Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine (Chinese:

中國菜

) originated from different regions

of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world

—

from East Asia to North America, Australasia and Western Europe.

Regional cultural differences vary greatly amongst the different regions

of China, giving rise to the different styles of food. There are eight main

regional cuisines, and they are: Anhui (Hui

徽

), Cantonese (Y

ue

粵

),

Fujian (Min

閩

), Hunan (Xiang

湘

), Jiangsu (Su

蘇

or Y

ang

揚

),

Shandong (Lu

魯

), Szechuan (Chuan

川

), Zhejiang (Zhe

浙

).

Chinese cuisine

(Traditional Chinese:

中國菜

, Simplified Chinese:

中国菜

) originated from the various regions of China and has become

widespread in many other parts of the world

—

from Asia to the

Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa. In recent

years, connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine have also sprouted in Eastern

Europe and South Asia.

Regional cultural differences vary greatly amongst the different

regions of China, giving rise to the different styles of food. There are

eight main regional cuisines, or Eight Great Traditions (

八大菜系

):

Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and

Zhejiang. Among them, Cantonese, Sichuan, Shandong, and Huaiyang

cuisine (a major style and even viewed as the representation of the entire

Jiangsu cuisine) are often considered as the standouts of Chinese cuisine

and due to their influence are proclaimed as the Four Great Traditions (

四

大菜系

). Occasionally, Beijing cuisine and Shanghai cuisine are also

cited along with the aforementioned eight regional styles as the Ten Great

Traditions (

十大菜系

). There are also featured Buddhist and Muslim

sub- cuisines within the greater Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on

vegetarian and halal- based diets respectively.

Chinese Cuisine

The vastness of China's geography and history echoes through the

polyphony of Chinese cuisine. To begin, it is best to divide Chinese

cuisine, with all the appropriate disclaimers and caveats, into that of four

major regions: the northern plains, including Beijing; the fertile east,

watered by the Yangtse River; the south, famous for the Cantonese

cooking of the Guangdong Province; and the fecund west of Szechwan

and Hunan Provinces.

Canton is, perhaps, the most famous of the food areas. Long, warm,

wet days throughout the year create the perfect environment for

cultivating most everything. The coast provides ample seafood, the

groves are filled with fruits. Cooking methods and recipes here are

sophisticated and varied. Since the local produce is so gorgeous, the

cooking highlights its freshness, relying less on loud sauces and

deep- frying.

To the mountainous west, in Szechwan and Hunan provinces,

steamy heat and spicy foods fill the restaurants. Rice grows abundantly,

as do citrus fruits, bamboo, and mushrooms. The spiciness of the food

tells of locally grown chiles and the inclinations of the local palate,

though some say the spices are used to mask the taste of foods that rot

quickly in the heat.

To the east of Hunan lies

latitude, it has the added bonus of lowlands for rice cultivation and a rich

ocean's edge for fish.

The northern region of China reaches into the hostile climate of

Mongolia -- land of the Gobi Desert and Arctic winter winds. Mongolian

influence appears in the prevalence of mutton and lamb -- many in the

region are Muslim, so pork is forbidden -- and in the nomadic simplicity

of the Mongolian fire pot. The north is not amenable to rice cultivation so,

wheat, barley, millet and soybeans are the staples; breads and noodles

anchor the meal. The vegetables and fruits -- cabbage, squash, pears,

grapes, and apples -- are like those grown in North America. Beijing is

the pearl of the region; royal haute cuisine was born and bred inside her

walls. However, the centuries and the accumulated wisdom of China's

best chefs have conspired to make imperial cuisine an incredible

achievement that belongs to all of China.

Once the meal is cooked, it is served all at once to the family, who

eat with chopsticks and drink soup with a wide spoon. The average dinner

includes a starch -- rice, noodles, bread, or pancakes -- a meat dish,

vegetable, and soup, which serves as a beverage. For formal meals and

banquets, there are many successive courses which are served in a strict

traditional order.

