At Home with Chinese Cuisine (9 page)
Read At Home with Chinese Cuisine Online
Authors: T P Hong
The cutting board is as important a kitchen tool as knives in the Chinese kitchen. Knife work makes all the difference to the flavour of the dishes, and without the cutting board, there would be no proper knife work to speak of.
For years I have been searching for the ultimate cutting board that could take heavy knife work from the cleaver without damaging either the blade or the cutting board. I was enlightened following a conversation with an old lady in the market a few years ago. This old lady had been selling cutting boards in the traditional market near my parents’ house. She always pushed a cart on foot with different sizes and shapes of cutting boards piled high. I approached her and told her I was looking for a cutting board that could withstand frequent chopping and mincing. She handed over a circular chopping block and pointed at the poultry vendors behind her. “They were all my customers,” she said, “but I did not get a repeat purchase from them often. This kind of cutting board lasts for generations because of how the grain runs. You cut into the grain, not against it.” Her family has run a sawmill for generations, producing cutting boards from imported hardwood timbers. The hardwood they choose has to have antiseptic and antimicrobial properties with natural oil resins that repel moisture. “It is easy to look after,” she said. “Wash it with warm water or mild detergent with sponges, rinse well, and allow it to dry in the shade, not in the sun.”
The hardwood circular chopping block I bought from this old lady remains the workhorse of the kitchen. It is substantial in the hand with a beautiful, tight grain. It is a cross section of a tree (that was cut perpendicular to the direction of the grain,) with the bark and cambium removed. The surface is smooth and crack-free. The direction of the grain runs vertically against the surface and allows the wood fibres to absorb the impact of the knife blade; it is therefore gentle to the knife blade. For a kitchen that does a lot of chopping or pounding, the wooden cutting board is an indispensable tool. The nearest alternative to this kind of chopping block in the West is the end-grain cutting board commonly found in a chessboard pattern. It is a combination of glued pieces of wood with the grain also running perpendicular to the surface of the board.
The plastic ones are popular for gentle knife work these days, and they are suitable. They are fairly easy to clean because most of them are dishwasher-safe. Domestic bleach is effective in removing the stains and bacteria on the surface.
27
As with the wooden cutting board, it is advisable to be generous with the number of cutting boards to prevent cross-contamination. It is prudent to have a designated surface for raw meat and fish preparation. There should also be separate ones for cooked meats and fruits and vegetables.
Bamboo is naturally antimicrobial, but almost all of the bamboo cutting boards available in the market so far have the fibres running horizontally against the surface. They are therefore not recommended for heavy contact with knife blades, and it is not advisable to scrape the surface or use scourers for cleaning purposes because they cause splinters on the surface.
When one looks back through Chinese history, one notes that cooking utensils made of different materials and at different stages in history enabled Chinese ancestors to explore and develop different cooking methods. During the Palaeolithic Period,
28
the most primitive cooking method was probably grilling or roasting food on a piece of stone or slab heated in fire, similar to the method of stone baking today. So was the baking of food wrapped in clays in the hot ashes. There were hardly any seasonings or condiments available for food preparation. Interestingly, it is the simplicity of the cooking methods and the unlaced flavour of the food that are attracting diners’ interest today. One can experience how one’s ancestors lived and the flavour of the food they ate, as one Stone-BBQ restaurant placard I saw in Beijing in 2012 advertised.
Ceramic cooking utensils and containers were used for cooking during the mid-and late-Neolithic Period in China (7000–2000 BC). Hot food was prepared by using water as the heat transfer medium in ceramic pots. Boiling was probably the major cooking method, and from it evolved other ways of preparing foods such as poaching and stewing. Food must have tasted better during this period than before because of the availability of sea salt and plums for cooking. Plums gave acidity in cooking before vinegar appeared on the cooking scene. People who lived along the eastern coast boiled seawater in ceramic containers to obtain the crystals for cooking and food preservation;
29
this discovery was heralded as the start of the food preparation proper. Furthermore, the archaeological finds of ceramic jars and cups for wine drinking provided the evidence that wines from fermented grains and fruit were already common. Wine used for cooking probably had started during this period as well.
Bronze cooking utensils joined those made of pottery in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1050 BC) and the Zhou Dynasty (1050-256 BC), but the bronze cooking utensils were exclusively for the court kitchens and mandarin households. Water remained the heat transfer medium in cooking during this period of time. The main cooking methods included boiling, steaming, simmering, and stewing.
30
Raw iron cooking utensils started to appear in the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) and became popular in the subsequent Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 25). This high-heat-resistant material took on the cooking oil that was available then in its stride and made frying (stir-frying, deep-frying, and pan-frying) possible. Raw iron cooking utensils also marked the start of the refinement of Chinese cooking: More sophisticated cooking methods that used both the water and the oil as the heat transfer media started to appear. More seasonings and condiments, such as vinegars, cane sugars, ands fermented beans and paste were available by then; they joined the array of knife work and heat control techniques and empowered people from all classes in their quests for flavours to a new level.
