Glossy braised aubergine batons in dark soy glaze with sesame oil sheen, garnished with spring onion on a simple ceramic plate

Qing Dynasty · China

Braised Aubergine (Yuan Mei's Way)

Name: Braised Aubergine (Yuan Mei's Way)
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 2 medium aubergines, cut in batons; 3 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp sugar; 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine; 1 tbsp sesame oil; 3 slices ginger; 2 cloves garlic, sliced; 1 spring onion, sliced; 3 tbsp neutral oil

From Suiyuan Shidan 隨園食單 · Yuan Mei · 1792

Verified from original source

Silky aubergine slow-braised with soy, ginger and sesame — restraint over spectacle.

History

This dish comes from Yuan Mei's *Suiyuan Shidan* (1792), a landmark Qing dynasty culinary treatise by the scholar-poet Yuan Mei. The cookbook documented refined Chinese gastronomy of 18th-century Jiangnan (lower Yangtze region), where literati valued subtle flavours and seasonal ingredients. Yuan Mei's aubergine recipe emphasised gentle braising to preserve texture, often with soy sauce, ginger, and aromatics. The *Suiyuan Shidan* influenced elite Chinese cooking and remains studied today for its philosophical approach to food. Modern Chinese home cooking still braises eggplant/aubergine similarly, though restaurant versions often add Sichuan spices or fish-fragrant sauce—innovations post-dating Yuan Mei.

Sources

Yuan Mei, *Suiyuan Shidan* (Recipes from the Garden of Contentment), 1792
Sean J.S. Chen (translator), *Recipes from the Garden of Contentment: Yuan Mei's Manual of Gastronomy*, 2018
E.N. Anderson, *The Food of China*, 1988
H.T. Huang, *Fermentations and Food Science* (Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. 6, Part 5), 2000
Joanna Waley-Cohen, *The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History*, 1999 (chapter on Qing food culture)

Serves

Prep

25m

Cook

20m

Difficulty

Easy