Food In China
An ancient, innovative cuisine dearly loved all over the world!
Chinese food is known all over the world like being special, with strong taste and different flavors that light up your senses.
The respect that Chinese people have for food is very well illustrated by the proverb 'It is better than a man would wait for food than food would wait for him'. Chinese kitchen is based on the harmony between the different ingredients, neither of them being superior or more important than the other.
Being a well populated country, but not rich, the food is based on aliments like rice and green groceries, that are not expensive at all, that are fueling and most importantly, they can be prepared in a lot of different ways and methods. The meat is used less because of the high prices, but in change, sea fruits that also represent a high amount of proteins, are very important in Chinese menus and are not so expensive.
The Chinese ways of cooking are not, as many could think, a rapidly, cheap and of a lower quality job, No, not at all, instead, cooking Chinese food could be called 'art'!
Taking into account the surface of the country and the climatic differences, there are four principal categories: the North kitchen, rich in goat and ewe meat, seasoned with vinegar, garlic and leek in order to neutralize the smell of the others; the South kitchen, characterized by a sweeter taste than all the others - using a lot of rice, vegetables, fish, chicken and pork meat, these being prepared in steams bath or hot oil to make them as crispy as possible; the East kitchen is known for the very lent ways of preparing the food, a food that is based on fish, Soya sausages; and the West kitchen that is the more of the Asiatic countries very spiced and seasoned.
How do they cut the aliments?
In Chinese food, the way the aliments are cut is very important and it is different from case to case, based on the specific of the each recipe.
There are three ways of cutting: straight, oblique and through incision. One of the secrets of the Chinese kitchen, kept by the oldest times, is a technique named stir-frying. The Chinese pan known as a wok, can be considered a real, true person, which is more appreciated if he offers a good healthy meal, without fats. That technique named stir-frying it achieved by continually moving the pan.
China: Specific ingredients
Condiments have the most important role in giving the taste of the food. One of the 'magic' ingredients, not known in our lands, is the rice vinegar. In Europe, this type of vinegar is almost unknown. On the other hand, in China it is used not one but three types of rice vinegar: black, red and white. The particularity of this vinegar is from its taste, being less acid that the usual European vinegar and the red rice vinegar has a sweet but in the same time spicy taste. The white rice vinegar is the one that is somehow like the one we use, having the same taste and almost the same acid level.
How long does it take to prepare the food?
The food requires a long time for preparation and less for coking it. The ingredients have to be of high quality. Chinese say: "In every house that respects itself, there have to be seven things: fire, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, rice, salt and tea."
Some of the few aliments that are not used in Chinese food are milk and milk associated products. The fats they use are from pork and peanuts, soy and rape. The olive oil is not used in China.
From the green groceries, the most used are garlic, onion, leek and the ones with green leaves. Pumpkins, tomatoes and carrots are also frequently used.
Bread is preferred especially in the North part, while in the other regions this is replaced by rice. The role of soy and its compounds is very important and two well-known products are the soy sauce and the tofu.
When you are going to eat Chinese food, you will realize how it is made and why it is so special. Enjoy!
