Jiangsu Cuisine, also called Su Cuisine, one of the eight Chinese Cuisines with over 2,000 years’ history, is famous for its beautiful appearance, fresh, umami, natural, mild, lightly sweet and well preserving the original flavor of food materials. Famous Su dishes are Brine-Boiled Duck, Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, Braised Meat Balls, Beggar’s Chicken and so on.

江蘇菜，又稱蘇菜，中國八大菜系之一，有2000多年的歷史，風(fēng)格雅麗，形質(zhì)均美，口味和醇，清淡適口，咸中帶甜，注重本味。代表菜有鹽水鴨、松鼠鱖魚、紅燒獅子頭、叫花雞等。

In Qin and Han Dynasties, Yangzhou in Jiangsu became an administrative region and the economy boomed and many exquisite and delicious foods like Braised Meat Balls were created. In Sui Dynasty, some northern cooking methods had spread to Yangzhou since the Emperor Yang built the Grand Canal which connected the North and South of China thus promoted the development of cooking techniques in the South. In Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou became the economic center of east China and Persia and Arabic businessmen brought Muslim flavors and cooking methods to Su Cuisine dishes. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Su food became sweeter. And, Su Cuisine and Zhe Cuisine were honored as Two Poles of South Chinese Food.

秦漢時期，江蘇揚州已經(jīng)建制，經(jīng)濟繁榮，許多精美的菜品已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)，如紅燒獅子頭等。隋煬帝時，隨著京杭運河的貫通，北方烹飪方法傳到揚州，促進了南方烹飪技術(shù)的發(fā)展。唐代時，揚州是華東的經(jīng)濟中心，蘇菜吸收了波斯和阿拉伯商人的穆斯林風(fēng)味和烹飪方法。宋代，蘇菜口味趨甜，和浙菜同被譽為“南食”的兩大臺柱。

Su Cuisine dishes are served delicately like artworks. The ingredients are rich, mainly including freshwater fish and sea food like reeves shad, knife fish, balloon fish, silverfish in Tai Lake, crab in Yangcheng Lake and crucian in Nanjing Dragon Pool. Excellent vegetables used include lotus root, Chinese chestnut, cane shoots, winter bamboo shoots and water chestnut.

蘇菜形制精美，極具藝術(shù)性。其用料廣泛，以江河湖海水鮮為主，如鰣魚、刀魚、河豚、太湖銀魚、陽澄湖大閘蟹、南京龍池鯽魚等。優(yōu)良佳蔬有蓮藕、板栗、茭白、冬筍和荸薺等

Su Cuisine chefs focus on the art of cutting. The food carvings and cuttings are extremely exquisite and changeful. Skillful Jiangsu chefs can even cut tofu 2cm thick into 30 slices, and the finished shredded tofu is like a single hair and can go through the needle eye.

蘇菜廚師刀工精細，刀法多變。一塊2厘米厚的方干，可以切成30塊薄片，切絲如發(fā)，能穿針引線。

Su Cuisine is mainly composed of four local styles, that is, Jinling Cuisine,?Huaiyang Cuisine, Suxi Cuisine, and Xuhai Cuisine.

蘇菜主要由四種地方菜肴組成，包括金陵菜、淮揚菜、蘇錫菜、徐海菜等。

Jinling Cuisine chefs are good at stewing, simmering and roasting, pursuing 14 flavors such as sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, fragrant, stinky, fresh, crisp, tender and so on. Jinling Cuisine is especially famous for its duck dishes. Representatives of Jinling duck dishes include Jinling Roasted Duck, Jinling Salted Duck and Duck Soup.

金陵菜烹調(diào)擅長燉、燜、叉、烤。講究七滋七味：即酸、甜、苦、辣、咸、香、臭；鮮、爛、酥、嫩、脆、濃、肥。金陵菜以善制鴨饌而出名，代表菜有金陵烤鴨、鹽水鴨、鴨湯等。

Combining the northern and southern food characteristics, Huaiyang Cuisine has formed its own style, fresh, crisp, salty and slightly sweet. Huaiyang cutting technique is the best. It was once selected as Royal Cuisine.

淮揚菜結(jié)合了南北方菜品的特點，形成了自己鮮、脆、嫩、咸中帶甜的風(fēng)味。蘇菜中，淮揚菜刀工為最佳，曾入選宮廷菜肴。

Suxi refers to Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Shanghai. Suxi Cuisine dishes are rich in snacks and focus on the appearance and color of the dishes.

蘇錫指蘇州、無錫一帶，西到常州，東到上海。蘇錫菜以小吃見長，注重造型，講究美觀，色調(diào)絢麗。

Xuhai Cuisine is popular in Xuzhou and Lianyungang, and the main cooking materials are sea food and the chefs are particularly good at boiling, frying and decocting.

徐海菜集中在徐州和連云港，以海味取勝，烹調(diào)技藝多用煮、炸、煎等。