Most Americans have had Chinese food, and judging
from it ubiquity, it seems to be pretty popular.
Most of those who enjoy it still haven't had much of it- they
know what they like, which usually amounts to a few dishes and
appetizers that
they order over and over and over. That's not surprising, since
many
retaurants have a seemingly endless array of entrees with belwildering
names
and ingredients that are either unrecognizable or not listed at all.
Chinese
cuisine
is probably the most opportunistic on Earth- anything easy to catch
gets
eaten, and most everything else as well. Many of those are things
not
commonly eaten in the United States, and some of them are things many
people
wouldn't consider edible to begin with. You will probably never
see anything much more exotic than chicken on a menu in the US,
although often enough you will find squid, which many people consider
exotic. A really good restaurant might have shark's fin soup or
bird's nest soup (yep, it's made with real birds' nests, but you won't
find it floating in the bowl- the idea is that the saliva that the
birds use to keep their nest together flavor and thicken the
soup. Sound gross? It probably tastes pretty good, but
considering it's usually about twenty five bucks, I've never had
it). But to get the really authentic stuff you would either have
to go to a Chinatown and check the markets or go to one of the
restaurants that cater to an imigrant clientele. Often such
restaurants have two sets of menus, one for Chinese and one for
non-Chinese. I've never been to a restaurant though that doesn't
have a full menu designed to appeal to western tastes though.
So how do you tell "moo goo gai pan" from "moo shu" and "lo mein"?
What's
the difference between Szechuan and Mandarin? How do you even
pronounce
"Szechuan" to begin with? No wonder everyone just orders egg
rolls
and chop suey and leaves it at that.
A few facts to demystify Chinese
cooking:
- There is no one type of Chinese food. Think of American
food- while today it's possible to get seafood in Kansas City and
Memphis-style ribs in San Diego, the US has many regional cuisines and
different parts of the country have different ethnic makeups.
This is even more true of China, a huge country with many different
ethnic groups, several languages, and a wide variety of culinary
traditions. In the
hot, wet southern provinces, rice is the staple grain, but in the
north, witha climate very much like that of North America,
they
grow mostly wheat. Hence, meat and vegetables are often served
with
wheat noodles
and pancakes in the north and steamed rice and rice noodles in
the south.
- Meats and vegetables are always cut into bite sized portions by
the
cook so that they cook quickly (saving time and energy) and can be
eaten
with a pair of chopsticks (no need for five piece place settings for
everyone
at the table). As ovens are not found in most Chinese homes, the
wok
is used for steaming, stir frying, deep frying, and boiling.
Baked goods are usually purchased from a local bakery, and roasted
meats and barbequed goodies come from specialty stores as well.
- Many cuisines have a wide variety of raw foods- fruits, salads,
even
some meats (steak tartar, sashimi). Chinese is not one of them.
EVERYTHING gets cooked. Salads are non-existant
in Chinese cuisine, although soups are very common.
Also, dairy products are virtually never used- many Asians are lactose
intolerant, and hogs are much more common than beef . Ever heard
of chinese cheese? Much of the beef dishes on a Chinese menu are
there to cater to American tastes.
- Traditional Chinese culture understands the universe and
everything
in it to be infused by, and suffused with, forces of energy.
These forces
have natural paths they take, both around and through the bodies of all
living
beings. As long as all the energy is flowing the way it should,
life
is in balance and peaceful. You may have heard of Feng Shui, the
interior decorating fad, Tai Chi, the exercise fad, or actupuncture,
the medical fad- these all operate in the same principle of directing
the flow of energy to maintain harmony and balance. Eating is
another way of keeping everything
in balance, and should things become unballanced, eating is a way of
restoring
harmony as well. Chinese cuisine is ordered by principles of
maintaining
harmony between forces that exist in food. We think of foods as
being
hot or cold, sweet or sour, bitter or salty, among other combinations
of
attributes. The Chinese recognize those attributes as well, but
also
take into account categories that are absent in our understanding of
food,
such as positive and negative. All Chinese food therefore can be
considered
health food if eaten according to traditional guidelines, or junk food
if
eaten without proper respect for ballancing a meal. The point is
that
there's more going on in Chinese cuisine than meets the eye, and an
authentic
Chinese meal involves more than getting the right ingredients and a
good
recipe. You need not adhere to a Chinese worldview in order to
enjoy Chinese food, but it is essential to understand why the Chinese
cook and eat the way they do.
