The Art of Cooking – Chinese Style

The Chinese are very particular about dining. Cooking in itself is an art. And the art of cooking conveys a message in many ways. Many families have placed so much importance in preparing their dishes together. But so are chefs who have mastered both the culinary and knife skills which are very important to make to make them qualify as a master.

China has expanded their art in culinary, giving birth to various Chinese restaurants across the world. The Chinese restaurant Launceston, London, and across America – all these restaurants spread the word perfection when it comes to Chinese cuisine.

Discovering Chinese Cuisine – Culinary Knife Skills

China is a nation of great gourmet. With the people’s love for food, they have mastered the art of culinary knife skills. In particular, unlike western chefs, Chinese chefs own only one knife. These knives are traditionally crafted making it durable to wear and tear.

In Chinese cooking, the way the knives are used greatly affects the character and taste of each dish. There are four techniques in cutting used in the chef’s daily activities. The cuts are vertical, horizontal, slanted, and carving. All these cuts are essential to achieve perfection for certain types of dishes.

Chinese food prepared to perfection

There are at least three dishes that require skilled cutting during preparation: the most popular is the meatballs, the fish balls, and the tofu (bean curd) soup.

  • The tofu is a common food among Asian countries. However, it is the manner that it is prepared that makes the difference. The tofu soup requires the soft and spongy texture of tofu to be cut into strips as thin as hair. Only the best and the most skilled chef can achieve this type of cutting. While the cutting of tofu requires precision, the cooking and preparation is quite easy.
  • The meatballs, which is a combination of pork, fat, crab, shrimp, and spices, requires all four techniques of cutting. While it was thought that the meat is grinded and molded to perfect balls, in traditional Chinese preparation, the meat is cut slanted, and vertically cut in the same sizes to achieve a diced texture.
  • The fishballs are in the same way minced through the back of the chef’s knife. Words are not enough to describe the perfection of each ball floating in water. You know the balls are in great shape when the balls are served and savoured. There should be no fish bone or anything else but only the great taste of fish cooked in spices.