Definitive Chinese Cooking
There are a ton of sauces and seasonings available in Chinese cooking. We’re going to just review five of the essential seasonings in Chinese cooking.
The five essential seasonings are, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, rice cooking wine and white pepper powder. How does the seasoning affect Chinese cooking? And let’s talk about the raw sauces, how they can be found in Asian grocery stores.
Light soy sauce is made from fermented soybeans, wheat flour, salt and water. It’s brewing process is similar to dark soy sauce but it takes a shorter time. Light soy sauce is used to marinade light color meat such as chicken, deer, pork and seafood. It is also used in dishes that require a lighter color.
On the other hand, dark soy sauce is thicker and darker in color but slightly less salty than the light soy sauce. It is used to marinade dark meat such as beef, lamb and make darker gravy.
Sesame oil is an aromatic seasoning made from sesame seed that amplify the taste and stimulates the nasal senses. It is used in marinating sometimes it’s used in topping for aroma to a dish. It is known to a certain interaction and have been known to treat infections during the ancient times.
Rice cooking wine have relatively low alcohol content, this is made out of many glutinous rice. It is a seasoning that will help to tenderize any meat in the marinade. When it is added to the stir-fry, the wine will produce a unique aromatic sense that will arouse your nasal senses.
And white pepper powder is made from a ground white pepper corns and has a vert pungent peppery scent. It is ground in finer powder form than the black pepper powder. It is use in marinating seafood, lighter colored meat and prevent black speckle in the marinating solution.
How about some of the special seasonings that give Chinese food the unique taste and blend to a variety of dishes? Can you list a few of these special seasonings along with a few Chinese dishes?
Sure, I would be glad to do this. Chinese black vinegar, it has a malty and sour taste. It is used in marinating sparingly and it changes the flavor of the dish as well as in soup in a mild, punching taste. Some of the dishes are chicken with wanton, shrimp with cashew, and for hot and sour soup.
Oyster flavor sauce, it is sometimes considered as ketchup in Chinese serving table. It tastes salty and ketchup is sour taste. The oyster flavor sauce is made with water, sugar, salt and oyster extract, MSG, modified corn starch and wheat flour and it is used as a dipping sauce and marinade.
Tea sauce, it is made with soybean oil, fish, shrimp, garlic, spice, shallot, sesame seed, peanuts, coconut powder, salt and flavor enhancer called MSG. People have mistaken that the sauce has tea as a part of its ingredient, in spite of the translated name of the sauce. It has an unusual taste but it has no fish smell or taste. This sauce is used in much gravy making and sometimes used in marinating, example of the dishes include beef with tea sauce, chicken with tea sauce and pea pod and onion with tea sauce.
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