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Quintessentially Cantonese By Stanson Zhou (that's Guangzhou) Updated: 2004-05-14 10:37
If cooking is a Cantonese religion, then the chefs are its
high priests and priestesses. Cantonese dishes have made a name for themselves
in every corner of the globe. that's Guangzhou interviews four masters
who represent this culinary tradition. Find out how these wizards of the wok
work wonders in the kitchen and why some dishes are considered quintessentially
Cantonese.
Liu Che Lik
From childhood, Liu Che Lik has always loved cooking. Hanging out with
his uncle in Hong Kong, who happened to be head chef of the city's famed Ya Yuan
Seafood Restaurant, started Liu on his own path to chefhood . As a 14-year-old,
Liu swept restaurant floors by day, while at night he sharpened his culinary
skills by practising at home what he had learnt peering over the shoulders of
some of the city's greatest chefs.
"When I was working in the kitchen I
would ask as many questions as I could of the other chefs," said Liu. Liu is
currently executive chef of Chinese cuisine at the China Hotel.
After
spending seven years in Guangzhou, Liu has earned a reputation as one of the
city's top chefs and knows where to find good Canto-grub. "I like to go out when
I have free time and try different dishes so I can get more ideas for my own
cooking," said Liu, whose favourite restaurants include the Dong Hai Seafood
near City Plaza in Tianhe and the Lijing Ming Zhu near the Pearl River New
Estates.
According to Liu, the glory of Cantonese cooking is in its
constant state of change and ready incorporation of other cuisines. One such
example is huang shao chi, also known as imperial braised shark's fin
(RMB 268). While Liu is tight-lipped about the details of his recipe, he
confesses the light soup uses duck, chicken and ham in the soup stock. Specially
imported fish from southern Australia is used as the main ingredient.
Liu's huang shao chi is a variation of shark fin's soup invented
by Tan Zongjun, a Guangdong-born Qing Dynasty official who is famed for creating
a series of dishes which includes bird's nest soup. These and about 200 other
recipes are now known as Tan Family Cuisine.
We cannot promise you
five-star results like Liu's, but see the sidebar for a basic idea of how to
whip up some of your own shark's fin.
Braised Shark's
Fin
Ingredients: 1700g shark's fin soaked in water 25g dried
scallops 250g minced ham 3000g chicken fat 750g duck
meat
Method: 1. Steam the shark's fin and then boil with seasonings
until the fishy smell is gone, remove to a bowl. 2. Put the chicken and duck
in boiling water, boil till soft and tender. 3. Place the chicken, duck and
ham on the shark's fin, simmer for six hours. 4. Put the shark's fin into a
saucepan. Steam the dried scallop till tender, pour together with the soup over
the shark's fin, boil, transfer to a plate and sprinkle with minced
ham.
Chen Shu Xin
Chen Shu Xin had humble beginnings, cleaning fish at the Dong Fang
Hotel just as China was opening up in the early '80s. For ten years he worked
his way up the culinary ladder and helped feed such eminent guests as Queen
Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher. Now Chen heads the kitchen staff at Xin Li
Zhi Wan Jiu Lou in the Electronic Plaza on Huanshi Dong Lu.
Despite
Chinese food's international renown, local chefs in Guangzhou feel they don't
receive enough recognition for their gourmet creations. "Chinese chefs still
don't have as much exposure as French chefs do because this industry is just
starting to open up," says Chen. "We're just starting to have more opportunities
for international exposure and exchange."
One factor helping Cantonese
chefs into the international limelight is the recent fusion trend known as 'New
Style Cantonese,' which adds Western ingredients to Cantonese dishes.
Ingredients such as parsley, cheese and olive oil are now used in Cantonese
cooking. "This adds a lot more flavour and variety to Cantonese cuisine,"
explains Chen.
Current affairs create trends and seasons too. This year's
theme is health food, courtesy of avian flu and SARS. More veggies are on the
menu this year, explains Chen, along with organic ingredients fresh from the
countryside.
An excellent example of New Style Cantonese cooking recommended by Chen
is a braised lobster dish called xi jiao chao longxia (RMB 188). A trio
of onion and green and yellow pepper slices are lightly fried and pasted with a
soy and huangdou sauce which is spread over succulent steamed lobster
chunks, which fall right off the shell into your mouth.
Chen also whips
up an artfully prepared Chaozhou dish called hua kai fu gui (RMB 88).
This consists of dumplings made of a savoury mash of crab meat, crab's eggs and
squid delicately wrapped in tofu skins and deep fried. Half a dozen crisp and
leafy dumplings are ingeniously displayed to appear as a flower emerging from a
cluster of rocks, all done with a little help from some mushrooms and a spring
onion.
