Well Fed Network

Posted by Chris Perrin on Paper Palate

Welcome back class!  We are now in our sixth lesson on cooking, straight from The Professional Chef, the textbook of the Culinary Institute of America.  Last time we studied the various cuisines that make up American cuisine.  Today, we’re crossing the ocean to take a look at the culinary masterpiece that is Asia.

Asia is a huge continent with an equally huge culinary history.  China’s culinary traditions are more than two thousand years old and they boast the first cookbook in recorded history.  Curry, one of the staples of Indian cuisine, has been around since before Jesus.  Japanese cuisine is as artful as it is ancient, Korean food is as divided as its country, and the Middle East has food shaped by its religious and economic roles throughout history.

The Professional Chef breaks China into four culinary regions: northern (Beijing/Peking), southern (Cantonese), eastern (Shanghai), and western (Sichuan aka Szchewan).  However, this is a somewhat simplistic view of Chinese food as experts estimate that there may be as many has 80,000 Chinese food dishes.  Obviously, breaking down that level of tradition goes well beyond this chapter, but the book does a good job of giving an overview of major Chinese techniques (such as red stewing) and the equipment one needs to make Chinese food (chopsticks, a wok, and the famous cleaver.)

Next comes Indian food, which is broken up into the Muslim-influenced north and the Hindu-influenced south.  Northern Indian cuisine features heavy spice blends and the infamous garam masala (translated as “hot spice”).  Many northern meals take their roots from Middle Eastern dishes and may feature grilled meats such as goat.  Southern food is based around vegetarian dishes more than meat because of the plentiful supply of delicious vegetables and the fact that Islam did not come as far south.  (At one time most of India was vegetarian.)

Japan’s cuisine is also broken up by geography.  In frigid Hokkaido, there is not much arable land, though seafood is plentiful.  The Professional Chef mentions that the rice produced in this region is primarily used to make sake.  The central islands of Japan are more temperate and more arable while Southern Japan has very pleasant weather year round.  Seafood and rice are staples of the Japanese diet, whose chefs arrange dishes artistically to please the eye and the palate.  And yes, sushi started here.

Korean agriculture varies from north to south.  In the north, the land is not as fit to farm as in the south, though South Korea has largely become industrialized so the farm yields are small.  The signature dish of all Korea is kimchi, which is basically fermented cabbage.  At first this dish started simple, but now it encompasses nearly 200 different varieties.

The Middle East’s cuisine was deeply influenced by the spice trade and features many different meats, poultry, fruits, vegetables and spices.  However, many Middle Eastern countries rely heavily on rice as their main ingredient.  Of all the cuisines in Asia, Middle Eastern cuisine has the most outside influences, due to the size of the Persian empire and the trade routes that passed through it.  Conversely, nearly every cuisine in Asia has somehow been affected by Middle Eastern ingredients and techniques.

This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg.  Reading this one chapter alone took a good deal of time and could be the subject of numerous The Professional Chef volumes.  Still, it’s worth the price of admission by itself.

Next week, we’ll leave Asia for a culinary survey of Europe and its many cultures and food traditions.  Don’t miss out!