Chinese food is a complex and huge system, not only because of the variety of cooking methods that make the food complicated, but also because of the variety of ingredients that provide many choices for cooking.

We can see this from the way foreigners cook and their understanding of ingredients.

In most foreigners' homes, food can only be cooked by grilling, boiling, frying, and deep-frying. In terms of understanding of some ingredients, they either cannot eat them or dare not eat them.

For example, in the early days of hairy crabs in Germany, they used them to make soap.

Take our question today as an example. Foreigners ask: How does chicken become so soft in Chinese cooking?

How do they get chicken to be so soft in most Chinese cooking? This actually has something to do with the cooking method and ingredient selection.

In terms of cooking methods, we not only rely on roasting, boiling, frying, and deep-frying to cook food, but also use other neutral cooking methods.

The "neutral" mentioned here can be taken from the food eaten by some foreigners, which is either not raw (salad) or grilled directly on the fire.

Like the stir-fry used in Chinese food, it is not roasted over a fire, nor is it eaten raw, but it can still cook the food.

Of course, doneness is a relative concept. Foreigners think steak is done when it is a little done, and the same is true for the chicken we are talking about today.

Roasting is too dry a cooking method and the food will naturally dry out under the flames.

Grilling is definitely not a delicious way to eat chicken in Chinese food. We also have other cooking methods to make delicacies, such as braised chicken nuggets, large plate chicken, spicy chicken, potato chicken nuggets and a series of other foods.

Let’s look at this issue from the perspective of food choices.

Why do foreigners like to eat raw vegetables or fruits as side dishes?

It’s because they don’t have too many vegetables, and the vegetables that can be used in vegetable salads are vegetables that are light in taste, full of water or have some sweetness, such as carrots. Sometimes they also choose onions (foreigners think onions have a strong

The aroma can also sterilize) so that foreigners are satisfied, and they will not develop other valuable vegetables when food resources are sufficient.

This leads them to see some new vegetables that they think are unimaginable foods.

For another example, foreigners prefer to eat animals raised by themselves and rarely eat animals in the wild. They think food in the wild is unsafe and unhygienic.

Of course, we attribute some reasons, which may be related to some raw food eating habits.

In terms of eating habits, we prefer to eat soft foods, including chicken.

In fact, soft foods play an important role in many Chinese foods. For example, soft foods account for more than half of our Chinese breakfast.

Unlike the baked goods that foreigners eat, such as toasted bread, fried French fries, donuts, and burgers.

In terms of food cooking inventions and innovations, Chinese food is also unmatched by Western food.

For example, in the same cooking method of deep-frying, foreigners may throw the chicken directly into the oil pan for cooking. However, in Chinese food, this kind of frying is too direct and the chicken will be fried dry or hard.

In order to obtain soft chicken by frying, we may use starch mixed with some seasonings to marinate the chicken. This is like putting a protective coat on the chicken, and the fried chicken will also be tender and juicy.

Now let’s take a look at what foreigners think about the problem that Chinese food will make chicken tender.

The words of a foreigner are very interesting. He thinks this is due to the difference in chicken. He said: "They use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. It is a softer, fatter meat and has a sweeter taste. It does not

It becomes dry due to overcooking, which is why it looks softer and more delicious. "In fact, this may happen if we only eat chicken legs.

Another foreigner said: "Some Chinese chefs use papain, an enzyme found in papaya. It is the main ingredient in "meat tenderizer". Used with care in a short time, it will produce solid protein (not fish,

It is too strong) has a "soft" texture, a mushy texture, and using too much or soaking for too long will produce an unpleasant experience. Some foreigners also said: "Boiled!"

It depends on the dish, many dishes including drunken chicken, Hainanese chicken rice and shredded chicken use boiled chicken.

Honestly I've always wondered why we have more culture but don't boil it.

It makes the chicken very juicy and tender.