noodle puller washes their hands some things on the list looks delicious some just seem ………yeah but i love the list
Great list! It also makes for a good incentive to add more and more recipes as you go along. We’re going to have to try that Almond Milk recipe which looks delicious!
Thanks! Let me know how the almond milk comes out…it’s a lot of work, but well worth it!
the yogurt that comes in a small ceramic jars with a straw and a paper lid at the street vendors and xiaomaibus in Beijing. That stuff changed my life.
I’m off to China in July and stinky tofu is at the top of my list of things to eat there!!! I’ve heard it tastes horrible, and with a name like stinky tofu, it’s been known to live up to it’s reputation. How would you describe the taste of stink tofu???
Sarah – Musty, pungent, and sharp. Think of the heady feeling you get from blue cheese and that is probably the closest Western equivalent.
49 hot cola with ginger…this is only good if your sick and you have to drink it down very quickly despite the heat (but don’t get burned!) so you “sweat it out”…but i wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who doesn’t want to have gas for the rest of the night :P
heyy anyone know any chinese foods and desserts?
1. Almond milk*
2. Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name)
3. Asian pear*
4. Baby bok choy*
5. Baijiu
6. Beef brisket
7. Beggar’s Chicken
8. Bingtang hulu
9. Bitter melon*
10. Bubble tea*
11. Buddha’s Delight
12. Cantonese roast duck
13. Century egg, or thousand-year egg
14. Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork)*
15. Char kway teow
16. Chicken feet
17. Chinese sausage*
18. Chow mein*
19. Chrysanthemum tea
20. Claypot rice
21. Congee
22. Conpoy (dried scallops)
23. Crab rangoon*
24. Dan Dan noodles
25. Dragonfruit
26. Dragon’s Beard candy
27. Dried cuttlefish
28. Drunken chicken
29. Dry-fried green beans*
30. Egg drop soup*
31. Egg rolls*
32. Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese
33. Fresh bamboo shoots
34. Fortune cookies*
35. Fried milk
36. Fried rice*
37. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)*
38. General Tso’s Chicken*
39. Gobi Manchurian
40. Goji berries (Chinese wolfberries)
41. Grass jelly
42. Hainan chicken rice
43. Hand-pulled noodles
44. Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers)
45. Haw flakes
46. Hibiscus tea*
47. Hong Kong-style Milk Tea
48. Hot and sour soup*
49. Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger
50. Hot Pot
51. Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin)
52. Jellyfish
53. Kosher Chinese food
54. Kung Pao Chicken*
55. Lamb skewers (yangrou chua’r)
56. Lion’s Head meatballs
57. Lomo Saltado
58. Longan fruit
59. Lychee*
60. Macaroni in soup with Spam
61. Malatang
62. Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk
63. Mapo Tofu*
64. Mock meat
65. Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety)
66. Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf)
67. Pan-fried jiaozi
68. Peking duck
69. Pineapple bun
70. Prawn crackers*
71. Pu’er tea
72. Rambutan
73. Red bean in dessert form*
74. Red bayberry
75. Red cooked pork*
76. Roast pigeon
77. Rose tea
78. Roujiamo
79. Scallion pancake*
80. Shaved ice dessert
81. Sesame chicken*
82. Sichuan pepper in any dish*
83. Sichuan preserved vegetable (zhacai)*
84. Silken tofu*
85. Soy milk, freshly made
86. Steamed egg custard
87. Stinky tofu
88. Sugar cane juice
89. Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp*
90. Taro*
91. Tea eggs
92. Tea-smoked duck
93. Turnip cake (law bok gau)*
94. Twice-cooked pork*
95. Water chestnut cake (mati gau)
96. Wonton noodle soup*
97. Wood ear*
98. Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)
99. Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style)
100. Yunnan goat cheese
OK, a lot of these items are intriguing. Hot Coke with ginger? I think I just read about that somewhere—I adore ginger so I must try it.
Speaking of Sichuan pepper: I put it into my last couple batches of Chinese-style boiled peanuts, and it was wonderful. Don’t mean to “advertise” here, but thought you might like to see the post. I got the raw peanuts from a local Chinese grocer and he told me how to make them Chinese style (previously I’d only made them like they do in the southern U.S.).
Finally, I’m really interested in mantou, because it was mentioned in Gish Jen’s latest novel, World and Town, which I just read. I’ll search your site to see if you have a recipe.
Thanks for this, it was fun and I look forward to adding asterisks to more items. :)
My favourite Chinese New Year food (though you sometimes find it all year round) is the Dragon Beard Candy, an ancient Chinese Emperor’s Dessert. It’s made into very sweet thin strands and sometimes filled with peanuts.
If you’ve never tried it, you simply have to! The only place I know to find this online is http://www.geocities.jp/family_hong_kong/English/Dragon_Beard_Candy_index.htm.
Thanks for this list. We will be in China for the next 3 years so this will be a great way to track our culinary adventures! I’ve tasted some of these already and are favorites – now to make some of them….
Hello,
Perhaps your readers might be interested in the French names of Chinese ingredients listed on the web site associated with my book at http://www.cuisines-chinoises-regionales.com with its detailed descriptions and images of the recipes and ingredients, and with its recipe of the month! The Chinese names are given for the recipes and their ingredients so that you can easily order the dish in a restaurant or find the ingredients in a specialty food market.
Try it out!
Best regards, Georges
ps. I hope I have not posted this already somewhere on your site!
i nned more foods this website tells me nothing about chinese foods. i need more information
I like chinese food yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyumyyyyyyyyyy
Hi, Sarah
Stinky tofu is a traditional Chinese food and I believe it’s not popular when it just came up because of strange first impression it offers.But do not try more than one time otherwise you’ll fall in love with it.Its taste is so magic!!!Don’t fear it,try more,chew gum after enjoying it.That’s my advice.
Love your choice of 100 “Chinese foods to die for”. Chinese foods are so popular around the world that I even made a pack Chinese food cards made out of 52 individual Chinese dishes (http://www.trax2.com/food/foodcards/)
I will be happy if i can have book which show all the instruction/steps of preparing Chinese dishes.
How about Chinese beef noodle soup (niu rou mian). It’s a must try for all Chinese foodies! Taiwan even organizes a beef noodle soup festival annually.
I am currently working in China, and it is my first trip out of the US. I visited the site because I wanted to know what I should be trying. Surprisingly enough, my Chinese associates are having me try quite a bit of what is on this list. I just wanted to mention that Xiaolongbao translates into “little dragon balls.” The soup dumpling I think that you are mentioning are Xiaolongtongbao. Again, I could be wrong, but all of the little diners I visit tell me that there is a difference and chuckle when I get it wrong. Wish me luck with the rest of the list!
i tried most of them about two more to go
i didn’t actually like them all :(
but :)
you forgot chiken catsu
I’ve got at least 80.
I gave up on counting.
What about salted, dried fish? Or the sticky rice with fatty pork, salted egg, mushroom, and dried shrimp wrapped and steamed in leaves?
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