Beijing Food

Beijing is the Capital city of many dynasties in the history of China, and many nomadic populations once lived in Beijing. Today, Beijing cuisine is refined from a combination of Shangdong cuisine and the Imperial cuisine, and formed its unique characteristics. Many Beijing dishes primarily comprise of meat, as a result of eating habits of the royals. For example, the Mongolian rulers during the Ming dynasty favored mutton, while the Qing dynasty rulers preferred pork. Bejing chefs generally put more effort into the method of cooking, and uses very common ingredients. Deep-frying, roasting, instant-boiling, stir-frying and stewing are among the most common methods of cooking. Because of its more northerly location, instead of rice, which is the staple diet in southern cuisines, noodles, buns, or jiaozi(dumplings), are preferred by the local people. Peking Roast Duck: The most famous dish associated with Beijing is Peking Roast Duck. The origin of the Peking Duck dates back to the Ming Dynasty, about 600 years ago. Cooks from all over China travelled to the capital Beijing to cook for the Emperor. It was a prestigious occupation as only the best chefs could enter the palace kitchens. A top cook was even able to reach the rank of a minister! It was in these kitchens where dishes of exceptional quality such as the Peking Duck was first created and crafted to perfection by palace chefs. However, many of the recipes for such "foods of the Emperor" were later smuggled out of the kitchen and onto the streets of Beijing. With the eventual fall of the Ching dynasty in 1911, court chefs who left the Forbidden City set up restaurants around Beijing and brought the Peking Duck and other delicious dishes to the masses. The crisp skin of the duck is the most prized part. To achieve such crispness, the duck is air-dried, then coated with a mixture of syrup and soy sauce before roasting. When ready, it is presented ceremoniously and the skin deftly carved. These pieces are wrapped in thin pancakes with onions or leeks, cucumber, turnip and plum sauce. Some restaurants also serve up just about every part of the duck, from the webbed feet to the beak and liver. On request, the remainder of the duck meat can be sauteed with bean sprouts, and the bones made into a wonderful soup with cabbage. Shuanyangrou (Lamb Hot Pot) Another favorite Beijing dish, it is especially popular in the cold Beijing winter months. Lamb is typical northern food, and is generally not consumed in southern parts of China. It is favored by northern people as it warms up the body. Around the Chunjie or Chinese Lunar New Year, Shuanyangrou is consumed a lot. The way to cook the lamb is ridiculously simple. Lamb meat is first cut into very thin pieces. This was done manually and required great skill. Recently machines have become better at this job and many lamb are thus cut by machines. The lamb is put into a boiling pot for a few seconds with many other ingredient such as seafood or vegetables, and taken out immediately and consumed with sauces such as peanut sauce.

Anhui Food

Anhui Cuisine Anhui cuisine (Hui Cai for short), one of the eight most famous cuisines in China, features the local culinary arts of Huizhou. It comprises the specialties of South Anhui, Yanjiang and Huai Bei. The highly distinctive characteristic of Anhui cuisine lies not only in the elaborate choices of cooking materials but also in the strict control of cooking process. Most ingredients in Anhui cuisine, such as pangolin, stone frog, mushroom, bayberry, tea leaves, bamboo shoot, dates, games, etc., are from mountain area. Huangshan Mountain has abundant products for dish cooking. Huangshan Chukka has tender flesh and a sweet taste. It can be boiled in clear soup or braised in soy sauce. The dishes help relieve internal fever and build up vital energy. The white and tender bamboo shoots produced on Huangshan Mountain can be made into very delicious food. Xianggu, a kind of top-grade mushroom grows on old trees, is also very tasty. Anhui cuisine chefs pay more attention to the taste, color of dishes and the temperature to cook them, and are good at braising and stewing. They are experts especially in cooking delicacies from mountains and sea. Anhui dishes preserve most of the original taste and nutrition of the materials. Generally the food here is slightly spicy and salty. Some master dishes usually stewed in brown sauce with stress on heavy oil and sauce. Ham is often added to improve the taste and sugar candy added to gain freshness. High up on the menu are stewed soft shell turtle with ham, Huangshan braised pigeon, steamed stone frog, steamed rock partridge, stewed fish belly in brown sauce, bamboo shoots cooked with sausage and dried mushroom, etc. Stewed soft shell turtle with ham: One whole soft shell turtle, pork, ham, bamboo shoots, a clove of garlic, shallot, ginger, soy sauce, salt, rice wine, black pepper, lard are all stewed together in a pot on charcoal fire. The dish is not greasy and can lead diners to endless aftertastes. 2. Steamed stone frog Inhabited in caves, stone frog is a special product in Huangshan Mountain. It weights 250 grams or so, whose belly is white and back black with stripe. Stone frog is rich in protein, calcium and so on. It has the functions of clearing heat, improving vision and nutrition. It is one of the best exotic dishes from mountains.   3. Bamboo shoots cooked with sausage and dried mushroom It is one traditional flavor in Huizhou mountainous area. Cooked with sausage and dried mushrooms, the bamboo shoots are more fragrant. It is delicious, and noted for its good color, juicy meat and thick soup. Li Hongzhang Hotchpotch Li Hongzhang hotchpotch is a popular dish named after one of Anhui's famous personages. Li Hongzhang was a top official of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD). When he was in office, he paid a visit to the US and hosted a banquet for all his American friends. As the specially prepared dishes continued to flow, the chefs, with limited resources, began to fret. Upon Li Hongzhang's order, the remaining kitchen ingredients were thrown together into an impromptu stew, containing sea cucumber, squid, tofu, ham, mushroom, chicken meat and other less identifiable food materials! Thus appetites were quenched and a dish was created.

