Best Chinese Regional Cooking Delights and Food Culture

Chinese Cuisine and Food Culture

Food has a special meaning to the Chinese people.  They eat a surprising range and variety of plants and animals, and every part of a plant or animal is used in Chinese Cuisine. The Chinese use all the methods of cooking from Stir-frying, Deep-frying, Steaming, Red-stewing, Boiling, Barbecuing, Roasting, Cold-mixing and poaching. A typical banquet consists of four appetizer dishes, such as cold cut platters or hot hors d'oeuvres; six to eight main courses. The Chinese Food Culture can be divided into the Northern and Southern styles of cooking. Northern Chinese Cooking dishes are oily without being cloying, and the flavors of vinegar and garlic tend to be more distinct.

Pasta plays an important role in Northern Chinese cooking; noodles, ravioli-like dumplings, steamed stuffed buns, fried meat dumplings, and steamed bread are favored flour-based treats. The cooking of Peking, Tientsin, and Shantung are perhaps the best known area styles of Northern Chinese cuisine. The Southern Chinese Cooking Styles are Szechwan and Hunan cuisine, famous for their liberal use of chili peppers; the Kiangsu and Chekiang styles, which emphasize freshness and tenderness; and Cantonese food, which tends to be somewhat sweet, and full of variety. Rice and rice products such as rice noodles, rice cakes, and rice congee, are the usual accompaniments to Southern style cooking.

Soups and Stews Cantonese Wor Wonton Soup Basic Chinese Chicken Stock Chinese Cabbage Soup Egg Drop Soup Hot and Sour Soup

Egg Dishes Chinese Tea Eggs Rice-a-Roni Egg Fu Yung Stir Fried Eggs with Mushrooms

Chinese Spices and Special Ingredients

The typical taste and flavors of the Chinese Foods is achieved by using the magical Chinese Ingredients like, ginger, soy sauce and rice wine. By using such Exotic Chinese Ingredients, these people make dishes more interesting and more different. Essential Ingredients of China are the Bamboo Shoots, Beancurd, Beansprouts, Black Beans, Black Mushrooms, Century Egg, Chili, Chinese Wine, Chive, Cinnamon, Coriander, Corn Flour, Dried Prawns, Five Spice, Galangal, Garlic, Ginger, Ginseng, Hoisin Sauce, Lotus Nuts & Root, MSG, Noodles, Oyster Sauce, Plum Sauce, Radish, Red Beans, Red Rice, Rock Sugar, Salted Cabbage, Salted Soy Beans, Sesame, Shallots, Sharks Fin, Sichuan Pepper, Soy Sauce (Black, Red & Light which is sometimes referred to as white), Spring Onions, Star Anise, Vinegar and Water Chestnuts. Important Flavorings: Fresh root ginger, garlic, chilies, salt. Other specialist ingredients: dried Chinese mushrooms; dried baby shrimps; dried tangerine peel; dried Sichuan chilies; cinnamon stick/bark; fennel; cloves; star anise; jasmine rice.

Appetizers and Dim Sum Chinese Egg Rolls Oven Fried Spring Rolls Sui Mai Vegetarian Egg Rolls Chinese Mixed Pickles Hou See Soong Egg Rolls Shrimp Egg Rolls Yip Jai

Main Dish Vegetables Scallion Curls Bean Curd with Pyster Sauce Bok Choy with Bean Curd Chinese Vegetables Chinese Peas Jade Green Broccoli Vegetables lo Mein Wok-Cooked Vegetables Tofu with Scallion Sauce Jade Stir-Fry with Cashews or Almonds

Chinese Traditional Cookwares and Kitchen Supplies

The result of the best and the most Mouthwatering Chinese Recipes is the perfect selection of the right cookwares. The very basic and essential Chinese Utensil is the China Wok.  The Chinese Wok is an all purpose and a special Chinese Frying Pan. The Chinese Cleaver is a cooking utensil with which a Chinese cook does many things like: minces garlic, cuts vegetables into delicate, fanciful shapes, peels fresh water chestnuts. Chinese Spatula is specially designed for stir-frying in the wok.

The edge of the spatula bowl is rounded to fit the shape of the pan, and the utensil itself is sturdier overall than the usual American one, to allow stirring and tossing of large quantities of food. The traditional Chinese Bamboo Steamer is attractive enough is used ass a serving tray for the steamed foods. Chinese Wire Strainer is wide, flat wire strainer with a long bamboo handle is very useful for removing deep-fried foods from hot oil or noodles from boiling water. Chinese Chopsticks are used in the kitchen for stir-frying and mixing ingredients.

