Guangdong 粤菜/Dim Sum 点心 Print E-mail

Xia jiao (ha gao), shao rouGuangdong’s geographic location and weather provides plentiful fresh fruit, produce and live seafood from the coast.  And while the Cantonese are known for eating just about everything that moves from dogs to rats to snakes and insects, in Beijing, Guangdong cuisine, like Shanghai cuisine, occupies an interesting category of what can best be called “overvalued” cuisines—with few exceptions, Guangdong cuisine means upscale refined dining using expensive ingredients like abalone, sea cucumber and shark fin. 

The mark of high quality food is light seasoning where the natural flavor of the star ingredient can shine forth.  The freshest fish is steamed simply with ginger and scallions (清蒸鱼 qing zheng yu); and soups are slow cooked for hours until the main ingredient has infused the broth and the solids are discarded. 

Guangdong or Cantonese food is the most familiar type of Chinese cooking experienced overseas, simply because Guangzhou has historically been the greatest source of migration out of China.  Sadly, instead of the fresh and light preparations typical of Guangdong food, much of Chinese food overseas (at least Americanized Chinese food) is fried and greasy, with sauces thickened with heavy doses of corn starch.  In addition to the milder and sweeter flavors of Cantonese food, the transplants from the south also brought dim sum with them. 

Dim sum (点心 dian xin) grew from the Cantonese adding small snacks to their habit of enjoying afternoon tea.  Seen as more of a weekend brunch experience overseas, in Guangdong and Hong Kong, restaurants will start serving dim sum early in the morning until late in the afternoon.  Even in Beijing, you can have dim sum daily at Guangdong restaurants (and in some, 24 hours). Dim sum dishes are mostly steamed, pan fried or deep fried and include all kinds of buns, dumplings, noodles, cakes and other savory and meaty delights.  Many types of dim sum are first dipped in a combination of soy, vinegar and/or chili sauce before eating.
 
 
Dim Sum Highlights (Cantonese pronunciation in parens):
shao rou - crispy roast pork
 
烧肉/烤乳猪 - shao rou/kao ru zhu:  crispy skinned roasted pork;  shao rou is the generic name for this type of roasted meat, which is usually from a suckling pig, or 乳猪
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
cha shao bao - BBQ pork buns

 

叉烧包 - cha shao bao (char siu bao): classic BBQ pork buns (Lei Garden even lets you order just the filling-- 叉烧肉 cha shao rou)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Deluxe.cha shao su
 
 
叉烧酥 - cha shao su: same filling as the BBQ pork buns, but baked in a flaky pastry
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
changfen - shrimp rice noodle rolls
 
肠粉 - chang fen (cheung fan): light steamed rice noodle sheets rolled with shrimp or meat(xia, rou), served with a light soy based sauce.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
luo buo gao - fried turnip cakes
 
萝卜糕 - luo bo gao (law bak go): a thick slice of crispy fried cake made from shredded daikon/white radish  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
xia jiao - steamed shrimp dumplings
 
虾饺 - xia jiao (har gao):  steamed shrimp dumpling (often with bits of crunchy bamboo) wrapped in rice flour wrapper
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
xian shui jiao - fried glutinous rice flour dumplings
 
咸水饺 - xian shui jiao (ham sui gao):  deep fried glutinous rice flour dumpling stuffed with savory filling of meat and mushrooms
 
 
 
 
 
 
da ta - egg custard tart
 
 
蛋挞 - dan ta :  classic rich Chinese egg custard in a flaky pastry shell 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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