Regional Chinese Cuisine
In the US, you are most likely to see restaurants that specialize in
several of the Culinary traditions, and often more than one.
Cantonese, Hunan, Szechuan, and Mandarin are the names you will most
often see.
Cantonese
Canton Province in the douth is dominated by Hong Kong, one of the
greatest food cities in the world. While the dominant langauge in
China is Mandarin, the language of the majority Han ethnicity, in
Canton is home to the largest linguistic minority in China,
Cantonese. The two languages are not mutually intelligible.
Cantonese food is
not usually spicy and often has very light, subtle sauces.
Perhaps the most popular Cantonese sauce is sweet and sour, eaten with
chicken, shrimp, pork, and often all three in one dish. There is
a lot of seafood in Cantonese cuisine, but it isn't dominated by any
one type of meat or preparation- it is perhaps the most diverse of all
the regional cuisines. Roasts and barbecued meats are as popular
as stir-fried dishes. Another Cantonese specialty is Dim Sum,
which is a whole range of small dishes. You might think of them
as a Chinese version of the Spanish tapas, the Italian antipasti, or
simply appetizers, but it's best
understood as the Hong Kong version of afternoon tea, an import of the
British who ruled Hong Kong until 1997. Many Cantonese
restaurants in the US will serve Dim Sum in the lunch hour or on
weekends. Typically these treats run the gamut from braised,
steamed and fried, and are usually small, filled buns, wraps and rolls
as well as small portions of savory delicacies, many of which the
typical American diner will find exotic to say the least (such as
chickens feet) but the open-minded eater will find that the Chinese can
make something that looks bizarre taste absoulty wonderful. That
is not to say that many Chinese delicacies will not translate to even
the more adventurous western pallet.
Szechuan (Sichuan)
Pronounced
"ZAY-chwan", Szechuan is like the Texas of China- big and culturally
distinct, especially it's food. Isolated from many of the
other areas of China due to it's imposing geography, but historically
its location as a crossroads brought in influences from the Indian
subcontinent and all parts west. Its signature spice is Szechuan
peppercorn, which is botanically unrelated to black pepper, and far
spicier with a distinct, perfumey quality. Hot red peppers are
also used extensively, giving Szechuan cuisine a well-earned reputation
for being fiery. In a restaurant, these dishes can usually be
modified to be more or less spicy to taste, so heat-sensitive diners
needn't avoid these tasty dishes as long as they take care to specify
their preferences. Hot peppers are both literally and
figuratively addictive, although they cause no ill health
concerns. Consequently, people can build up a tolerance for them,
so by starting small and gradually increasing the fieriness of your
dishes, you can learn to enjoy their character as the Chinese do.
Obviously, dishes such as "Szechuan chicken" come from their area, and
while the sauce and vegetables used in these dishes is representative
of the cuisine, they are not nearly the entire extent of Szechuan
cooking.
Hunan
Often Hunan and Sechuan go hand in hand in Anerican Chinese
restaurants- indeed they are similar with their rice-based, fiery hot
dishes. They tend to make greater use of whole chiles as oposed
to powders and pastes and also make more extensive use of vegetables,
since Hunan's landscape is not nearly as rugged and mountainous as
Szechuan's is, and consequently produced a greater range and quantity
of foods. Hunan also tends to be a bit more elaborate than
Szechuan, with fancier ingredients and more complex preparations such
as marinades and multiple cooking techniques. If sweet and
sour is a typical flavor combination in Cantonese cooking, hot and sour
is equally as typical in Sezcuan and Hunan cuisine.
