Recently, Yunnan announced the fourth batch of provincial level representative non-material cultural heritage list of food, among which the most eye-catching ones are the cooking skills for a large number of Yunnan food. 

Brown Sugar 

Qiaojia Small Bowl Brown Sugar is also called “bowl sugar" by local people and is produced in the area along Jinsha River in Qiaojia County. 

It is made from the selected sugarcane through traditional process since the late Qing Dynasty, and is of high reputation in the domestic market. Qiaojia Small Bowl Brown Sugar uses 18 working processes and firewood. The plain small bowl has a good-looking sugar color - translucent reddish yellow. The cane sugar fragrance lingers around, and the sugar melts immediately in the mouth, with a rich and mellow taste. Small bowl brown sugar retains the nutrient content of natural sugarcane, plus multiple trace elements that are beneficial for physical health, thus it is known as the "Oriental Chocolate". 

Jianshui Steam Pot Chicken 

Jianshui Steam Pot Chicken enjoys a long history and a good reputation. As early as in the period of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, the steam pot chicken was popular in south Yunnan. 

"Fire makes sweet malt" - these words fit for the cooking of steam pot chicken. Clean and cut the chicken into pieces (about 5 - 10 cm), and put them into steam pot (no water), then add some onion, ginger and salt. Choose a pot that fits the steam pot, and put boiled water in the pot, then put the steam pot into the pot. Last, seal the gap by cage cloth or similar material. Steam it for 2.5 - 3 hours then it is ready to serve. The way of cooking this dish is original, and the taste is super delicious. 

You can taste a special flavor if you add some Chinese matrimony-vine, shiitake mushroom, Chinese angelica and codonopsis pilosula, forming the "nutritious steam pot chicken". Among the tens of thousands of cooking utensils, Jianshui people use a unique local cooker - steam port to make the steam pot chicken. Unlike other cooking utensils, the steam pot is oblate with a trumpet-shaped steam import at the bottom connecting with a conical tube nozzle that goes straight to the top center of the pot, and a well-sealed pot lid, forming a very unique shape. 

Steamed Rice Cake (Ersi)

Ersi is a special local food in Yunnan. There are various cooking methods for it in Yunnan, and among them the most famous ones are Qujin Steamed Ersi and Weishan Steamed Ersi with pork. 

The main raw material for Qujin Ersi is the local quality paddy rice, which is made into rice block and cut into noodle-shaped Ersi. In the past the cutting process is done manually and now by machine. The flavoring and the ingredients are simple and rich, and the making method is elegant. 

Fresh chives and mung bean sprout, plus the unique soy sauce and carefully making meat sauce with spices, salt and sugar. The meat sauce is made from fresh hind leg pork. Chop the pork into sauce and stir fry with shiitake mushroom sauce, adding some souse Chinese sauerkraut and oil hot pepper (called as chilli oil in some northern China area). Then the sweet-smelling Ersi is ready to serve. It leaves you an aftertaste that lingers with a bowl of pig bone soup after you finish the noodle. 

Lijiang Baba 

Lijiang Baba is a special local food for Naxi people. It is of a long history and recorded as early as the Ming Dynasty in "Xu Xiake's Travel Notes". It is with good appearance, flavor and taste. The main raw materials are the fine wheat produced in Lijiang with water going down from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Use the two to form a dough, wipe vegetable oil on the marble flagstone, roll the dough to flat and thin slices, spill some ham tips or white sugar, coil it and put both ends into the middle and press it with sesame and walnut kernel inside the coiled slices. Use flat pan and soft fire to roast it until it shows a color of golden yellow. 

Dried Beef 

In Yunnan, Han people is good at making ham and bacon, and Hui people is good at making dried beef. 

Dried beef is a local food using fresh beef as raw material and soused through multiple processes. Yunnan Xundian Dried Beef enjoys a good reputation around the country for fresh flesh, good looking appearance and delicious taste.

 The entry of "Dried Beef" in "China Hui Dictionary" states that: "Dried Beef - a special food for Yunnan Hui people, and Xundian produces the best ones." Dried beef has various making methods, and the most common ones are deep-fried and stir-fried. The deep-fryied dried beef is the most common. If you want to chew it longer, choose the tender deep-frying ones, and if you want crispy ones, choose the longer deep-