By Chef Ted
Conventional wisdom tells us Chinese food is well known. Because it’s well loved, and widely available all over the world.
What if I tell you there is hardly anyone out there who understands Chinese food reasonably well?
Hardly Anyone Knows Chinese Food
Surprised?
You are not alone, judging from my life experience, even the Chinese themselves do not understand Chinese food. I mean practically 99% of the Chinese!
Guess it will take me forever to explain why so if we must delve into the specifics. Nonetheless, I’d like to share with you my life experience as well as certainly critical tricks in Chinese culinary that makes Chinese food yummilicious. And I’d try my best to explain the details as we go along.
The main reason why Chinese food is so complex is obviously because it’s originated from a very big place populated by hundreds of enthicities (with different culture/langauges) called Middle Kingdom – China. Not only that, the Chinese culinary has come a long way. Beside having been evolved for several thousand years under different climate spanning from deserts up to the mountains and down to the seaside, one of the biggest difference between Chinese cooking and other cultures is that Chinese typically use water as the heating medium to cook food. Whereas almost every other culture use heat directly – either baking or barbeque.
You may argue No, I cook in pan, which is very similar to WOK.
The answer is Yes and No.
Unfolding The Secrets Behind Chinese Culinary
Different Heating Methodolgy
YES, sauté or sautéeing is the closest thing to wok-stir-frying (“Chow” in Chinese). But mind you, sautéeing has its root in French culinary and unlike Chinese stir-frying using wok, sautéeing is still not exactly a very mainstream way of cooking food. I say barbequing is probably way more popular, at least in the American continent.
NO is because other than wok-stir-frying, the Chinese practically cook everything else by boiling or steaming (water). Baking or BBQ only made up a small percentage of how Chinese food is prepared. As a matter of fact, I am not aware of any Chinese Chinese cooked using direct flame – BBQ, except may be for kabobs (or meat skewers). Even then kabobs is not exatly a minstream Chinese food. It’s more like a snack of the minorities.
Don’t believe me. Take a good look around the next you visit a “real” Chinese reasturant. See what do Chinese restaurants serve their Chinese customers? You will typically find first thing first – rice, which is cooked by boiling with water. Next, you should find a big bowl of soup, which is basically water with whatever ingredients – the northern Chinese like it thick and starchy eg. sweet & sour soup, and the southerners love it as clear as as water (basically they love broth). Everything else is likely wok-stir-fryied, some boiled and very little fried stuffs. Baked food is unsual for full meals … except for menu like Dim Sum. That also only a small percentage of the Dim Sum varieties are baked. There are probably more fried stuffs than baked stuffs.
I know you love Dim Sum. But Dim Sum is not a exactly a “meal” to the Chinese. It is considered more like “snacks”. That’s why Chinese restaurants typically only serve Dim Sum for breaskfast and luch only. No Chinese take Dim Sum for dinner.
Anyway, I will cover Dim Sum comprehensively as I believe this is least understood Chinese food, even though it is the most “faved” Chinese food for most people, Chinese included.
As we go along, I’d also try to share with you a trick or two how to cook up Chinese dishes just like what they serve at the Chinese restaurant. One thing you may not know is chances are you can never cook a Chinese dish at home that will taste like what they serve at the Chinese restaurant, regardless which recipe book you refer to … The reason is because restaurants use completely different equipment, as well as there are some secret ingredients no Chinese cook will ever divulge to the public.
Obviously, they are also some tricks even ordinary Chinese do not know about.
How so?
No Real Chinese Culinary School
Unlike the West whereby you may enrol in any culinary school, you will get to learn exactly what restaurant cooks or chefs do for a living. Basically same kind of equipment, same type of ingredients, pretty much the same cooking technique. However, there is no Chinese culinary school.
You read it correctly. There is no real Chinese culinary school. If they is one, it’s just teaching certain topics (likely certainly dishes), or they are like what Donald Trump said … “FAKE”.
Chinese restaurant cooking is an insider trade. The only place you can learn how to do it properly is to become an apprentice at a proper Chinese restaurant. When I said “proper”, I mean full fledged gourmet Chinese restaurant, not takeout or what they call “Chop-Suey” in Europe.
