History and Characteristics of Cantonese cuisine

Cantonese cuisine, As one of the eight famous cuisines in Chinese, is unique with its unique cuisine and charm, and is enjoyed exclusively at home and abroad. So, let’s take a look at Cantonese food culture with the editor!

Cantonese cuisine, the local flavor of Guangdong, has a long history and is unique with its unique dishes and flavor. It is one of the eight major cuisines of the Han Chinese in China. It originated in Lingnan and enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad. The main characteristics of Cantonese cuisine are: natural food, free cooking, and free eating! Cantonese cuisine broadly speaking consists of Guangzhou cuisine (also known as Cantonese cuisine), Chaozhou cuisine (also known as “Chaoshan cuisine”), and Hakka cuisine, with Guangzhou cuisine as the representative.

Cantonese cuisine pays attention to quality and taste, and the taste is relatively light. It strives to be fresh and fresh, light and beautiful. And it changes with the seasons. Summer and autumn tend to be lighter, while winter and spring tend to be richer, pursuing color, aroma, taste and shape.

Features:

1、Cantonese cuisine has a wide range of unique ingredients and makes good use of fresh seafood. Cantonese cuisine uses a wide range of ingredients, the most among all cuisines in the country. “Be it birds, beasts, insects, or snakes, we will eat them all.” For example, in terms of animal raw materials, in addition to the commonly used chickens, ducks, fish, shrimps, pigs, cows, and sheep, many animals such as snakes, dogs, raccoons, and rats are also used. Making good use of fresh ingredients is a major feature of Cantonese cuisine, of which Chaozhou cuisine is most famous for its seafood.

2、Proficient in knife skills, specializing in killing and slaughtering live seafood. The technique focuses on simplicity and naturalness, unlike other cuisines where the knife skills are delicate.

3、Cooking methods and seasoning methods are self-contained systems. Many cooking methods of Cantonese cuisine originated from the north or the West, and have been continuously improved to form a complete cooking system that is different from other cuisines.

4、Light and refreshing. Guangzhou cuisine is characterized by refreshing, crisp, fresh and tender taste, which is the main taste of Guangdong cuisine. Dongjiang cuisine is characterized by salty, sour and spicy tastes, and is mostly home-cooked.

Cantonese cuisine cooking methods include frying, stir-frying, grilling, stewing, stewing, steaming, etc.

Cantonese cuisine mostly uses dark soy sauce, juice, lemon juice, black bean juice, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, sand tea sauce, fish sauce, chestnut powder, custard powder, meat tenderizer powder, cornstarch, butter, etc., which are not used in other cuisines. Or use less seasoning.

Representative dishes of Cantonese cuisine:

1、Cantonese crispy roast goose
Crispy Roasted Goose is a classic dish in Cantonese cuisine. It is made from a whole goose with its wings and heads removed and then grilled. The practice of roast goose originally originated from roast duck. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, a group of ambitious people who protected the young emperor retreated from Hangzhou, Zhejiang to Guangdong. Since there was no inkstone duck, which is abundant in Hangzhou, the chefs at that time used geese instead of ducks. However, they still adopted the roast duck method. It is the predecessor of Cantonese crispy roast goose.

If you travel to Guangdong, you will find that the streets are full of braised pork restaurants, and roast goose is one of the main dishes. The roasted goose is golden red in color, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It is usually dipped in sour plum sauce and eaten together. The taste is fat but not greasy, and the meat is full of flavor.

2、Guangzhou Wenchang Chicken
When I first saw the name of the dish “Guangdong Wenchang Chicken”, I believe the first reaction of many foreign friends was, isn’t Wenchang Chicken a famous Hainan dish? Why did it become a Cantonese dish? In fact, Wenchang chicken only refers to a kind of chicken. It is said to have originated in Tanniu Town, Wenchang, Hainan, hence the name “Wenchang chicken”. In Guangdong Wenchang Chicken, the chicken used is Wenchang chicken, but it belongs to Cantonese cuisine.

When making Guangzhou Wenchang chicken, the Wenchang chicken must be from the Wenchang area of Hainan, and it must go through multiple cooking processes and be boiled over slow fire. When putting it on the plate, the chicken will be chopped into strips, and the presentation should also have a sense of shape. When eating chicken, it is also served with dipping sauce made from a variety of seasonings. The meat is smooth and tender, and the taste is fragrant but not greasy, making people have endless aftertaste.

3、Blanched chicken
White-cut chicken is also called white-cut chicken. The name of the dish emphasizes how to cook the chicken. In fact, white-cut chicken is included in the specialties of many regions in southern my country, but the white-cut chicken in Guangdong is relatively more famous. The chicken used in Guangdong white-cut chicken is mostly Sanhuang chicken or Qingping chicken. The meat is smooth, tender and delicious.

When cooking plain-cut chicken, it is best to put the whole chicken into the pot and cook it until it is just tender, without adding any seasoning during the process. When ready to eat, it will be cut into small pieces and served on a plate, and it will also be served with a sauce made of minced garlic, minced ginger, scallions, light soy sauce, etc. The method of cooking plain-cut chicken can fully highlight the original flavor of the chicken, and it also tastes unique.

4、Traditional chrysanthemum and three snake soup
Cantonese cuisine is also known as the “barbarian cuisine” among the four major cuisines because it uses rich ingredients and some strange ingredients appear from time to time. This classic Cantonese dish, chrysanthemum and three snake soup, can be said to embody this very well.

Three snake soup, as the name suggests, uses three kinds of snakes in the ingredients. Among them, cobra and krait are venomous snakes. When handling, the poisons inside must be completely removed.

The traditional chrysanthemum and three snake soup is a soup type dish. The snake meat is stewed for several hours and is also served with chrysanthemums. The fragrance of snake meat and the sweetness of chrysanthemum are combined together, and the taste is refreshing without making people feel too fat.

5、Mini Buddha jumps over the wall
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a classic dish in Fujian. It is made with a variety of hard vegetables such as abalone, sea cucumber, and tendon as the main ingredients, and is simmered with stock and old Fujian wine. The mini Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in Cantonese cuisine is derived from the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in Fujian cuisine, and some adjustments have been made on its basis to make the ingredients and methods more popular and simpler. It can be regarded as a home-cooked version of Buddha Jumping Over the Wall.

Although the Guangdong version of Mini Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is not as rich in ingredients as Fujian Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, it does not lose much in terms of taste, and it tastes very delicious.

The 5 dishes mentioned above, Cantonese crispy roast goose, Guangzhou Wenchang chicken, white-cut chicken, traditional chrysanthemum and three snake soup, and mini Buddha jumping over the wall are all classics in Cantonese cuisine, and they are also hometown dishes that Cantonese people love to eat. It can be said that The real taste of old Guangzhou.