The Chinese Cusines:
People regard food as their prime want,and food safety is a top priority.
Cooking is an ancient Chinese art.Some 3,000 years ago,the Chinese people already knew how to ˇ°deliciouslyˇ± blend the five flavours:pungent,sweet,sour,bitter,and salty and today Chinese cuisine is ranked among the world's best and Chinese restaurants can be found in many countries and regions throughout the world.
Chiese cooking places great stress on the colour,fragrance,taste,fom and nutrition of the food and is very particular about cutting and temperature control.According to the rough estimates,there are more than 5,000 different local cooking styles in China.The most popular cooking styles in China are those of Sichuan,Guangdong,Shandong,and Huaiyang.
As early as the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911),some overseas Chinese opened Chinese restaurants in England and other countries and regions.Since then,Chinese cuisine has been popular the world over.
The Chinese cooking is very delicate and has a great variety.It is agreeable to different races of people all over the world.
Diet is a kind of civilization of humanity and cooking is a superb art.With the development of social productive forces,and the increase of international exchanges,the Chinese cookery art is sure to be further improved.But it is a pity that only a few books were written about the Chinese cuisine in ancient times.
Sichuan Style:
Distinct features of Sichuan Style;They prefer steaming,simmering,and smoking.The cooking is elaborate and meticulous and the flavouring highly varied and mixed.The taste of each dish is very distinct.Acommon Chinese saying about Sichuan cuisine is that each meal has its own unique taste,and no two dishes have the same flavour.
Sichuan cooking employs scores of condiments giving all the different tastes-salty,sweet,sour,hot,aromatic,pepeery or bitter,of which a prickly pepper is the climate,the chefs there lean heavily on such warmthgiving ingredients as chilli pepper,black pepper,the mild red huajiao pepper,and ginger.Of hundreds of varieties of Sichuan dishes,it is said that only 20 per cent have a hot and numbing effect on the palate.In fact,the art of Sichuan cooking emphasizes the aesthetic appeal of food.It offers everything pleasant and inviting to colour,aroma,and appearance,while flavour is the top priority.What Sichuan cuisine boasts is an abundance of flavour and diversified methods of cooking.
Guangdong Style:
Guangdong food is a representative of Guangdong foods,including all the delicacies of Guangdong,Chaozhou,Dongjiang,and Hainan.Guangdong food has absorbed some elements of Beijing,Suzhou,Yangzhou,and Hangzhou cuisine,while keeping its South China flavour,
In preparing the Guangdong cusine,dozens of varieties of ingredients are often involed and more than 30 different kinds of cooking methods employed,such as frying,grilling,stewing, simmering,deep-frying,roasting,and brasing,etc.Freshness is everything to the Guangdong cuisine.So is quick cooking,there is not much long broiling or barbecuing as in North China.Also,there is no simmering for hours with spices and herbs like in the West.
Shangdong Style:
Shandong cuisine is known for its light seasoning,and delicacy.Its chefs make a point of retaining the original flavour,freshness,crispness,and tenderness of the ingredients.Among its specialties are Sweet-sour Huanghe(Yellow River) carp,fried crisp on the outside but tender that the meat can be shaken off the bones and melts deliciously in the mouth.Chefs in the coastal cities of Qingdao and Yantai excel in the preparation of seafood.
Shangdong cuisine is also know for its soup,both the clear and milky-white kinds.One clear type,prepared with materials extracted from swallow's nests,is often the first major course at banquets.White soup made with wild rice stems or dandelion greens is famed for colour,fragrance,taste,and appearance.
Shangdong food consists of Jinan and Fushan food.Jinan food makes good use of soup seasoning,frying in deep oil and steaming.Shangdong roast chicken is especially good with wine and the chicken is tasty and tender.Tasting it is guaranteed to make the diner believe.
Huaiyang Style:
The origin of Huaiyang cuisine can be traced to pre Christian times.The clearsimmered soft-shelled turtle,a Huaiyang specialty,was listed in the famous delicacies mentioned in an ancient verse by Qu Yuan(340-278 BC),one of the greatest poets in Chinese history,Yangzhou,where Huaiyang cuisine originated,remained an important economic and salt-trading centre for more than 1,000 years,as the famous Beijing-Hangzhou Canal passed through there.The traders and men of letters from the North and South gathered there.They became patrons of the many local restaurants,which competed with each other for customers.The most important patron of the Huaiyang cuisine was Zhu Yuan Zhang(1328-1398,reigned 1368-1398),founder of the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644).Impressed by the local cuisine when he took control of Yangzhou as the leader of a peasant rebellion,Zhu Yuang Zhang designated it as the imperial court kitchen master in Nanjing,the first capital of the Ming Dynasty.
When third Ming emperor Yongle(1360-1424,reigned1403-1424) moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421,he brought the Huaiyang chefs with him.
Huaiyang specialties are lightly flavoured,whether they combine sweet-and-sour or sweet-and-salty tastes.Soy sauce and spices are mild and used sparingly,although the use of rich-flavoured broth is extensive.
