Teochew Cuisine - Background

Background

Teochew cuisine is particularly well known for its seafood and vegetarian dishes and is commonly regarded as being healthy. Its use of flavouring is much less heavy-handed than most other Chinese cuisines and depends much on the freshness and quality of the ingredients for taste and flavour. As a delicate cuisine, oil is not often used in large quantities and there is a relatively heavy emphasis on poaching, steaming and braising, as well as the common Chinese method of stir-frying. Chaozhou cuisine is also known for serving congee (Chinese: 潮州糜; pinyin: Cháozhōu mí; or mue), in addition to steamed rice or noodles with meals. The Teochew mue is rather different from the Cantonese counterpart, the former being very watery with the rice sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl.

Authentic Teochew restaurants serve very strong oolong tea called Tieguanyin in very tiny cups before and after the meal. Presented as Gongfu cha, the tea has a thickly bittersweet taste, colloquially known as gam gam (Chinese: 甘甘; pinyin: gān gān).

A condiment that is commonly associated with Teochew cuisine is shacha sauce (simplified Chinese: 沙茶酱; traditional Chinese: 沙茶醬; pinyin: shāchá jiàng). This popular paste is also used in Fujian and Taiwanese cuisine. It is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chillies, brill fish, and dried shrimp. The paste has a savoury and slightly spicy taste.

As an ingredient, it has multiple uses:

• as a base for soups
• as a rub for barbecued meats
• as a seasoning for stir fry dishes
• as a component for dipping sauces, for example as used in hot pot meals

In addition to soy sauce (widely used in all Chinese cuisines), Teochew cuisine is one of the few regional Chinese that makes use of fish sauce due to Chaoshan's coastal land. It is used as a flavouring agent in soups rather than as a dipping sauce. As an ingredient, peanuts are a relatively prominent feature in this cuisine; used both in savoury dishes and desserts. They can be boiled, fried, roasted, crushed, grounded or turned into a paste. Peanuts can be used as a garnish or feature in soups, amongst others.

Teochew chefs often use a special stock called superior broth (simplified Chinese: 上汤; traditional Chinese: 上湯; pinyin: shàngtāng). This stock remains on the stove and is continuously replenished. Portrayed in popular media, some Hong Kong chefs allegedly use the same superior broth that is preserved for decades. This stock can as well be seen on Chaozhou TV's cooking programmes.

There is a notable feast in Teochew cuisine / banquet called jiat dot (Chinese: 食桌; pinyin: shízhuō; literally "food table"). A myriad of dishes are often served, which include shark fin soup, bird's nest, lobster, steamed fish and braised goose.

Teochew chefs take pride in their skills of vegetable carving, and carved vegetables are used as garnishes on cold dishes and on the banquet table.

Teochew cuisine is also known for a late night meal known as meh siao (Chinese: 夜宵; pinyin: yèxiāo) or da lang (Chinese: 打冷; pinyin: dǎléng) among the Cantonese. Teochew people enjoy eating out close to midnight in restaurants or at roadside food stalls. Some dai pai dong-like restaurants stay open till dawn.

Unlike the typical menu selections of many other Chinese cuisines, Teochew restaurant menus often have a dessert section.

Many people of Chaoshan origin, also known as Teochiu or Teochew people, have settled in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Thailand; influences they bring can be noted in the cuisine of Singapore and that of other settlements. A large number of Teochew people have also settled in Taiwan, evident in Taiwanese cuisine. Other notable Teochew diaspora communities are in Vietnam and France. There is also a large diaspora of Teochew people (most were from Southeast Asia) in the United States - particularly in the state of California. There is a Teochew Chinese Association in Paris called L'Amicale des Teochews en France.