Main Dish Meats Barbecued Pork Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry Beef Chow Mein Beef lo Mein Beef Sate Beef with Black Bean Sauce Beef Sate with Spicy Szechwan Sauce Mou Shu Pork with Mandarin Pancakes Beef with Broccoli Beef with Cashews Beef with Celery Beef with Noodles Beef with Peppers Braised Beef, Shanxi Style Cantonese Beef & Pineapple Chinatown Chops Chinese Glazed Spareribs Chinese Pot Stickers Chinese Spareribs Crispy Orange Beef Curried Beef Easy Chop Suey Easy Sweet and Sour Pork Ginger Beef Healthy Beef or Pork Stir Fry Hoisin Spareribs Hunan Beef Kung Pao Beef Oriental Spareribs Oriental Spicy Orange Beef Pork lo Mein Peanut Butter and Pork Stir Fry Sesame Beef Spiced Pork Steamed Pork Buns Stir-fried Beef with Oyster Sauce Sweet and Sour Pork Szechwan Beef Twice-Cooked Pork Chinese Barbecue Pork Red Cooked Beef

Main Dish Poultry Almond Chicken Cantonese Roast Duck Cantonese Shoyu Chicken Cashew Chicken Chicken Chop Suey Chicken Lo Mein Chicken Lo Mein Chicken Lo Mein Chicken Stir Fry Chicken with Lychees Chicken with Mangoes Chicken-Vegetable Stir Fry Chicken with Peanuts in Hot and Spicy Sauce Chicken Cubes with Cherries, Pineapple and Lichees Chinese Chicken Chop Suey Supreme Forbidden City Chicken Ginger Scallion Chicken Gingered Chicken Stir Fry Glazed Chicken Wings Hoisin Chicken Honey Chili Chicken Honeyed Chicken & Pineapple Hot & Sweet Shanghai Chicken Jewels Kung Pao Chicken Lemon Chicken Lemon Chicken Hunan Style Orange Chicken Orange-Honey Chicken Stir Fry Oriental Ginger Chicken Sesame Chicken Silver Paper Chicken Spiced Chicken Stir-Fry Chicken and Broccoli Sweet and Sour Chicken Szechuan Orange Chicken Wings Szechwan Chicken with Cashews Subgum-Gai-Pan Five Spice Chicken

Main Dish Seafood Butterfly Shrimp Cantonese Shrimp & Snow Peas Barbecued Shrimp Braised Shrimp with Vegetables Broiled Fish with Many Spices Coral-Jade Stir-Fry Crab in Ginger Sauce Crab Stir Fry Crab-Stuffed Shrimp Crispy Fish with Sauce Dragon Shrimp with Sweet and Sour Sauce Stir Fried Shrimp with Ginger and Garlic Honey Orange Stir Fry Shrimp Hundred Corner Shrimp Balls Lotus Flowers Mandarin Shrimp Stir Fry Oyster Chow Mein Oriental Snow Peas with Shrimp Peking Shrimp Scallops with Vegetables Seafood Combination Shrimp and Cashew Stir-Fry Shrimp Cantonese Shrimp Chow Mein Shrimp Egg Foo Yung Shrimp Foo Yung Shrimp Omelets Shrimp-Fried Rice Spicy Chinese Shrimp Steamed Cantonese-Style Fish Szechwan Shrimp Stir Fried Shrimp - Cashew Nuts Sweet and Sour Fish Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

Noodle, Rice and Dumpling Dishes Black Sesame Rolls Chinese Fried Buns Cold Sesame Noodles Dragon Noodles Drunken Noodles Fried Rice Glutinous Rice Dough Pan Fried Chinese Dumpling Steamed Rice Vermicelli Cellophane Noodles with Vegetables Szechwan Ginger Stir Fry with Noodle Pancake

Salads, Dressings,and Sauces Asian Black Bean Sauce Basic Asian Brown Sauce Chinese Basting Sauce Chinese Black Bean Sauce Chinese Hot Mustard Sauce Chinese Lemon Sauce Chinese Peanut Sauce Chinese Plum Sauce Five-Spice Powder Blend Gow Gees Hoisin Sauce Homemade Oyster Sauce Hot Chinese Mustard Hot Mustard Sauce Oriental Barbecue Sauce Oyster Sauce Shandong Sauce Sweet and Sour Plum Sauce Sweet and Sour Sauce

Desserts Canton Almond Cookies Chinese Almond Cookies Sesame Peanut Candy Steamed Beijing Cake Won Ton Wrappers Almond Float Chinese Glazed Fruit Chocolate Ginger Lychees Toffee Apples Chinese Crullers Chinese Sticky Cake Almond Custard with Litchis Deep-Fried Wonton Cookies Jin Dui