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Cantonese cuisine

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Cantonese cuisine
A Cantonese restaurant serving Cantonese cuisine
Traditional Chinese廣東菜
Simplified Chinese广东菜
Hanyu PinyinGuǎngdōng cài
JyutpingGwong2 dong1 coi3
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinGuǎngdōng cài
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingGwong2 dong1 coi3
Yue cuisine
Chinese粵菜
Hanyu PinyinYuè cài
JyutpingJyut6 coi3
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinYuè cài
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingJyut6 coi3

Cantonese (Yue) cuisine comes from Guangdong Province in Southern China, or specifically from Guangzhou (Canton). Of all the regional varieties of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese is the best known outside China; most "Chinese restaurants" in Western countries serve authentic Cantonese cuisine and dishes based on it. Its prominence outside China is due to its palatability to Westerners and the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. In China, too, it enjoys great prestige among the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine, and Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country.

Background

Part of a series on
Chinese cuisine
Regional cuisines
Four Great Traditions
Eight Great Traditions
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Ten Great Traditions
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Twelve Great Traditions
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Fourteen Great Traditions
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Sixteen Great Traditions
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New Eight Great Traditions
Beijing and the vicinity
Other regional styles
Overseas cuisine
Religious cuisines
Ingredients and types of food
Preparation and cooking
See also

Cantonese cuisine draws upon a great diversity of ingredients, Guangzhou (Canton) being a great trading port since the days of the Thirteen Factories, bringing it many imported foods and ingredients. Besides pork, beef, and chicken, Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats, including organ meats, chicken feet, duck and duck tongues, snakes, and snails. Many cooking methods are used, steaming, stir-frying, shallow frying, double boiling, braising, and deep-frying being the most common ones in Cantonese restaurants, due to their convenience and rapidity, and their ability to bring out the flavor of the freshest ingredients.

For many traditional Cantonese cooks, spices should be used in modest amounts to avoid overwhelming the flavors of the primary ingredients, and these primary ingredients in turn should be at the peak of their freshness and quality. Interestingly, there is no widespread use of fresh herbs in Cantonese cooking (and most other regional Chinese cuisines in fact), contrasting with the liberal usage seen in European cuisines and other Asian cuisines such as Thai or Vietnamese. Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the latter tends to be a mere garnish in most dishes.

Elements of cooking

Sauces and condiments

Blanched kailan (芥兰) with oyster sauce

Classic Cantonese sauces are light and perhaps bland compared to the thicker, darker, and richer sauces of other Chinese cuisines. Spring onion, sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, corn starch, vinegar, sesame oil, and other oils suffice to enhance flavor in most Cantonese cooking, though garlic is used heavily in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odors. Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder, powdered white pepper, star anise and a few other spices are used, but often sparingly.

Sauces and condiments include:

Dried and preserved ingredients

Though Cantonese cooks pay much attention to the freshness of their cooking ingredients, Cantonese cooking also uses a long list of preserved food items. This may be an influence from Hakka cuisine, since the Hakkas was once a dominant group occupying Imperial Hong Kong and other southern territories.[1]

Some items gain very intense flavors during the drying/preservation/oxidation process. Some chefs combine both dried and fresh varieties of the same items in a dish to create a contrast in the taste and texture. Dried items are usually soaked in water to rehydrate before cooking. Not only do preserved foods have a longer shelf life, sometimes the dried foods are preferred over the fresh ones because of their uniquely intense flavor or texture. These ingredients are generally not served individually, and need to go with vegetables or other Cantonese dishes.

Includes:

Cantonese dishes

Cantonese stir-fried vegetables. Often, vegetables are simply stir-fried plain or with minced garlic.

Traditional dishes

A number of dishes have been a part of the Cantonese cuisine collection since the earliest territorial establishments of Guangdong province. While many of these are on the menus of typical Cantonese restaurants, some are more commonly found among Chinese homes due to their simplicity. Home-made Cantonese dishes are usually served with plain white rice.