Guangdong Cuisine

When people mentioned Guangdong Cuisine, they can always

associate it with the traditional dishes such as sweet and sour Gulao meat,

Gravy pork with preserved potherb mustard, Roast Piglet with Crisp Skin.

Guangdong cuisine has been heavily influenced by western cooking

cultures, which is unique among the Chinese cuisines. Its raw materials,

cooking methods, and flavorings all differ from the other cuisines.

Guangdong cuisine has absorbed the cooking skills of the West as

well as that of other Chinese regions, to develop its own unique methods.

Guangdong chefs also pay much attention to the artistic presentation of

their dishes. So Guangdong cuisine became more and more popular

nowadays.

Our experts will explain the training courses step by step from

configuration of the kitchen to various kinds of cooking skills. Seafood

process, bench work, dish garnishing, stove operation, all delails are

introduced exactly in conformity with Guangdong Cuisine kitchen. Skills

of cooking material preparation, food decaration, Sauce and jam making,

steaming work, base-soup and other local snack making, are also park of

our training courses. Our master chefs will show you the original methods

of cooking pork, poultry, freshwater food, seafood and seasonal

vegetables. At the same time, we can also teach you how to manage the

kitchen well .You will receive the common menu as a present

Guangdong Cuisine(Cantonese Cuisine)

Cantonese food originates from Guangdong, the southernmost

province in China. The majority of overseas Chinese people are from

Guangdong (Canton) so Cantonese is perhaps the most widely available

Chinese regional cuisine outside of China.

Cantonese are known to have an adventurous palate, able to eat

many different kinds of meats and vegetables. In fact, people in Northern

China often say that Cantonese people will eat anything that flies except

airplanes, anything that moves on the ground except trains, and anything

that moves in the water except boats. This statement is far from the truth,

but Cantonese food is easily one of the most diverse and richest cuisines

in China. Many vegetables originate from other parts of the world. It

doesn't use much spice, bringing out the natural flavor of the vegetables

and meats.

Tasting clear, light, crisp and fresh, Guangdong cuisine, familiar to

Westerners, usually chooses raptors and beasts to produce originative

dishes. Its basic cooking techniques include roasting, stir-frying, sauteing,

deep-frying, braising, stewing and steaming. Among them steaming and

stir- frying are more commonly applied to preserve the natural flavor.

Guangdong chefs also pay much attention to the artistic presentation of

dishes.

The Characteristics of Chinese Cuisine Naming

Food varies from place to place, and from nation to nation.

Therefore, there is a regional difference in cuisine naming. This essay is

confined to the naming of the Chinese cuisine found in Beijing is the

capital of the People’s Republic of China,

it harbors people from every

corner of the country, and restaurants with every cooking style and

cuisine system in China. The naming of Chinese cuisine has its primary

motivations and secondary motivation.

The Four Categories of Chinese Cuisine

Chinese cuisine can be geographically divided into four categories:

Guangdong cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine and Sichuan

cuisine according to the book of Chinese Cuisine Culture.

Guangdong cuisine consists mainly of Guangzhou cuisine,

Chaozhou cuisine and Dongjiang cuisine along the Pearl River. As a

representative of Lingnan cooking culture, Guangdong cuisine is one of

the major families of Chinese cuisine. Therefore,

has become widely well known. Guangdong cuisine is a typical

combination of ingredients and techniques from Japan, Southeast Asia,

Middle East and Europe, etc.

Shandong cuisine is divided into Jinan, Jiaodong and Confucian

Mansion different three styles and flavors around the Yellow River. Of

which, Confucian Mansion is cooked with great care by the mansion's

master cooks in keeping with the instruction of Confucius. As a result, the

dishes are both characteristic of a learnt and sagacious family and typical

of a lordly mansion.

