The first thing you would notice if you went out into the villages in China is that vegetables rather than meat predominate in the food offered. Though we in the West think highly of roast beef or a thick steak, meat is a luxury to the Chinese and they prefer it in small quantities, usually pork rather than beef, and cut into small pieces and mixed with the vegetables.
For protein the Chinese depend heavily on the soya bean, which has for this reason been called the cow of the East. Soya-bean oil, like groundnut oil, is used for cooking. The beans, soaked, ground fine and strained, produce a fluid called soya-bean milk, which is a good substitute for cow's milk; doctors, even Western doctors, prescribe it for babies who cannot get mother's milk and are allergic to cow's milk. The soya bean is also turned into bean curd, an exceptionally high protein food known in China as "the meat without bones". To make it, soya-bean milk is boiled, strained and curdled by adding a small amount of gyp-sum. Then the mixture is spooned out on to thin muslin, wrapped in pieces 3 by 3 by 1&1/2 inches, and heavily weighted to squeeze out the moisture until the pieces are only about one half an inch thick. The result is a smooth, mild, creamy cake with a fragile but slightly elastic texture something like firm custard.
Bean curd may be used in a variety of dishes, but it is delicate and must not be overcooked or else it will fall apart. It is inexpensive, which makes it doubly valuable in a poor country. The thickened curd skin is a food by itself, with a more concentrated flavour. Fermented bean curd tastes much like cheese. Then, of course, there are soya and mung-bean sprouts, which most of us know in Chinese dishes. In one form or another, the soya bean can be found in dishes eaten at every meal.
The Chinese are not great sweet eaters, by this is meant they don't go in for puddings. They eat savouries, or sometimes dried fruits or biscuits, as between-meal snacks. The few sweet dishes in the Chinese cuisine are usually encountered only at feasts, and then they are served most often as a diversion in the middle of the meal. This order may seem strange, but the Chinese system of arranging courses is different from ours.
A meal in China need not begin with hors d'oeuvres. A banquet, for example, may well have started with a selection, attractively arranged, of cold meats, fish and sliced or carved vegetables. There might be a soup near the beginning, but it is not the only one that is served at the feast. Soups play various parts in the symphony of a well composed meal, not only is there one as a light appetizer, but clear soups are often used between courses as palate cleansers. Richer soups, like velvet corn may, however, be served as a separate course.
You could spend a lifetime trying out the huge variety of Chinese cooking techniques, and food presentation and only really touch the tip of the iceberg, but what fun you would have.
Ian loves his food, especially Chinese cooking. Come and visit his newest website over at
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Ian loves his food, especially Chinese cooking. Come and visit his newest website over at http://www.digitalkitchenscalesinfo.com, which helps everyone find the best Digital Kitchen Scales and information about the best prices.
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