Chinese food culture is one of the most distinctive Chinese cultural categories, but also a long time in the world's leading position in a culture. Chinese people pay attention to "color and taste" in the diet, "color" is to look good, "fragrance and taste" is to emphasize the good smell and taste, together is to look good and taste good, eye and mouth happiness All to be enjoyed.
Chinese cuisine, "color", refers to the creation of the shape of the dishes and color with the Chinese cuisine is to use the natural color of food coloring, that is, the use of vegetables, meat, aquatic products and other food itself has the natural color of coloring. There are many colors of vegetables, such as red tomatoes, carrots, red peppers; yellow asparagus, yellow cauliflower, ginger; green spinach, leeks, garlic shoots; green onions, green peppers, green bamboo shoots (i.e., kudzu bamboo shoots); white cabbages, white carrots; black black sesame seeds, black fungus and so on.
The color of the dish is very important, the color scheme will not directly affect the taste and aroma of the dish, but it will affect people's appetite. A dish, there should be a main color and secondary color. General side material color only play a role in embellishing the backdrop to highlight the main material, such as "Hibiscus chicken slices" is a white chicken slices as the main material, ingredients with green cabbage, red ham and so on to embellish the backdrop, it seems bright and harmonious.
The color of the dishes, there are warm and cold colors. Red and yellow known as warm colors, blue and green known as cold colors, green and purple, known as neutral colors. In cooking can increase the color of the dishes through the role of seasoning. Such as golden yellow and red dishes, more soy sauce, noodle sauce, bean paste and other sauces color condiments, in the cooking more baked, burned, fried method, this is because the warm color can make people excited, stimulate the appetite, but also to increase the warm atmosphere of the feast.
Vegetables to lime green for more, this cold-colored dishes as long as the dotted other colors, it still looks good. Especially in the banquet on the side dishes, must be red, yellow, green, white dishes are available, in order to show colorful. A dish if the color is single, it seems monotonous, boring, if it is "a little red in the green bushes" that is interesting. For example, the Miao people in Guizhou in the "eat sister rice" festival, the staple food is dyed colorful rice, rice and festive mood as warm and festive.
Speaking of the "color" of Chinese food, let's talk about the "fragrance" of Chinese food. In China, even the ordinary people know that we should pay attention to the color, aroma and taste are all beautiful. Before eating food in the mouth, the general habit is always the first color, and then smell, and then taste the name, eyes, nose, mouth have been the enjoyment of the beauty of the psychological and spiritual but also appreciate the name of the dish. Ears can not be idle, but also have to listen to the sound of the dish, and sometimes listen to the sound of silk and bamboo pipes and strings. The five senses have been enjoyed, there is the beauty of pleasure and comfort, that is called ten perfect.
Don't think that Chinese gourmets only rely on their tongues to appreciate food. Chinese gourmets are concerned about the comprehensive analysis of all aspects, the Chinese people also enjoy the food as a realm of pursuit. Smell the fragrance. The "fragrance" here is the smell, which refers to the odor emitted by the dish to stimulate the appetite. The so-called not see its shape, the first smell of its fragrance, "smell its odor (incense), ten paces away, no not Yi Yuyiyi Ran".
Since a long time ago, "smell" has become an important criterion in ancient Chinese cuisine. Smell at the same time is also an important part of the ancient aesthetic to identify the quality of beauty, predicting the delicious and judging the cooking skills of the sensory detection means. One of Yuan Mei's poems "Taste" is a good example of this: "Taste in life is like evaluating a poem, and the world doesn't know what it's like to be sour and salty. The first thing to look at the aroma and color is good, when the pearl fairy dew on the plate."
Chinese food is concerned about the "flavor", but it has a long history. The Chinese people have long been on the dishes written by the flavor of the United States has a high degree of scrutiny and unique understanding. 2000 years ago, the famous statesman Yan Ying had said: "and such as soup. Water and fire enzyme brewing salt and plum, to cook fish and meat, mourning to pay. Zai Fu and the, Qi with flavor, to help its less than, to drain its excesses. The gentleman eats it to calm his heart." Culinary art is first and foremost an art of taste. Taste is the core of culinary art. Dishes are for human consumption, is through the tongue of the sense of taste and make people get the enjoyment of beauty. Taste is not beautiful, even if the form, color and tone of the beautiful is not considered a delicacy, not a subtle work of art.
Any dish will give a certain taste, that is, its physical and chemical properties to the mouth of the eaters of the sense of touch. From the point of view of dietary aesthetics to recognize this oral sensation of a food taste, called "palatability", referred to as "suitable". Today, we can be subtle and specific distinction between crispy, crunchy, fluffy, hard, soft, tender, tough, rotten, glutinous, soft, slippery, smooth, moist, woolly, sandy, tired, and cold, cool, warm, hot, hot and so on the different tastes.
These different palatability, give a person a different sense of beauty, and thus there is a "delicious" said that the production of delicious, depending on the innate quality of raw materials and cooking, adjusting the treatment of the two factors, from the point of view of cooking, that is, depending on the "fire" to use and mastery.