RINGING out the old year and ringing in the new is a time of tradition, and Chinese people mark the occasion with a Lunar New Year's Eve dinner.

Though the items on menus and recipes vary from one place to another, some principles are constant - providing "the best foods" and "foods representing fortune for next year."

In Hangzhou, with its rich history and traditions, locals have handed down New Year recipes from generation to generation. Their tastiness and associations with fortune ensure these never go out of date.

As Lunar New year approaches, Shanghai Daily looks at some traditional Hangzhou dishes, starting with cold dishes and desserts today, followed by main courses and other hot dishes next Thursday.

Shrimp-and-fish Sauce Chicken

This dish's savoriness combines the umami of shrimp, fish and chicken with rice wine, a main ingredient in the sauce.

Since old times, this has been a typical winter dish in Hangzhou and other cities in Zhejiang Province. The shrimp-and-fish sauce helps preserve the food and retains its freshness.

"In the past, meat was precious, so people figured out ways to keep it fresh longer," explains Chen Huaqiang, a local chef of 30 years' experience.

Fish sauce is popular in many coastal areas of East Asia. In Zhejiang Province, people make it from shrimps, fish and sometimes crabs.

But this is not the finished seasoning for the dish. The sauce should then be boiled with chicken soup and rice wine, mixing the flavor, extracting the aroma of wine and sterilizing the liquid. The ratio between chicken soup and rice wine is one to one. The proportion of sauce depends on how salty you want it be.

The final step is easy. When the liquid is cool, pour it into an airtight container, add chopped and boiled chicken - ensuring it is covered by liquid, then put on the lid and leave it in the fridge.

After a week, it's time to open the container and take the chicken out. The fishy flavor and alcohol fragrance should infuse the tender, juicy chicken meat. However, the smell is strong because the sauce only briefly fermented and has a pronounced fishy taste. Longer fermentation reduces this and gives the food a nuttier, richer and more savory flavor.

So if you cannot stand the fishy smell, skip the sauce and just use chicken soup and rice wine to make the juice. The taste remains great but the smell is more fragrant.

Tips: Shrimp-and-fish sauce is also available at supermarkets. Remember to cover the lid of the container again if you don't finish the meat in one sitting.

Soy Sauce Duck

Jiang ya (?′??), literally meaning soy sauce duck, is a traditional Hangzhou delicacy, especially in winter. Many people make the dish at this time of year as it keeps better in low temperatures.

In past times, every household in the city made soy sauce duck. Then they just cut pieces from the carcass and steamed it - a great dish for winter meals. Therefore, it is a typical cold dish on Lunar New Year's Eve dinner table, the perfect accompaniment to alcohol when toasting the year ahead.

The duck tastes salty and chewy, the skin is a bit greasy, perfectly balancing the meat texture. And to top it all off, jiang ya has a mouth-watering soy sauce and duck aroma.

The authentic way of making Hangzhou soy sauce duck is to marinate the duck in soy sauce, to which can be added pepper, ginger, rice wine and other seasonings. The entire duck should be submerged in the sauce, and the container covered to keep out air and bacteria.

After three or four days, by which time the bird has fully absorbed the sauce, it's time to hang the duck outdoors to dry in the sun and air for about a week.

When served, locals slice and steam it, and it can be eat hot or cold. The surface of the duck skin should be dark and glossy, the grease should be transparent red and the lean meat dark red with texture.

No one takes a big bite of soy sauce duck, because, firstly, it's salty and secondly, the meat's on the bone.

So eating is a slow ritual: it starts with carefully nibbling at the skin and meat on the bone, ripping the meat from the bone; then diners chew on the al dente skin, tough meat and dried transparent grease between the skin and meat, all of which have a strong sauce fragrance.

Not only ducks are prepared in this way. Pork and fish also feature on Hangzhou natives' jiang huo - soy sauce food - list.

Tips: Jiang huo can also be steamed with bamboo shoots, or served in soup. In supermarkets, different jiang huo are available.

Sugar Rice Cake

Rice Cake, nian gao (?ê?a) in Chinese, is a rather ordinary food today all over the country. But in the past it was a delicacy that only appeared in winter, especially during Lunar New Year. This is how it got its name nian gao - literally meaning year cake.

The name also sounds like the words for year-by-year promotion at work and progress in life.

Traditionally, nian gao was a dainty winter treat. After harvest in autumn, farmers made surplus rice into cakes, adding diversity to food on their table.

Rice cake is not made from standard rice, but glutinous rice - nuo mi.

The method for making it is called da nian gao - hitting rice cake - because cooked hot glutinous rice is pounded or ground into a paste which then, depending on the variety, may simply be molded into shape.

The process itself is quite impressive. Two strong men wielding large mallets pound rice in a large container with alternate strokes, marking each by yelling "hey" or "hah." And though it's winter, it's hot work, so they are often stripped to the waist.

The rice granules gradually become stuck to each other, and then turn into a white glutinous paste. Afterwards the paste is molded and cut, often shaped by hand into animal shapes for kids.

In some rural areas around Hangzhou da nian gao continues as a New Year tradition. And while their city cousins rarely make their own cakes from scratch, they do insist on having the food as a dessert for Lunar New Year's Eve dinner, due to its auspicious meaning.

Rice cake is versatile: it can be steamed, sauteed, fried, served in soup, and made sweet, salty, or simply keep its original lightly sweet taste without any seasoning.

Hangzhou locals prefer to make dessert in two simple ways: steam rice cake slices and top with sugar; or fry slices in shallow oil until gold, and again top with sugar - osmanthus sugar is better.

Tips: Buy glutinous rice cake in markets. Soak the rice cake in water for at least one night, so that it is soft for cooking. For steaming, use pieces 1 centimeter thick; for frying opt for 0.5-centimeter thick slices.