Esoteric and often extremely expensive ingredients such as shark's fin, dried scallops and dried oysters go into some of China's prized dishes.
Every region has its own particular snacks, very often sold on the street. Snack food is very inexpensive and includes such regional specialties as Beijing's boiled tripe with fresh cilantro, fried starch sausage with garlic, sour bean soup, and boiled pork and leek dumplings Uiaozi). Shanghai is known for its steamed baozi dumplings, sweet glutinous rice with eight sweetmeats (babaofan) and yeasty sweetened wine lees (the sediment of the wine left after fermentation). Sichuan is noted for spicy dan dan noodles, dumplings in hot sauce, and bean curd jelly (dou hua), while Cantonese dim sum is a cuisine unto itself.
The average urban family eats its main meal of the day in the evening. This meal usually consists of a staple such as rice or noodles, one or two fried dishes, at least one of which contains meat or fish, and a soup. Northerners eat more wheat than rice, in the form of steamed buns or noodles, which are fried or simmered in stock.
Beer regularly accompanies meals at home; stronger spirits are reserved for special occasions. The whole family gets involved in the business of shopping and cooking, and friends or relatives may be invited to join in the feast.
Western foods have made tentative inroads into the 6000-year-old bastion of Chinese cuisine, but fast-food outlets succeed mainly because of their novelty and location in Chinese tourist cities.
China's Gourmet Culture
As the Son of Heaven, the emperor of China enjoyed a status so elevated above the common mortal that it is difficult to conceive of the awe in which he was held and the power that he enjoyed. There are no dining rooms in the Forbidden City; tables would be set up before the emperor wherever he decided to eat. Every meal was a banquet of approximately 100 dishes. These included 60 or 70 dishes from the imperial kitchens, and a few dozen more served by the chief concubines from their own kitchens. Many of the dishes served to the emperor were made purely for their visual appeal, and were placed far away from the reach of the imperial chopsticks. These leftovers were spirited out of the palace to be sold to gourmets eager to "dine with the emperor."
From the palace, this gourmet culture filtered down to the private homes of the rich and powerful and to the restaurants where the privileged entertained. Banquets are important social and commercial events in China today and many high officials attend banquets five or six nights a week. Almost any event can supply the reason for a banquet: the completion (or non-completion) of a business deal, wedding, graduation, trip abroad, return from a trip abroad, promotion, moving house and so on. One can also give a banquet to save or give "face" in the case of some unpleasant situation or mishap.
Some of the best restaurants in China today are the pre-1949 enterprises that have managed to survive by virtue of the quality of their cooking and by their location. One example is Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park in Beijing, set in a former imperial palace on the shores of an artificial lake, where many of the recipes are taken from the late-Qing dynasty Forbidden City. Fangshan is renowned for its Manchu-Chinese Banquet, a three-day dining extravaganza that consists of over 100 different dishes, a souvenir of Qing dynasty court banquets. At another famous restaurant. Listening to the Orioles Pavilion, in the gardens of the famed Summer Palace (known to the Chinese as Yi He Yuan), dinners for 10 at around $1000 per table are reputedly not uncommon.
The Chinese Kitchen and Table
Rice is essential to a Chinese meal. This is particularly true in South China, although this division is not hard and fast. One reason the Grand Canal was built in the sixth century was to transport rice from the fertile Yangtze delta region to the imperial granaries in the relatively dry North. And since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), an annual crop of short-grain rice has been grown in the suburbs of Beijing, originally for the palace and today for the military leadership. Numerous varieties of rice are produced in China, supplemented by the more expensive Thai rice which is available at urban markets throughout the country. Southerners seem to prefer long-grain rice, which is less sticky than other varieties and has strong "wood" overtones when steaming hot.
This child seems to be eating with more gusto than finesse.You may need some practice before becoming adept with chopsticks.
The basic Chinese diet and means of food preparation were in place about 6000 years ago, although many imported ingredients entered the Chinese larder and new cooking methods were adopted. From the earliest times, the Chinese have divided their foodstuffs into two general categories: fan (cooked rice and staple grain dishes) and cai (cooked meat and vegetable dishes). A balanced mixture of grain and cooked dishes has been the ideal of a Chinese meal since time immemorial. Further balances were sought between the yin (cooling) and yang (heating) qualities of the foods served. The notion of food as both preventative and curative medicine is deeply embedded in the Chinese psyche.
The specific proportion of grain and cooked dishes on a menu depends on the economic status of the diners and the status of the occasion. The grander the occasion, the more cooked dishes and less grain. Even today, this tradition is maintained at banquets, where a small symbolic bowl of plain steamed rice is served after an extensive selection of dishes.
Rice is served steamed, fried (after boiling) or made into noodles by grinding raw rice into rice flour. It is also cooked with a lot of water to produce congee or zhou (rice gruel), a popular breakfast food and late-night snack eaten with savory side dishes. Rice is eaten by raising the bowl to the mouth and shoveling the grains in with the chopsticks in a rapid fanning motion.
The Chinese table is a shared table. The average meal would comprise three to four cai, fan, and a soup, served at once, to be shared between the diners who help themselves. The cai dishes should each have a different main ingredient, perhaps one meat, one fish, and one vegetable. Each dish should complement the other in terms of taste, texture and flavor, and the total effect appeal to both the eye and the tongue.
When cooking Chinese food, prepare all the ingredients and have them ready before you start cooking as trying to juggle a hot wok and chop a chicken at the same time inevitably leads to catastrophe!
Tea is drunk before and after a meal, but rarely during a meal. The most famous of clear-spirits drunk "straight up" in small handle-less cups or glasses during a meal is Maotai, made in the south-west province of Guizhou.
Chinese meals are socially important events, and special menus are presented for weddings and birthdays; important festivals also have their traditional dishes and snacks.
Finally, some tips on etiquette. Don't point with your chopsticks and don't stick them into your rice bowl and leave them standing up or crossed. Don't use your chopsticks to explore the contents of a dish-locate the morsel you want with your eyes and go for it with your chopsticks without touching any other pieces.
If you wish to take a drink of wine at a formal dinner, you must first toast another diner, regardless of whether he or she responds by drinking. If you are toasted and don't wish to drink, simply touch your lips to the edge of the wine glass to acknowledge the courtesy.
It is incumbent upon the host to urge the guests to eat and drink to their fill. This means ordering more food than necessary and keeping an eye out for idle chopsticks. It is polite to serve the guest of honor the best morsels, such as the cheek of the fish, using a pair of serving or "public" chopsticks or with the back end of one's chop-sticks. And remember, all food is communal and to be shared.
SUGGESTED MENUS
Family meals
For simple family meals, try serving with steamed jasmine rice:
• Winter Melon Soup (page 38);