Flames leap in a clay stove under an iron wok where spare ribs and lotus root steam, a hand sprinkles salt into it, a wooden spoon rests in the wok, and four small bowls in front hold salt, sugar, vinegar and Sichuan pepper.
Fire and taste
Introduction
Controlling fire and timing and balancing salty, sweet, sour, hot and savoury tastes.
Heat and seasoning is the craft of controlling the strength of the fire and the length of cooking, and of balancing salty, sweet, sour, hot and savoury tastes, along with supporting steps such as thickening with starch and coating with batter. Thickening makes the sauce thicker, and batter coating wraps the food in a layer of paste. The Sui Yuan Shi Dan gives heat control great weight and says seasoning must be fitted to the ingredient. The Lushi Chunqiu chapter Ben Wei says blending depends on sweet, sour, bitter, acrid and salty in the right order and amount, with fire as the thread. The particular methods of cooking a dish are treated in Stir-Frying, Steaming, Stewing and the other classes.