Chinese Wine, Chinese liquor, Chinese alcohol and Chinese Culture

Jiu - Chinese wine or alcohol

In Chinese the word for alcohol "jiu" is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages, from 'pijiu' (beer) to liquors (just called 'jiu') to grape wine ('putao jiu'). The same character is used in Japanese and Korean, for that matter. This lumping together of all intoxicating beverages gives us great insight into the traditional use for alcohol, intoxication. Even in modern China alcoholic beverages are generally classed by the general population by how much intoxication it delivers for the money. From this point of view table wine is at the bottom rung of the consumer preference list, with brandy being much higher.

Chinese Tea

An Introduction to Chinese Tea

China is the homeland of tea. Different types of tea such as Wulong (Wu-long or Oolong), green te and black tea are consumed by it's population on daily basis. It is believed that China has tea-shrubs as early as five to six thousand years ago, and human cultivation of tea plants dates back two thousand years. Tea from China, along with her silk and porcelain, began to be known the world over more than a thousand years ago and has since always been an important Chinese export. At present more than forty countries in the world grow tea with Asian countries producing 90% of the world's total output. All tea trees in other countries have their origin directly or indirectly in China. The words for tealeaves or tea as a drink in many countries are derivatives from the Chinese character "cha." The Russians call it "cha'i", which sounds like "chaye" (tea leaves) as it is pronounced in northern China, and the English word "tea" sounds similar to the pronunciation of its counterpart in Xiamen (Amoy). The Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as it is in Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference. The habit of tea drinking spread to Japan in the 6th century, but it was not introduced to Europe and America till the 17th and 18th centuries. Now the number of tea drinkers in the world is legion and is still on the increase.

People throughout China drink tea daily. Because of the geographic location and climate, different places grow various kinds of tea. The most conspicuous content in China's tea culture is the popular phrase "Ke Lai jin Cha" which means when a guest arrives, a cup of tea will be brewed for him. In the past dynasties, people not only formed a special way of tea-drinking, but also developed an art form called tea-drinking. This art form comprises of many aspects. The most noticeable ones are the making of tea, the way of brewing, the drinking utensils such as tea pot. Tea drinking is so popular in every part of the country that there is a museum specially dedicated to the tea culture in China. It is located in Hangzhou, the hometown of Longjin Tea (dragon well tea). In Hangzhou, there is a tea museum, the only national museum of its kind. In it, there are detailed description of the historic development of tea, making and brewing methods and the like.

Chinese Tea Classifications

Although there are hundreds of varieties of Chinese tea, they can mainly be classified into five categories. The classifications are determined by the method of processing the tea. The five types are green tea, black tea, brick tea, scented tea, and Wulong / Wu-long (Oolong) tea.

Green Tea:

Green Tea is the most natural of all Chinese tea classes. It's picked, natural dried, and then fried briefly (a process called "killing the green") to get rid of it's grassy smell. Fermentation process is skipped. Green Tea has the most medical value and the least caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes. Aroma is medium to high, flavor is light to medium. About 50% of China's teas is Green tea.

