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Chinese
food can be roughly divided into the Northern and Southern styles of
cooking. In general, Northern dishes are oily without being cloying
and the flavours of vinegar and garlic tend to be more pronounced.
Pasta also
plays an important role in Northern cooking; noodles, ravioli-like
dumplings, steamed stuffed buns, fried meat dumplings, and steamed
bread are the favoured flour-based treats. The cooking styles of
Peking, Tientsin, and Shantung are probably the best known styles of
Northern Chinese cuisine. An elaborate, stuffed chicken symbolizes
the Chinese wish for plenitude and satisfaction. Representative of
the Southern cooking styles are: Szechwan and Hunan cuisine which are
famous for their liberal use of chilli peppers; the Kiangsu and
Chekiang styles which emphasize freshness and tenderness; and
Cantonese food which tends to be somewhat sweet and full of variety.
Rice and rice products such as rice noodles, rice cakes, and rice
congee are the usual accompaniments to Southern style cooking.
In Chinese
cooking, colour, aroma, and flavour share equal importance in the
preparation of each dish, thereby satisfying the gustatory,
olfactory, and visual senses. Any one entree will combine three to
five colours, selected from ingredients that are light green, dark
green, red, yellow, white, black, or caramel-coloured. Usually a meat
and vegetable dish is prepared from one main ingredient and two to
three secondary ingredients of contrasting colours. It is then cooked
with the appropriate method, seasonings, and sauces to result in an
aesthetically attractive dish. The primary methods of preparation
include stir-frying, stewing, steaming, deep-frying, flash-frying,
and pan-frying. A dish with a fragrant aroma will whet the appetite.
Among many others, some ingredients that contribute to a mouth-watering
aroma are scallions, fresh ginger root, garlic, chilli peppers,
wine, star anise, stick cinnamon, pepper, sesame oil, and dried black
Chinese mushrooms. Of utmost importance in cooking any dish is
preserving the fresh, natural flavour of the ingredients and removing
any undesirable fish or game odours. In Western cooking, lemon is
often used to remove smells of fish; in Chinese cooking, scallions
and ginger serve a similar function. Soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and
other seasonings add richness to a dish without covering up the
natural flavour of the ingredients. A well-prepared dish will be rich
to those who like strong flavours, not over-spiced to those who like
a blander taste, sweet to those who like a sweet flavour, and hot to
those who like a piquancy. A dish that is all of these things to all
of these people is a truly successful one.
Northern
Cuisine: Beijing, which has developed from the Shandong school, is
famous for Peking Duck, which is roasted in a special way, and eaten
in a thin pancake with cucumber and a sweet plum sauce. Another
speciality of the North of China is Mongolian Hotpot, which is a
Chinese version of fondue. It is eaten in a communal style and
consists of a central simmering soup in a special large round pot
into which is dipped a variety of uncooked meats and vegetables,
which are cooked on the spot. A cheap and delicious local dish is
shuijiao, which is pasta-like dough wrapped round pork meat, chives
and onions, similar in idea to Italian ravioli. These can be bought
by the jin (pound) in street markets and small eating houses, and are
a good filler if you are out all day and do not feel like a large
restaurant dinner. It should, however, be noted that in the interests
of hygiene, it is best to take your own chopsticks.
Southern
Cuisine: Guangdong (Cantonese) food is famous for being the most
exotic in China. The food markets in Guangzhou are a testimony to
this, and the Western visitor is often shocked by the enormous
variety of rare and exotic animals that are used in the cuisine,
including snake, dog, turtle and wildcat.
Eastern Cuisine:
Shanghai and Zhejiang cooking is rich and sweet, often pickled. Noted
for seafood, hot and sour soup, noodles and vegetables.
Western Cuisine:
Sichuan and Hunan food is spicy, often sour and peppery, with
specialities such as diced chicken stirred with soy sauce and
peanuts, and spicy doufu (beancurd).
One of the
best-known national drinks is maotai, a fiery spirit distilled from
rice wine. Local beers are of good quality, notably Qingdao, which is
similar to German lager. There are now some decent wines, which are
produced mainly for tourists and export.
Chinese food
is as varied and regional as that of any large land mass and the
standard menus we see in UK are not representative of the range and complexity.
Popular
regions are :
* Northwestern
Chinese cuisine
* Mandarin cuisine
* Jiang-Huai cuisine
* Northeastern
Chinese cuisine
* Cantonese
cuisine (Guangdong province)
* Chiuchow
cuisine (Chaozhou region, Guangdong)
* Hakka
cuisine (Hakka ethnic group)
* Hunan cuisine
* Shanghai cuisine
* Sichuan cuisine
* Fujian cuisine
* Yunnan cuisine
* Hainan cuisine
American
Chinese cuisine is a unique style of cooking served by Chinese
restaurants in the United States. This new type of cooking was
created for Western tastes, but Westerners exposed only to this
variety may not realize that it differs from the cuisine of China.
Some restaurants advertise their status by writing "Western
food* on their signs in Chinese, or by using the term
Chinese-American in their signage. It alerts those who seek more
traditional dishes, while still attracting those who are either
unable to read Chinese or are looking for westernized fare. Canadian
Chinese cuisine is quite similar to American Chinese cuisine.
In the 19th
century, Chinese restaurateurs developed American Chinese cuisine
when they modified their food for American tastes. First catering to
railroad workers, they opened restaurants in towns where Chinese food
was completely unknown. These restaurant workers adapted to using
local ingredients and catered to their customer's tastes, in the
process inventing numerous new dishes such as chop suey. As a result,
they developed a style of Chinese food never seen in China.
These
"chop suey houses* are now increasingly rare, as modern Chinese
restaurants in the United States are now more likely to be run by
more recently immigrated generations of Chinese. The influx of
immigrants in the late 20th century disdained the Americanized
dishes, preferring more traditional Chinese food. More authentic
classical Chinese cuisine now dominates major cities with large
Chinese populations like San Francisco and New York.
Modern
American Chinese cuisine targeting non-Chinese customers, found in
especially in places with few Chinese Americans, typically offers
cuisine adopted from traditional Chinese dishes to suit American
tastes, along with classic staples of Chinese American cuisine, such
as fortune cookies. One finds this type of Americanized cuisine in
"mom and pop* restaurants, "tourist trap* diners, and small
town restaurants. Panda Express and Manchu WOK are popular franchise
restaurants that offer Westernized dishes in shopping malls.
American
Chinese food treats vegetables as garnish while authentic styles
emphasize vegetables. Authentic Chinese cuisine makes frequent use of
Asian leafy vegetables like bok choy and gai-lan, and puts a greater
emphasis on seafood. American Chinese food is usually less pungent
than authentic cuisine.
American
Chinese food tends to be cooked very quickly with lots of oil and
salt. Many dishes are quickly and easily prepared, and require
inexpensive ingredients. Stir-frying, pan-frying, and deep-frying
tend to be the most common cooking techniques which are all easily
done using a wok. The food also has a reputation for high levels of
MSG to enhance the flavour; the symptoms of MSG sensitivity have been
dubbed "Chinese restaurant syndrome* or "Chinese food
syndrome". While there is heated scientific debate over whether
or not MSG is harmful, market forces and customer demand have
encouraged many restaurants to offer "MSG Free* or "No MSG* menus.
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