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By Vitra Boozer
Recently, I was given an introduction to local Chinese cooking. The chef effortlessly danced back and forth throwing things into the wok over very high heat. The most time consuming part was preparing the vegetables and meats, which were cut into bite sized pieces. Hence the reason a cutting board and chopper are an essential part of any Asian kitchen. However, the star utensil is the wok. Its design allows food to be cooked at high temperatures without burning, and the more it is used the better “seasoned” it becomes with a film of oil coated on the inside. Incredibly, within thirty minutes we had more than seven different dishes on the table. After clumsily wielding my chopsticks, my stomach was very happy.
Chinese cooking styles are based on the regions they come from. Guangdong is famous for its meat roasting and grilling, fried rice, bird’s nest, and shark fin soup. On the east coast, Fukien is noted for a large selection of soups and seafood dishes. While in the northeast, Peking Shantung style is light with a very skillful use of seasonings and its Peking duck is world famous. Sichuan and Hunan styles are hard to miss with their fiery hot and spicy dishes. Some ingredients are unique to Chinese cuisine like jelly fish, sea cucumbers, fish maws, thousand years eggs, bean curds, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, salty shrimp, soy sauce etc. Dairy products are almost non-existent in traditional Chinese cuisine.
Oriental dishes require fairly accurate cooking times and temperatures, unlike western foods which are more forgiving because they take longer to cook. Generally, Asian foods are prepared by chopping into small pieces then quickly stir-frying or steaming. However, Westerners cook ingredients in big sections and cut them on their plates. Perhaps the major difference between Western and oriental eating habits is that in China the dishes are placed on the table and everyone shares from them with their chopsticks while in the West each person has their own plate of food. Another big difference is that here soup is served last rather than dessert. To really copy a Chinese chef, you will have to sacrifice a few trial dishes. The high heat needed for stir-frying is not for the faint hearted, but it is the best way to lock in the food’s natural flavors with the simplest ingredients. So grab a wok and get in the kitchen!
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