Sichuan Cuisine Family Joy

Author: Deng Kaiying / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features:
2. How to Distinguish and Use Ingredients for Poultry
Chicken thigh meat is thicker and tougher, suitable for diced or chunked preparations. Dishes like Kung Pao Chicken, Guizhou Chicken, Small Pan-Fried Chicken, Bang Bang Chicken, Fish-Fragrant Eight Pieces of Chicken, and Fried Chicken Thighs can all use chicken thigh meat. Chicken breast meat is tender and fine, ideal for slicing, dicing, or pounding into paste. Dishes like Silver Sprout Stir-Fried Chicken Shreds, Deep-Fried Chicken Rolls, Vinegar-Fried Wind Pheasant, Stir-Fried Chicken Rice, Chicken Bean Curd, Snowflake Chicken Soup, and Lotus Root Chicken Slices are all made with chicken breast meat. Chicken wings are suitable for braising or stewing, with famous dishes like Braised Big Turning, Princess Chicken Wings, and Dragon Through Phoenix Wings.
3. How to Distinguish and Use Ingredients for Fish
Fish heads have more bones and less meat, making them ideal for dishes like Fish Head in Casserole, Fish Head with Tofu, Braised Fish Head, Half-Soup Fish Head, and Stewed Fatty Fish Head. The middle section of fish has thick and tender meat, suitable for slicing, dicing, or cutting into strips, as well as making fish paste. It can also be thinly sliced and cut into various shapes for dishes like Fragrant Flower Fish Shreds, Stir-Fried Fish Slices, Pepper-Salt Fish Rolls, Smoked Fish Cubes, Scallion Fish Strips, Poached Fish Balls, Chrysanthemum Fish, and Mandarin Fish. Fish paste is also an important ingredient for shaping dishes in cooking. Fish tails are tender and can be used for dishes like Braised Fish Tails and Casserole Fish Tails.
4. How to Match Ingredients Flexibly Based on the Recipe
Matching ingredients involves combining various shaped ingredients appropriately to create a complete dish. The texture of the ingredients can be soft or hard, so the accompaniments should match the main ingredient's texture. For example, if the main ingredient is chicken slices, liver slices, or meat slices, the accompaniments should be soft and tender, like wood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, or bean sprouts. However, wood ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots may not be readily available, and bean sprouts are not in season all year round. In such cases, you need to be flexible and use local produce and seasonal ingredients. For dishes like Stir-Fried Chicken Slices, where the main ingredient is more premium, the accompaniments should also be more refined. If wood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, or bean sprouts are not available, you can use the tender core of cabbage leaves, blanch them in boiling water, and pair them with scallions—this still maintains the dish's elegance. In early summer, you can peel the flesh from young cucumbers, slice them thinly, and garnish with a few slices of fresh red tomatoes. This not only adds color but also gives the dish a unique flavor. For liver and meat dishes, there are many more options, such as cabbage stalks, lettuce, green beans, spring bamboo shoots, tomatoes, garlic sprouts, and mushrooms. The possibilities are endless. Additionally, for main ingredients like chicken, duck, or ribs, which are harder or require longer cooking times, the accompaniments should also be adjusted based on seasonal produce. For braised chicken, accompaniments like green bamboo shoots, spring bamboo shoots, carrots, mushrooms, chestnuts, and high-starch vegetables are suitable. Even if no vegetables are available, braising chicken with snow fungus is also a unique and flavorful dish. In short, in home cooking, it's important to match ingredients flexibly based on the recipe.
