Cantonese Cuisine
2 min readBrief introduction of Cantonese cuisine
Cantonese cuisine comes from Guangdong province and is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisines.Guangdong province is known as the paradise of the food at home and abroad.Besides，Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout China.
Guangdong has long been a trading port and many imported foods and ingredients are used in Cantonese cuisine.Besides pork，beef and chicken，Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats，including offal，chicken feet，duck’s tongue，snakes and snails.However，lamb is rarely eaten，unlike in the cuisines of northernor western China.In Cantonese cuisine，many cooking methods are used，with steaming and stir frying being the most favored due to their convenience and rapidity.0ther techniques include shallow frying，double steaming，braising and deep frying.
For many traditional Cantonese cooks，the flavors of a finished dish should be well balanced and not greasy.Apart from that，spices should be used in modestamounts to avoid overwhelming the flavors of the primarying redients，and the seingredients in turn should be at the peak of their freshness and quality.There is no widespread use of fresh herbs in Cantonese cooking，in contrast with their liberal use in other cuisines such as Sichuan，Thai or Vietnamese.
Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions，although the latter are usually used as mere garnish in most dishes.
In 1986，Prince Philip commented on Chinese eating habits at the World Wildlife Fund conference:”If it has four legs and is not a chair，if it has two wings but is not an aero-plane，and if it swims and is not a submarine，the Cantonese will eat it.”
Sauces and condiments
In Cantonese cuisine，a number of ingredients such as spring onion，sugar，salt，soy sauce，rice wine，cornstarch，vinegar and sesame oil，suffice to enhance flavor，although garlic is heavily used in some dishes，especially those in which internal organs，such as entrails，may emit unpleasant odors.Ginger，chili peppers，five-spice powder，powdered black pepper，star anise and a few other spices are also used，but often sparingly.
Dried and preserved ingredients
Although Cantonese cooks pay much attention to the freshness of their primary ingredients，Cantonese cuisine also uses a long list of preserved food to add flavor to a dish.Those preserved food，like dried abalones and scallops，can be kept for a long time and they are even more delicious due to their special taste.