Jiangsu cuisine, along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River,

consists of the styles of Huaiyin-yangzhou, Suzhou-Wuxi, Nanjing and

Xuzhou-Taizhou, of which, Yangzhou is a famous cultural city with a

history of nearly two thousand five hundred years and has been a place of

men of letters since ancient times. The eating habits of men of letters

influenced and enriched Jiangsu cuisine culture.

Sichuan cuisine is produced on the upper reaches of the Yangtze

River and has a great impact on the culinary culture in southwest China.

Chinese Cuisine PK Western Food

Chinese diet is quite different from Western diet. While

Western

diet focus only on

weight loss,

Chinese

diet includes foods which treat

and bring the body into

balance

, thus improving functions of organs and

health to achieve weight loss. Another difference between these diets is

that in

western

diet foods are considered for their protein, calorie,

carbohydrate, vitamin and other

nutrient content

but in

Chinese

diet,

foods are considered according to their

energy, flavours

and their

actions

on organs of the body.

The flavour of foods

Chinese classify the different flavours in 5 categories : pungent, sweet,

sour, bitter and salty. Each of these flavours have a specific action on the

organs of the body and they have been used during many centuries to

balance and treat the body. Some foods may have more than one flavour.

It may not be easy to determine flavours of food but with their long

experience, Chinese have established a list and some of the foods found

in the different categories are listed below.

Pungent foods

Pungent foods can induce perspiration and promote energy circulation

and act on the lungs and large intestine.

Examples :

ginger, onion, peppermint, asparagus, garlic, watercress,

mustard, soybean oil, turnip, pepper, wine.

Sweet foods

Sweet foods have a soothing and moisturizing efect and act on the

stomach and spleen.

Examples :

apricot, lamb, pineapple, oat, beetroot, wheat, beef, nuts,

carrots, celery, mushroom, cabbage, cucumber, courgette, spinach, dates,

mung beans, red beans, milk, lettuce, corn, malt, honey, oranges, barley,

grapefruit, peach, pear, sweet potato, pork, chicken, grapes, rice, sugar,

tomato, wine, watermelon, butter.

Sour foods

Sour foods can obstruct the movements and are uesd in cases of diarrhea

and excessive perspiration.

Examples :

apricot, pineapple, lemon, cheese, green vegetables, letchis,

mango, olive, grapefruit, peach, pear, apple, prunes, grapes, tomato,

vinegar.

Bitter foods

Bitter foods can reduce body heat, dry body fluids and induce diarrhea

and act on the heart and small intestine.

Examples :

bitter gourd, grapefruit, lettuce, asparagus, beer, broccoli,

coffee, celery, watercress, turnip, tea, vinegar.

Salty foods

Salty foods can soften hardness and act on the kidneys and bladder.

Examples :

seaweed, kelp, duck, crab, ham, oyster, mussels, barley,

pork.

In the West, too much sweet food is one of the causes of weight gain

due to the high calorie content. However, for the Chinese, while sweet

foods are good for stomach and spleen and help for digestion, too much

may weaken these two organs of the digestive system. And also since

sweet foods have a lubricating action, they tend to produce fluid and

therefore favours weight gain.

The sweet foods mentioned here are different and has nothing to do with

foods like chocolate and sweet cakes. They have been classified as sweet

foods according to the action they perform on the body.

History of Chinese Cuisine

The Chinese culinary culture has a distant source and has been

developed for many centuries. The legend has it that the Chinese

cooking culture originated with Yi Yin, a virtuous and capable minister

of the Shang Dynasty (ca. 15th to 11th century B.C.). It can be seen that

China initiated the culinary art as early as the Shang and Zhou (ca. 11th

century to 221 B.C.) times. With the economic growth through various

periods, people have been always exploring new cooking techniques

----from brevity to variety, from rudimentary to advanced stage, from

day-to-day snacks to feasts, even to palatial dishes and delicacies.

During the period from the Spring and Autumn Period(ca. 770-476 B.C.)