Cleansing Soups & Fiery Bites

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Published 2020

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Soups in western China tend to be mild, giving a refreshing and cleansing break from the spicy flavours of Sichuan cuisine. One exception to this rule is the iconic Hot-and-Sour Soup, which is thick, intensely flavoured, and full of chicken and tofu chunks. Others are milder, such as Corn Soup, or they are delicately flavoured with pickled and salted vegetables. In Guizhou, cooks are adept at using fish to enhance their soups.

Dim sum, which translates as ‘food to touch the heart’, comprises a wide range of dumplings wrapped in a variety of different types of pastry. As the chief characteristics of this regional school of cooking lie in the frequent and lavish use of various soy bean pastes, these are invariably used in the seasonings for dim sum, making them richer than those of other regions. Soy sauces, sesame oil, peppercorns and oyster sauce are touched with wine and other alcoholic beverages for heady measure.