Chinese meals should be enjoyed in a group
with everyone sharing a selection of dishes. This is because
Chinese restaurants are not suited for individual diners.
If you were to travel alone, you would most likely patronize
one of the typical roadside eateries. Be sure that the restaurant
is clean and the food is hot and freshly prepared. It is
not considered an insult to bring your own chopsticks. As
most of the Chinese restaurants are not heated even during
winter, it would be wise to dress warmly.
Beijing.asp">Beijing
Based on imperial court and Shandong cuisine,
Beijing food has enjoyed an age-old reputation. The main
methods of cooking are deep-frying, sautéing, stir-frying
and roasting. When in Beijing, an opportunity to sample
its celebrated Peking Duck should not be passed. This dish
is renowned for its scented, crispy skin and is served with
pancakes, which are spread with hoisin sauce and garnished
with spring onions. All the ingredients are rolled into
a tube and it is a delightful blend of taste and texture,
especially the delicious crispy skin. For more exotic fare,
stir-fried pig's tripe and chicken gizzard, sautéed
fish slices with brewer's rice, pork fillet in brown sauce
and sautéed cabbage might tantalize your taste buds.
Guangdong
Guangdong food features a wide range of
refined ingredients and quick frying. The dishes are fresh,
tender, refreshing and smooth. Guangdong chefs will always
try to adapt the dishes according to the season - light
flavoring in summer but heavy during winter. Restaurants
in Guangdong offer specialties such as smoked pomfret, sweet
and sour pork, deep-fried egg jelly wrapped in wheat flour
and steamed pomfret topped with scallions and flavored oil.
If you are the adventurous type, go ahead and dig into some
snake dishes, braised chicken, roast piglet or assorted
soups in wax gourds. Guangdong is also famous for its moon
cakes.
Szechuan
Dishes in Szechuan are noted for their varied
and heavy flavors. The eight common seasonings used are
pepper sauce, pepper with vinegar, pepper with fish sauce,
chili jam with wild peppercorn, cayenne pepper with wild
peppercorn, black pepper with peanut and sesame paste, peppercorn
with sesame oil and chili oil - all scorchingly tasty. Distinct
dishes include pork and chicken cubes with peanuts and chili,
and 'clubbed chicken', which is chicken meat firstly pounded
and then shredded into floss before being added the eight
seasonings - a sweet but hot dish. Others include Luyang-style
crisp chicken and beancurd.
Anhui
Specialties in Anhui feature dishes stewed
in brown sauce and most of the cooking stress heavily on
oil and sauces. Stewed fish belly in brown sauce, stir-fried
eel slices, and deep-fried meatballs in plum sauce are the
main delicacies offered in many restaurants in Anhui.
Fujian
In Fujian, dishes are usually marinated
in wine and taste sour with a tinge of sweetness. "Buddha
Jumps the Wall" is a famous dish with an equally interesting
story. It is made from an assortment of materials: shark's
fin, shark's lip, fish maw, abalone, squid, sea cucumber,
chicken breast meat, duck chops, pork tripe, pork leg, minced
ham, mutton elbow, dried scallop, winter bamboo shoots,
mushrooms and others. These are seasoned and steamed separately
and then put into a clay jar, mixed with cooking wine and
a dozen or more pigeon eggs. The jar is firstly covered
and put over intense heat and then simmered on low heat
later. Four or five ounces of liquor is then added while
the ingredients are kept simmering for another five minutes.
Voila! A dish fit for a king!
How 'Buddha Jumps the Wall' got its unusual
name is explained by a local fable. A Fuzhou scholar went
picnicking with friends in the suburbs and he had put all
the ingredients he had with him in a wine jar, which he
heated over a charcoal flame. The tantalizing smell spread
all the way to a nearby temple and was so inviting that
the monks, who were supposed to practice vegetarianism,
could not resist and jumped over the wall to partake in
the hearty dish. One of the friends wrote a poem in praise
of the delicious dish, in which one line read: "Even
Buddha himself would jump over the wall to taste this dish".
Hence the name 'Buddha Jumps the Wall'.
Hunan
Curing, simmering, steaming and stewing
are the main cooking methods of Hunan food. Hunan dishes
are usually tinged with sour and spicy flavors. Fragrant,
spicy yet slightly sour Dongan-style fried chicken is one
of the main attractions.
Jiangsu
Jiangsu cuisine can be classified into three
categories, which are Suzhou-Wuxi, Zhenjiang-Yangzhou and
Shanghai styles. Suzhou cooking tends to retain the original
flavor and stock of the main ingredient and specialties
are boat-shaped fried duck, braised pork in fermented beancurd
sauce, fried rolls stuffed with croakers and minced shrimp,
stewed beancurd with shrimp and ginger sauce, five-spiced
chicken drumstick and so on. But most of all, one should
try the sizzling rice with shrimps; it is absolutely delectable!
Tender shrimps in tomato sauce, ladled over deep-fried,
golden, crispy rice crust...delicious.
Zhenjiang-Yangzhou cooking can best be described
as "the soup is crystal clear one can see the bottom
of the bowl, while the sauces are so thick that they resemble
cream." Among the well-known dishes are boiled beancurd
slices, crab meatballs shaped like lion-heads, butterfly-shaped
sea cucumber and silvery carp in the form of lotuses.
Zhejiang
Zhejiang food is represented by Hangzhou,
Ningbo and Shaoxing styles. Hangzhou dishes are meticulously
prepared and therefore are tasty and crispy. Famous features
are sweet and sour fish, deep-fried fish balls, shrimps
cooked in 'Dragon Well' tea, and braised pork Dongpo style.
Exquisite dishes such as yellow croaker with preserved Chinese
cabbage, braised fish, braised eel casserole, and fried
peanuts with liver moss are in popular demand in Zhejiang.
Shaoxing food uses poultry as its main specialty and the
dishes are usually crisp, glutinous and palatable. The tender,
boiled chicken is a wonderful accompaniment to porridge.
Shanghai
Local produce abounds in Shanghai. Shanghai
cuisine emphasizes a lot on vegetables and seafood in fermented
bean sauce and stir-fried in vegetable oil. The major traditional
dishes are 'eight-jewels' stuffed duck, pig's viscera braised
in brewer's rice, stewed catfish in brown sauce, 'eight-delicacies'
chili paste, and stewed sea cucumber with shrimp roe.
China offers a variety of desserts and snacks,
which will see you through the day if you do not feel like
having an elaborate meal. For breakfast, there are Chinese
pancakes, deep-fried twisted dough, glutinous rice balls,
creamy soya bean milk, wonton soup, steamed stuffed dumplings,
steamed bread with meat fillings, and various types of noodles.
A wide selection is also available during
festivals. There are glutinous rice cakes for Chinese New
Year, green dumplings for Qingming, fermented glutinous
rice for the Beginning of Summer, zhongji for the Dragon
Boat festival, moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn festival, and
sweet dumplings made from glutinous rice flour for Yuan
Xiao, the lantern festival.
Seasons play a part in the availability
of snacks. Fried spring rolls and oysters marinated in wine
are for spring, cold drinks and cold noodles for summer,
dumplings stuffed with crab meat and minced pork and sweet
potatoes scented with osmanthus flowers for autumn, and
New Year's glutinous rice cakes with braised pork and noodles
in mutton gravy for winter.
