What Makes Chinese Cooking Unique
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Transcript of What Makes Chinese Cooking Unique
What Makes
Chinese Cooking
Unique
PENG YOU CHINA KITCHEN AND BAR
Address: Gasworks Plaza, 76 Skyring Tce, Newstead, Queensland, 4006 Contact Number: (07) 3257 7225
E-mail: [email protected]
The Chinese culture has a deep affection for food. Every
celebration has a set of menu that must be followed.
Every dish served contains deep meaning and a spiritual
purpose. Each ingredient – vegetable, spice, meat – hold
meaning. Every method is calculated to get balance
cooking and retaining nutrients. This makes Chinese
cookery distinct from other cuisine, which only plays on
the taste buds.
Basic Ingredients
Chinese cooking is the manipulation of these
ingredients. The process also has something to do with
the ts’ai and fan balancing. Ts’ai refers to the meat and
vegetable while fan encompasses the starch content of the meal. The Chinese try
to place them together in a plate, but never really mix them together to create
as one. On the other hand, they manage to combine these ingredients and
actually come up with varying tastes.
Here are some of the staples in Chinese dishes:
1. Rice means increasing prosperity.
2. Legumes may mean coins and prosperity.
Seeds may mean fertility in women.
3. Garlic symbolizes eternity.
4. Bamboo shoots are a sign of wealth.
5. Citrus fruits mean luck, wealth and
abundance.
6. Noodles are a symbol for longevity.
7. Fish is for prosperity and abundance.
8. Egg is for fertility.
9. Duck is a symbolism of phoenix and dragon, which means
strength, unity, and good marriage.
Cooking Methods
The Chinese cooking system is at best described as
simple. The aim is to make raw food edible without
missing so much time. This is why the favorite Chinese
take-outs are comparable to fast food when it comes to
speed. Here are some simple methods of traditional
Chinese cooking:
1. Stir-frying is
a quick way of
cooking small batches of thinly
sliced vegetable and meat often
with rice. It involves a wok, high
heat, and continuous tossing.
2. Steaming is the method for making dim sum, buns, fish and
meat.
3. Braising is browning food and then simmering it in a small
amount of liquid seasoning.
4. Hong-shao creates the richest, reddish-brown color in meat
dishes. Hong-shao literally means red-cooked.
5. Roasting is a universal cooking method that creates a
favorite dish – the roasted Peking duck.
The Chinese has a saying when it comes to
food: “waste not, want not”. This makes
perfect sense when one realizes that
everything in a Chinese meal is well
planned and well put.
Resources:
http://peng-you.com.au/
http://thewoksoflife.com/how-to/cooking-methods-used-in-
chinese-cuisine/
http://www.globaled.org/issues/149/f.html