Thanks to celebrity chefs and TV shows such as “Iron Chef” and “Rachel Ray,” cooking has long been a draw in television programming. Mixing 5,000 years of Chinese culture with the popularity of contest-format cooking shows comes the first International Chinese Culinary Competition hosted by New York based Television station New Tang Dynasty (NTD).
Part of NTD’s Nine Competitions series to revive the authentic Chinese arts and culture, the culinary competition’s goal is to promote authentic Chinese culinary techniques and methods as well as to continue the exquisite traditional Chinese culinary culture and philosophy.
In the kitchen of the Peking Hunan Park Restaurant near New York’s Grand Central Station, chefs from Asia, Canada, and the U.S. will compete in the five categories of the contest. The events will conclude Wednesday with the presentation of a Gold Award of $10,000, a Silver Award of $3,000, and a Bronze Award of $1,000.
The five main traditional styles of authentic Chinese cuisines include Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Huaiyang, and Northeast. While the names may sound strange to unknowing ears, their essential styles have been developed over the ages in different regions of China. Each cuisine developed into its own school, featuring special preparation methods, signature ingredients, and a unique character of taste.
The preliminaries round began on Monday with Sichuan cuisine. Six chefs were furiously cooking simultaneously. Within a tight time frame of 60 minutes, they had to prepare two meals—one signature dish of the Sichuan style selected by the judges and then a second dish of their choice.
The action was directly broadcast on a screen in the dining room for the live audience, while NTD’s congenial hosts provided background information in Chinese and English on the cooking styles and techniques.
It was interesting that despite each chef being provided the exact same ingredients, each chef turned out a seemingly different dish. Both the cutting techniques, and cooking process were handled differently. Watching the performance of the master chefs is a great opportunity to learn some of their tricks, For example, the proper technique for handling the meat cleaver, the Chinese chefs’ main tool. It’s used to cut meat into delicate layers, easily peel tomatoes or vegetables, and smash cloves of garlic with the broad plane before the actual chopping to bring out the juices and intensify the flavor.
Part of NTD’s Nine Competitions series to revive the authentic Chinese arts and culture, the culinary competition’s goal is to promote authentic Chinese culinary techniques and methods as well as to continue the exquisite traditional Chinese culinary culture and philosophy.
In the kitchen of the Peking Hunan Park Restaurant near New York’s Grand Central Station, chefs from Asia, Canada, and the U.S. will compete in the five categories of the contest. The events will conclude Wednesday with the presentation of a Gold Award of $10,000, a Silver Award of $3,000, and a Bronze Award of $1,000.
The five main traditional styles of authentic Chinese cuisines include Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Huaiyang, and Northeast. While the names may sound strange to unknowing ears, their essential styles have been developed over the ages in different regions of China. Each cuisine developed into its own school, featuring special preparation methods, signature ingredients, and a unique character of taste.
The preliminaries round began on Monday with Sichuan cuisine. Six chefs were furiously cooking simultaneously. Within a tight time frame of 60 minutes, they had to prepare two meals—one signature dish of the Sichuan style selected by the judges and then a second dish of their choice.
The action was directly broadcast on a screen in the dining room for the live audience, while NTD’s congenial hosts provided background information in Chinese and English on the cooking styles and techniques.
It was interesting that despite each chef being provided the exact same ingredients, each chef turned out a seemingly different dish. Both the cutting techniques, and cooking process were handled differently. Watching the performance of the master chefs is a great opportunity to learn some of their tricks, For example, the proper technique for handling the meat cleaver, the Chinese chefs’ main tool. It’s used to cut meat into delicate layers, easily peel tomatoes or vegetables, and smash cloves of garlic with the broad plane before the actual chopping to bring out the juices and intensify the flavor.
After the first round was completed and the judges had a taste of the dishes, the audience had the chance to samples the results. The artfully arranged foods were a pleasure to look at. A dragon carved of vegetables guarding a plate of sweet glazed potatoes was the most eye-catching entry.
Next up after Sichuan was the Cantonese round. Of the 40,000 Chinese restaurants in North America, most closely mirror this style of Chinese cooking. That comes as no surprise, as Cantonese Cuisine was the first Chinese Cuisine westerners were exposed to, because of Canton’s location as a trading port. The most typical dish of the Canton style was “Gulao Rou,” a sweet and sour pork.
Northeast Style includes wild game and mushrooms (because of their mountainous location) and is characterized as economical and served in large portions. Therefore, it’s often seen as a more common variety of Chinese cooking.
The culinary Competition will continue until Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at the Peking Hunan Park Restaurant at 100 Park Avenue near Grand Central Station. It will finish with the Award Ceremony Banquet on Wednesday, November 19.
Next up after Sichuan was the Cantonese round. Of the 40,000 Chinese restaurants in North America, most closely mirror this style of Chinese cooking. That comes as no surprise, as Cantonese Cuisine was the first Chinese Cuisine westerners were exposed to, because of Canton’s location as a trading port. The most typical dish of the Canton style was “Gulao Rou,” a sweet and sour pork.
Northeast Style includes wild game and mushrooms (because of their mountainous location) and is characterized as economical and served in large portions. Therefore, it’s often seen as a more common variety of Chinese cooking.
The culinary Competition will continue until Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at the Peking Hunan Park Restaurant at 100 Park Avenue near Grand Central Station. It will finish with the Award Ceremony Banquet on Wednesday, November 19.
Day passes and tickets for the Award Ceremony Banquets are available at https://ticket.ntdtv.com/culinary/ or by calling 646-736-2988.
