FOOD PRODUCTION

Presentation On Chinese Cuisine

Umesh Pyaqrel

CONTENTSIntroduction of chinaIntroduction Of Chinese cuisineFeature of Chinese CuisineCooking MethodsRegional Cuisine of chinaStaple Foods Of Chinese cuisineEquipment and Utensils

The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes 73° and 135° EChina is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia and its total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km2 It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a single-party state governed by theCommunist Party of China, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing.

INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE CUISINE

Chinese cuisine includes styles originating from the diverse regions of China, as well as from Chinese people in other parts of the world.

The history of Chinese cuisine in China stretches back for thousands of years and has changed from period to period and in each region according to climate, imperial fashions, and local preferences.

IT is believed that Chinese were already experimenting with fancy cooking, regarding their recipes on silk and bamboo, before thousand years of Christ's birth

Chinese Culture is the oldest civilization of in the world and believed to be first discoverers of fire in the unrecorded history

Features of Chinese CuisineChinese cuisine, rich and colorful, has, as its main features diversified color, aromatic flavor, and excellent taste. To make real Chinese dishes, none of the three characteristics - color, aroma and delicious taste should be excluded

Diversified Colors: Chinese food preparation has paid attention to aesthetic appearance. To have a bright, pleased and harmonious color is one of the main principles when cooking dishes. Two or three ingredients with different colors are added as decoration to complement the main ingredient.

Aromatic Flavor: Usually aniseed, Chinese cinnamon and other spices are added to help dispel the ingredients' particular smells, such as foul, fishy and mutton smells. Also some other flavors like shallot, ginger, garlic or chili, cooking wine and sesame oil are added to make the dishes fragrant in flavor.

Excellent Taste: Taste can be divided into five classes - sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty in Chinese cuisine. Seasoning such as soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and salt in proper amount and in different sequences, contribute to the taste of the dish. Those in southern China like to add more sugar when cooking.

TEXTURE: Texture is another very important feature of Chinese cuisine.A dish may have just one or several contrasting textures such as tenderness, crispiness, crunchiness, smoothness and softness.Texture to be avoided are sogginess, stringiness and hardness

Cooking Method

Chinese divide the temperature of heat into ‘Military’(High, fierce heat and medium) and ‘CIVIL’(low gentle and weak) heat.

High or fierce Heat: Usually used for quick cooking of crisp and tender foods. Different types of frying , steaming and instant boiling etc

Medium or moderate Heat: can be used for quick-Braising, stewing and boiling.

Low or gentle heat: Used for slow cooking, allowing the flavors to penetrate through all the ingredients such as roasting and simmering

Weak heat: Used for Long cooking, turning hard ingredients to soft ones such as braising.

Following are some commonly used methods in Chinese cuisine

1. Chuan-Quick or rapid boiling: This simple method is used for making soups. Bring water or stock to Boil over high heat, add the ingredients

and seasonings as soon as the soup reboils.

2.Shaun-Instant Boiling or rinsing Thinly sliced ingredients are dipped into boiling water for a

second or two then served with a dip sauce Keeps ingredients fresh and tender.

3.Ao-stewing or braising: Flavor a little hot oil with spring onion and ginger root, then stir

fry ingredients for a short time. Add stock and seasonings and simmer over low heat. Food will

be soft and tender.

4.HUI-Braising:Method of cooking a dish that contains several ingredients.Stir fry the ingredients first, add water and seasonings. Boil over high heat for short while then thicken the gravy with diluted corn water before serving

5.Ban-Mixing salads: This method doesn’t actually involve cooking, but simply calls for cutting the raw or cooked ingredients and dressing it with seasonings.

6.Giang-Hot salads: Here the raw ingredients are par boiled or blanched first then dressed with seasonings. Difference between cold salad and hot salad dressing are as follows:Cold salad dressing: soya sauce, Vinegar and sesame seed oilHot salad dressing: Ginger shreds, Sichuan peppercorns, salt sugar and sesame seed oil.

7.YAN-Pickling: Pickle the food with salt and sugar or with salt and wine. Dishes prepared in this way have a subtle fragrance and crispiness

8.JIAN-shallow frying: A flat bottomed pan is used with little oil and medium or low heat. Seasonings are added when food is half done. The pan should be turned from time to time during cooking so that the heat is evenly distributed

9. Ta-Pan-Frying: Ingredients are coated with batter and fried in a small amount of oil on both sides over a low heat until down. Ingredients maybe deep-fried first and then finished off by pan frying. Seasonings an d sauce are added towards the end of cooking

REGIONAL CUISINE OF CHINAA number of different styles contribute to Chinese cuisine .These styles are distinctive from one another due to factors such as availability of resources, climate geography history cooking techniques and lifestyle.