On record, there are 467 cooking methods collected from 56 ethnic groups in China.
31
Among them, two dozen or so are commonly practised. The straightforward cooking methods such as pan-frying, grilling, poaching, simmering, and brining are fairly universal. In the following section, I will introduce to you a few of the cooking practices that appear in the recipes in this book.
Stir-frying
(
炒
)
Stir-frying was mentioned in the book
QiMinYaoShu,
written in the sixth century. By the Song Dynasty in the tenth century, it was already widely practiced. The cooking temperature does not stay constant during the cooking process, and so heat control has a direct influence on the flavour of a stir-fried dish.
Stir-frying is a very broad category of cooking method. A straightforward stir-frying (such as raw stir-frying and simple stir-frying)
32
is to stir or toss the food in the wok quickly over a high heat. The ingredients are kept in a constant motion for even distribution of heat and the same degree of doneness. The food is usually cooked until about 80 per cent done; the residual heat will continue the cooking after plating. There are also multiple-stage stir-frying, such as cooked stir-fry and sizzling stir-frying.
33
Stir-fry
dry
(
干煸
)
Stir-fry dry is a SiChuan style of cooking. It is about stir-frying (or in some cases deep-frying) the main ingredient until its surface moisture is evaporated and turns dry (to varying degrees).
Sizzling-fry
(
爆
)
Sizzling-fry (Bao in Chinese) connotes speed, hot oil, and high-heat cooking. “Sizzling” is to describe the ingredients cooking away in hot oil at high temperature. The direct translation of Bao in Chinese means to burst or explode. This cooking method is divided into two subcategories: It is either a quick stir-fry in hot oil (sizzling-fry), or it involves a quick blanch in fiercely boiling liquid. The ingredients are cooked in seconds either way. To further expand the subcategory of sizzling-fry, there are sizzling-fry with coriander and sizzling-fry with spring onions. Sizzling-fry with herbs is unique in that it thrusts what we normally regard as herbs into the limelight and uses them as vegetables.
Braising
(
燒
)
This is a multi-stage cooking method involving first blanching the main ingredient in water or oil. It is then cooked over a low heat with condiments, herbs, spices, and water or broth. The cooking liquid is then reduced to a double cream consistency. This broad category of cooking method subdivides into braising by colours (e.g., red-braising and white-braising), braising by condiments (e.g., soy paste–braising), braising by herbs (e.g., scallion-braising), and braising with ingredients that have been pre-cooked using different techniques (e.g., pan-fried-braising).
Hui
(
燴
)
Hui is a cooking method originating from the Qing Dynasty. Hui in Chinese has two characters: “fire” on the left and the character “getting together” on the right. As the characters suggest, hui is a cooking method that involves mixing several ingredients together and then cooking in liquid over a medium or medium-high heat. The actual cooking time is quite short, and therefore the ingredients need to be blanched in oil or water beforehand. A thickening agent is used for most hui dishes, which differentiates them from soup dishes.
Different hui dishes can be identified by colour. For example, hui-in-red has a red hue from soy sauce or tomato purée. Comparatively
more thickening agent is added to give it a substantial mouth feel. Hui-in-white does not have a colouring agent added, and less thickening agent is used so as to give the liquid a lighter texture. Hui dishes can also be identified by their tastes. Sour and hot is a popular blend of tastes. The popular Sour and Hot Soup is an example in point: It is a hui dish, not a soup dish.
Slide-slip
(
熘
)
This technique involves pre-cooking the main ingredients, preparing a sauce, and then adding the main ingredients back into the pan to mix with the sauce or pouring the sauce onto the main ingredients to serve. The sauce binds the ingredients and gives them a smooth texture.
Slide-slipped dishes can be identified by the texture of the main ingredients. For example, crisp slide-slip involves coating the ingredients with batter for deep-frying so as to give the surface a crisp texture; the sauce is then poured onto the main ingredients, or the main ingredients are tossed or mixed in with the sauce. The best-known dish prepared this way is Sweet and Sour (TangCu) Pork Tenderloin.
Slide-slipped dishes can also be distinguished by the condiments and seasonings used. For example, slide-slipped with vinegar is self-explanatory. Sweet and sour dishes are often slide-slipped with sugar and vinegar. Fish fragrance is a blend of tastes for slide-slipping meat and vegetables, which consists of spring onions, ginger, garlic, wine, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Aubergine with Fish Fragrance is an example in point.
Steam-braising
(
燜
)
In this method, the ingredients are pre-cooked in oil or water. They are then left in a sealed or tightly covered cooking utensil over a low heat to allow the steam inside to do the cooking.
