Sui Garden Food Manual. Illustrated Edition

Author: Yuan Mei (Qing Dynasty)
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Publishing Date: Not available
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It is essential to know the inherent qualities of ingredients. Just as every person has unique natural talents, every item has its own inherent characteristics. If a person is inherently dull, even Confucius and Mencius teaching them is useless; if an ingredient is inherently poor, even Yi Ya cooking it will not make it tasty. Here are some general guidelines:
Pork should be thin-skinned and free of odor; roosters should be castrated and young, not old or young; crucian carp is best when flat-bodied and white-bellied, while those with black backs tend to be stubborn in the pot; eel is prized for its swimming in lakes and streams, while those from rivers have knobbly bones; ducks fed with grain are fat and white; bamboo shoots grown in earth are tender with fewer joints and sweeter; the same ham can be vastly different in quality; the same Taihu salted fish can be either delicious or terrible. Other miscellaneous items can be judged similarly. Generally, in preparing a fine meal, the chef's contribution accounts for 60%, while the buyer's contribution accounts for 40%.
Ingredients Must Be Chosen Wisely
A chef's ingredients are like a woman's clothes and jewelry. Even with natural beauty and skill in dressing, ragged clothes make even Xi Shi unattractive. A skilled cook must use the best ingredients. For example, sauce should be aged sauce, and its sweetness should be tested first; oil should be sesame oil, and its type (raw or refined) should be checked; wine should be fermented wine, and the dregs should be removed; vinegar should be rice vinegar, and its purity should be ensured. Moreover, sauce comes in clear and thick varieties, oil in (animal) and (vegetable) types, wine in sweet and sour differences, and vinegar in aged and fresh distinctions—none of these can be mistaken. Other ingredients like scallions, peppers, ginger, cinnamon, sugar, and salt, though used in small amounts, should all be premium quality. In Suzhou, stores sell autumn oil in three grades: top, middle, and bottom. Zhenjiang vinegar has a good color but is not very sour, losing its essence. Banpu vinegar is the best, followed by Pukou vinegar.
Cleaning Must Be Done Correctly
The method of cleaning involves removing hair from bird's nests, mud from sea cucumbers, sand from fish scales, and stench from deer tendons. Meat with sinews should be trimmed for tenderness; ducks with kidneys should be cleaned for purity; if fish bile is broken, the entire dish will be bitter; if eel mucus remains, the whole bowl will be fishy; leeks should be trimmed to leave the white part, and vegetables should be trimmed to reveal the heart. The Book of Rites says, "Remove the fish's 'Yi' and the turtle's 'Chou'." This is exactly what is meant. The saying goes, "To make fish delicious, clean until the white sinews appear." This is also what is meant.
Adjustments Must Be Made Appropriately
The method of adjustment depends on the ingredient. Some require both wine and water, some only wine, some only water; some require both salt and sauce, some only clear sauce without salt, some only salt without sauce; some are too greasy and need to be fried with oil first; some are too fishy and need to be sprayed with vinegar first; some must use rock sugar for freshness; some are best kept dry to let the flavor infuse inside, like stir-fried items; some are best kept moist to let the flavor seep out, like clear dishes.
Pairing Must Be Done Thoughtfully
The saying goes, "Match a woman with a man," and the Book of Rites says, "Choose people according to their roles." How is cooking different? Every dish needs companions. Light should pair with light, thick with thick, tender with tender, and firm with firm to achieve harmony. Some ingredients can be either or, like mushrooms, fresh bamboo shoots, and winter melon. Some are but not, like scallions, leeks, fennel, and young garlic. Some are but not, like celery, lily bulbs, and runner beans. I often see people putting crab roe in bird's nests or lily bulbs in chicken or pork dishes—does this not resemble Tang Yao sitting opposite Su Jun, creating too much of a mismatch? There are also interactions where skills complement each other, like using vegetable oil to stir-fry meat or meat oil to stir-fry vegetables.
Single Use Is Sometimes Best
Ingredients with strong flavors should be used alone and not paired. For example, Li Zhanhuang and Zhang Jiangling must be used alone to fully showcase their qualities. In food, eel, turtle, crab, and shad, as well as beef and mutton, should be eaten alone without pairing. Why? These ingredients have very strong flavors and powerful effects, and their side effects are also numerous. Only by fully balancing flavors with five spices can their strengths be maximized and their weaknesses minimized. How can we afford to ignore their main qualities and introduce unnecessary complications? People from Jinling often pair sea cucumbers with soft-shell turtle and fish scales with crab roe, and I always frown upon it. I feel that the flavors of soft-shell turtle and crab roe would overwhelm the sea cucumbers and fish scales.