Weekend Western-style home banquet

Author: Chief Editor: Shao Jian et al
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-02-01
Features: Do you also enjoy hosting friends and family at home on weekends? If you're planning a Chinese meal, you'll need to buy a bunch of dishes and cook them meticulously, which can be quite troublesome. How about making a Western meal instead? First, it's easier to prepare, and second, it's more economical. Western cuisine doesn't emphasize overeating but requires a balanced nutrition. When designing a Western dinner party, it's also important to consider the guests' status and adjust the menu based on the season and the availability of vegetables in the market. Check out "Western Dinner Parties on Weekends"! "Western Dinner Parties on Weekends" briefly introduces the history of Western cuisine's development in China, outlines the characteristics of Western dining styles in various Western countries, as well as the utensils, ingredients, dining habits, and etiquette of Western cuisine. This book categorizes Western recipes in detail, including appetizers, soups, main dishes, homemade wines, puddings, and desserts. It's suitable for food enthusiasts and families who want to learn to cook Western dishes themselves. The ingredients are simple, the preparation is easy, and the taste is delicious and nutritious.
Excerpt: Characteristics of Western Cuisine in Different Countries · British Cuisine The main characteristic of British cuisine is its light flavor, low oil content, and simple cooking methods, with a preference for fresh vegetables. It rarely uses wine as a seasoning, and cooking is rarely done with spices or sauces. Instead, various condiments such as refined salt, pepper, vinegar, salad oil, ketchup, and various acidic fruits are placed on the table for diners to choose freely. In terms of cooking methods, boiling, stewing, roasting, steaming, frying, grilling, and baking are commonly used. British breakfasts are quite elaborate; after getting up early, people drink a cup of tea, and the breakfast mainly consists of smoked meats, stewed fruits, oatmeal, coffee, eggs, orange marmalade, bread, etc. In British Western cuisine, various fried eggs are prepared with minimal oil, fried on one side, with a snowy white exterior and a tender yolk. British lunches are relatively simple, sometimes just sandwiches. In the afternoon, people often eat some snacks like cakes, tea, coffee, and sandwiches. Dinners are more elaborate, featuring dishes like roasted chicken, roasted lamb chops, steaks, and sweet desserts, especially steamed puddings (a type of dessert). Other distinctive British dishes include beef stew, British-style wrapped chicken breasts, roast goose, and apple sauce. · American Cuisine American cuisine is largely similar to British cuisine in characteristics, emphasizing a light flavor with a hint of sweetness, often using fruits as ingredients. Dishes like "pineapple-baked ham," "apple-roasted goose and duck," and "orange-braised wild duck" are quite distinctive. American cuisine has evolved from British cuisine, with "grilled" dishes being particularly common. For breakfast, Americans enjoy various fruit juices and slightly salty sweet snacks. Americans are very interested in salads, with ingredients often including fruits like apples, bananas, pears, pineapples, and oranges, as well as raw celery, lettuce, and potatoes. Seasonings mostly use salad oil and cream, giving a unique taste, but they are generally not interested in spicy flavors. Representative American dishes include "apple salad," "American roast turkey," "roast duck with apples," and "clove roast." · Russian Cuisine Russian cuisine has absorbed many aspects of other European cuisines, especially French, and has gradually developed its own unique style based on its own habits. Due to the cold climate in Russia, Russian cuisine is characterized by high oil content, strong flavors, and a balance of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty tastes. However, its preparation is relatively simple, with cooking methods often using sour cream, curd, lemon, chili, pickles, onions, caraway, and bay leaves as seasonings. Russians particularly enjoy salmon, fresh fish, sturgeon, trout, and red/black fish. Meat, poultry dishes, and various meat patties must be well-cooked before being eaten. They also like to eat dumplings made from fish, minced meat, eggs, and vegetables. Among Russian snacks, the most famous are "caviar," "fish broth," and "cold pickled fish." Other representative dishes include "borscht," "butter chicken rolls," and "Moscow-style baked fish." · Italian Cuisine Italian cuisine shares many similarities with French cuisine, and its stews are also similar to those of Austria and Hungary. Its characteristics are rich in flavor and emphasize the original taste. In terms of cooking methods, frying, grilling, roasting, red stewing, and red braising are well-known. The most distinctive feature of Italian cuisine is its unique pasta, with various types of noodles, macaroni, and gnocchi being used as ingredients for many Italian dishes. Chinese-style foods like dumplings, fried rice, and wontons are used as ingredients in Italian cuisine rather than as staple foods. Italians eat their meals when the food is about six or seven minutes away from being fully cooked, a habit not found in other countries. Common Italian dishes include "macaroni and vegetable soup," "meat sauce with polenta," "tomato-baked macaroni," "pineapple noodles," and "Roman-style chicken." · German Cuisine German cuisine is neither as complex as French cuisine nor as light as British cuisine. It stands out in the world of Western cuisine with its simple, practical, and economical characteristics. Its features include a high consumption of raw vegetables, such as "raw beef with raw eggs." Many dishes have an acidic taste, such as "acidic stewed beef," "acidic pork feet," and various types of sauerkraut. Various sausages are local specialties. Salads with pickled herring and potatoes prepared in multiple ways are almost eaten with every meal, and they also serve as part of their staple foods. Representative dishes like "sauerkraut-braised pork" are excellent both as soup and main dishes, rich but not greasy. At the same time, German cuisine also likes to use beer as a seasoning, which is quite distinctive. For example, the fast-food item that is now all the rage—hamburgers—also evolved from the German "hamburger steak." Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, located in the Arctic, have a cold climate, and their daily habits are almost the same as those of the Russians. They enjoy pickled herring, sardines, and cod. Other preserved meat products like sausages, smoked meat, sauerkraut, pickles, and various dairy products are also daily side dishes for locals. Countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Austria are close to the national living habits of South, enjoying sour milk, dairy products, raw onions, garlic, chili, sauerkraut, pickles, and preserved meats, sausages, and smoked fish. They also enjoy spicy foods.