Learn Chinese

 In the past several years there has been an awakening of interest in this very old cuisine of Beijing, from which it seems all Chinese culinary trends now proceed.  The ingredients for the following recipes are available in Gables or South Miami supermarkets or in Asian groceries nearby.

Tea is the most popular drink in China. Luk Yu, a Tang dynasty Master of Tea, wrote that drinking tea aids the digestion, especially “when sipped in the company of sweet and beautiful maidens in a pavilion by a water-lily pond or near a lacquered bridge.  Most tea drinkers will not be so fortunate, but as long as the tea is good they may be willing to make allowances.  In the Chinese tea ceremony, the miniature cups and teapot are doused with scaldingly hot water; tea is then placed in the pot and boiling water added.  After an appropriate interval, the tea is poured and drunk at once.  There are many varieties of Chinese tea, and though jasmine tea is usually served as a matter of course in restaurants, you could ask for black, fragrant green, linden or magnolia tea instead.

“To touch the heart” is the literal translation of dim sum, the quintessential breakfast or brunch.   Steamed in bamboo baskets or deep-fried, the ravioli-like dumplings, buns, pancakes and other dishes that comprise dim sum are made with hundreds of different filling variations, including shrimp, pork and sweet pastes. The repertoire of dim sum is endless. Typical dim sum houses are far from restful places; the press of people is vast and the noise level high.  Waiters push heavily laden trolleys through the press.

All Chinese restaurants provide diners with chopsticks and a spoon.  Very few restaurants furnish forks and of course knives are not needed for Chinese food.  Confucius said it was uncivilized to have knives on the dining table.  Chopsticks can be awkward at first.  Perseverance is needed to get the technique right, but a Chinese meal is best enjoyed with them, and the two sticks can be surprisingly agile in practiced hands.  The bottom stick is the “anvil”, held firmly between the first joint of the ring finger and the lower thumb, while resting in the crook of forefinger and thumb.  The top stick is held like a pen between the tip of the thumb and forefinger and pivots against the lower sticks.

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)