Asian and/or Chinese food.

Next to the French, perhaps even more so when we consider ketchup and chicken, the Chinese have contributed the most to Canadian cuisine.

Most Canadians consume Chinese food of some kind every day and never stop to consider the fact that Kentucky Fried Chicken could, and perhaps-should, be considered a Chinese restaurant.        

Like all other peoples, the Chinese brought with them their food. This has proven very beneficial. Many Canadians can now sit in a restaurant and eat ketchup with their deep fried potatoes, many noodle/pasta dishes, chicken, or even pheasant without ever realizing or even caring that they are-in truth-eating Asian or Chinese food.

The Asian influence on our cuisine is not so greatly recognized in Canada and by most Canadians as that of the French; but then many foods that are of Chinese origin are not recognized as so being by most Canadians.

Most of the recipes I include in this chapter were contributed to me by Vic and Stan Mah, two very dear friends who, besides being the Owners of the Blue Willow Restaurants in Edmonton Alberta, do a great deal of work for the recreation department, and are were very prominent in all Edmonton affairs; the rest were developed during my years cooking in arctic industrial camps where almost every meal, with the exception of breakfast included some kind of Chinese food.

Some Asian Recipes

First Starting With:

Stir-fry Basics

Traditionally thought of as an Oriental cooking technique, stir-frying has been adopted and adapted by Canadian cooks To make sure everything goes smoothly, take a look at the following hints before you begin.

Equipment for Stir-frying-Stir-frying is a quick and easy cooking process that does not require a lot of special equipment. The sloping sides and large surface area of a wok make it easy to lift and turn food to keep it in motion. However, if you don’t have a wok, a large skillet (10 to 12 inches in diameter) will work almost as well. A long-handled spatula or wooden spoon is indispensable. This utensil allows you to lift and turn the food without your hands getting too hot or burned.

Mise-en Place-A term meaning to prepare ahead is just as applicable to Chinese cooking as to the French, and is the feature of the cooking that separates a good cook from a poor cook in any language. Many Canadians fail to notice this obvious feature, when going to a Chinese fast-food outlet, because they become wrapped up in the much more obvious bit of showman ship that the cooks usually put on for their benefit. All cooking shows on T.V. operate on the same principle.

It’s crucially important to have all of the ingredients ready to go before you begin stir-frying. You’ll find that once you start, cooking goes too quickly for you to prepare ingredients between cooking steps.

ü Cut and measure all of the ingredients. Meats and vegetables should be uniformly sliced, diced, cubed, or roll-cut to ensure fast even cooking (remember, it is only the Americans who chop, slash, or “cut out of hand”). If you partially freeze the meat, and use a sharp knife you’ll be able to cut thin, even slices without difficulty.

ü  Marinate, precook, or preseason any ingredients as directed in the recipe

ü Combine all of the ingredients for the sauce.

ü Cook the rice, noodles, or pasta called for in the recipe.

Steps for Stir-frying

v When everything is ready, add the cooking oil to a hot wok or a large skillet Lift, and tilt the wok or skillet to evenly distribute the oil over the bottom. Preheat over high heat.

v To test the hotness of the oil, add a single piece of vegetable to the hot wok. If it sizzles, proceed with cooking the seasonings, vegetables, and meats as directed in the recipe.

v You may need to add additional oil during stir-frying to prevent the food from sticking.

v Seasonings, such as minced garlic and grated fresh ginger, generally are stir-fried first for 15 seconds so the distinctive flavour of the ingredient seasons the oil. Just stir the seasoning into the hot oil, keeping it in constant motion so it does not burn.

v Now, you’re ready to stir-fry the vegetables. Begin by stir-frying the denser vegetables, like carrots, that take the longest to cook, and then follow with the more tender ones that cook more quickly. Use a long-handled spoon to gently lift and turn the pieces of food with a folding motion. This ensures that the food will cook evenly. To prevent scorching, remember to keep the food moving. Remove the vegetables from the wok after stir-frying.

