Steaming
Chinese cooking uses two methods of steaming, or cooking foods over, rather than in, liquids.
Basic steaming
In basic steaming, the ingredients are placed in a heat-proof container with a seasoned sauce. Then the container is placed in a steamer partially filled with water and set over high heat. The food cooks quickly in the vapor and is removed when barely done. The result is fresh and tender.
Placing one tightly-closed pot inside a larger pot
Another form of steaming involves placing one tightly-closed pot inside a larger pot (steaming dun). In this method, the ingredients, a seasoned sauce, and a large amount of stock go into one pot, which must have a tight-fitting lid. The pot is half-immersed in boiling water in another larger pot and steams for two or three hours. The result is very soft.
Flavor-Potting
This method refers to stewing foods in a highly-flavored sauce that permeates the dish.
Basic flavor-potting means stewing the food in a mixture of soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, salt, red fermented rice mash, and five-spice powder, scallions, ginger, chicken stock and water. The food cooks over low heat for several hours and comes out tender and full of flavor.
Marinating and flavor-potting adds the step of marinating the food in salt, soy sauce, and soybean paste (also known as ground bean sauce) before it is stewed in the flavor-potting sauce.
Smoking
Chinese cooking treats smoking and roasting as similar methods.
Smoking
In smoking, foods are parcooked and then cured in smoke from burning wood or peanut shells.
Roasting
In roasting (kao), raw ingredients are marinated in seasonings before being roasted in an oven or barbecued over direct heat from a coal or charcoal burner.
Marinades
Marinades are an essential part of many Chinese recipes and marinating may take place before or after ingredients are cooked.
Ban
In ban, raw foods or those that have been cooked and cooled are cut into small pieces and mixed with soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil. Other seasonings, such as garlic, ginger, sesame paste, sugar, or ground peppercorns, may also be added to heighten the flavor.
Qiang
In qiang, the main ingredient in the marinade is peppercorn oil, mixed with other seasonings and poured over foods that have first been parboiled or partial fried.
Yan
The yan method of marinating uses saltwater brine, water, or liquor. In salt-marinating, the food is soaked in brine, which draws out the moisture from the food so it can better absorb the seasonings in the marinade that follows. Wine-marinating is similar to salt-marinating, but uses fermented rice liquor instead of seasonings in the marinade.
Finally, the Chinese specially called "drunk-marinating" means soaking live food, especially seafood such as shrimps, in a clear liquor and then marinating them in salt. Then the food is often eaten while still alive (see recipe "Drunken Fresh Shrimps").
Sugar and Syrup Coating
Chinese cooking has three methods of coating foods with sugar or syrups.
Spinning
In spinning a thread of syrup, the ingredients are deep-fried or boiled before being dipped into sugar that has been melted in either oil or water and cooked until it thickens and spins a thread.
Preserving in syrup
In preserving in syrup, foods are partially cooked and then boiled in a sugar and honey sauce until the syrup thickens.
Coating with frost
In coating with frost, foods are cooked by deep-frying while sugar is melted with water or oil in another pot to make a white syrup. When the food is mixed with the syrup, it looks as if it is covered with a layer of frost.
Sauces and Gravies
Thickening the liquids in the pan into a sauce or gravy is often the last step in a recipe, and can be crucial to the success of a dish.
Sauces are made either by stirring a mixture of cornstarch that has been dissolved in an equal amount of water into the liquid and cooking it until it thickens, or by making a sauce or gravy in another pan and pouring it over the dish just before it is served.
Sauces help blend the flavors of all the ingredients, impart an added aroma, and give the dish a shiny, glistening finish.
Chinese recipes usually rely on two kinds of gravies. The first is a mixture of cornstarch, soy sauce or salt, sugar, vinegar, MSG, and a little water. It is usually used for stir-fried and slippery-fried dishes and is added to the pan at the last stage of cooking.
The other way to make gravy is to add seasonings gradually while the dish cooks and to thicken it at the last minute with cornstarch and water. This lets the flavors of the seasonings permeate the food and is generally used with long, low-heat cooking methods.
