FOOD AND THE CHINESE
"It is not an exaggeration to say that most Chinese rich and poor alike are gourmets, at least in the sense that they really enjoy good food .
Cooking traditions in china can trace its roots and inspiration to two separate groups of people: the imperial court and the poor. The emperor's dishes which became legacies to the whole country. Such dishes might portray legends or mythical symbols in the cut and arrangement of the ingredients. But it was to feed the poor that rice became the country's staple or that bean curd was developed as the cheapest way of providing protein to one billion bellies. Rice is so basic to the diet that the word for rice, doubles for the word for food. "Have you eaten today?" is a common greeting in China.
It is remarkable that a food product that requires so much labor and attention is the mainstay of the country. This enigma is perceived in the Chinese adage, "When eating rice, remember the trouble it took to produce it." Indeed, it is considered bad manners to leave a gain in the bowl.
Classical aesthetics dictate the form and order of many eating custom. The concepts of the yin and the yang imbue the choice of food, combinations and the timing and order of each dish.
Yin and yang refer to am interplay between the dark, cool, soft and feminine form of energy with the rough, hot and masculine source of energy in the universe. Foods are classified as cool or hot, remedial or damaging.
Upon this backdrop, regional dishes, seasonings and cooking techniques developed-drawn form the products available locally and adapted by the harvested and cooked them.
If you ever visit China, it is possible that you will be the guest at a Chinese banquet. These can be long affairs and will probably entail at least 12 courses. Unlike Western meals in which several foods are combined on one plate, at a Chinese banquet you will be served one dish at a time. It is best to pace yourself, taking a little from each in the anticipation of the next and the next course. Though the Chinese rarely drink spirits to excess, the rules change at a banquet. If your hosts are Chinese, they may well press you to drink Mao-tai, a potent liquor, at the end of the meal. Glasses are hoisted with the toast, "Gang Bei!", or bottoms up! The whole glass must be downed at once.
Northern (also Beijing or shandong) Cuisine of Shandong Province, south of Beijing on the eastern seaboard, is the model for northern cooking, including Beijing's. Its dishes were common to the menus of the emperors of the Yuan (1271-1236), Ming (1368-1644), and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
In the north where wheat, not rice, is the basic grain, cooking features a variety of flour products including noodles, steamed breads, pancakes and dumplings of various sizes and fillings.
Seafood is an important part of shandong dishes, especially shark's fin, sea cucumber (though not a local product), scallops, oysters porgy and conch.
Mongolian and Muslim traditions have added the taste of mutton and seasonings are strong with the use of vinegar, garlic, coriander, leeks and salt.
Beijing has lent its name to an internationally famous dish ,"Peking Duck," a bird that has been fattened, glazed and roasted. It is eaten finely sliced, wrapped in a pancake with scallions and plum sauce.
While the reputation of the Sichuan school of cookery has a 1,000 year history, the province acquired chilies only 400 years ago from the West. Representative dishes include chicken with peanuts and hot sauce, camphor and tea-smoked duck, bang bang chicken, cold, finely sliced chicken topped with spicy sesame and ma-po bean curd which has been simmered with ginger, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, pork and chili bean paste.
Perhaps Cantonese preparation is the best known outside China. The chefs of the southernmost province, Guangdong, are considered the most skilled and inventive in the country.
Their inspiration surely comes from the abundance of produce this fertile province provides. Freshness is the byword in their kitchens where maintaining the natural flavor, texture and color of the ingredient is the goal.
The Cantonese invented stir-frying for their aim is to avoid overcooking, partly to save fuel. They are also noted for the introduction of sauces peculiar to the region including oyster sauce, plum sauce, shrimp paste.
Another regional innovation is the tradition of dim sum. Tiny snacks, frequently dumplings with various fillings, dim sum in hundreds of varieties. They are served in teahouses for lunch and breakfast.
The Cantonese are said to eat anything that moves; they relish snakes, pangolins, bears paws, weasels, rabbits, turtles, dogs and cats. Their satisfaction with these delights finds resistance in Hong Kong where resident Westerners have sentimental feelings about Rover and Kitty.
Typical dishes include crab-roe dumplings which are filled with pork, crab meat and roe, steamed Mandarin fish in vinegar sauce, "Lion's Head" meatballs flavored with crab roe, deep-fried white bait and boiled shreds of pressed bean curd.
Beggar's Chicken is a specialty of the city of Suzhou, south of Shanghai. Stuffed with pork, vegetables and spices, the chicken is cooked in clay. To serve it, the waiter breaks the brick with a hammer, liberating the chicken. Tradition has it that a beggar stole a chicken, and in order to cook it in clay and nestled it next to hot coals in a hole in the ground.
The Yangzhou kitchen technique
is noted for its exquisitely crafted arrangements and
presentations. Yangzhou chefs use stir-frying, steaming and
red-stewing a lengthy braising with soy sauce and wine and a bit
of sugar.
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