NEW YORK–Right in the heart of New York’s bustling commotion in Times Square, the sounds of cars honking and falling rain was accompanied by something else rarely heard on the streets of New York—the rhythm of cleavers chopping away ferociously on the chopping block.
Sandwiched between gargantuan Broadway musical billboards and blinding LED screens, on Friday Oct. 3, NTDTV’s 3rd Annual International Chinese Culinary Competition transformed New York’s most iconic destination into a scene straight from the ancient Tang dynasty capital of Chang’an.
Contestants cooked their dishes in five cooking stations specially designed for the occasion. The stations, complete with classic ceramic roofs and high BTU units to fire up iron woks, was truly an amazing feat of design and engineering. Men and women clad in traditional clothing served the dishes to the panel of judges and the VIP patrons. Finished dishes were carried from the cooking stations to the judges in portable wooden tables used in antiquity for preparing the emperor’s meals when he went hunting.
At the sound of the gong, 35 master chefs from around the globe started work in the final rounds on Friday. Seventeen of them survived the first round of elimination at the preliminaries held on Thursday, while the other 18 passed the preliminaries for the Asia-Pacific region held earlier this year in Taiwan.
NTDTV, an independent Chinese language television network with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture through their Global Competition Series, required its contestants to use traditional Chinese cooking techniques and ingredients to cook dishes from five regional cuisines of China: Szechuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Huaiyang, and Northeastern.
Szechuan cuisine specializes in the spicy, with over 9 different varieties of spiciness in its stock of over 20 basic flavors, the most out of the 5 cuisines, according to the competition’s website. The peppercorn is often used in dishes to leave a sensation of numbing hotness on the eater’s tongue.
Sandwiched between gargantuan Broadway musical billboards and blinding LED screens, on Friday Oct. 3, NTDTV’s 3rd Annual International Chinese Culinary Competition transformed New York’s most iconic destination into a scene straight from the ancient Tang dynasty capital of Chang’an.
Contestants cooked their dishes in five cooking stations specially designed for the occasion. The stations, complete with classic ceramic roofs and high BTU units to fire up iron woks, was truly an amazing feat of design and engineering. Men and women clad in traditional clothing served the dishes to the panel of judges and the VIP patrons. Finished dishes were carried from the cooking stations to the judges in portable wooden tables used in antiquity for preparing the emperor’s meals when he went hunting.
At the sound of the gong, 35 master chefs from around the globe started work in the final rounds on Friday. Seventeen of them survived the first round of elimination at the preliminaries held on Thursday, while the other 18 passed the preliminaries for the Asia-Pacific region held earlier this year in Taiwan.
Five Distinctive Cuisines
NTDTV, an independent Chinese language television network with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture through their Global Competition Series, required its contestants to use traditional Chinese cooking techniques and ingredients to cook dishes from five regional cuisines of China: Szechuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Huaiyang, and Northeastern.
Szechuan cuisine specializes in the spicy, with over 9 different varieties of spiciness in its stock of over 20 basic flavors, the most out of the 5 cuisines, according to the competition’s website. The peppercorn is often used in dishes to leave a sensation of numbing hotness on the eater’s tongue.
Shandong province, which is located on the northeastern Shandong Peninsula, has a more temperate climate. Thus, its cuisine draws its ingredients from the four seasons. Shandong cuisine is known for the “bao” and “ta” cooking techniques, the former a quick stir-fry in high heat and the latter involving the spicing and starching of the ingredients, which are then fried and simmered in a soup or sauce.
Due to its subtropical, humid climate, Cantonese cuisine is light in its flavoring and involves the use of local fresh ingredients, often seafood. Cantonese cuisine is perhaps the most familiar for the West, as many Chinese restaurants serve Cantonese food.
Huaiyang cuisine gets its name from its location in the lower reaches of the Huai and Yangtze River valley. It emphasizes retaining the natural flavors of the ingredients and thus involves a lot of braising, stewing, roasting, and boiling.
Northeastern cuisine is usually cooked in hot pots and casseroles, as the region is exceptionally cold. Many of the dishes’ ingredients are wheat-based, as the climate there is too cold to grow rice. Many of its cooking techniques derive from the imperial court, as the Ming and Qing dynasty court was located at the Forbidden City in Beijing.
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Due to its subtropical, humid climate, Cantonese cuisine is light in its flavoring and involves the use of local fresh ingredients, often seafood. Cantonese cuisine is perhaps the most familiar for the West, as many Chinese restaurants serve Cantonese food.
