Advice On Chinese Food / Chinese Cooking

by Asahd2

posted on 09/24/2009

The average cook may experiment with cooking stir fry vegetables but would much rather order Chinese food from the local restaurant. Chinese food is available at your local restaurant has been Americanized and hardly resembles true Chinese cooking. In fact, you would most likely have to make General Tsao's chicken yourself if you moved to China because it doesn't exist there.

China is a vast region and therefore there are many different styles of cooking. The style of cooking found in North America is that of Southern China. This is the region where immigrants to America came from. They are the ones who first opened restaurants here.

The cooking from Southern China can be described as subtle as it does not rely on a lot of spices or garlic. Also they prefer to have food undercooked compared to the rest of Chinese cooking. You will see the food when finished has retained its original color.

In Northern China it is a colder climate and rice does not grow. Therefore rice is not a staple, however, wheat is. Pancakes and dumplings are popular in Northern Chinese cooking. Northern cooking is more influenced by Muslims and by meat. Northern cooks had less access to seafood so they relied heavily on livestock. It is also believed that Peking Duck originated in Northern China.

Western China is landlocked and is known for the Chinese style of cooking called Szechuan. Pork is very much a staple. Szechuan cooking is known for its spiciness. In contrast to the Cantonese cooking of the South, Szechuan cooking uses lots of garlic, hot peppers and ginger. Fish is also used frequently but it is caught from lakes and rivers, not the sea.

The way I cook Chinese food is by making it mine. Not really different from any other recipe or flavor that I have experimented with and made mine. I like my home made Chinese food more of a hybrid. I use garlic in whatever food I prepare. I like fish and rarely use red meat unless its organic. Spicy chilies and ginger are also a part of all the Chinese food I prepare.

I don't like my vegetables undercooked, however I like them to retain their color and crunch. I either steam them or I parboil and shock them to retain the color and finishing the cooking later. If you feel the flavor of garlic or ginger is too strong for your palate, get a micro plane and use that to make sort of a paste of the garlic or ginger. It makes the taste milder, however maintains the nutrients. I would suggest investing in a real wok and bamboo steamer if you intend to make Chinese cooking at home a part of your normal repertoire. For great recipes check out the chef pictured below, Martin Yan (http://www.yancancook.com/)

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