v Next, stir-fry the meat, poultry, fish, or seafood. Since overloading the wok with food will slow cooking, stir-fry no more than 12 0unces of meat at one time. This means that for most recipes, you’ll begin by stir-frying only half of the meat until it is done, and then remove it from the wok. Then, you’ll stir-fry the remaining half of the meat and return all of the cooked meat to the wok.

v To thicken the sauce, push the cooked meat from the centre of the wok. If the sauce ingredients you’ve already mixed together contain corn or other starch, you’; need to re-stir. Then pour the sauce mixture into the centre of the wok and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens and bubbles over the entire surface.

v  The final step of stir-frying is to return all of the stir-fried ingredients to the centre of the wok. Then cook and stir the mixture as directed until heated through. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Sauce Smarts

Through Thick and Thin-like a true friend

Getting a smooth, thick consistency out of a Chinese sauce depends on two stove-top magicians. Slurry is another name for the “white wash”, used in so many North American home kitchens, Slurries are bland solutions of starch normally tapioca, corn-starch, arrowroot, or rice flour, mixed with about twice as much water, broth, or other liquid. Because Chinese sauces are often highly flavoured, slurries work quite well in this type of food.

Thoroughly stir into a heating sauce, and in minutes, the mixture develops a rich velvety texture. So how does a roux or slurry work its magic in the first place?

When you add a starch and-water mixture to a sauce on the stove, the heat helps the starch granules absorb liquid. The more you heat, the more they absorb. The more they absorb, the more they swell. Eventually, the swollen granules burst releasing the starch into the sauce where it does its thickening duty. Granules of different starches burst at specific temperatures, known as the gelatine temperature. But you should start paying attention to a simmering sauce when it hovers near the boiling point--the ballpark temperature at which most starches hit their gelatine temperatures.

As you approach the gelatine temperature, the sauce may seem discouragingly thin. But resist the temptation to heat it violently or stir in more slurry because right when those granules burst, the sauce will thicken. Once it does, too much heat or starch will turn your silky sauce into glue. Just bring the sauce to a gentle boil and exercise patience, or you'll end up with a gloppy mess that’s better suited to hanging wall- paper, or painting out-buildings.

If you are making a sauce ahead of time to store in the refrigerator, leave out the slurry until you begin the actual cooking process. slurry- or whitewash thickened sauces turn into solid, even sliceable, gels as they cool, because the freed starch molecules that give the sauce body when warm collapse back in upon themselves- a process called retogradation- when their motion slows at low temperatures.; (Incidentally, the same process causes bread to stale.) Try reheating that jellied sauce on the stove, and it will "break" into a thin, separated, watery mess.

The other, and in my opinion better, option is to use a roux

Taking a Dip

The distinction between sauces, dips, oils, and dressings isn't always very clear. The recipes that follow all provide you with plenty of pleasing condiments that are great for appetizer-dunking or splashing onto stir-fries and salads. Try them. 

Saucy Sauces and Dips: Variety is the spice of life. The following sauces may be substituted for the sauces given in the recipes.

UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED THE SOY SAUCE IN ALL CHINESE RECIPES IS LIGHT SOY SAUCE.

The Power of WHITE PEPPER in Chinese-Asian Cuisine

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but substituting black pepper for white in a Chinese dish yields very different results. White pepper is more common than black in Chinese dishes, and without it, the cuisine loses some of its distinct character. Although using black pepper in lieu of white won't ruin a recipe, it may rob it of that pungency-transcending, subtle warmth that only white pepper gives Asian foods..

What makes white pepper so different from black? Both do come from the same tropical plant. But instead of being picked green and then sun-dried, as are the berries destined for black peppercorns, those destined for white pepper ripen on the tree until they turn red. Processors then ferment them and wash off their outer layer of skin.

Beware: Some processors make "white pepper" by mechanically removing the dark skins of black peppercorns. Don't get fooled! This isn't the real McCoy, and doesn't have the same delicate fragrance and flavour as genuine white pepper. To tell the difference, look for the term "decorticated" on the label. If you find it, you've found the fake.