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Of the world’s two great cuisine, the Chinese is
as varied as
, and, in fact, much older in tradition than the French. Chinese
chefs are masters at creating culinary triumphs from the barest necessities.
Indeed, some of the most prized delicacies are said to have been concocted
during times of famine-many from substances never before considered
during times of famine-many from substances never before considered
edible.
In Chinese
gastronomy three senses must be satisfied: smell, sight, and taste.
To begin with a dish should not have a strong aroma dominating the
other dishes. Certainly any unpleasant smells would not be tolerated.
In addition, a dish must be of an appearance and composition that
is pleasing to the eye, and there should be a balance not only of
colors but of different textures. As
for taste, there are several considered necessaries:
salty, sweet, sour, hot, … And “balance” is mot confined to taste
alone: the texture of food in the mouth should vary, so that a banquet
should contain dry and sticky dishes as well as crisp and juicy ones.
Usually a crisp dish is followed by a smooth one, and the salt dish
followed by a sweet one, and so on.
There are many Chinese dishes that are well known throughout the world
and even though they may not have been tasted by a great many, people
have heard of
them. For example, one of the great dishes is birds’ nest soup, which
is made from the mucus from the salivary glands of
the small salamander. The mucus is collected by boiling the nests
of these birds. It is soup with a most subtle flavor. |
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as
varied as