Shanghainese Recipes

Shanghainese (本帮菜) cooking, from Shanghai and the lower Yangtze delta, is the gentle, glossy counterpoint to China’s spicy cuisines. Its signature is red braising (红烧, hóngshāo) — slow-simmering meat in dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (brewed just down the river in Zhejiang), rock sugar, and star anise until the sauce turns lacquer-dark and clings like a glaze. The flavor profile is famously 浓油赤酱: “rich oil, red sauce” — sweet-savory, deeply aromatic, and built for a bowl of plain rice.

Sweet where Sichuan is hot

Shanghainese food uses sugar the way Sichuan uses chilies — as a structural flavor, not a garnish. Rock sugar rounds the salt of soy sauce and gives braises their signature gloss; vinegar from neighboring Zhenjiang (Chinkiang vinegar) brightens dipping sauces for the region’s famous soup dumplings. Alongside the braises sit drunken dishes steeped in Shaoxing wine, lion’s-head meatballs, and scallion-oil noodles — comfort food with quiet confidence.

Where to start

Start with the cuisine’s crown jewel: red-braised pork belly (红烧肉), the dish Chairman Mao famously demanded weekly and the single best introduction to the red-braising technique. Master its rhythm — blanch, caramelize the sugar, braise low until the sauce lacquers — and you hold the key to half the Shanghainese repertoire. More dishes from the delta are on our test-kitchen list.