special cuisine

imperial palace dishes

imperial palace dishes orginated from dishes cooked for the imperial family by the imperial kitchen. imperial cuisine was developed on the basis of shandong cuisine and later islamic pastry and tibetan dishes were included.

the cuisine is characterised by its strictness in selecting ingredients. for example duck dishes must be made of peking duck, mutton dishes must be made of black trotter or black-and-white faced sheep. it also emphasised on season food: instant-boiled mutton is consumed at the beginning of autumn, spring roll at the beginning of spring and shrimp in the summer. quick frying is used to keep flavour, tenderness and no extra juice in their dishes.

vegatarian dishes

vegetarian cuisine has a long history and a high place in chinese cuisine. its main ingredients are green leaved vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, bean curd and vegetable oil, which are not only tasty and nutritious but also easy easy to digest and anti-cancer effect.

major dishes include vegetarian chicken, sauced meat made of bean curd, vegetarian pork, assorted bean curd, mushroom with gluten, hot and sour slices, vegetarian prawn, fish with chiese toon and little tender meat.

medicinal dishes

medicinal diet is an important component of chinese culinary art. the five flavours of food, namely salty, sour, sweet, bitter and pungent, if applied appropriately in meal, would be conducive to one's health and longevity. drawing from the theory of traditional chinese medicine and pharmacy, chinese culinary masters have found a scientific way for diet therapy with proper cooking.

well-known dishes are chicken egg in lilly soup, shrimp slices with pearl powder, tianfu-style carp, braised duck seasoned with soysauce and dried tangerine peel, steamed bun with minced meat and tuckahoe stuffing.

jiaozi (dumpling)

jiaozi or dumpling is a traditional and popular food with a long history in china. there is a popular saying in china: "there is nothing more delicious than jiaozi." so you could imagine how much chinese love it.

in the later years of eastern han period, an official called zhang zhongjing created a kind of food to help poor people keep warm in cold winter. it was made with all kinds of fillings such as mutton, hot pepper and some medicinal materials. afterwards people began to make dumplings as well.

jiaozi is the food that will no doubt appear on tables during spring festivals. generally, people prepare it before midnight on the last day of the passing lunar year and eat it after the new year's bell is sounded.

jiaozi looks like shoe-shaped gold and silver ingots so when people eat it during festivals they really hope it could bring fortune and good luck to them, and this, of course, is their best wishes. sometimes people will add some sweets, chinese dates and chestnuts in fillings of some dumplings to express their wishes. they hope those who get sweets could have a sweeter life. those who get dates and chestnuts could have babies early, because dates (zao), are homonymic with early in chinese, so are chestnuts (zhenzi). zi is homonymic with children.

today jiaozi has already become an important part of chinese cuisine.

cantonese cuisine

an emphasis on preserving the natural flavor of the food is the hallmark of cantonese cuisine. a cantonese chef would consider it a culinary sin of the highest order to produce a dish that was overcooked or too heavily seasoned. not surprisingly, many dishes are stir-fried or steamed - both these cooking methods allow foods to retain their natural taste.

when it comes to ingredients, cantonese cooks are fortunate in living in an area with abundant rainfall and a tropical climate. seafood - including fish and shellfish, tropical fruit, rice and a wide array of vegetables are readily available. the cantonese believe it is paramount that these be as fresh as possible. i was reminded of this recently while shopping at an asian market. the vendor took great pride in demonstrating the freshness of the ling cod - killed a mere three hours earlier - by pointing out that you could still see its heart beating. however, the cantonese are also very inventive, and happy to incorporate non-native ingredients in their cooking. artistic presentation and garnishing are also very important.

what type of dishes epitomize cantonese cuisine? beef with oyster sauce is a typical chinese dish, as are fried rice and steamed chicken. fish is eaten frequently; shellfish are also popular. steamed sea bass, stir-fried garoupa, and lobster cantonese are all well-known cantonese dishes. shark's fin soup is another delicacy. vegetable dishes reflect the wide variety and seasonality of what is available.