Huaiyang cuisine gets its name from its location in the lower reaches of the Huai and Yangtze River valley. It emphasizes retaining the natural flavors of the ingredients and thus involves a lot of braising, stewing, roasting, and boiling.
Northeastern cuisine is usually cooked in hot pots and casseroles, as the region is exceptionally cold. Many of the dishes’ ingredients are wheat-based, as the climate there is too cold to grow rice. Many of its cooking techniques derive from the imperial court, as the Ming and Qing dynasty court was located at the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Continued on the next page...
The Final Challenge
Contestants were scored on four basic criteria: color, aroma, taste, and knife technique. In addition, they were observed for their professionalism, as the ancient Chinese believed that all actions are an extension of the self, even in eating. Etiquette in using chopsticks is especially important at the Chinese dining table.
At the finals on Friday, contestants were asked to complete three different dishes within one hour: two required dishes and one self-selected dish. In a total of seven rounds, contestants cooked up mouth-watering dishes like “double-cooked” pork slices (Northeastern), sautéed egg-white with milk (Cantonese), and salted fish with chicken and tofu casserole (Cantonese).
Serena, the niece of a preliminary contestant for the Cantonese cuisine, chef Michael Chou, was also at the premises to sample some of the finalists’ dishes. Though her uncle did not make it to the finals, she was nonetheless impressed at the scale and quality of the competition: “I think it’s [the competition] pretty great because it’s such a rare opportunity to be able to cook Chinese food, do Chinese things at this location, and to promote Chinese [culture] here at Times Square, and not Chinatown or Flushing. I think it’s great.”
Oleg and Nina, a couple from Moscow, Russia, chanced upon news of the competition when they were preparing for things to do during their ten-day vacation in New York. They thoroughly enjoyed the food, relieved that they were finally able to try authentic Chinese food here for the first time. “The food’s great. That’s why we’re here. We love Chinese food, and we want to try different provinces, different regions…You should know what Chinese food is in order to judge what we have in Russia, to compare. If you’ve never tried Chinese food, then [what’s available in] Russia would be good. But if you’ve tried some here or in China, it’d be different,” they said.
The Chinese balanced both nutrition and flavor in their dishes, as different flavors were believed to be beneficial for different parts of the body (bitterness, for instance, is considered good for the heart and small intestine). Different flavors were also believed to be appropriate for different seasons, achieving harmony of heaven and earth (bitterness for the summer; saltiness in the winter).
Chinese culinary culture was deeply rooted in Taoist tradition. The competition website cites Lao Zi, the founder of the Taoist school of thought: “Governing a big country is like cooking a small dish.” Thus, it is believed that “the dietary and culinary principles, once exercised to the optimum, also encompass paramount principles governing heaven and earth,” according to the website.
Serena, the niece of a preliminary contestant for the Cantonese cuisine, chef Michael Chou, was also at the premises to sample some of the finalists’ dishes. Though her uncle did not make it to the finals, she was nonetheless impressed at the scale and quality of the competition: “I think it’s [the competition] pretty great because it’s such a rare opportunity to be able to cook Chinese food, do Chinese things at this location, and to promote Chinese [culture] here at Times Square, and not Chinatown or Flushing. I think it’s great.”
Oleg and Nina, a couple from Moscow, Russia, chanced upon news of the competition when they were preparing for things to do during their ten-day vacation in New York. They thoroughly enjoyed the food, relieved that they were finally able to try authentic Chinese food here for the first time. “The food’s great. That’s why we’re here. We love Chinese food, and we want to try different provinces, different regions…You should know what Chinese food is in order to judge what we have in Russia, to compare. If you’ve never tried Chinese food, then [what’s available in] Russia would be good. But if you’ve tried some here or in China, it’d be different,” they said.
The Tao of Cooking and Eating
The Chinese balanced both nutrition and flavor in their dishes, as different flavors were believed to be beneficial for different parts of the body (bitterness, for instance, is considered good for the heart and small intestine). Different flavors were also believed to be appropriate for different seasons, achieving harmony of heaven and earth (bitterness for the summer; saltiness in the winter).
Chinese culinary culture was deeply rooted in Taoist tradition. The competition website cites Lao Zi, the founder of the Taoist school of thought: “Governing a big country is like cooking a small dish.” Thus, it is believed that “the dietary and culinary principles, once exercised to the optimum, also encompass paramount principles governing heaven and earth,” according to the website.