Gao Xu Lian
Ask any connoisseur of Chinese food what style of cooking is best
associated with a light (qingdan) taste and their answer will probably be
Chaozhou food. Best known for its seafood delicacies, Chaozhou cuisine has long
been connected to Cantonese food, largely because of the coastal city's
proximity to Guangzhou. Few people know Chaozhou cuisine better than Imperial
Palace executive chef Gao Xu Lian, who not only creates new dishes but also
manages the staff and is involved on the restaurant's business
side.
"Nowadays a good chef can't just be a good cook, he has to do a lot
of things," says Gao, who has won a slew of cooking and restaurant awards
including the Chinese Cooking Master title from the China Restaurant
Association. Like many chefs of his generation, Gao started cooking in his teens
and was influenced by family in the restaurant trade. While Gao first oiled his
wok in his home town of Shantou, he also worked his way around the country from
Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu to Anhui Province.
Gao's clients include
some of the city's most successful and discerning businessmen. Some of the
country's top leaders such as Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao have also sampled his
work.
According to Gao, clients are demanding healthier food that not
only scores high on taste but also on presentation. Dishes prepared with red
wine and green tea are now appearing on the menu at Imperial Palace and Gao
incorporates a Japanese-style approach in arranging these dishes.
"Now
more people want smaller portions of food, but that which is also healthy and
delicious," says Gao, who adds that customers also expect more personal service
when dining out. "My customers want to be guided on what kinds of food are best
suitable for them without paying too much money."
A classic example of this can be seen and tasted in his soft-shell crab
creation qing ke xie (RMB 48), which includes a savoury ensemble of
ginger, garlic, green tea and Coca Cola cooked in a light oil (tiao he
you). "In Guangzhou many people drink Coca Cola and ginger to fight off a
cold, so this dish has some health benefits," says Gao.
Soft Shell
Crab
Ingredients: 1 soft shelled crab green tea leaves
(biluochun) 50g Coca Cola 10g sliced ginger olive or peanut
oil
Method: 1. Simmer crab in boiling oil for a few minutes then
remove and set aside. 2. Steep tea leaves and separate base. 3. Combine
tea base with ginger slices and Coca Cola, heat together for a few
minutes. 4. Simmer crab in tea, cola and ginger base until
cooked.
Guan Wei Qiang
Porridge has its many manifestations around the world, from oatmeal to
grits to cream of wheat, but perhaps the gruel with the longest history hails
from Guangzhou, known locally as jok, or zhou for Mandarin
speakers.
Guangzhou native Guan Wei Qiang, master zhou maker and
head manager at Zhou Cheng in Liu Hua Park, has developed porridge into an art
form and built a mini empire based on this authentic Cantonese
dish.
"Zhou is considered one of the most basic kinds of Cantonese
food. You can't get more local than that," says Guan, who has been making
zhou all over China for the past 20 years.
When he was 15, Guan
started cooking at a local dim sum restaurant and later graduated to five-star
status when he worked at the Garden Hotel in 1984. By the early '90s, Guan had
worked in cities outside Guangdong including Lanzhou and Dalian. In 1996 he
opened Zhou Cheng, which branched out into nine outlets across the
city.
According to Guan, there are two kinds of zhou. The first
kind, known as lao huo zhou, cooks ingredients together with water and
rice over a long period. The second, sheng huo zhou, cooks the rice and
water together for a long time, adding other ingredients at the end. The second
kind includes local favourites such as pork liver zhou (zhu gan zhou) and 1,000
year egg zhou (pidan zhou).
The beauty of zhou is that it can be eaten at any time of the
day and that there is no limit to the kinds of ingredients you can add. A good
illustration of this is ting zai zhou, which came to popularity in the
Qing Dynasty and hails from Liwan District, where fishermen used to sell
whatever they caught. According to Guan, one enterprising fishmonger whipped up
a tasty mixture of fresh fish chunks, shrimp, seaweed, jellyfish and pork and
then sold it to businessmen visiting the area's red light district.
While Guan has a taste for all things traditional, he also sees himself
as an innovator. "I have two personalities," said Guan. "One likes really old
things, another likes really new things."
Guan has successfully
incorporated this innovative side into his business by taking something as
traditional as zhou and turning it into a very personalised cuisine. Zhou
Cheng's signature style is a kind of DIY porridge. Patrons can choose from a
variety of ingredients to create their own zhou.
"You can use a lot of
things to make zhou," says Guan. "My only requirement is that the taste
must be a bit sweet, fragrant and smooth."
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