China Food Myths

[KennethT]

9 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

A wild guess, but broccoli will probably be one of the last species on Earth to go extinct. Just my luck.

 

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 C⊘rn will last longer, I'm sure!

We can always wish for a species specific blight!

[KennethT]

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

 

Do you remember what the written name looked like? There are two ways I see it written in Simplified Chinese as used in mainland China. 芥兰 or 芥蓝, pronounced identically. Then, just to confuse things further, in Traditional Chinese and so in Cantonese as used in Hong Kong and in much of the diaspora it can be 芥蘭 or 芥藍!

 

Don't make the mistake of only remembering the first character. Many vegetables begin with that character. You could even end up with wasabi!

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't remember and I don't know if I kept the card that he wrote for us.

[liuzhou]

For the record and clarification:

 

Gailan

 

Gailan aka Chinese Broccoli is 芥兰 or 芥蓝 (both jiè lán) on the mainland. It is 芥蘭 (gaai3 laan4*2) in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and among much of the overseas Chinese.

 

Western Broccoli

Western broccoli is 西兰花 (xī lán huā) on the mainland. It is 西蘭花 (sai1 laan4 faa1) in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and among much of the overseas Chinese.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

@liuzhou thank you so much for this series. I am enjoying it immensely. I found it very interesting to read your opinion of Cantonese food. I was recently reading this thread. they talk about the fact that 99% of the early immigrants to the West were Cantonese or Toisanese which would explain why there are so many bad Chinese restaurants in the Americas. Cantonese I am beginning to understand but what is Toisanese?

Edited December 27, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Cantonese I am beginning to understand but what is Toisanese?

 

Toisanese is a sub-dialect of Cantonese.

 

Note: The posts on the different Chinese cuisines have been moved (at my request) to this new topic
 

 

[liuzhou]

Velveting

 

This came up elsewhere, but I think belongs here, too.

I read things like this

 

Quote

Velveting is a critical Chinese cooking technique.

 

 

Hmmm. Not quite. Velveting is a Cantonese cooking technique. Although a large, but shrinking, proportion of Chinese emigrants and their descendents in the west are of Cantonese origin, in China they only comprise around 4.6% of the population. And not even all of those 4.6% use velveting in their cooking.

 

Additionally, I see statements like this

 

Quote

All restaurants (and most home cooks) velvet their chicken before making stir-fries, fried rice, etc.

 

 

Maybe in America where both these quotes originated; certainly not in China. To repeat, it’s Cantonese. Also, few home cooks employ it anywhere. It’s mainly a restaurant thing. Then we have the terminology. There is no name in Chinese that translates as velveting.

 

A number of American writers tell us that it is 走油 (Cantonese: zau2 jau4*2; Mandarin: zǒu yóu) The first character, 走 literally translate as ‘to walk’, ‘to go’, ‘to run’, ‘to move (of a vehicle)’, ‘to visit’, ‘to leave’, ‘to go away’, ‘to die (as a euphemism), ‘from’ or ‘through’. Take your pick. The second, 油 means ‘oil’.

 

So they put the two together and come up with ‘passing through oil’'. One problem. In Cantonese (and Mandarin), the two together means either ‘to lose lustre (of varnished furniture)’; or specifies "no oil" when cooking – almost exactly the opposite. And no velvet in sight.

 

Some writers suggest that velveting in water rather than oil may be better for home cooks and/or that the results are almost indistinguishable. This they have dubbed 走水 (Cantonese: zau2 seoi2; Mandarin: zǒu shuǐ). Again a problem. This means ‘to flow’, ‘to leak’ or ‘to put out a fire’! No culinary association.

 

Neither of these two terms appear in any of my Chinese dictionaries (Cantonese or Mandarin) in any culinary sense other than the ‘no oil’ mentioned. Even my dictionary of food and drink doesn't mention it.

 

A related term, which unlike the above, which I have seen on Cantonese restaurant menus, is 滑 (Cantonese: waat6; Mandarin: huá) which means ‘to slip’, ‘to slide’, ‘smooth’, ‘slippery’ or ’cunning’. Presumably, this is meant to to describe the resulting texture achieved by using either the oil or water methods.

 

A number of food writers, including the esteemed (in America) Grace Young use the technique when making non-Cantonese dishes, such as her ‘Kung-po Chicken', another term unknown in China. The good people of Sichuan rarely, if ever, do. My two favourite Chinese cuisines, Hunan and Xi’an don’t use it. Like I said, it’s Cantonese.

 

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with velveting; just that it isn’t as common in Chinese cooking as people make out. I put it into a similar category to the other American obsessions, wok hei and high butane burners as I mentioned in a previous post.

 

Note: Cantonese pronunciation here is using the Simplified: 粤拼 Trad. 粵拼 (Mandarin: yuè pīn Cantonese: jyut6 ping3) Jyutping transliteration system.

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by liuzhou (log)