What is Cantonese Cuisine?

Cantonese cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine (?? yuè cài), is 1 of the cuisines of China's Guangdong province. It is specific to the Cantonese speaking parts along the Pearl Delta River: Guangzhou (its capital), Hong Kong and Macau. (Guangdong has 2 other groups- Hakka and Chao Zhou- which have their own cuisines, but Cantonese cuisine is the most famous of the 3.)

Fun fact: If you've ever eaten in a Chinese restaurant in America, Canada or UK, it's 99.9% likely that you're eating Cantonese food. (The majority of Chinese restaurants outside Asia are Cantonese.)

Chinese culture is big on food and Cantonese cuisine is considered 1 of its 4 great traditions (in addition to Chuan, Lu, and Huaiyang i.e. the cuisines of West, North, South & East China.)

It is also 1 of its 8 modern culinary treasures:

Anhui (??; Hu?cài) Guang Dong/ Cantonese (??; Yuècài) Fujian (??; M?ncài)- where my family is from! Hunan (??; Xi?ngcài) Jiangsu (??; S?cài) Shandong (??; L?cài) Sichuan (??; Chu?ncài) Zhejiang(??; Zhècài).

Characteristics

How do you tell if the food is Cantonese?

Scallion, ginger and garlic are considered the Holy Trinity of Cantonese recipes, similar to mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery) in French food Emphasis on preserving the taste of the ingredients (a little like Italian cooking): the flavor is from the freshness and quality of the food used, so there is little application of spices It's all about the "wok hei" or breath of the wok- a somewhat smoky flavor that the best Cantonese dishes have thanks to the super hot fire This is why it can be hard to cook restaurant quality Cantonese food at home- our fires just aren't hot enough! Herbs are used in moderation, mostly as garnishes Preserved ingredients are used to add flavour. Some examples are: salted egg dried shrimps dried scallops Mei cai (pickled cabbage) La Chang (dried sausage) The Cantonese are known for its soups, such as old fire soup/ lao huo tang, silky congee and dim sum. As Guangdong has a coastal location, seafood is another key ingredient of Cantonese recipes ordering steamed fish is a great way to tell if the restaurant is worth its salt! You sometime see "weird" ingredients, such as chicken feet, entrails, frogs and snakes, in Cantonese recipes Frogs meat is delicious! It's like a really tender chicken Lamb and goat are uncommon though

Sauces

Some sauces you often see in Cantonese food recipes include:

soy sauce oyster sauce (or a luxe version- abalone sauce) XO sauce sesame oil salted egg yolk sauce rice vinegar hoisin sauce plum sauce shrimp paste douchi/ dried black beans

Macaroni Soup

Congee (Jook)

Jook or congee is the ultimate Cantonese comfort food, especially when you're under the weather- if you grew up in a Chinese home, you've definitely had this one time or another!

It can be eaten plain- and spiced up with toppings and small plates- or flavoured with seafood, chicken etc

Abalone Congee

Abalone is considered a premium and auspicious ingredient in Chinese cooking.

For more canned abalone recipes, click here.

Shrimp Congee

Seafood

Steamed fish

If you've ever eaten in a Cantonese restaurant, you'll know that a steamed whole fish is a can't-be-missed item on the menu. In fact, good Cantonese restaurants are so big on their fish, they cook live ones (and not frozen/ dead fish.)

Fun fact: if you know how to eat it, the fish head is considered a delicacy- the meat in the cheek is super tender! If you eat the head, you need to take responsibility for the tail too as, for every beginning (head), there's an end (tail.) In Chinese, this translates to "???? you tou you wei."

Eggs & Shrimp

Eggs are often scrambled with shrimp for an easy weeknight dish- click here for a 5-star recipe from Omnivore's Cookbook!

Meat

Soy Sauce Chicken

This is a famous Cantonese dish that is often served as a trio with "siu Mei" (roasted meats) such as "siu yuk" (roast pork belly) and "char siu" (BBQ pork.)

However, to get the meat super tender, it will take a few hours of poaching. (It's an easy recipe but takes a while to cook.) If you're in a rush, make the easy chicken thighs version below.

An easy version of "tang chu pai gu" (sweet vinegar pork ribs, literally but usually called "sweet and sour pork" in the West), once you've made these 12345 ribs you'll never look back!

Pork Trotters

A classic Cantonese dish, often eaten during confinement (the period after a woman gives birth), is vinegar pig trotters as it's considered to be a very warming and nourishing food.

Salted Ducks' Egg Yolk Tofu

P.S. The same ducks egg sauce is used to coat deep-fried prawns or chicken and pork too!

Stir-fried Vegetables

A classic veg would be Choy Sum in Oyster sauce (here's a 10-minutes, easy recipe from Ohmyfoodrecipes.)

Noodles

Lobster noodles is a classic Cantonese dish- my family used to eat it every time

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