According to one of Hong Kong’s leading food writers and connoisseurs, Willie Mark, Hong Kong is “the uncontested capital of Chinese gastronomy.” Few visitors who have sampled its vast culinary riches would disagree with Willie. Hong Kong’s outstanding chefs in all the four major schools of Chinese cuisine (Canton, Peking, Sichuan and Shanghai) have redefined classic recipes and cooking techniques.
The question that nags lovers of Chinese food is: “Can I create some of these tasty, savory dishes at home?” The answer is: “Very easily, with a little practice.” Once a Western kitchen has been stocked with a few key ingredients, a few basic utensils and an apprentice cook’s enthusiasm, it can produce a multi-course meal for half-a-dozen guests at 30 minutes’ notice ? the true test of a competent Chinese housewife!
Simplicity is best
The goal is to create the correct balance of flavors and textures in each platter, and throughout the whole meal. Practice definitely makes for Chinese culinary perfection. Start out simply, one course at a time, using any of the better-known Chinese cookery books designed for non-Chinese readers. Just remember that most Chinese dishes, with the exception of Imperial Banquet specialties, are meant to be simple.
All home-style dishes were meant to be quickly whipped up in a wok ?a large, saucer-shaped, metallic cooking pot. Most standard a la carte restaurant dishes are also speedy, simple affairs. That is partly because freshness and natural tastes are considered fundamental to Chinese cooking. The short cooking time also reflects the fact that few diners outside the Imperial Court had time to sit around and wait for cooks to concoct elaborate culinary conceits.
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Chinese cuisines shine at mixing and blending of flavors. This is not only aided by superior culinary techniques that can mix natural flavoring, but also with the help of a whole line-up of seasoning. Aside from salt, vinegar, sugar and essence soups, which are representative seasoning, pastes, soy sauce, wine, and stinky tofu are all commonly used seasoning in Chinese cooking.
Paste made from the fermentation of beans was regarded highly in ancient China. Once it was the food for the upper class. When treating guests at banquets, bean-sauces must be served, since each kind of meat has its matching paste. Experienced eaters will know the kind of great food to be served just by seeing the type of paste. In time, pastes became important seasoning, from which a whole series of seasonings were developed, including soy sauce, bean-paste, black fermented beans and more. Pastes made from beans are very much a Chinese specialty sauce. It holds an important place in Chinese culinary history, or even the culinary timeline of the entire world.
Using wine for the blending of taste is also a great invention of Chinese cooking. Wine not only kills the rank stench of fish and meats, it can also produce a real appetizing aroma. When making stir-fries, adding a little cooking wine can bring out the delicious aroma of the food within the evaporating wine; the texture of the food is melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
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Chinese food culture Chinese food culture
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.
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Ingredients
350 g fresh milk
120 g watery milk
1 T agar
4 T granulated sugar
2 T malt sugar
2 egg white
1 t granulated sugar
1 t lemonade
coconut powder as needed
chocolate powder as needed
Methods
1. Boil mixed fresh milk and watery milk, add mixed agar and granulated sugar, stir quickly (fig.1), and add malt sugar to cook until melt, switch off heat.
2. Well beat egg white (fig. 2), add granulated sugar and lemonade to beat until it get thicker (moist and bubbly).
3. Pour method 2 into method 1, use a spatula to stir well then pour into mold. Top with coconut powder (fig. 3), let cool and refrigerate. Cut into small pieces and sprinkle some chocolate powder. Serve.
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Cool Dessert Cake, Characteristics Snacks, Cool Dessert
Ingredients
1/2 C sago, sugar as needed, 400 g coconut milk, 4 T sugar, 1T Jilly-T
Methods
1 Boil 60% pot of water, add sago to cook for 10 minutes (fig. 1), switch off heat and smolder with lid for 5 minutes. Remove and drain, put into a container then add some sugar to stir well (fig. 2).
2 Boil coconut milk, add mixed sugar and Jilli-T quickly to stir well until melt. Remove from heat and add method 1 to mix well.
3 Pour method 2 into mold (fig. 3), let cool until set, refrigerate and serve.
Tips:
Cooked sago is trsparent, tastes elastic but flavorless, stirring with sugar or soaking in juice wiil make its taste better.
1C (cup)=150ml; 1T (Table Spoon)=15ml; 1t(tea spoon)=5ml, 1/2t(tea spoon)=2.5ml, 1/4t(tea spoon)=1.2ml
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Cool Dessert Cool Dessert, Pudding