Mandarin
Not really a region, Mandarin is actually the most widely spoken
language in China as it is spoken by the Han, the dominant ethnic
group. The name harkens back to the Chinese empire, where the
emperor, called the Mandarin, presided over a city of courtiers in
modern day Beijing, formerly known as Peking. This "Forbidden
City" stands in Beijing today, and the elegant dishes that were
prepared for the imperial court and the Mandarin himself are what give
Mandrin cuisine its name. Most likely the emperors ate dishes
that were much more extravagant than what one will find in a "Mandarin"
restaurant in the United States, but the inspiration is there.
Generally Mandarin menus in the US represents the cuisine found in the
region around Beijing, the capital of China as well as the dominant
city of the north. Here, noodle dishes such as chow mein (fried
noodles) and low mein (steamed noodles) are eaten, and wheat crepes are
often found instead of noodles or rice, such as in Mu Shu or the famous
Peking duck. Pork and lamb are the most abundant meats.
Mongolian Barbeque
There are indeed Mongolian dishes out there, but this inaptly
named preparation is not among them. Legend has it that the
Mongolians would cook their food on theor big round shields. That
may be, but that has nothing to do with actual Mongolian barbeque,
which is actually a Taiwanese creation. Sound funny? Well,
we have things such as "English Muffins" and "French Toast" that don't
really come from the places they are purported to come from, so it
shouldn't be so surprising. The idea behind Mongolian Barbeque is
that you pick out the meats, vegetables, and seasonings you want from a
large buffet (rather like a huge salad bar) and put them all into a
bowl. Then you take them to a big, round flat gas griddle, where
usually two guys with a couple of big chop sticks toss your food on it
and cook it for you right in front of your eyes- it usually takes only
a minute or two, then you bring it back to your table and eat your
custom-made stir fry with rice, or even tortillas or pitas at some
places (even though it isn't terribly Chinese. Chalk it up to
globalism). This is obviously very different from your typical
Chinese restaurant, but it's a pretty tasty dining experience in it's
own right, and the good thing is that there is something to please
everyone since they can pick their own ingredients.
Chinese Ingredients
These days it isn't hard to find bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, or
even chinese greens such as bok choy or Napa cabbage (epsecially since
they are now grown in the US). But such was not always the
case. Chop Suey, which is thought to be a Chinese dish, is
actually an American creation inspired by Chinese cooking. Unable
to find Chinese vegetables in the US, Chinese railroad workers did the
best they could with American produce and their own meager cooking
skills (since men do not cook in Chinese households). The result
was a simple (yet surprisingly tasty) dish of stir-fried vegetables and
meat in a thin, lightly seasoned sauce of broth, soy sauce, and some
seasonings thickened with cornstarch. Increasingly though it is
possible to get imported ingredients or domestically produce
equivalents without having to go to an Asian market, although anyone
who has never been to an Asian market in the United States is in for a
very exotic experience.
At a Chinese restaurant you are liable to find few exotic ingredients
(lotus root, bitter melon, fermented black beans, squid, wood ear
muchrooms, maybe some of the sauces) unless you go to Dim Sum. At
a market, however, you might want to grab another shopper (preferably
one who seems to know what she or he is doing) and ask them.
There is usually quite an array of produce that is not readily
recognizable, not to mention bottles sauces, canned goods, and
variaties of fish you are likely to have never seen before. But
if you have a cookbook that calls for exotic ingredients and you write
down the names, chances are they will have what you are looking for and
will be happy to show you where it is. For someone who shops
strictly at the supermarket though, you will usually find hoisin sauce
(a type of sweet barbeque sauce), oyster sauce, soy sauce, hot mustard,
different kinds of noodles, wonton skins (these are sheets of dough
used for making egg rolls and other stuffed goodies), bean sauce, and
most of the ingredients you will need to make quite a few Chinese
dishes at home. One thing youmight want pick up is a bottle of
"Shaoxing" (Show-shing- rhymes with "cow KING). This is a Chinese
cooking rice wine. Some dry sherry is a pretty good
approximation, but the real thing is cheaper and more authentic.
