Learn to Cook Chinese Food · Aquatic Products

Author: Compiled by the Editorial Committee of "How to Cook Chinese Dishes"
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-01-01
Features: If you're not aiming to become a professional chef but simply want to learn how to cook Chinese dishes for your family and guests, there's no need to seek out a master. The culinary skills of Chinese housewives are mostly learned through osmosis from their grandmothers and mothers. After becoming wives and mothers, some of them with a keen interest in cooking further refine their skills by studying recipes or exchanging techniques with neighbors. Sometimes, the dishes they create can even rival those of renowned restaurants and chefs. Of course, in Chinese households, there are also many men skilled in cooking, and male chefs dominate the ranks of famous restaurants and eateries. The compilers of this "How to Cook Chinese Dishes" series are all culinary masters. To make it easier for beginners to get started, they have introduced each dish's ingredients, cutting techniques, and cooking steps in clear and concise language. Readers need only follow the instructions one by one, and within a few days, they will become proficient and able to apply their knowledge to other dishes, greatly improving their culinary skills. The entire book is covered in a wipe-clean film, making it convenient to clean off grease and stains! The "How to Cook Chinese Dishes" series consists of nine volumes, covering aquatic products, meat dishes, vegetable dishes, bean products, soup dishes, cold dishes, pastry dishes, poultry and egg dishes, and home banquet dishes. This volume is one of the "How to Cook Chinese Dishes" series, collecting forty types of aquatic product dishes. Aquatic products include fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish. Fish and shrimp are further divided into freshwater and saltwater varieties. Cooking methods for aquatic products vary depending on the ingredients. Generally, for seafood, small fish, and shrimp, it's best to preserve their tenderness by quickly steaming them or stir-frying them in hot oil. Examples include steamed fish, stir-fried shrimp, and stir-fried shrimp in oyster sauce. For larger fish, such as those used whole or with heads or tails, longer cooking times are required. For example, braised fish needs a slightly longer cooking time. As for shrimp, in addition to being cooked with shells, they can be peeled and then marinated with egg white and starch before being quickly stir-fried in hot oil to maintain their tenderness. Otherwise, the longer they are cooked, the tougher they become. Most aquatic products have a fishy smell, so seasonings like wine, scallions, and ginger are essential to remove the odor. For fish with fine and numerous bones, they can be made into soup dishes, allowing the flavor to infuse into the broth while making it easier to remove the bones. Smaller fish can be deep-fried until the bones become crispy and edible, eliminating the need to remove them. For fish with thick meat, they can be cut into pieces, strips, threads, fillets, or minced, and even used to make fish rolls or fish paste for various dishes. This also helps the original flavor to seep in. Before cooking, fish must be killed, scaled, fins trimmed, and gills removed, then opened along the chest or back to remove the internal organs, and the black membrane on the abdominal wall removed. If the fish is to be used for dishes like fish threads, strips, or rolls, the bones and ribs must also be removed. This is done by first cutting off the head, then slicing horizontally from the neck close to the backbone to the tail, severing the backbone at the tail. The two halves of the fish meat will then fall off. The ribs can be removed by cutting along the side line of the ribs with a knife. The other half of the fish meat is processed in the same way. Shrimp should also have their legs and antennae trimmed, the dorsal nerve removed, and the intestinal tract cleaned out before cooking.