Chu Dandan

＂In China, every table with dishes has a meaning: for sunrise and sunset, for festivals, for memorial days, for reunion and departure, for business, for peace... The Chinese people, especially the literati from ancient times to the present, always mention all kinds of delicious food made of fish and meat in their poems, such as Su Dongpo and Du Fu even if when describing the delicious food they were on the road of exile.

On the earth, since the birth of mankind, carnivores have been the majority. Scientists have shown that eating meat will help produce happy moods because the texture of meat will stimulate a zone in the brain called ＂cingulate cortex,＂ which will respond to pleasant experiences such as smelling perfume or winning the lottery. The Chinese people, especially the literati from ancient times to the present, always mention all kinds of delicious food made of fish and meat in their poems, such as Su Dongpo and Du Fu, even if when describing the delicious food they were on the road of exile. In many Chinese novels you can find faithful record of dishes on banquet. A Dream of Red Mansions can be seen as a grand review of food.

The Chinese have always had a broad view of food. In their eyes, everything beneficial to human body is medicine, and is food, too. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Sun Simiao, a pharmacist, proposed the idea that the cause of disease should be identified first, and ＂food therapy should be used, and if of no use, then we come to medication.＂ Even today, in Guangzhou, you will find that many food stores and Chinese herbal medicine stores seem to accompany each other. Flatbread in mutton soup was a delicious food for soldiers in Tang Dynasty to keep energy for fighting in cold winter. Tibetan fried mutton has the same function. Red-braised pigs’ feet are the most well-known in the widely acclaimed ＂braising family,＂ and a good dish for beauty and skin.

Starting from the most popular and well-known ＂stewed pork in soy sauce＂, this book will introduce to you 24 classic Chinese dishes cooked with meat or fish as the main ingredients. Each dish has a long history or interesting story, and some of them are also introduced with a simple and easy-to-follow recipe.

The name of the most famous Chinese appetizer sliced beef and ox tongue in chilli sauce is related to the story of a couple working together to live a happy life. Fried salty flounder and lychee pork express the reverie of the ancient Chinese about love and romance. Chinese people love nature and have enough patience to keep their bacon in winter waiting for shoots of spring, just to taste the dish of ＂bamboo shoots fried with bacon＂. There is an old Chinese saying that ＂each place has its own way of supporting its own inhabitants＂, which reflects the attitude of Chinese people to live in harmony with nature, and Wenchang in Hainan Province, hometown of many talented Chinese, is also the birthplace of Wenchang Chicken. In the vast Gobi desert in Xinjiang and among the white mountains and black soils in Northeast China, the beauty of raw energy is proved by the ＂big-plate chicken＂ and ＂chicken and hazel mushrooms＂.