Huaiyang cuisine cooking skills, a traditional skills project in the fourth batch of representative projects of municipal intangible cultural heritage in Xinghua City, Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province. Huaiyang cuisine has been popular since ancient times. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the concentration of five pillars of water transport, river management, salt affairs, taxation, and transportation in the Huaiyang region, the salt merchants from south to north spread the Huaiyang cuisine culture to all parts of the country, and the royal nobles were proud to introduce Huaiyang cuisine chefs. Huaiyang cuisine has also become one of the "four major cuisines" and "eight major cuisines" in China. Huaiyang cuisine entered the state banquet, starting with the reception banquets before and after the founding of New China. "On September 30, 1949, the first plenary session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference closed. That night, a reception dinner was held in the Qinzheng Hall of Zhongnanhai. It was Zhang Wenxian and other Huaiyang cuisine cooking masters who prepared ingredients and came to Beijing to preside over it." Gao Daiming told reporters that when preparing for this dinner, some people suggested using Beijing cuisine, some suggested using Sichuan cuisine, and Huaiyang cuisine was selected for its mild taste. "The first hot dish of the banquet was Huaiyang cuisine soft-shelled eel. But the first hot dish drafted in advance was another famous dish called "Huai fried double peaks": "white robe shrimp." Gao Daiming said that when the truck transporting the ingredients arrived in Beijing, the big prawns caught from Hongze Lake were already dying. "The shrimps should be fed with ginger juice and then shelled. They should be clean and fresh." How can such ingredients meet the standard of Huaiyang cuisine, which is fresh and tender? Therefore, "soft-shelled eel" made from eels was served as the first hot dish of the meal. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)