Ingredient Sizing in Chinese Cooking

[Chris Amirault]

As I was digging through my leftover choi sum just now, I realized that I was having to bite the 3-4" pieces in half in order to eat them. This seems to run counter to the prevailing aesthetic in Chinese cookery, in which items are cut into bite-sized pieces.

So what's up? Why is choi sum cut that way? Are there other examples? And, in general, what are the aesthetic rules governing sizing?

[Dianabanana]

Yes, and in particular I'd like to understand the seemingly universal dim sum custom of serving gai lan cut merely in half crossways, so that the pieces are at least 6" long. Is this just laziness on the part of the dim sum ladies? Would it be served this way at home?

[Fat Guy]

Then again I've seen a lot of Chinese folks with mad chopstick and finger skillz. They can take anything from whole fish to bone-in birds and go to town on them without the aid of a knife. So maybe the whole "they cut it all up because they don't have knives at the table" thing is part myth?

[Chris Amirault]

My question might be better phrased in the following way.

Choi sum arrives at our table in 3-4" pieces. Gow choi fan (garlic chives) arrives at our table in 2" pieces. By most reasons I can imagine, it should be the other way around, so why are they cut to these sizes?

[Beebs]

Sometimes I like to leave choi sum and gai lan in long, uncut pieces because it looks nicer that way, like little tree branches. Cutting them up makes the dish look too...stalk-y...if it's just a plate of gai lan on its own. Long pieces of veg don't really bother us much, we just gnaw and slurp them up.

[sheetz]

I've never given this much thought because that's just how I've always seen it done. That said, vegetables are typically only cut up into bite sized pieces when they are stir fried. Gai lan and choi sum are normally poached so it may simply be a matter of convenience to cook them whole. Sometimes, but not always, they are cut into segments for plating.

Edited February 23, 2010 by sheetz (log)

[Hest88]

Uh, gosh, I never thought about it much. Appearance, for banquets, is very important, of course, so some veggies are often left whole for that reason. However, even homey stir-fries aren't cut completely bite-sized if they're a leafy green unless it's at an inept restaurant.

The vegetable just loses its integrity. Ong choy and choi sum, for instance--two of my favorite stir-fried vegetables--might be trimmed down so you can sorta get them all in your mouth but they shouldn't be truly bite-sized or they're liable to lose that leaf to stalk ratio that's so important texturally.

[Chris Amirault]

Help me understand: how can a 1/2" diameter stalk of choi sum lose its integrity if it's cut in 2" lengths instead of 4" lengths? What does "integrity" mean in that context?

[heidih]

I think the key to what Hest88 said was: "liable to lose that leaf to stalk ratio that is so important texturally". When I had the pleasure of watching my Taiwanese neighbor cook dinner for her family as the children were playing, she would in fact cut the very thick parts of the gai lan stems on a bias and stir fry them first, but she said she left a portion of stem and the leaf whole as you wanted to experience the soft and the crunch in one taste. At dim sum, I agree that presentation is a factor- the whole leaves look so appealing even though you have you twirl and cram them in your mouth. Getting the plush leaf together with the chewier stem is part of the taste experience.

[Beebs]

Another example is braised bok choy and large shitake mushrooms in brown sauce. The bok choy is left whole (or sliced in half length-wise, for the larger types), as are the mushrooms arranged over top. It's certainly not convenient to pick up entire slippery mushrooms & veg, shoving them into your mouth, but the dish is always prepared this way because it is aesthetically pleasing.

[Hest88]

Help me understand: how can a 1/2" diameter stalk of choi sum lose its integrity if it's cut in 2" lengths instead of 4" lengths? What does "integrity" mean in that context?

What HeidiH pretty much said. It's getting the ideal ratio of crunch (from the stalk) to the softer flavor (from the leaves). It's not really scientific on my part; it's more subjective from years of cooking and personal preference.

[nakji]

Floss is a necessity for this very reason. Sometimes you just have to use your chopsticks and teeth to finesse the lot into your mouth. I think texture is an extremely important factor in Asian cuisines, and I find people don't seem to mind a bit more mouth work than we're necessarily comfortable with in the west. Meat often comes in small pieces on the bone where you need to use your chopsticks and teeth in harmony, too - it's not just a vegetable thing.

[Chris Amirault]

Pork belly leaps to mind. My ton bor pork is usually a 6"x2"x2" slab.

[Dejah]

As posted above" because it is aesthetically pleasing", food in Chinese dishes is often left in whole stalks and large pieces. But, we are not supposed to put the whole mushroom or whole stalk of gai lan into our mouths at one time. We usually bite off a piece, and leave the rest in our rice bowl. When we have eaten what we have in our mmouths, we take another bite.

Sometimes, stalks of gai lan will be braised or steams whole, but once plated, kitchen scissors are used to cut them into more manageable lengths but still maintaining that whole-stalk appearance.