Includes:

Deep fried dishes

Zhaliang, a popular Cantonese breakfast

There are a small selection of deep fried dishes in Cantonese cuisine, and can often be found as street food. As they have been extensively documented throughout Colonial Hong Kong records in the 19th to 20th century, most are considered essential part of the Cantonese diet, as a few are synonymously associated with Cantonese breakfast and lunch..[2] Though these are also expected to be part of other cuisines.

Includes:
Winter melon soup

Slow cooked soup

Another notable Cantonese speciality is slow-cooked soup, or lo foh tong (老火湯) in the Cantonese dialect (literally meaning old fire-cooked soup). The soup is usually a clear broth prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients for several hours. Sometimes, Chinese herbal medicines are added to the pot. Ingredients vary greater depending on the type of soup. The main attraction is the liquid in the pot, although the solids are eaten too. A whole chicken may simmer in a broth for six hours or longer. Traditional Cantonese families have this type of soup at least once a week. In this day and age many families with both parents working cannot afford this tradition due to the long preparation time required. However, wealthy families with servants and a cook still enjoy the luxury every day. Because of the long preparation time, most restaurants do not serve home made soup or opt for a soup du jour.

Includes:
Cantonese seafood section

Seafood

Due to Guangdong's location on the southern coast of China, fresh live seafood is a specialty in Cantonese cuisine. Many authentic restaurants maintain live seafood tanks. From the Cantonese perspective, strong spices are added only to stale seafood to cover the rotting odor. The freshest seafood is odorless, and is best cooked by steaming. For instance, only a small amount of soy sauce, ginger, and spring onion is added to steamed fish. The light seasoning is used only to bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood. However, most restaurants would gladly get rid of their stale seafood inventory by offering dishes loaded with garlic and spices. As a rule of thumb in Cantonese dining, the spiciness of a dish is usually inversely proportional to the freshness of the ingredients.

Includes:
  • Steamed fish (蒸魚)
  • Steamed scallops with ginger and garlic (蒜茸蒸扇贝)
  • White boiled shrimp (白灼蝦)
  • Lobster with ginger and scallions (薑蔥龍蝦)
  • "Urinating shrimp" (a type of slipper lobster) (拉尿蝦)
Wonton noodles

Noodle dishes

A number of noodle dishes are part of the Cantonese cuisine. These are commonly available at dai pai dong or dim sum side menus.

Includes:
A section dedicated to Siu mei and Lou mei

Siu mei

Main article: Siu mei

Siu mei is essentially the Chinese rotisserie style of cooking. The style cooks meat and no vegetables. It creates a unique, deep barbecue flavor that is usually enhanced by a flavorful sauce, a different sauce is used for each meat.

Includes:
Street lou mei

Lou mei

Main article: Lou mei

Lou mei is the name given to dishes made out of internal organs, entrails and left-over parts of animals. It is grouped under Siu laap (燒臘) as part of Cantonese cuisine. It is widely available in Southern Chinese regions. It should be noted that many people who consume Cantonese dishes regularly are not interested in eating lou mei dishes due to personal preference.

Includes:
  • Beef entrails (牛雜)
  • Beef stew (牛腩)
  • Duck gizzard (鴨腎)
  • Pig tongue (豬脷)
Siu laap store front

Siu laap

Just about all the Cantonese-style cooked meat including siu mei, lou mei and preserved meat can be mixed together under the generic name (燒臘, Siu laap). Siu laap also includes foods such as:

A typical dish may consist of some organs and half an order of multiple varieties of roasted meat. A large majority of siu laap consists strictly of white and red meat.

Includes:
Little pan rice

Little pan rice

Little pan rice (煲仔飯, bou1 zai2 faan6) are dishes that are cooked and served in a flat-bottomed pan (as opposed to a round-bottomed wok). Usually it is a saucepan or braising pan (see Clay pot cooking). Such dishes are cooked by covering and steaming, making the rice and ingredients very hot and soft. Usually the ingredients are layered on top of the rice with little to no mixing in between. Quite a number of ingredients are used with many standard combinations.

