CHINESE FOOD

garlic

Few cultures are as passionately devoted to food as the Chinese, and two ingredients that are integral to Asian cooking are garlic and ginger. The unique tang of fresh ginger is used in everything from stews to stir-fried dishes, while the pungent flavor of garlic is featured in meals throughout China.

A Brief History of Garlic and Ginger

Despite their important role in Chinese cuisine, neither plant is exclusive to Asia. Both garlic and ginger contributed to the diet of several ancient cultures. Of the two, garlic has always laid a greater claim on our imagination, probably because of the widespread belief in its curative powers. Exhausted Egyptian slaves were fed garlic to help them summon up enough energy to continue building the pyramids. The Romans swore by it, feeding it to their gladiators before battles. Medieval banquets included garlic, and there is some evidence that it provided protection against the plague. More recently, scientific researchers have credited garlic with the ability to cure everything from high blood pressure to diabetes.

ginger

Garlic also rates a mention in several literary classics, including Shi-ching (the Book of Songs), a Chinese classic compiled by Confucius that features the work of poets from approximately the 12th through to the 7th century BC. Then there’s the honored place garlic holds in legend and mythology, the most notorious being the belief that a wreath of garlic renders you safe from blood-deprived vampires.

While not as universally renowned, ginger also has its fans. The Egyptian diet included both garlic and ginger, and the same can be said for the Romans. Marco Polo mentions ginger when writing about the wealth of spices he found during his travels along China’s famous silk route. And no less a royal personage than Queen Elizabeth I has been credited with inventing the gingerbread man.

It is difficult to trace the origins of garlic, which is a member of the same family as the onion. Some experts believe it originated in Russia’s Siberian desert and then spread throughout Asia, the Mediterranean and finally Europe. But whatever its birthplace, the Chinese were using garlic by 3,000 BC. As for ginger, experts say it is probably native to southeast Asia – certainly the Chinese have been aware of ginger since ancient times.

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Cooking Tips Garlic, Ginger, seasoning

Knobbly and light brown, ginger root is used widely in Chinese food for its sharp, peppery, spicy, slightly sweet flavor and is especially good with fish as a “de-fisher”. Ginger, when used in cooking is sliced into 1/16 inch slices. The slices are usually not eaten. When used for dipping together with vinegar, it is in fine shreds or fine dots and as much of it as will stick to the dipping piece will be eaten. Fresh ginger is peeled before using. The younger, less pungent ginger is best used in stir fried or steamed dishes while the harsher peppery mature ginger is good for braised dishes. It can be obtained from many supermarkets and Asian markets and is best kept in the refrigerator vegetable compartment, tightly wrapped in a paper towel placed inside a plastic bag.

1) Cut off a piece of ginger to the length desired, then peel it using the back end of a knife or peeler. You can also use a spoon to easily scrap the skin.

2) Slice the ginger along the length into 1/16 inch thick slices

3) Turn these slices so that they are stacked up on each other. Slice them again along the length into 1/16 inch matchsticks. This is called cutting in julienne.

4) Hold all of these sticks together and cut them into tiny cubes of ginger. This method of cutting is called brunoise.

Cooking Tips cooking tips, Ginger