I took a cooking class during my brief stop in Beijing last week, about which more will come. But first, a brief story to illustrate the difference between Chinese food in China and American “Chinese food”:
After the first part of the lesson, we were all about to dig into our gongbao jiding (better known to foreigners as kung pao chicken). Before taking a bite, one of my fellow classmates asked innocently, “Is there soy sauce for the rice?”
“What?!” our teacher sputtered in confusion.
Now, this request seemed normal to all the foreigners (Swedish, American, British) in the class. In most Western Chinese restaurants, soy sauce sits on the table in place of salt and pepper. But it shocked the teacher. In China, soy sauce is a flavoring to be administered by the chef, not a condiment. It’s not the diner’s job to flavor the food for herself. With one exception, I’ve never even seen soy sauce on a table in a restaurant in China.
What’s more, pouring soy sauce on plain rice is unheard of. Instead, rice is mixed with the sauce from the dish (or dishes), so that it picks up the balanced flavors of the food.
The exception to the no-condiment rule is dumpling restaurants. Whether you are eating jiaozi or baozi, you will be supplied with the ingredients to make your own personal dipping sauce: vinegar, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce. The general rule is: mostly vinegar, with a dash of soy sauce and hot pepper if you like your dumplings spicy.
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And of course hot pot!