Includes:
  • Layered egg and beef over rice (窩蛋牛肉飯)
  • Layered steak over rice (肉餅煲仔飯)
  • Tofu pot over rice
  • Pork spare ribs over rice (排骨煲仔飯)
  • Steamed chicken over rice (蒸雞肉煲仔飯)
  • Preserved chinese sausage over rice (蠟味煲仔飯)
  • Pork "pastry" over rice
Fried tofu with shrimp

Night dishes

There are a number of dishes that are often served in Cantonese restaurants exclusively during dinner. Traditionally dim sum restaurants stop serving bamboo basket-dishes after yum cha hour and begin offering an entirely different menu in the evening. Some dishes are more standard while others are quite regional. Some are customized for special purposes like Chinese marriages or banquets. Salt and pepper dishes are one of the few spicy dishes.

Includes:
Hybrid red bean soup with taro

Dessert

After a night meal or dish, Cantonese restaurants usually offer tong sui, or sweet soups. Many of the varieties are shared between Cantonese and other Chinese cuisines. Some desserts are more traditional, while others are more recent with local chef creativity. Higher end restaurants usually offer their own blend and customization of desserts.

Includes:
Cantonese bao yu

Delicacies

There are some dishes that are prized within the culture. These dishes range from being medium price to very expensive. Most of these have been around in the Far East for a long time, while some are just barely becoming available around the world. Many of these prized animals have serious animal rights controversial issues such as finning of Shark cartilages due to increasing price demands.

Includes:

Comparison

Sometimes in the US, the term "Hong Kong Style" is used to distinguish this style of cooking from the more Americanized version most Americans are familiar with. Note that actual Hong Kong cuisine has evolved somewhat from traditional Cantonese cuisine served in Guangzhou.

Stereotypes

There is a level of complexity associated with the cooking style and ingredients that fascinate westerners as well as bring stereotypes and misunderstandings. An example is the western commentary by Prince Philip commenting on Chinese eating habits to the World Wildlife Fund conference in 1986. "If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."[3] Despite having the quote presented to a notable organization, it has also appeared in books such as "The most stupid Words Ever Spoken" as it is deemed by some Westerners as a showcase of "lack of understanding" in foreign culinary traditions in the Western world[3]. However, this is a modern Chinese saying used by the Northern Chinese with reference to southern Chinese cuisine, especially Cantonese.[4]

One subject of controversy amongst some Westerners is the raising of dogs and cats as food in some places in mainland China centering in the Cantonse-speaking region. Eating dogs were common and fiercely defended by the nationalist-leaning Chinese people, even from non-Cantonese parts of the country, in the first half of the 20th century. However, as time goes it is becoming a custom going out of fashion. In Hong Kong and Taiwan as of early parts of the 21st century serving dogs as food is illegal and risks social ostracism especially from those under the age of 50 courtesy of the increasing awareness of animal-welfare issues, and even within mainland China an increasing number of young mainland Chinese have called for its abolition as well.[5]

Some Westerners have defended the practice of Chinese serving dogs as food by putting forth claims of eating dogs as a survival tactic in times of famine[6]. Chinese historical records show serving dog as food does have a history going as far back as the Shang dynasty as one of the nine varieties of animals that could be eaten. However, dogs were not raised as food in ancient times as they were being carnivores and it did not make sense energetically to raise meat by feeding an animal meat.

References

  1. ^ Barber, Nicola. [2004] (2004) Hong Kong. Gareth Stevens Publishing. ISBN 0836851986
  2. ^ Wordie, Jason. [2002] (2002) Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-2095631
  3. ^ a b Ward, Laura. [2003] (2003). Foolish Words: The Most Stupid Words Ever Spoken. Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 1856486982
  4. ^ Olszewski, Wiesław. [2003] (2003). Chiny - zarys kultury. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. ISBN 83-232-1272-4. p.177 (in Polish)
  5. ^ 伴侣动物保护网络(CCAPN)-拒吃猫狗肉网络签名活动
  6. ^ Bonner, Arthur. [1997] (1997). Alas! What Brought Thee Hither: The Chinese in New york, 1800-1950. Fairleigh Dickinson University press. ISBN 0838637043

See also

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