How to read a Chinese Menu
Usually a menu will list the ingredients and show whether or not the
dishes are hot and spicy. Some of these favorites often come
without explanation, so here it is:
Lo
Mein:
|
Vegetables and meat over
steamed noodles. |
Chow
Mein:
|
Vegetables and meat with
crispy fried noodles. |
| Chop
Suey: |
Chinese-American
dish of meat & vegetables stir-fried in a light
sauce- the name means "small pieces."
|
Subgum:
|
Another Chinese-American
dish of mixed vegetables. |
Moo
Shu:
|
A North-style (Peking or
Mandarin) dish of vegetables and meat eaten
rolled in wheat crepes. |
Moo
Goo Gai Pan:
|
A Cantonese dish
that literally means " mushrooms and sliced chicken." That pretty
much sums it up. |
Kung
Pao:
|
A classic Hunan dish of
meat and vegetables with spices and peanuts. |
| Egg
Foo
Yung:
|
Another
Chinese-American dish- basically a bean sprout omlette with a
Chinese gravy. |
| General
Tso's Chicken: |
Deep fried chicken that
is then stir fried
in a sweet sauce- not a particularly difficult dish to make but often
considered a specialty. General Tso was an historical
figure, but the origins of this dish are rather murky and
dubious. Probably created in an American
restaurant. |
. General Tso was an historical
figure, but the origins of this dish are rather murky and
dubious. Probably created in an American
restaurant.
Recipes
Hot
and Sour Soup
Sweet and Sour Chicken/Pork/Shrimp
Char Sieu: "Red" Barbequed Pork
Kung Pao Anything
Chinese Hot and Sour
Soup
This ubiquitous Chinese menu item is one of the
easiest restaurant dishes to prepare at home. Soup is often a
good indicator of how good a restaurant is- if they use lots of
authentic ingredients, they know what they are doing but if they use
only domestic mushrooms, for example, chances are they are cutting
corners. Unlike Thai hot and sour soup, which contains
chicken or shrimp and relies upon lime juice for tartness, the Chinese
version uses vinegar and always contains pork. You can substitute many
of these ingredients, so if you can't find wood ear mushrooms (they're
a lot easier to find than you would think) try some canned straw
mushrooms or just use white. The vinegar is a key ingredient, but
you can use cider or rice vinegar. A good restaurant will add
lotus shoots, but they are harder to find. Also, tofu is a common
ingredient, but I would only add it in lieu of the pork, or you could
use smaller amounts of each.
4-6 oz pork (tenderloin or shoulder)
2 cans low sodium chicken broth or 4 cups home made
1/4 cup Chinese black vinegar
1/2 cup white mushroms, quartered
5 dried shitake mushrooms
1/4 cup wood ear mushrooms
1/4 cup bamboo shoots
2 cloves garlic
3 green onions
1/2-inch slice fresh ginger
1 Tb soy sauce
3 Tb cornstarch, in a slurry of water
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 large egg
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper or to taste.
|
- Soak wood ear and shiitake mushrooms in boiling
water for about 30 minutes, then slice thinly and reserve the water.
Add the corn starch to the water to form a slurry.
-
Slice the pork thinly, julienne style. Slice the
green onions finely, reserving some of the green part to use as a
garnish. Mince the garlic.
-
Heat the broth, garlic, ginger, and pork in a stock
pan and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Add the vinegar, soy,
corn starch
slurry and red and black pepper. Add the mushrooms and bamboo
shoots,
and sesame oil and cook for 5-10 minutes, until mushrooms and pork are
fully
cooked.
-
Just before serving, beat the egg and pour it into
the soup. It should cook instantly, forming yellow plumes.