While you may prepare a steak in pretty much the same fashion as chefs do at the reastaurant. This is not the case for Chinese food. Chinese chefs do not prepare/cook food like you do at home. Just like the bigger western restaurants, they have guys doing nothing except preparing ingredients eg. chopping veggies/cutting meat. Next they have specialist “pickers” whose job is to pick up all the required ingredients for a particular dish – meant, veggie, condiments etc., and hand them over to the cook/chef (known as the “Big Wok” in Chinese).
It’s not the systematic setup that makes the big difference in term of taste and quality of Chinese. For all you know, your Chinese mother-in-law could prepare the ingredients ever better (obviously cleaner), or perhaps also can stir-fry food using the wok as expertly.
The key to successful Chinese cooking is the equipment and some “commercial” tricks.
Commercial Gadgets & Gizmos
Heat is a major factor that set things apart in Chinese cooking.
In Chinese reastaurant, they have very powerful gas burners – At least 3-4 times more powerful compared to the gas stoves in ordinary households. Heat and timing are the two main reasons why your homemade stirred-fried food can never hope to achieve the restaurant quality. Restaurants uses just a fraction of time (with high power gas stove) to cook up the same thing as you do at home. In stir-frying, the faster the speed the better the results – veggies tend look sharper, fresher, crispier, and even meat will be juicier and more tender as a result.
The Magical Ingredient
Other than equipment, restaurant also tend to have “standard” taste enhancing ingredients based on proven formula – salt, sugar, pepper, soy sauce etc. which they can throw into the wok in seconds, which is a big challenge for folks at home to gather/measure them all, much less as quick. There is also “magical” ingredients that no cookbook will ever dare to tell you use eg. MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) that every Chinese restaurant uses.
The #1 Secret Why Chinese Chinese Food Tastes So Good
Guess you don’t need me to tell what is MSG, and why no cookbook or cookshow will dare to tell you to use it.
MSG is of course not a good stuff. It’s a chemical salt. The fact that MSG can really do wonder to enhance taste of just about any food, the Chinese cooks will die standing if they are not allowed to use it. To put it bluntly, taste of Chinese restaurant food is tatse of MSG. I am sorry to tell you this not pretty truth.
To be fair, and despite all the negative “myth” behind MSG, did you know, there is no harm to consume a small amout of MSG? So, fret not. Unless you are allergic to MSG, it’s safe to consume Chinese restaurant food ie. to consume MSG.
Is MSG is must in Chinese food?
Unfortunately, the ugly truth is Yes. But throughout the years, I found some alternatives. Not as good as MSG for taste enhancement purpose, but my alternatives will deliver satisfacty results nonetheless. I will explain them in due course.
Other Magical Ingredients
Other than that, restaurant also typically use corn starch to glaze the stir-fried dishes … This explains why Chinese restaurant disher looks sharp … shiny and pretty, which translates into “Yummiliciousness”.
This is again something your mother-in-law will not do. Not only because chances are they weren’t taught how to do it, the cookbooks usually also never mention this particular “magic powder”. Another reason why use of corn starch is not recommended for home cooking is again due to the heat factor. The process gotta be quick. And it can be tricky if you are not used to doing it.
Typically, you stir a small amount of corn starch with cold water, pour them over the cooked food, switch off the gas, and give it couple of stirs. The corn starch will just become cooked and turn into a shiny coating for the food. Just imagine if you do it without sufficient heat, or you need to keep the gas on to cook the starch a little bit longer? Now you know why heat is power in Chinese restaurant.
Again fret not. There are always alternatives … Why? Because just like you, I do not have the same gadgets and gizmos like Chinese restaurants do. I use standard gas stove. Actually, I was using electric coil stove before. I only managed to get a more powerful gas stove couple of years ago … Now I got a Blue Star – This is a moster measured by residential appliances standard.
There are other ingredients that makes Chinese taste and smell the way it is … Don’t worry, no more chemical ingredient like MSG. The rest are are good natural stuffs – ginger, garlic, white pepper …. I will explain what they do and how proper use of such ingredients can upgrade the quality of your dish to restaurant standard.
I shall try to touch on Dim Sum next, so that you will know the stuffs better the next time you go to have a Dim Sum bite.
Bon Appétit