Black Tea:

Chinese Black tea produces a full-bodies amber when brewed. Black tea undergoes withering (drying), left to ferment for a long while, and then roasted. Black tea leaves become completely oxidized after processing. Black tea has a robust taste with a mild aroma. It contains the highest amount of caffeine in Chinese tea classes.

Brick Tea (Compressed Tea)

Most Chinese Compressed Tea uses Black Tea as base tea. It's steamed and compressed into bricks, cakes, columns and other shapes. Compressed Tea has all the characteristics of Black Tea. It can be stored for years and decades. Aged Compressed Tea has a tamed flavor that Compressed Tea fans would pay huge price for.

Scented/Flower Tea

Chinese Flower Tea is an unique class of Chinese tea. It subdivides into Flower Tea and Scented Tea. Flower Tea is a simple concept that dried flowers are used, without much processing, to make tea. Scented Tea uses green tea, red tea as base and mix with scent of flowers. Chinese Flower Tea has light to medium flavor and medium to strong aroma.

Wulong Tea / Wu-long (Oolong Tea)

Wulong / Wu-long tea, which combines the freshness of green tea and the fragrance of black tea, is becoming popular with more and more people. A good Wulong is both refreshing and delicious; the Wulongspectrum has a range of aromas and tastes quite distinct from anything you get with green or black tea. It is also popular for its medical benefits, including assisting the body building process and in dieting. Like other tea,Wulong is rich in antioxidants called polyphenols. These help prevent cancer, keep the heart healthy and aid general well-being. Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan are the major producers of this kind of tea.Wulong tea grows on cliffs. Harvesting this type of tea is very difficult, which makes it the most precious. Wulong tea is gaining popularity in China, and Wulong tea in soft bottle packaging can be easily purchased.

Tea Production 

A new tea-plant must grow for five years before its leaves can be picked and, at 30 years of age, it will be too old to be productive. The trunk of the old plant must then be cut off to force new stems to grow out of the roots in the coming year. By repeated rehabilitation in this way, a plant may serve for about l00 years.

For the fertilization of tea gardens, soya-bean cakes or other varieties of organic manure are generally used, and seldom chemical fertilizers. When pests are discovered, the affected plants will be removed to prevent their spread, and also to avoid the use of pesticides. 

The season of tea-picking depends on local climate and varies from area to area. On the shores of West Lake in Hangzhou, where the famous green tea Longjing (Dragon Well) comes from, picking starts from the end of March and lasts through October, altogether 20-30 times from the same plants at intervals of seven to ten days. With a longer interval, the quality of the tea will deteriorate. 

A skilled woman picker can only gather 600 grams (a little over a pound) of green tea leaves in a day. 

The new leaves must be parched in tea cauldrons. This work , which used to be done manually, has been largely mechanized. Top-grade Dragon Well tea, however, still has to be stir-parched by hand, doing only 250 grams every half hour. The tea-cauldrons are heated electrically to a temperature of about 25oC or 74oF. It takes four pounds of fresh leaves to produce one pound of parched tea. 

The best Dragon Well tea is gathered several days before Qingming (Pure Brightness, 5th solar term) when new twigs have just begun to grow and carry "one leaf and a bud." To make one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of finished tea, 60, 000 tender leaves have to be plucked. In the old days Dragon Well tea of this grade was meant solely for the imperial household; it was, therefore, known as "tribute tea". 

For the processes of grinding, parching, rolling, shaping and drying other grades of tea various machines have been developed and built, turning out about 100 kilograms of finished tea an hour and relieving the workers from much of their drudgery.