Remove ginder slice, adjust seasonings, and serve with the green
onion garnish.
|
Sweet and Sour Chicken/Pork/Shrimp (serves
4)
This is a staple in any Chinese
restaurant, where it is often gummy, oversweet, undersour, and made
with canned pineapple and cocktail cherries (bruised cherries that are
bleached, dyed, and then candied in a solution of grenadine and
treacle). It is easy to prepare at home (although all the
chopping
may take some time) and, in my opinion, usually better because
you can get fresher ingredients and you can control what you put into
it. The sauce recipe makes about a cup and a half, and the
remaining recipe will easily feed four adults although you can add more
chicken if you prefer and add/omit vegetables. I included the
ones below for a variety of flavors, textures, and colors. The
heart and soul of this recipe is balance between the sweet flavors and
the sour ones. I think this recipe does a good job of that.
Sauce:
2 Tb cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup pineaple juice
1/4 cup water
2 Tb rice vinegar
2 Tb honey
2 Tb soy sauce (low salt)
1 tsp white pepper
Dish:
12 oz diced chicken breast
1/3 C red bell pepper
1/3 C green bell pepper
1/3 C fresh pineapple chunks
1/3 C frozen cherries
1/3 C mushrooms, quartered
1/3 C snow pea pods
1/4 cup bamboo shoots
1 med onion, cut in large strips
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, sliced thinly on the bias
2 tsp peanut oil for frying
steamed rice
green onion (optional)
|
- Chop all your ingredients and have them ready at
hand. Mix the ingredients of the sauce together reserving
about 1/4 cup of the liquid and dissolving the cornstarch in that.
- In a hot skillet, fry the chicken and mushrooms in
the peanut oil until it is translucent and cooked through on top and
brown on the bottom (you can substitute other oils, but you will find
that it adds that "extra something" that makes the Chinese restaurant
food taste so good). Reserve the chicken.
- In the same pan, saute the rest of the vegetables
until they are half-cooked but still crispy. I suggest adding the
peppers and carrot first, then the onions, then the celery, as they
need different times to cook.
- Add the chicken back to the pot withthe pea pods and
bamboo shoots. Mix well and add the liquid for the sauce.
Add the pineapple and cherries and bring to a boil, stirring
well. Cook until the sauce thinkens, which should begin pretty
much immediately but let it go for a couple of minutes so that the
starch cooks thoroughly, no more than five minutes.
- When heated through, serve over rice (about a cup
per person) and garnish with chopped green onions or chives, if desired.
|
Char Sieu:
Chinese "Red" Barbequed Pork
A fabulous way to grill pork kebabs or even chops, or to
roast pork
in the oven. Your guests will rave.
½ c kejap manis
(or equal parts honey, soy sauce)
2 Tb hoisin
1 Tb shaoxing (or dry sherry)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp five spice powder
2 drops red food coloring
|
- Combine ingredients and mix well.
- Marinate pork in mixture for several hours.
- Cook pork as desired (slower times, lower
temperatures and/or indirect heat sources are preferred to keep sugars
from burning)
- Boil the reserved marinade for 5 minutes to use as a
sauce for serving.
|
Kung Pao Anything
This is a Hunan recipe that is characterized by a spicy
sauce and the inclusion of peanuts or, if you are made of money,
cashews. Add the animal protein of your choice, tofu, or just
vegetables.
1 cup beef/chicken/pork, etc.
1/3 cup
light soy sauce
1/3 cup Xioashing
1/3 cup
rice vinegar
1/3 cup
peanuts
2 Tb sugar
2 Tb
hoisin sauce
2 Tb Peanut oil
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 Tb corn starch
1 med onion, sliced
1.2 cup diced pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
3-4 dried red chiles (hot)
1 scallion, diced
|
- Soften onions and pepper in hot peanut oil. Add chilies,
ginger, garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds being careful not to burn
garlic. Add
the meat and peanuts and stir-fry until just cooked through (a couple
of minutes).
- Add the liquid ingredients, stirring until it boils.
Drop the temp and simmer a few minutes until the sauce has thickened
and cooked (a couple of minutes more).
- Serve with steamed rice garnished with diced scallion
|