5. How to Match Shape and Color in Accompaniments
The shape and color of dishes play a role in stimulating appetite and providing aesthetic pleasure. When matching shapes, two points should be considered: first, the main and secondary ingredients should be cooked together to ensure they are done at the same time. For example, small and easily cooked ingredients like shreds, slices, or cubes should not be paired with large, thick, or solid ingredients, as this can lead to uneven cooking and unevenly cooked dishes. Second, the overall appearance of the dish should be harmonious. The general rule is "shreds with shreds, slices with slices, cubes with cubes," but the base for steamed dishes can differ from the main ingredient. It mainly serves to highlight the main ingredient's full shape. For example, braised pork belly uses mustard greens as a base, steamed minced pork uses taro as a base, and steamed trotters use vegetable cores as a base, making the dish look full and rounded after flipping the plate. For fish fragrant dishes, the small volume of ginger, scallions, and garlic is mainly to facilitate the release of aromatic compounds, creating a special flavor. The color of the dish should be dominated by the main ingredient, with the accompaniments serving to complement and highlight it, without overshadowing the main ingredient. There are two types of color matching: "harmonious color" and "contrasting color." Harmonious color means the main and secondary ingredients have similar colors, creating a unified tone, like Silver Sprout Stir-Fried Chicken Shreds and Three Whites in Clear Soup, both of which are white, giving a clean and elegant impression. Contrasting color means the main and secondary ingredients have different colors, creating a vibrant and eye-catching effect to stimulate appetite. This method is widely used in matching ingredients, such as Lotus Root Chicken Slices, where white chicken slices are paired with bright green bean sprouts or tender vegetable cores, making the chicken slices more white and eye-catching, evoking the beauty of a lotus emerging from water. Contrasting colors should also adapt to different seasons. In hot summer, dishes should have lighter and more neutral colors, while in cold winter and early spring, warm colors are preferred. In summary, contrasting colors should be coordinated and aesthetically pleasing.
6. How to Match Meat and Vegetables in Accompaniments
Generally, animal-based meat ingredients are rich in protein and fat, while plant-based accompaniments are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Different nutrients have different effects on the human body. By matching meat and vegetables, a dish can provide a variety of nutrients, achieving nutritional complementarity and improving the nutritional value and benefits for the body. Therefore, we should pay special attention to matching meat and vegetables in accompaniments. For example, add scallions, fragrant trees, or tomatoes to scrambled eggs; add potatoes, radishes, or cabbage heads to braised pork; or pair pork ribs with soybean sprouts, winter melon, or white radishes. Even rich and greasy sweet dishes like Braised Pork with Sweet Sauce can be paired with orange slices or pineapple chunks. Traditionally, the main and secondary ingredients in accompaniments are often meat-heavy, with animal-based ingredients accounting for 2/3 or 4/5 of the dish, while plant-based accompaniments make up only 1/3 to 1/5. This results in excessive fat accumulation and protein overload, while the lack of other nutrients can lead to certain diseases. Therefore, in home cooking, it's a good idea to promote "elegant meat dishes," where the proportion of plant-based ingredients is increased, making vegetables account for 1/2 or 2/3 of the dish, to achieve a balanced and reasonable nutritional structure. By matching meat and vegetables, not only does the dish's color and nutritional value improve, but it is also effective for health and disease prevention.
7. How to Season and Coat Ingredients
Starch is essential in cooking. When cooking, the surface of the ingredients needs to be coated with a layer of starch before being added to the pot. For some ingredients, only a thin layer of starch is needed after they are shaped. After coating the surface of the ingredients with a layer of starch, it's like dressing them, as the oil temperature is transmitted indirectly through the starch, preventing hot oil from directly penetrating the ingredients. This preserves the dish's original flavor and protects its nutrients from being destroyed. Before "dressing" with starch, the ingredients must be seasoned. Salt not only adds flavor but also enhances the hygroscopic ability of proteins in lean meat, quickly forming a viscous hydration layer, allowing the meat to absorb moisture without "leaking" it. At this point, adding starch helps to tightly coat the ingredients. Some people skip seasoning and directly coat the ingredients with starch, but the moisture absorbed by the meat quickly "leaks" out, causing the starch to wash off the surface. As a result, the "starch-losing" ingredients become tough and chewy when cooked.