Drunken
(
醉
)
Drunken is a cooking method suitable for preparing meat and seafood. Meats such as chicken and ducks are pre-cooked; seafood such as prawns, crabs, and clams can be prepared raw. Vegetables such as bamboo shoots can also be prepared using this method after they are blanched, brined, or pickled. Instead of just staying in the background in the marinade, the wine is thrust into the limelight and plays a dominant role in influencing the flavour of the dish. Rice wine and, to a lesser extent, grain-based spirits are used for preparing drunken dishes in China.
BaShi
(
拔絲
)
Ba is “pull”, and Shi is “fine thread”. It involves preparing caramel by heating up oil or water with sugar. The main ingredient is then added to the caramel. Serve the dish while hot by picking a piece of the main ingredient up and pulling it away from the dish. Silky threads are pulled along with it.
The first mention of heat control in food preparation can be found in the ancient scripts of
LuShiChunQiu
. It recorded a conversation that had taken place in the sixteenth century BC between Tang of Shang, the first ruler of the Shang Dynasty, and YiYin, his prime minister and a good chef. During the conversation, YiYin talked about how the flavour of the food could be affected by the way water boiled in the cooking vessel called Ding.
34
He said there were five tastes of sourness, sweetness, bitterness, pungency, and saltiness, and three materials of water, wood, and fire at disposal for preparing food. Allowing the water to boil nine times could result in nine different flavour combinations – it all came down to the control of the fire. He gave the example of archers shooting the arrows while mounted on horseback
in the battlefield and not missing the targets. It was not accidental, he said; it took practice to perfect the skills. The same goes for mastering the heat control ability through practices so that it becomes an instinct. YiYin’s statements still ring true today. Food preparation involves a thought process that builds on our instinct through practice.
Heat control is about adjusting the cooking temperature to achieve the desired flavour of the dish. It is also linked to the cooking method deployed. Let us take deep-frying as an example. Deep-frying with batter often involves frying in the oil twice over medium and high heats. The small-sized ingredients, such as prawns coated with batter, are first fried at medium heat. If the oil temperature is too low, the batter could detach from the ingredient. One wants a crisp, light-coloured shell to form. If the initial temperature is too high, the batter might be burned before the prawn is cooked inside. One then turns up the temperature to have the oil hot enough for the next stage of deep-frying to quickly crisp the batter and get the golden colour. With the high heat and quick deep-frying, the batter does not have the chance to soak up the cooking oil and taste greasy as a result. The correct temperature adjustment will enable one to have tender and succulent prawns coated with golden-coloured crisp-textured batter that gives the crunch when one bites into them.
There is a wider spectrum of temperature to play with when cooking in oil (theoretically, up to the smoke point of the cooking oil used). Chinese chefs often remark the cooking temperature by reference to the heat level; each level is the equivalent of 30°C. They cook over low (levels 3–4), medium (levels 5–6), or high (levels 7–8) heat. Medium heat is the default setting for regular stir-frying.
When the water is the heat transfer medium, chefs normally adjust the temperature by sight. It is fairly straightforward to visually tell the difference between a roaring boil and a fish-eye simmer. The boiling point of water is 100°C /212°F at sea level. If one allows the water to boil continuously, it will evaporate and turn into steam. But the temperature remains around 100°C. The exception is when the steam is pressurised, such as in a pressure cooker; then the temperature inside can go beyond 100°C.
The kitchen is where one learns to control cooking temperature. The gas burner is ideal for Chinese cooking because it allows quick adjustment of temperature during the cooking process. Rounded-bottom woks can be used on the flat-topped gas cookers with a wok ring to stabilise it. In the West, the heat from the domestic gas cooker is normally not adequate for quick stir-frying that requires a cooking temperature of 180°C or higher. The good news is that wok burners are now available as a standard feature in some cooker ranges. Stand-alone wok burners are also commercially available; they can be installed alongside the electric or induction hob to complete the range. Their heat outputs go from 2.8kW and up, with the minimum of two concentric burner rings essential for the distribution and coverage of the heat.
For a Chinese gourmand, the wok aroma is the telltale sign of a dish that has been prepared with the optimal cooking temperature. The wok aroma is missing when the dish is cooked on a heat source that is not up to the job, or when the cook fails to control the cooking temperature appropriately. It is the nose that detects the wok aroma when the optimal cooking temperature activates the aroma molecules of all the ingredients, including those brought about by the Maillard Reactions, as the result of their interaction with the heat; this is the time when the food tells us it is ready to be served. Try to capture the aroma towards the end of the cooking. If you do not find any sign of communication, turn the heat up a little and stir the food so it benefits from even distribution of the heat. The nose will soon learn to pick it up.