Chinese Food: Five Tastes in Harmony (1)
If we say that the goal of eating and drinking is to improve health, then the number one important element in food would be nutrition, demonstrating a scientific practicality. The Chinese focus on color, fragrance, taste and form in food, looking for refinement in food vessels and elegance of dining environment, demonstrating an artistic spirit. Hence ever since long ago, the Chinese advocated the philosophy of “five tastes in harmony.” The Chinese invented ways to adjust blended ingredients and spices for a wide variety of tastes. Revolving around the “five tastes,” which are sourness, sweetness, bitterness, pungency and saltiness, dishes can evolve into more than 500 different flavors.
Of the “five tastes,” saltiness is the principal taste. It is the most simplistic and most crucial. Salt is needed to heighten any texture in foods. Without it, any delicacy cannot emerge in its full glory. But from a health perspective, salt should not be taken in excessive quantities. Sourness is also an indispensable taste in foods, especially in the northern part of China, where water supply is heavy in minerals and strong in base. So in order to induce better digestion of food, vinegar is often used in cooking; and it could also arouse appetite. Sour taste can also neutralize fishy odor and greasiness. At banquets with strong grease and heavy meat dishes, sour dishes are usually complemented and come in many varieties. Not only are the sour tastes of plums, fruits and vinegar different from one another, just the different type of vinegar are distinguished by its production areas, different ingredients and different techniques of making, thus causing quite drastic differences in taste. Usually, the northerners uphold mature vinegar made in Shanxi as orthodox, whilst the people in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area appraise the Zhenjiang-made rice vinegar as authentic. The most typical of all places eating vinegar is the province of Shanxi. Many families there are skilled at making vinegar from crops and fruits. ITieir everyday meals are even more dependent on vinegar. A very interesting thing is that in the Chinese language, the word “vinegar” is used to represent the feelings of jealousy between men and women. Slang, such as “eat vinegar” and “vinegar jar,” are universally understood in both the north and the south. It may have to do with the sour nature of vinegar itself.
Pungency is the most stimulating and complex of the “five tastes.” Sometimes we use “pungent-hot” as one word. In actuality, pungency and hot has major differences. Hot is sense of taste, stimulating the tongue, throat and nasal cavity. Instead, pungency is not just a sense of taste as it involves sense of smell as well. Pungency is mostly obtained from ginger, while hot and spicy usually denotes the use of hot pepper or black pepper. Since hot peppers were once a foreign product, there were no mentioning of “hot” in ancient Chinese cooking, instead was generalized as pungency. Ginger not only neutralizes rank taste and odor, but can also bring out the great taste of fish and meats. So ginger is a must-have when making fish and meats. There are also principles to using hot peppers. We should not merely seek for the degree of hotness, but should rather use saltiness and natural essence of food as fundamentals, so that the hot and spicy taste comes out multi-staged, full of great aroma and not too dry. In addition, garlic, scallion, ginger and other spices can also kill bacteria, so are great for cold dishes with dressing.
Bitterness is rarely used alone in cooking, but is a valuable asset. When making simmered or braised meats, adding tangerine or orange peel, clove, almond and other seasonings with a light bitter touch can rid the meats of unpleasant taste and smell, and awaken the tastiness of the food. Traditional Chinese medicinal theories believe that bitterness is helpful for the stomach and produces saliva. Some people really enjoy bitter taste in foods, such as in the Sichuan-style “Strange Taste” type of foods, which have the bitter elements.
Sweetness has the affect to cushion the effect of other basic tastes, whereas saltiness, sourness, pungency and bitterness are all too strong, they could be remedied by sweetness. When making dishes of other tastes, sugar can improve and embellish. However, using large amounts of sugar is not recommended, as too much sugar can be nauseous. Since many spices can produce a sweet flavor and they all taste quite different, much of the culinary world hails cane sugar as the orthodox sweetness.
What is not listed in the “five tastes” but still holds important status in the culinary world is the “fresh essence” factor. “Fresh essence” is the most tempting taste in food. Most foods all contain the “essence” but it is often dormant, so making soup is often the way to awaken the taste. Chicken, pork, beef, fish and ribs can all be used as soup stock. When the unpleasant tastes and smell are eliminated during the soup-making process, the essential flavor is fully exposed by adding just a touch of salt. Essence soup not only can be enjoyed directly, but can also be used to make other plain foods taste great. Such foods include shark’s fin, sea cucumber, bird’s nest, bean curd and gluten, which all must be cooked with essence soup to achieve its mouthwatering taste. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is manmade essence. Its synthetic nature makes for it impossible to compare to naturally made essence soup. So skilled chefs often would not care to use it.
Unfinished, to be continued …………… (http://www.nicechinesefood.com/chinese-culture/chinese-food-five-tastes-in-harmony-2.html)
