Chinese cooking techniques

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Chinese cooking techniques vary widely in form, with stir-frying(炒, 爆) being one of the better known methods in the West

Chinese cooking techniques (中餐烹調法) are a set of methods and techniques traditionally used in Chinese cuisine.[1] The cooking techniques can either be grouped into ones that use a single cooking method or a combination of wet and dry cooking methods.

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Single

Many cooking techniques involve a singular type of heated cooking or action.

Wet

Steamed sea bass in the Cantonese style

Wet-heat, immersion-based cooking methods are the predominate class of cooking techniques in Chinese cuisine and are usually referred to as "zhǔ" (煮). In fact the term (zhǔ, 煮) is commonly used to denote cooking in general.

Quick

Fast wet-heat based cooking methods include:

English EquivalentChinesePinyinDescription
Braisingsimplified Chinese: 烧; traditional Chinese: 燒ShāoBraising ingredients over medium heat in a small amount of sauce or broth and simmering for a short period of time until completion. Known as hong-shao (红燒, lit. red cooked) when the sauce or broth is soy sauce based.
Quick Boiling氽 or 煠Dǔn or ZháAdding ingredients and seasonings to boiling water or broth and immediately serving the dish with the cooking liquid when everything has come back to a boil.
Scalding焯 or simplified Chinese: 烫; traditional Chinese: 燙Chāo or TàngPar cooking through quick immersion of raw ingredients in boiling water or broth sometimes followed by immersion in cold water.

Prolonged

Prolonged wet-heat based cooking methods include:

English EquivalentChinesePinyinDescription
Bake stewing煨WēiSlowly cooking a ceramic vessel of broth and other ingredients by placing it in or close to hot embers.
Gradual simmeringsimplified Chinese: 炖; traditional Chinese: 燉DùnAdding ingredients to cold water along with seasonings and allowing the contents to slowly come to a prolonged simmering boil. This is known in English as double steaming due to the vessels commonly used for this cooking method. The term is also used in the Chinese languages to describe the Western cooking technique of stewing and brewing herbal remedies of Traditional Chinese medicine.
Slow red cookingsimplified Chinese: 卤; traditional Chinese: 滷LǔCooking over prolonged and constant heat with the ingredients completely immersed in a strongly flavoured soy sauce based broth. This technique, along with hong-shao (红燒, lit), is known in English as red cooking.
Steaming蒸 or 燖Zhēng or XúnSteaming food to completion over boiling water.
Decoction熬ÁoCooking slowly to extract nutrients into the simmering liquid, used to describe the brewing process in Chinese herbology with the intention of using only the decocted brew.

Dry

Air-based

Zhangcha duck is a dish whose preparation involves steaming (蒸), smoking (熏), and deep frying (炸).

Food preparation in hot dry vessels such as an oven or a heated empty wok include:

English EquivalentChinesePinyinDescription
Baking or Roasting烤KǎoCooking by hot air through convection or broiling in an enclosed space
Smoking熏XūnCooking in direct heat with Smoke. The source of the smoke is typically sugar or tea.

Oil-based

Stir frying (爆 bào) is a Chinese cooking technique involving relatively large amounts of oil.

Oil-based cooking methods are one of the most common in Chinese cuisine and include:

English EquivalentChinesePinyinDescription
Deep frying or Frying炸ZháFull or partial immersion cooking in hot oil or fat
Pan frying煎JiānCooking in a pan with a light coating of oil or liquid and allowing the food to brown.
Stir frying or high heat Sautéing炒Chǎo Cooking ingredients at hot oil and stirring quickly to completion. This technique and bao (爆炒, 油爆) are commonly known in English as stir frying. This technique uses higher heat than that of Sautéing.
High heat Stir frying爆BàoCooking with large amounts hot oil (油爆), sauces (酱爆), or broth (汤爆) at very high heat and tossing the ingredients in the wok to completion.

Without heat

Food preparation techniques not involving the heating of ingredients include:

Raw methods
English EquivalentChinesePinyinDescription
Dressing拌BànMixing raw or unflavoured cooked ingredients with seasonings and served immediately. Similar to tossing a dressing into salad.
Marinating or pickling腌YānTo pickle or marinade ingredients in salt, soy sauce or soy pastes. Use for making pickles or preparing ingredients for addition cooking.

Combination

The chicken in General Tso's chicken has been fried and lightly braised in sauce (Liu, 溜)

Several techniques in Chinese involve more than one stage of cooking and have their own terms to describe the process. They include:

  • Dòng (凍): The technique is used for making aspic but also used to describe making of various gelatin desserts
    1. Simmering meat for a prolonged period in a broth (Lu, 滷) or (Dun, 炖)
    2. Chilling the resulting meat and broth until the mixture gels
  • Hùi (燴): The dishes made using this technique is usually finished by thickening with starch (勾芡)
    1. Quick precooking in hot water (Tang, 燙)
    2. Finished by stir-frying (爆, 炒) or Shao (燒)
  • Liū (溜): This technique is commonly used for meat and fish. Pre-fried tofu is made expressly for this purpose.
    1. Deep frying (Zha, 炸) the ingredients until partially cooked
    2. Finishing the ingredients lightly braising (Shao, 燒) it to acquired a soft "skin"
  • Mēn (燜):
    1. Stir-frying (爆, 炒) the ingredients until partially cooked
    2. Cover and simmer (Shao, 燒) with broth until broth is fully reduced and ingredients are fully cooked.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 傅, 培梅 (2008), 培梅食譜 1, 旗林文化, ISBN 978-986-6655-25-8 
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