Cantonese Cuisine
By admin on 2014-12-17

Appreciating Guangdong cuisine is one of the great pleasures of life. Of all the cooking styles in China, Guangdong is distinctive, featuring outstanding cooking skills, numerous varieties fine flavours, sights and aromas as well as great ambience and service.

Guangdong cuisine has three branches: Guangzhou, Chaozhou and Dongjiang. Guangdong cuisine dominated by Guangzhou style is becoming increasingly popular across the country.

Guangdong dishes originated in Lingnan. Historically, Guangzhou was a key port for China's international trade. As the economy developed, so did the food culture. Guangdong cooking was embraced incessantly without sacrificing its own feature. Guangdong has many overseas Chinese, who have brought back cooking techniques from other countries, resulting in the famous Guangdong style.

Guangzhou style is the mainstay of the Guangdong-cuisine family. It includes of the Pearl River Delta. Any creature flying in the sky, crawling on the around, swimming in water can find a way on to menu to become a dish unforgettable to a gourmet.

Guangzhou cuisine features 21 cooking techniques: flying, deep-frying, stewing, boiling and so on. Dishes are served immediately they are cooked. They are beautiful in color, fragrance taste, shape, etc. They taste light, fresh and crisp, with different seasonings. Fresh and light in summer, a bit heavy in winter and spring, and well-known for its five tastes (fragrant, soft, crisp, rich and thick) and six flavor (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty and freshness). Guangzhou dishes use less spicy sauces in order to keep the original delicious flavors.

Guangzhou dishes have many attractive names, like Roast Baby Pig, Dragon and Tiger Fight, Chicken of the lord, and Chrysanthemum Snake Soup.

Chaozhou dishes are local in Chaozhou and Shantou. Chaoshan flavors are like those from south Fujian, but influenced by Guangzhou. Chaozhou cooking is famous for seafood, soup in particular, exquisitely done in many ways to preserves stewing, frying, steaming, deep-frying, and roasting. After cooking and seasoning with local condiments, a dish is delicious, a soup thick, but not heavy. Smashed taro and five-fruit soup are best deserts.

Dongjiang food is also called Hakka style, referring to the local flavor along the Dongjiang River. It features the main ingredient, a strong flavor and primitive shape. Most dishes have meat, complemented with vegetables. A bit heavier than other styles, and a bit salty, its stews are better known. Famous dishes are pickled chicken, bean curd, pork with plum, and duck seasoned with eight treasures.

Guangdong has fruit all year round, with leeches, mangoes, bananas, peaches, longans, and pineapples coming one after another. The agreeable environment has attracted foods from other places. In Guangzhou, you can taste dishes from all over the country.