Hubei · breakfast
Doupi (Wuhan Tofu Skin)
豆皮 · Dòupí
Wuhan breakfast: layered pan-fried tofu skin and rice cake with mushroom, ham and bamboo shoots inside.
Doupi is a Wuhan breakfast staple. Two thin layers of yellow tofu skin sandwich a filling of glutinous rice, pickled mustard greens, dried shrimp, mushroom and pork. Pan-fried until both sides are golden. Cut into squares for serving. Among the four 'great foods' of Wuhan along with re gan mian, mian wo and tang bao.
Where to try
Wuhan: Hubu Alley (the breakfast street) and dedicated doupi shops.
Dietary notes
Soy, pork, shellfish, rice.
Cities to try Doupi (Wuhan Tofu Skin)
Other central dishes
- Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork毛氏红烧肉
Hunan-style slow-braised pork belly in soy, Shaoxing wine and chilli — the dish Mao Zedong reportedly ate weekly in Zhongnanhai.
- Fish Head with Chopped Chilli剁椒鱼头
A whole silver carp head blanketed with fermented chopped red chilli and steamed until the flesh is silky and fiery.
- Hunan Chilli Fried Pork小炒肉
Thin-sliced pork belly wok-fried with fresh long green chillies and fermented black beans — Hunan's most-ordered everyday dish.
- Hunan Spicy Fish with Pickled Cabbage酸菜鱼
Fish slices with sour pickled mustard greens in a sour-spicy broth. Originated in Sichuan, perfected in Hunan.