One style may favor the use of lots of garlic and shallots over lots of chili and spices, while another may favor seafood over the use of meats but perhaps the best known and most influential are:

Shantung CuisineSichuan cuisineCantonese cuisinePeking Cuisine

Shantung Cuisine: This cuisine is from eastern region of china. Wide variety of fruit, vegetables and fish is used with light and delicate seasoning.Foods are stir fried and Steamed Mostly. Soy sauce from this area is considered best in chinaFamous dishes is El carp( fresh fish braised in a delicate soy sauce based sauce with vinegar, sugar, rice, wine and ginger

PEKING CUISINE: This cuisine is from northern region of china(BEJING). Noodles, pancakes and dumplings are famous from this region as wheat and corn is produced instead of rice. Many foods are preserved with less use of meat and excessive use of garlic, onions, leeks and sesame seedsLA-MEIN is a famous dish which is a hand made noodles cooked in a soup or braised in sauce and served with shredded Chinese mushroom and minced pork.

Sichuan Cuisine : This cuisine is from western region of china.Sichuan cuisine has strong flavorings and hot species like red chilies, pepper corns, ginger.Different fruits vegetables , meat, are also used . Sichuan chicken is a famous dish of this region

CANTONESE CUISINE: This cuisine comes from southern part of the country. Foods are not overcooked and less use of garlic is done.Sweet and sour dishes and dim sums are best preferred.Stir fry and steaming are the most common methods of cooking.Famous dishes are Dim sums which are minced prawns, minced pork and vegetables wrapped in thin flour based skins and steamed, fried or deep fried.

STAPLE FOODS OF CHINESE CUISINE

RICENOODLESSOYABEANWHEATVEGETABLES

RICERice is a major staple food for people from rice farming areas in southern China. Steamed rice usually white rice, is the most commonly eaten form. Rice is also used to produce beers wines and vinegars. Rice is one of the most popular foods in China and is used in many dishes. Glutinous rice ("sticky rice") is a variety of rice used in many specialty Chinese dishes.

SOYABEANTofu is made of soybeans and is another popular food product that supplies protein. Other products such as soy milk soy paste, soy oil, and fermented soy sauce are also important in Chinese cooking

NOODLESChinese noodles come dry or fresh in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures and are often served in soups or fried as toppings. Some varieties, such as Shou Mian (literally noodles of longevity), are symbolic of long life and good health according to Chinese tradition. Noodles can be served hot or cold with different toppings, with broth, and occasionally dry (as is the case with mi-fun). Noodles are commonly made with rice flour or wheat flour, but other flours such as soybean are also used.

WHEATIn wheat-farming areas in Northern China people largely rely on flour-based food, such as noodles, breads jiaozi(a kind of Chinese dumplings, and mantou (a type of steamed buns)

VEGETABLESome common vegetables used in Chinese cuisine include Chinese leaves ,bok choy (Chinese cabbage), Chinese spinach (dao-mieu), on choy, yu choy, bitter melon and Chinese broccoli or gailan (guy-lahn). Other vegetables include bean sprouts ,pea vine tips, watercress, celery, carrots, fresh mustard greens, and (Western)broccoli.A variety of dried or pickled vegetables are also eaten, especially in drier or colder regions where fresh vegetables traditionally were hard to get out of season.

HERBS AND SEASONINGSSpices and seasonings such as fresh ginger root, garlic, scallion, white pepper, and sesame oil Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cilantro, parsley, and cloves are used widely. To add extra flavors to dishes, many Chinese cuisines also contain dried Chinese mushrooms, dried baby shrimps, dried tangerine peel and dried Sichuan chilies.

When it comes to sauces, China is home to soy sauce, which is made from fermented soy beans and wheat. Oyster sauce, clear rice vinegar, chili, Chinkiang black rice vinegar, fish sauce and fermented tofu are also widely used. A number of sauces are also based on fermented soybeans, including Hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce and yellow bean sauce.

Equipments and Utensils

Chinese cuisine consist of Very few equipments. To start with only four most are essential in order to cook Chinese cuisine i.e. Cleaver, block, wok and Stirrer

Sieves, Strainer, casserole, steamer etc are other equipments used in Western Version of the cuisine.

Chopstick is used for Eating as well as for cooking PurposesChinese cooking Utensils are made of basic inexpensive materials and are made up of ancient design