Five Flavor”of Chinese Dish

Chinese cuisine is evaluated from three aspects:color，smell and taste，that is，the dish should look good，smell good and taste good，among which taste is the most important criterion.Thus delicious cuisine is called”Mei Wei”（”Mei”means delicious，”Wei”is Chinese character for”taste”），and it’s the chef’s job to temper the”Five Tastes”，which are sour，sweet，bitter，spicy and salty.Mixing these five tastes in various proportions can produce more complex tastes，such asspiced salt，sour-and-spicy，sweet-and sour，tingling spicy，spicy with prickly ash，Yu Xiang（spicy with fish taste）and special taste，etc.

With a vast territory and large population，China has abundant local flavors.

However，there are some rules too，such as”Sweet in the south，salty in the north，spicy in the east and sour in the west”.This saying reflects the local differences in Chinese culinary culture to a certain degree.Of course，it is not absolute，for every one has his own preference，which poses a challenge to the cook when it comes to balancing every one’s tastes.of everyone.Some people love the original flavorof the ingredients.In their opinion，cooking chicken should preserve the original taste，so steamed chicken or stewed chicken will be their first choice.Yet some prefer complex flavors，like special flavored chicken，which is mainly cooked through braising in soy sauce and sweet or brown sauce，and requires more seasoning.

Once you are here in China，don’t worry about finding the tastes of your homeland，for there are plenty of flavors in Chinese cuisine；whatever it is，you will be sure to find it，as long as you keep trying.

qingquang

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