Cantonese cuisine draws upon a great diversity of ingredients, Guangzhou (Canton) being a great trading port since the days of the Thirteen Factories, bringing it many imported foods and ingredients. Besides pork, beef, and chicken, Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats, including organ meats, chicken feet, duck and duck tongues, snakes, and snails. Many cooking methods are used, steaming, stir-frying, shallow frying, double boiling, braising, and deep-frying being the most common ones in Cantonese restaurants, due to their convenience and rapidity, and their ability to bring out the flavor of the freshest ingredients.
For many traditional Cantonese cooks, spices should be used in modest amounts to avoid overwhelming the flavors of the primary ingredients, and these primary ingredients in turn should be at the peak of their freshness and quality. Interestingly, there is no widespread use of fresh herbs in Cantonese cooking (and most other regional Chinese cuisines in fact), contrasting with the liberal usage seen in European cuisines and other Asian cuisines such as Thai or Vietnamese. Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the latter tends to be a mere garnish in most dishes.
Cooking Methods
At home, steaming and stir-frying are the two primary Cantonese cooking techniques. Given the emphasis on freshness in Cantonese cuisine, it's not surprising that steaming is popular, as this is the least intrusive cooking technique, and the healthiest. As for stir-frying, the Cantonese are the acknowledged experts. Cantonese cooks believe every stir-fry must exude a taste and aroma that comes from having "wok hay" or "wok breath."
Besides stir-frying and steaming, Cantonese cuisine is also famous for its roast meats such as pork and duck. Char siu bao, or steamed buns filled with roast pork, is a popular Cantonese dim sum treat.
Fresh is the Best
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. You might come across this scene in an Asian market: a vendor takes 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.
Seasonings and Spices
No Cantonese kitchen would be complete without a bottle of oyster sauce, made from boiling oysters and seasonings. (Vegetarian cooks can use a vegetarian version made with mushrooms). Chinese fermented black beans (also called salted black beans) and shrimp paste also figure prominently in Cantonese cooking. Hoisin sauce, made by mixing soybean paste with spices, is used as well.
My Favorite Featured Dishes
Here is a list of the top 10 dishes in Cantonese Cuisine:
1. Beef With Oyster Sauce: A classic Cantonese dish - snow peas and carrots are cooked with beef in an oyster flavored sauce.
2. Broccoli With Oyster Sauce: This recipe calls for Chinese broccoli (Gai Lan), which has a unique bittersweet flavor that combines nicely with oyster sauce. If it's not available, don't worry - the recipe also works well with regular broccoli or Chinese greens such as bok choy.
3. Barbecued Spareribs - Honey Garlic Spareribs: Cantonese spareribs are world famous. In this recipe the ribs are marinated in a sweet and spicy combination of honey, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce and crushed garlic, and then glazed with honey during baking.
4. Beef With Tomato: A classic Cantonese home-cooked dish - tomato is cooked with beef that has been marinated in oyster sauce. A bit of sugar helps balance the slightly acidic taste of the tomatoes.
5. Beef and Peppers in Black Bean Sauce: Another example of Cantonese home-cooking - beef and sweet bell peppers are cooked in a savory black bean sauce.
6. Sweet and Sour Pork, Restaurant Style: Here is the popular restaurant dish, with pork deep-fried twice for extra crispiness and coated with a tangy sweet and sour sauce made with pineapple juice and ketchup.
7. Salt and Pepper Shrimp (Salt and Pepper Prawns): This dish makes an excellent appetizer or main course. The deep-fried shrimp shells turn a wonderful orange color, and have a crunchy texture, while the spicy seasoning adds extra flavor. Leaving the shells on protects the shrimp meat inside, so that it tastes very tender.
8. Chicken in Rice (Wat Gai Fan): This healthy one-dish meal is easy to digest, making it a good choice for children and seniors. Feel free to add 2 to 3 Chinese sausages, cut on the diagonal into thin slices, or a few slices of cooked ham if desired.
9. Flowering Chives Stir-fry: Delicate flowering chives are often available in the produce section of local supermarkets (and of course, Asian markets). The trick to this easy side dish is not to overcook the chives. It goes very nicely with fish and shellfish.
10. Cantonese Steamed Chicken: Chinese dried black mushrooms add an earthy flavor in this easy to make steamed chicken dish. A good choice for family meals.
things you need to know when eating with the chinese culture Different from table manners in western countries,trust me i learned the hard way.. lol ! Chinese table manners are usually 'loud'. It is a way to express your appreciation to the food and show your thanks to the people who make your food. The following is what you should do when eating with Chinese on the same table:
Do slurp your soup. Chinese people don't mind some noise while eating;
If you are at a 'feast' then you do not need to finish all the rice in your dish;
If you are eating a small meal with family then do finish the rice that you take; there is a Chinese saying: every grain is the effort of the farmers, so wasting rice is not polite.
Do leave bones, shells or other things you don't want to eat on your plate or on the table;
Do help yourself to the food. Chinese people share food in the same plate, so when you want to eat something you like among all the dishes on the table, don't be shy to reach out your chopsticks.
Do not be too quiet. If there is a guest on the table, or it's a festival meal, Chinese people would not like a quiet dinning table. Talking and laughing will make the room more lively and also provide a friendly atmosphere.
and never cross your chopsticks or leave them standing in a bowl.. it is rude
if you live local in las vegas try cafe noodle, china mama, or changs for dim sum and den sum
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