Have you ever gone into a Chinese restaurant and wished you knew how they were able to prepare such an artful dish? The plates that often arrive inside Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong are beautiful. They are not weighed down with a lot of oil and grease as is found in other ethnic cuisines. Even when frying is used, the result is a light, flavourful fish that you can enjoy.
Farm to table cooking is common throughout Chinese cuisine. When you order something from the menu, there are going to be a few different techniques that you will find being used.
Stir-frying is one of the most common methods that are used. What’s unique about this is that the ingredients are cooked at a high heat for a short period of time. A large wok is often used and then oil is added to help prepare the food. The benefit to the short period of cooking is that the ingredients are able to preserve their nutritional value.
At Mott32, adim sum restaurant, you will be able to experience what a Michelin star chef is able to create for you inside of a wok.(Click here to view Mott32’s menu)
Shallow frying is another method that is commonly used. The heat is lower than what is found with stir-frying. There is less oil than used with deep frying and the outer skin is able to remain crispy while everything on the inside will be moist.
Braising is also a technique that can be found when you go into a Chinese restaurant. Hong Kong chefs will often place larger ingredients into a saucepan with seasonings and water and then boil and simmer. This helps to lock the flavours in and when the chef is getting toward the end of the cooking process, the sauce will be thickened, either through a final simmering process or by adding cornstarch.
Steaming is another popular technique that is used within the Chinese culture. This is particularly popular with dumplings and buns. Many people live on wheaten food and so the ingredients are placed inside of a steamer basket above a steamer pot. Fewer seasonings are used and so it allows the food’s natural flavours to be enhanced.
Some of the finest Peking duck that you will ever taste is prepared through the technique of roasting. This can be done inside of an oven or over the open flame of charcoal. Seasonings are rubbed along the outside of the food and the moisture is removed from the outside. It gets a beautiful brown flavour and can be basted with oil and seasonings to maintain the moisture on the inside.
Authentic Chinese cooking is filled with various cooking techniques that you can explore in detail. It is all a matter of finding the right restaurant where you can embrace the flavours and know that you are eating good food that is prepared in typical Chinese fashion so that you can look forward to what will be served to you, regardless of what it is that you choose on the menu.
For More Information: Site: http://mott32.com/ Email: reservations@mott32.com Contact #: +852 2885 8688
Address: Standard Chartered Bank Building, 4-4A Des Voeux Road Central Hong Kong All photos used are credited to the owners