One word to describe Chinese cuisine in general is ‘dainty.’ Each region of China boasts its own unique style of cooking and the Chinese themselves can seem obsessed with eating. The four major regional styles are Cantonese, Sichuanese, Northern and Eastern, but each individual region has its own speciality.
Chengdu is famous for its spicy tofu; chefs in eastern Guangdong make salt-baked chicken; Qufu is known for its boiled scorpions; Beijing is, if course, famous for its Beijing (Peking) Duck; butter tea is a well-known Tibetan speciality; in Guangzhou, you will find breakfasts of dim sum; and the northwest is known for its mutton soup and noodles. Vendors on street vorners are often to be found selling snacks such as soups, buns, noodle dishes, as well as dumplings stuffed with meat or vegetables. Most restaurants in China are noisy and hot places; eating is a social and shared event; and noodles and plain buns are preferred in the north, despite the Western perception that everyone in China eats rice.
The long history of China can actually be traced back by looking at the development of its cuisines. New recipes were created with each new dynasty, until the Qing dynasty, when the art of food preparation was at its highest level. The best of Man and Han cooking is represented by a dish called Man Han Quan Xi, involving numerous dishes, all of them having a distinct flavour. For a comprehensive experience of Chinese cooking down the centuries, using different utensils and offering various tastes, you can’t go wrong with this dish.
Chinese cooking is about more than simply food. It is a mixture of things such as taste, colour, shape and more. Skills are passed down through the generations and chefs learn to pick the choicest ingredients for their dishes as they seek ultimate perfection. Among the methods they use to cook are boiling, crisping, baking, frying and simmering. Presentation is all-important, and how the food looks and smells is of utmost importance to the Chinese chef. Chopsticks, the skill needed to use them learnt from an early age, are a part of the whole experience, with presentation of dishes having been developed around the use of these two simple sticks.
Like any other type of cuisine, Chinese food can suit any occasion, from weddings and banquets to simple family meals. A good chef can cater for any and all of these.
The Four Flavours and Eight Cuisines have developed from the diversity of geography and climate, as well as things such as costumes and local produce. A local chef can use one vegetable or fruit, for example, to rustle up dozens of different dishes. The ethnic minorities each have their own cuisines, as well as, of course, the Han majority. Many of the dishes’ origins have been lost in time, and many are the product of local philosophy and tastes.
The Eight Cuisines are the most famous styles out of the many hundreds of different types of Chinese cooking. These are: Sichuan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Anhui and Hunan cuisines. The style of each type of cooking is determined by such factors as climate, geography, lifestyles and resources. Some styles can be very different from one another, despite the regions they come from being geographically close. It is this distinctiveness which makes Chinese cooking so diverse and interesting.
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