Japanese Culture - Food & Drink - The Basics

The typical Japanese meal consists of a bowl of rice (gohan), a bowl of miso soup (miso shiru), pickled vegetables (tsukemono) and fish or meat. While rice is the staple food, several kinds of noodles (udon, soba and ramen) are cheap and very popular for light meals. As an island nation, the Japanese take great pride in their seafood. A wide variety of fish, squid, octopus, eel, and shellfish appear in all kinds of dishes from sushi to tempura. A decorative sushi selection Rice Sticky, short-grained rice is the staple food in Japan. Uncooked rice is called kome. The cultivation of rice in paddy fields traditionally required great cooperation between villagers and this is said to have been central to the evolution of Japanese culture. Their are several thousand varieties grown in Japan, with Koshihikari and Akita Komachi being among the most popular. Rice is also used to make mochi (rice cakes), senbei (rice crackers) and sake (rice wine). Rice can also be cooked with red beans (sekihan), seafood and vegetables (Takikomi gohan) or as a kind of watery porridge seasoned with salt (kayu) which is very popular as a cold remedy.Onigiri are rice balls with seafood or vegetables in the middle, usually wrapped in a piece of dried seaweed (nori). They are traditionally part of a packed lunch or picnic. Individually wrapped onigiri, usually a trianular shape, make a good snack and are available at convenience stores. Noodles - Udon and soba Udon noodles are made from wheat flour. They are boiled and served in a broth, usually hot but occasionally cold in summer, and topped with ingredients such as a raw egg to make tsukimi udon, and deep-fried tofu aburaage to make kitsune udon. Soba is buckwheat noodles, which are thinner and a darker color than udon. Soba is usually served cold (zaru soba) with a dipping sauce, sliced green onions and wasabi. When served in a hot broth, it is known as kake soba. Served with the same toppings as udon, you get tsukimi soba, kitsune soba and tempura soba. Noodles - Ramen While udon and soba are also believed to have come from China, only ramen retains its image as Chinese food. Ramen is thin egg noodles which are almost always served in a hot broth flavored with shoyu or miso. This is topped with a variety of ingredients such as slices of roast pork (chashu), bean sprouts (moyashi), sweetcorn and butter. Ramen is popular throughout Japan and different regions are known for their variations on the theme. Examples are Corn-butter Ramen in Sapporo and Tonkotsu Ramen in Kyushu. Instant ramen (the most famous brand is Pot Noodles), to which you just add hot water, has become very popular in recent years Seafood & Meat Japanese people consume a lot more fish than is typical in western countries and this is said to be a major factor in the country's relatively low rate of heart disease. Seafood is eaten in just about any form you can imagine, from raw sushi and sashimi to grilled sweetfish and clams. The spread of ¥100 kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurants has made sushi into a homegrown fast-food that offsets some of the influence of imports like McDonalds.Many people are surprised to learn that meat consumption was illegal in Japan until the ban was lifted during the Meiji Restoration in the 1870s. As the country opened up to western culture, eating habits also began to change. Now meat is increasingly part of the everyday Japanese diet, with yakitori (grilled chicken), yakiniku (Korean barbeque), gyudon (beef bowl) and of course the standard fare of foreign and local hamburger chain restaurants ubiquitous across the country. This has led to an increase in related health problems, though the Japanese still maintain their position as the world's longest-living people. Japan's consumption of fish has its controversial side as well. The country buys up about three quarters of the global catch of tuna, for example, which has driven the bluefin tuna close to extinction. As sushi was traditionally an expensive food eaten mainly on special occasions, some blame the cheap and ready availability provided by kaitenzushi for this situation. The consumption of whale meat was relatively minor and restricted to small coastal communities until the end of WWII, when the U.S. occupation forces pushed whale as a viable source of much-needed protein. As a result a whole generation of Japanese grew up eating whale meat in their school lunches, a practice that continued even despite international shift toward conserving whales threatened with extinction. But in the 21st century, the consumption of whale and dolphin meat seems to be dying out, regardless of right-wing pressures to maintain this "pillar of Japanese food culture.". This video is a light-hearted look at the traditions of eating at a sushi restaurant (not to be taken too seriously!) Soy products The humble soybean (daizu) is used to make a wide variety of foods and flavourings. Soybeans and rice are used to make miso, a paste used for flavouring soup and marinating fish. Together with soy sauce (shoyu), miso is a foundation of Japanese cuisine. Tofu is soybean curd and a popular source of protein, especially for vegetarians. These days, even tofu donuts and tofu icecream are available. Natto, fermented soybeans, is one of the healthiest but also the most notorious item on the menu. With a pungent smell and sticky, stringy texture, natto is easy to hate straight away. Japanese people themselves tend to either love it or hate it. It is usually served with chopped onions and a raw egg and mixed into a bowl of rice.

Lamb in Cabbage: The National Dish of Norway

Fårikål is Norway’s national dish. A casserole of seasonal lamb and cabbage makes this simple dish a favourite autumn treat. It is traditionally served with new potatoes, cowberry sauce and crispy flat bread with a cold local beer on the side (but ice water allows the flavour to be savoured).

