Ingredients

Each cuisine brings to the kitchen its special and distinctive tastes and seasonings. A typical Chinese cupboard includes bottles of thin and dark soy sauce, Chinese vinegar, Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry), oyster sauce, cans of hoisin sauce, chili sauce, and brown bean sauce. Many dried ingredients, such as dried red chili peppers, five-spice powder, and dried fungi, are also kept on hand. And add some fresh seasonings such as garlic, ginger root, scallion, Chinese parsley (also called coriander or cilantro), and Smith-field ham, a close equivalent of Chinese ham.