How do the chinese prepare their food?

Question

How do the chinese prepare their food?

Answer 1

Most of us have electrical rice cookers, woks, clay pots and gas stoves at homes, we use different kinds of kitchen equipment to steam, boil, stir fry, grill, smoke... the ingredients.

Answer 2

Fresh meat, not from frozen. Fresh vegetables from the garden.

Answer 3

Probably with pots and pans and spatulas.

Answer 4

More caring and beautiful than most!

Answer 5

Most of their food is done on the wok, some are steamed and soups are done in earthenware pots or multipurpose electrical cookers (rice cooker, electrical steamer etc)

Pastries and breads may sometimes be done on open fire stoves (in China), but commonly they'll just use a conventional oven.

Answer 6

I presume you're asking about domestic food preparation since Chinese restaurants use modern equipment not very different from Western kitchens. I guess the interest is more in traditional methods since even appliances like rice cookers are widely used by non-Chinese.

A traditional Chinese chef really only needs a few things: a Chinese cleaver that does all cutting tasks from heavy bone chopping to dextrous peeling, thick wooden chopping board, wok with cover, wok spatula. For steaming, a bamboo woven insert or even a pair of chopsticks will do. The wok is a multi-purpose cooking vessel for stir-frying, deep-frying, pan-frying, boiling, braising, stewing, steaming, smoking. Clay pots of different sizes are used for stewing, making soups, claypot rice, steamed rice, storing foods (preserved veggies, braising marinades, soy sauce, rice wine) etc. Wood-fired ovens were used for roasting & baking. Double-boiling was used for soups, health tonics & some soupy desserts.

Heat sources traditionally were charcoal or wood burning stoves, these days modern gas stoves are in wide use (Chinese food is best cooked using fire, hotplates & other Western-type stoves don't give the same results).

The most well-known Chinese cooking method is probably stir-frying, quickly cooking bite-sized pieces of food. The chef frequently jiggles the wok with one hand to toss the food to ensure even mixing of ingredients. This is no small feat if you see the huge heavy woks used in restaurant kitchens, which partly explained the lack of female chefs in the past. Occasionally the wok cover may be used eg in cooking veggies to simultaneously employ some steaming technique.

Many dishes like steamboat, soups & braised dishes depend on a good stock. Chinese stocks are typically very full-bodied in taste while still retaining a light consistency. Usually whole chickens (old hens preferred), lots of bones (chicken & pork), dried seafood (primarily scallops) & Chinese ham are used to give body and depth of flavour. Ginger & spring onions are used to remove strong odours. If cooking seafood dishes, the stock would use fish bones & cooked prawn shells.

Methods & ingredients differed by region, often influenced by geography. Some people living far inland had never eaten fresh seafood in their lives, salted & preserved stuff was the norm. But the general principle is to use as fresh ingredients as possible, especially in Cantonese cuisine (seen in Guangdong in southern China & Hong Kong). Hence very fresh fish is always steamed & the Cantonese would never buy chilled/frozen chicken from supermarkets if freshly slaughtered chickens from wet markets are available.

Seasonings are pretty simple to highlight freshness of ingredients, so authentic Chinese food is distinctively light in consistency (eg. soups & gravies, steamed stuff) compared to pseudo-Chinese food in the West. MSG is only used by poor cooks to disguise inferior quality ingredients & lack of culinary skill.

Answer 7

my rice pot is my best friend (living away from home). and so is my wok when i'm feeling more adventurous.

steaming, boiling and frying: most often used methods. not that different really.