Jiangsu (Su) Cuisine

Jiangsu cuisine prioritizes visual artistry and refined sweetness, with each dish averaging 12–15 distinct knife cuts to achieve ethereal textures like translucent jelly-like meat. Its signature squirrel-shaped mandarin fish requires 1.5 hours of preparation, 40% longer than #3 Shandong's average dish. A typical sweet-and-sour pork serving contains 18–22 grams of sugar, making it 30% sweeter than the runner-up Cantonese version. This 2,000-year-old style costs 25% more than the average regional dish per portion, reflecting its status as the cuisine of Chinese literati, where presentation outweighs bold heat.