In a kitchen courtyard after snowfall, stacked bamboo steamers sit on two big woks over wood fires, sending up clouds of steam; cooks lift the lids while women carry trays and prepare food.
Stir-frying, steaming, stewing and simmering, red-braising, roasting and deep-frying, together with knife work and the control of heat and seasoning, form the shared technical base of the regional cuisines; the iron wok and the bamboo steamer are their best-known tools.
1147 · OriginWith iron woks widespread in the Song, the Bianjing eateries of the Dongjing menghua lu sold stir-fried clams and crab, and stir-frying joined steaming in everyday cooking.
Each method of cooking deals with three things: fire, water or oil, and time. Stir-frying uses a hot fire and little oil, steaming uses vapour, stewing and simmering use a long low fire, braising cooks food down in its sauce, roasting relies on open fire or hot air, and deep-frying uses plenty of hot oil. Knife work decides the shape of the ingredient, and the control of heat and seasoning decides the taste of the finished dish. This class also takes in boiling, pan-frying and cold tossing.
These methods were recorded early. The Book of Changes, in its hexagram on the cauldron, says that wood and fire together make cooking, the cook who carves an ox in the Zhuangzi chapter on nourishing life describes knife work, and the Lüshi chunqiu chapter on essential flavours, through the words of Yi Yin, discusses the control of heat. Stir-frying flourished in the Song: the Bianjing eateries of the Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital sold stir-fried clams and crab.
These methods are not walled off from one another. A dish often uses several: the ingredients are cut with knife work, then blanched, then stir-fried, and then braised with stock. So a dish does not belong to a single method in this class but relates to each of the methods it uses.
Different methods also call for different vessels: stir-frying uses a thin-based pan, steaming a stack of baskets, stewing a thick-walled pot, roasting an oven or a spit. The difference in vessel is part of the difference in method.
Today these methods are still the basic skills of kitchens everywhere, and the wok and the steamer are seen on every hand. Cooking Techniques deals with methods; a dish belongs first to its cuisine and then relates to the methods it uses, and within each method there are finer techniques, such as quick oil-bursting, rice-flour steaming and thickening with starch.
Cooking Techniques is the class for methods of cooking in the chapter on the Cuisine. It covers the main methods, stir-frying, steaming, stewing and simmering, braising, roasting, deep-frying, knife work and the control of heat and seasoning, which are the technical base shared by the regional cuisines; the iron wok and the bamboo steamer are its common, typical vessels. The same ingredient cooked by different methods makes different dishes. This class is about methods, not about particular dishes.
Cooking Techniques records how methods of cooking changed, not the recipe for one dish.
The commentary on the cauldron hexagram of the Book of Changes says that wood feeding the fire makes cooking.
The cook who carves an ox in the Zhuangzi chapter on nourishing life describes knife work, and the Lüshi chunqiu chapter on essential flavours, through the words of Yi Yin, discusses the control of heat, with the line that the fire is the guide through nine boilings and nine changes. Knife work and heat control were already discussed in pre-Qin books.
Jia Sixie's Qimin yaoshu of the Northern Wei records roasting, steaming, boiling and other methods, and also a method for stir-fried eggs, which breaks them into a pan and stirs "until yolk and white are mixed", showing that stir-frying, steaming, roasting and boiling already stood side by side in a Northern Wei food book.
Stir-frying flourished in the Song: the Bianjing eateries of the Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital, written down about 1147, sold stir-fried clams and crab.
The Lin'an eating houses of the Southern Song Mengliang lu list dishes such as cauldron-boiled mutton, steamed lamb, stir-fried chicken mushrooms and wine-roasted shrimp, named by method, showing that the methods were by then finely distinguished in city eateries.
Yuan Mei's Recipes from the Garden of Contentment of the Qing (1792) has a list of things to know, setting out requirements for heat control, seasoning, washing and other practice, listing the essentials of cooking one by one.
Afterwards stir-frying, steaming, stewing, braising, roasting and deep-frying continued in kitchens everywhere and became the common base of the regional cuisines.
Wok Stir-Fry
The flaming wok on the left shows high-heat stir-frying and wok hei.
Bamboo Steamer
The stacked bamboo steamer on the right releases clouds of steam, representing gentle steaming.
Preparation Table
Figures at lower left cut and prepare vegetables before cooking.
Steamed-Food Dining
The diners in the upper-right room connect steamed foods with table service.
In an ancient kitchen, a chef on the left tosses ingredients in a roaring iron wok while a master on the right lifts the lid of a bamboo steamer, releasing a cloud of fragrant vapour with dim sum inside. Intense wok hei heat retention balanced by layered steam moisture containment.
Cooking Techniques is like a fan beside the stove: fan quickly and the fire is fierce, fan slowly and it is gentle. From the same pile of wood, a different fanning gives a different fire, and the same ingredients become a different dish; how strong the heat is depends on how fast the fan moves.
The eating houses of Northern Song Bianjing already had stir-fried dishes such as clams and crab; the fan still stands beside the stove in the kitchens of today.
An old cook taught an apprentice to stir-fry, and in the first month let him only watch the fire.
The apprentice asked, "When may I put food in the wok?"
The old cook said, "First learn to read the fire, then we can talk about dishes."
Every day the apprentice crouched at the stove, watched the flame turn from yellow to white, listened to the oil go from still to sizzling, and held his hand over the rim of the wok to test the heat. A month later he stood at the stove and put food in the wok for the first time. When the dish came out the old cook tasted it, said neither good nor bad, and simply set the wok back on the stove, saying, "Once more." The apprentice cooked it again.
He cooked it many times. One day the apprentice no longer looked at the fire; he only listened to the sound in the wok and knew when to turn and when to lift. The old cook stood behind him watching and said not a word.
Later the apprentice took an apprentice of his own, and the first thing he did was also to have him crouch at the stove and watch the fire. Some thought this too slow; he said, "It is the hand that is quick and the eye that is slow, and if the eye has not learned, a quick hand is no use."
Someone asked the old cook, "What exactly did you teach him?" The old cook said, "Nothing. I only kept him from hurrying. Fire cannot be hurried, and neither can a dish." The apprentice heard it and slowed the ladle in his hand a little.
With the same ingredients, a small difference in heat changes the taste. Most of the skill lies in judging fire and time. This class is about those methods, not about any one dish, and a dish here is only an example of a method. (This is an illustrative story, not a historical account.)
Boiling and PoachingCooking ingredients in water or stock until done, covering boiling, poaching, scalding and blanching.
Pan-Frying and GriddlingPan-frying in a little oil, or griddling in a pan or on a griddle, so that the surface takes colour.
Cold TossingThe method of dressing raw or cooked-and-cooled ingredients with seasoning and serving them cold.
Stir-FryingCooking small pieces in a little oil over high heat, tossed quickly in the wok.
SteamingCooking food with steam in a steamer.
StewingSlow cooking in plenty of water or stock over low heat, with the broth kept.
BraisingCooking in a moderate amount of liquid: red, white and dry braising and covered braising.
RoastingCooking food by dry heat over charcoal or a fire, or in an oven.
Deep-FryingCooking food submerged in plenty of hot oil until crisp and golden.
Knife WorkCutting, slicing, chopping and carving food into the right shapes.
Heat and SeasoningControlling fire and timing and balancing salty, sweet, sour, hot and savoury tastes.