The structure of Chinese banquet food is said to be "dragon head, elephant belly, phoenix tail". It is not only like the vanguard, middle army and defender in ancient army, but also like the overture, climax and ending in modern symphony. Cold dishes usually start with beautiful shape and exquisiteness, which plays a leading role. Hot dishes show the most wonderful part of the banquet with colorful dishes; A la carte is the icing on the cake, gorgeous and colorful.
The structure of Chinese banquet dishes must grasp three prominent principles and matching requirements: highlight hot dishes in the banquet, highlight big dishes in the hot dishes, and highlight the first dishes in the big dishes.
Single plate: generally, 5~7 inch plates are used, each plate contains only one kind of cold dish, and each table of banquets is set with six, eight and ten single plates according to the banquet specifications (singular is used in the northwest). It is the most commonly used form of cold dishes in banquets because of its shape and taste.
Platter: Each platter consisting of two kinds of raw materials is called "double platter"; Made up of three kinds of raw materials, it is called "Sanpin"; It is called "assorted platter" which is made up of ten kinds of raw materials. Banquets held in rural areas are mostly in the form of platter. Nowadays, middle and high-end banquets held in hotels are mainly single dishes.
Main dish and surrounding dish: it is more common in middle and high-grade banquet cold dishes. The main dish mainly adopts the way of "fancy cold spell", and the design of fancy cold spell should be designed according to the intention of hosting a banquet.