Norwegians expect this dish to get ugly – in fact, if it looks too pretty you probably haven’t done it right. (Ours must have been cooked to perfection as it took a couple of hundred shots to get some ‘pretty’ photos.) The trick to this meal is to use real mutton. Not lamb but sheep. Because mutton has lived longer it has had more chance to get cuddly. If the meat is too lean you don’t get the true Fårikål taste as the fat is supposed to soak into the cabbage.

Leftovers are a must. Like any great casserole, Fårikål will mature with age and by the fourth day, after the meat and cabbage has been eaten, the leftovers makes a great soup stock.

The third major ingredient in this dish is peppercorns and the Norwegian Fårikål Society says you don’t have to eat them if you are a ‘pyse’, which roughly translates to ‘sissy’. (Firstly, I think it is funny that a whole Society has been organised just to promote one dish, and secondly, their website is all Fårikål – you can even play a ’round-em-up’ game to see how many sheep you can get into your cooking pot!) But if you ever want to learn about real traditional fårikål, the Norwegian Fårikål Society is the place go.

Even though fårikål is traditionally made (and eaten) in Autumn there have been other versions that have obtained ‘seasonal’ status. The ‘hunting season’ dish includes juniper berries in the stock. The ‘winter season’ dish also uses juniper berries but with a dash of cumin spice for that extra warmth. For the ‘summer season’ dish, smoked lamb is used to create a deep flavour and the cabbage is steamed to retain a little crunch.

Whatever the season, when you eat fårikål it feels just like a warm hug from the inside. But there is no need for you to wait to get to Norway before trying some – why not celebrate National Fårikål day with us. On the last Thursday of September every year Norway celebrates their national dish with, of course, all you can eat fårikål! What better way to experience Norway than eating like a Norwegian? Below is the traditional recipe – it’s quick and easy as the dish cooks itself:

Fårikål Recipe

What you will need:

serves two people (double it for four):

500g of mutton bits – on the bone (fat is good!)

1/2 small cabbage choped into 1/8

Teaspoon of peppercorns

Pinch of salt

(Boiled new potatoes for the side and a dollop cowberry/cranberry sauce)

Chuck everything into a casserole pot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover 2/3 of the ingredients. Put on the lid and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for two hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Serve in a pasta bowl – meat, cabbage, stock, peppercorns, potatoes and a dollop of cowberry sauce (cranberry would do just fine). If the dish looks ugly then it’s perfect!

Muskox in the City

If you happen to find yourself in the Dovre mountains in the south of Norway, you may come across a flock of large, mean looking sheep-like animals. If you do, congratulations – you have just met one of the latest additions to the Norwegian wildlife: The muskox.

Muskoxen are a species native to Arctic Canada, Alaska and Greenland, but in 1932 a few of them were introduced to the Dovre mountain range as part of a scientific experiment on adaptation. The animals took well to their new home and today they count roughly 200 individuals.

Even though the males are called bulls and the females cows, the muskoxen are more closely related to sheep than cattle. Make no mistake, though – this is not your average cuddly ba-ba-blacksheep! A grown animal can be 2,5 m long and weigh up to 400 kgs, and their long curved horns mean business. Muskoxen are flock animals and very protective of their young, and if they feel threatened the adults will form a tight ring around their calves with their horns facing the danger. They can run as fast as 60 km/h, so it is best to observe them from a safe distance. Bulls are very aggressive and will charge anything that gets too close.

Fortunately, I know some people who can get me close enough to shoot some pictures of muskox. Tromsø University keeps around 20 muskoxen for research, most of these are safely tucked away on a small island a few miles southwest of Tromsø. The island is clearly signposted with “LAND AT YOUR OWN RISK”, and you’ll really risk your life if you take a coffee break there during mating season.

A couple of calves, however, are kept in a pen right outside the main campus in Tromsø. The researchers feel safe keeping them there, as one of my lecturers told me, “simply because they don’t know their own strength”. If motivated, the “little” fellas could easily head-butt their way through the fence and run for freedom. So the Uni staff makes sure to keep them fed and happy. And this one didn’t seem to mind being photographed either… He looks a bit unkept in the picture below, but that’s just because he is shedding his winter coat.

If you want to observe muskox and other Arctic animals up close, pay a visit toPolar Zoo in Bardu – a three hour drive south of Tromsø. The zoo also has deer, wolverines, moose, bears, lynx and wolves.