- China(Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia and is the world’s most populous country, with a population of around 428 billion in 2017.
- China’s climate is mainly dominated by dry seasonsand wet monsoons, which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist.
- Includes styles originating from the diverse regions of China. The history of Chinese cuisine is thousands of years old.
- It has changed from period to period and in each region according to climate, imperial fashions, and local preferences.
- Chinese cuisine is one of the “Three Grand Cuisines” in the world. The staple foods of Chinese cooking are rice & noodles.
- Famines and adversity forced the Chinese people to utilize strange plants and roots in their food.
- Food is simple yet artistic & skillful like the French cuisine. It calls for elaborate preparation; cooking time is lesser.
- Menus are a balance of fan (carbohydrates from cereals) and cai(meats & vegetables).
- Soya sauce, peanut oil, sherry, vinegar, ajinomoto, corn flour, bean sprouts and ham are some common ingredients used.
- Bite sized foods are eaten with chopsticks.
- Cooking temperatures: Military (high) or Civil.
The Culinary Cuisines of China are:
- Cantonese-Influenced by the west
- Shantung-Imperial encouragement
- Szechwan-Tropical cuisine
- Hunan-Rich agricultural produce
- Fukien-Sea coast
- The other famous Chinese regions famous for their foods are: Anhui (mountainous), Fujian and Jiangsu (coastal).
FAMOUS DISHES
- Li Hongzhang Hodge-Podge-The dish is a fully loaded complex soup. The most common ones includes a cucumber, fish, squid, bamboo, dry bean curd, chicken, ham, and assorted vegetables.
- Luzhou Roast Duck –It was originally served to the royal court as the imperial dish-shiny golden, crisp skin, yet tender meat.
- Sanhe Shrimp Paste -A regional dish that originated in Sanhe. The dish’s main components are rice flour and a regional species of small white shrimp. The shrimp are stir fried with leeks and soy sauce.
- Wushan Imperial Goose -The history of Wushan Imperial Goose dates back more than 1,000 years to the Tang Dynasty. The dish is lightly colored and has a fragrant and salty taste.
- Char siu-pork often marinated with plum sauce and honey for sweet flavor.
- Steamed oysters done two ways, with ginger garlic, and black bean sauce.
- Century eggs are made by coating duck or chicken eggs in a clay-like mixture of wood ash, quicklime, tea, earth, and salt. The mixture hardens around eggs.
- Buddha Jumps Over the Wall–Contains over 30 ingredients, including shark’s fin, dried scallops, duck, chicken breast, pig’s trotters mushrooms, pigeon eggs and other ingredients. A legend is that after the dish is cooked, the aroma lingers, and upon detecting the smell, a Buddhist monk forgot his vow to be a vegetarian and leapt over a wall to taste the dish.
- Ban mian is a popular noodle dish, consisting of handmade noodles served in soup.
- Misua is a very thin variety of salted Chinese noodles made from Wheat flour.
- Hunan cured ham with pickled yard long beans.
- Dong’an chicken, parboiled chicken, chili peppers, and spices, stir-fried with vegetable oil and vinegar-one of the signature dishes of Hunan chefs.
- Pork Tripe Soup is a Soup made from Tripe of Pork. Tripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.
- Braised Pork Spare Ribs Known for its melt-in-mouth texture and sweet taste.
- Ji-yu soup Ji-yu is a type of freshwater fish. The soup is milky white.
- Deyue chicken-a spring chicken delicacy.
FOR MORE INFO GO TO THE LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cuisine