Chapter_7_Culinary_Culture.ppt

Chapter 9 Culinary Culture Chinese Food The Features of Chinese Food Color, aroma (芳香) and taste Genarally speaking, there are three essential factors by which Chinese cooking is judged, namely color, aroma, and taste, with taste being the most important. Color refers not only to the beautiful color of the food, but also to the layout and design. Foods are often carved by the chef into various artistic designs. Aroma refers to the fragrant (芳香的) and appetising (开胃的) smell of the dishes served on the table before eating. Taste is not only associated with tasting the food itself, but also with the appreciation of seasonings (调味品 ) and texture (?口感 ). Cooking methods Time and temperature play an important role in cooking. They affect whether the dishes are tender, medium, overdone or just done to a turn (恰好). Through the centuries, ancient Chinese people acquired many cooking techniques. They include boiling, stewing (煲/炖), braising (烧/焖/烩), frying (煎), stir-frying (炒), quick-frying (爆), deep-frying (炸), frying and simmering (扒), sauteing (快煎), simmering(煨), smoking (熏), roasting or barbecuing (烤), baking (烘), steaming and scalding (白灼). Seasonings Taste mainly depends on the seasonings. There are many tastes—salty (salt, soy sauce), sweet (sugar, honey), sour (vinegar), pungent (辛辣的) (chili 辣椒粉,ginger 生姜, scallion 大葱) and others. The suitable application of seasonings will produce a variety of dishes to suit a variety of tastes. Medicinal function Chinese cuisine [kw?’zin] (烹饪) attaches great importance to nutrition. Based on traditional Chinese herbal medicine practice, medicinal cuisine combines strictly processed traditional Chinese medicine with traditional culinary materials to produce delicious food with health-restoring qualities. Over the centuries, the Chinese have explored the world of plants, roots, herbs, fungus (菌菇) and seeds to find life-giving elements. They discovered that many items have medicinal value and that improper cooking can destroy