Here we offer a brief description of some of the basic techniques skills
and ingredients of Chinese cooking. We hope it will be helpful to visitors when
they try the Chinese recipes.
Selecting Ingredients
Preparation
Cutting
Balance Among Ingredient
Blending Seasonings
Selecting Ingredients
Chinese cooking uses a wide range of ingredients including meat meat
products fish seafood poultry eggs vegetables bean products wild plants game and
many seasonings. Most come in both fresh and dried forms but the most important
features to look for are freshness and quality.
Meats should be judged by their place of origin season of production and
any other characteristic-for example old or young male or female-that may be
specified in a recipe. Appearance color weight water content and smell are also
important.
Different dishes call for different cuts of meat because cuts have
different textures once they have been cooked. Cuts of the same meat may be
tough or tender coarse or fine. For example the Chinese distinguish eighteen
different cuts of pork. These include filet streaky pork shoulder butt ham butt
hock and shank.
The filet is considered the best cut and is generally stir-fried or
quick-fried (see the section below on "cooking techniques" for descriptions of
these and other procedures) to take advantage of its tenderness. Streaky pork is
best when marinated with spiced rice flour and then steamed or red-cooked
(braised in soy sauce). The shank and hock are best suited to lengthy simmering
with or without soy sauce while the ham and ham butt are often used as
substitutes for filet. The ribs and feet are best prepared 'by lengthy
low-temperature methods like braising baking or simmering while spareribs are
suitable for sauteing quick-frying slippery-frying and deep-frying. The methods
used for pork are also applicable to similar cuts of beef and lamb or
mutton.
With reference to poultry the tenderest and most versatile part of a
chicken or duck is the breast. Chickens or ducks less than a year old are
usually quick-fried or deep-fried while older birds need long slow cooking like
simmering or braising to tenderize them.
Fish is as nutritious as poultry. Crab prawns and shrimps are rich in
phosphorus calcium and vitamin A. You can tell a fresh fish by its tight
undamaged scales red gills and clear protruding eyes. Fresh prawns and shrimps
should be greenish-white with firm bodies that curve slightly. They should not
be flat or limp and their heads and tails should be intact. Fresh crabs should
be alive and active. They should spit foams and have green upper shells and
white under-shells.
Preparation
In Chinese cooking preparation includes trimming and washing vegetables
slaughtering and dressing live chickens and ducks gutting live fish and
reconstituting dried ingredients.
When preparing vegetables cooks first trim and discard any wilted or tough
outer leaves. Then they wash them. Vegetables should not be cut before they are
washed because vitamins and minerals would be washed away. Nutrients are also
lost if vegetables and other foods are cut ahead of time and exposed to the air.
The most nutritious dishes are prepared and cooked immediately.
发表于 2016-7-10 16:08:28