Szechuan Restauran

	Recipes
	History
	Art of Cooking
	Szechuan Cuisine
	Peking Cuisine
	Shanghai Cuisine
	Canton Cuisine
	Spices & Ingredients
	Techniques

"It is not an exaggeration to say that most Chinese rich and poor alike are in love with Chinese gourmets, at least in the sense that they really enjoy good food .

Cooking traditions in china can trace its roots and inspiration to two separate groups of people: the imperial court and the poor. The emperor's dishes which became legacies to the whole country. Such dishes might portray legends or mythical symbols in the cut and arrangement of the ingredients. But it was to feed the poor that rice became the country's staple or that bean curd was developed as the cheapest way of providing protein to one billion bellies. Rice is so basic to the diet that the word for rice, doubles for the word for food. "Have you eaten today?" is a common greeting in China.

It is remarkable that a food product that requires so much labor and attention is the mainstay of the country. This enigma is perceived in the Chinese adage, "When eating rice, remember the trouble it took to produce it." Indeed, it is considered bad manners to leave a gain in the bowl.

Classical aesthetics dictate the form and order of many eating custom. The concepts of the yin and the yang imbue the choice of food, combinations and the timing and order of each dish.

Yin and yang refer to am interplay between the dark, cool, soft and feminine form of energy with the rough, hot and masculine source of energy in the universe. Foods are classified as cool or hot, remedial or damaging.

Upon this backdrop, regional dishes, seasonings and cooking techniques developed-drawn form the products available locally and adapted by the harvested and cooked them.

If you ever visit China, it is possible that you will be the guest at a Chinese banquet. These can be long affairs and will probably entail at least 12 courses. Unlike Western meals in which several foods are combined on one plate, at a Chinese banquet you will be served one dish at a time. It is best to pace yourself, taking a little from each in the anticipation of the next and the next course. Though the Chinese rarely drink spirits to excess, the rules change at a banquet. If your hosts are Chinese, they may well press you to drink Mao-tai, a potent liquor, at the end of the meal. Glasses are hoisted with the toast, "Gang Bei!", or bottoms up! The whole glass must be downed at once.

Northern (also Beijing or shandong) Cuisine of Shandong Province, south of Beijing on the eastern seaboard, is the model for northern cooking, including Beijing's. Its dishes were common to the menus of the emperors of the Yuan (1271-1236), Ming (1368-1644), and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

In the north where wheat, not rice, is the basic grain, cooking features a variety of flour products including noodles, steamed breads, pancakes and dumplings of various sizes and fillings.

Seafood is an important part of shandong dishes, especially shark's fin, sea cucumber (though not a local product), scallops, oysters porgy and conch.

Mongolian and Muslim traditions have added the taste of mutton and seasonings are strong with the use of vinegar, garlic, coriander, leeks and salt.

Beijing has lent its name to an internationally famous dish ,"Peking Duck," a bird that has been fattened, glazed and roasted. It is eaten finely sliced, wrapped in a pancake with scallions and plum sauce.

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