One Cantonese saying goes that anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies is edible. In Northern Chinese areas such as Beijing, there is a saying like "The Cantonese will eat anything that swims, except the submarine. Everything that flies, except the airplane, and everything that has legs, except the table."

      Cantonese cuisine originates from the region around Canton (Guangzhou) in southern China's Guangdong province. Of the various regional styles of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese is the best-known outside China due to the disproportionate emigration from this region, as well as the relative accessibility of some Cantonese dishes to foreign palates. Cantonese dishes rarely use "hot" spices like chilli, unlike, as I mentioned before, Szechuan Cuisine.       Guangdong Province in South China, with its mild, subtropical climate, grows an abundance of foods all year, including rice, fruit and vegetables. They use fresh ingredients every day to retain the unique flavor and texture of each dish. With the advantage of all delicacies from all over the country, Guangdong cuisine has gradually formed its own characteristics.

      Guangdong dishes are characterized by their tender and slightly sweet taste. Sauces are a crucial seasoning in Guangdong cuisine. Classic Cantonese sauces are light and mellow. The most widely used sauces in Guangdong Cuisine include: hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, plum sauce and sweet and sour sauce. Other ingredients popular in Guangdong Cuisine include spring onions, sugar, salt, soya bean products, rice wine, corn starch, vinegar and sesame oil. Garlic is used heavily in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odors. Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder, powdered white pepper, star anise and a few other spices are used, but often sparingly.

Cantonese You May Like

Delicate Dim Sum

      You all know what dim sum is, right? Guangzhou's most omnipresent speciality is the snack dim sum. Just like Spanish tapas, which were originally simple accompaniments to glasses of sherry, these simple Cantonese tea snacks eventually became the main focus of the meal, though tea is, of course, still served. Often eaten at breakfast or lunch, dim sum are savory dumplings stuffed with prawns, beef and pork. The region also produces a great variety of snacks with different tastes, such as moon cakes, porridge, chicken cakes, pastries, red sweetened bean paste and double skin milk. Cantonese snacks have many peculiar ingredients, some sweet and some salty, enjoying the reputation of "100 kinds of snacks having 100 tastes and 100 shapes."  

      The meal starts with the tea. You should be given a pot of tea as soon as you first sit down. Check the tea before you pour to make sure it's steeped enough. When you empty the pot, turn the lid upside down or leave it ajar to let the waiter know you want a refill. To be extra polite, make sure to fill up other people's glasses before your own, and tap the table to thank someone for filling yours. Food comes served in steam table trolleys stacked high with bamboo or metal steamer baskets. They get pushed around the restaurant from table to table, and diners order by pointing at the dishes they want.

The Dishes You Must Try

Prawn Dumplings

Rolled Dishes

Cha Siu Bao

Soup A Must

      Cantonese soup cooked on a mild fire. The soup is usually a clear broth prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients for several hours. Chinese herbal medicines are sometimes added to the clay pot, to make the soup nutritious and healthy. The ingredients of a rather expensive Cantonese slow cooked soup include fresh chicken, dried cod fish bladder, dried sea cucumber and dried abalone. Another more affordable combination includes pork bones and watercress with two types of almonds. Other ingredients include ginger, dates and other Chinese herbal medicines. The method is to put the raw materials in when the water is boiling, then turn down the heat and simmer for two to four hours.

      The main attraction is the liquid in the pot, the solids are usually thrown away unless they are expensive ingredients such as abalone or snake. The solids are usually unpalatable, but the essences are all in the liquid. Local residents believe all soup improves their health. There are hundreds of recipes for soup. The usual one is the long-hour cooked soup, known as lao huo li tang, which is combined with vegetables and bones, sometimes added with Chinese herbs.

It is a must when people go to restaurants to have Cantonese food.

If You Like Cantonese Cuisine, You Must Try:

Golden Unicorn Restaurant 18 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

Asian Jewels Seafood Restaurant 133-30 39th Ave., Flushing, NY 11351