Sauces and condiments
In Cantonese cuisine, a number of ingredients such as spring onion, sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, cornstarch, vinegar, scallion oil, and sesame oil, suffice to enhance flavour, although garlic is heavily used in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odours. Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder, powdered black pepper, star anise and a few other spices are also used, but often sparingly.
Dried and preserved ingredients
Although Cantonese cooks pay much attention to the freshness of their primary ingredients, Cantonese cuisine also uses a long list of preserved food items to add flavour to a dish. This may be influenced by Hakka cuisine, since the Hakkas were once a dominant group occupying imperial Hong Kong and other southern territories.[5]
Some items gain very intense flavours during the drying / preservation / oxidation process and some foods are preserved to increase their shelf life. Some chefs combine both dried and fresh varieties of the same items in a dish. Dried items are usually soaked in water to rehydrate before cooking. These ingredients are generally not served per se and go with vegetables or other Cantonese dishes.
Traditional dishes
A number of dishes have been part of Cantonese cuisine since the earliest territorial establishments of Guangdong. While many of these are on the menus of typical Cantonese restaurants, some simpler ones are more commonly found in Chinese homes. Home-made Cantonese dishes are usually served with plain white rice.
Deep fried dishes
There are a small number of deep-fried dishes in Cantonese cuisine, which can often be found as street food. They have been extensively documented in colonial Hong Kong records of the 19th and 20th centuries. A few are synonymous with Cantonese breakfast and lunch,[6] even though these are also part of other cuisines.
Slow-cooked soup
Slow-cooked soup, or lou fo tong in the Cantonese dialect (literally meaning old fire-cooked soup) is usually a clear broth prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients over a low heat for several hours. Chinese herbs are often used as ingredients.
Soup chain stores or delivery outlets in Cantonese-dominated cities such as Hong Kong serve this dish due to the long preparation time of slow-cooked soup.
Seafood
Due to Guangdong's location on the southern coast of China, fresh seafood is prominent in Cantonese cuisine. Many authentic restaurants maintain aquariums (seafood tanks). According to Cantonese cuisine, seafood has a repugnant odour so strong spices are added; the freshest seafood is odourless and, in Cantonese culinary arts, is best cooked by steaming. For instance, in some recipes, only a small amount of soy sauce, ginger, and spring onion is added to steamed fish. According to Cantonese cuisine, the light seasoning is used only to bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood. As a rule of thumb in Cantonese dining, the spiciness of a dish is usually inversely proportionate to the freshness of the ingredients.
Noodle dishes
Noodles are served either in soup broth or fried. These are available as home-cooked meals, on dim sum side menus, or as street food at dai pai dongs, where they can be served with a variety of toppings such as fish balls, beef balls, or fish slices.
Siu mei
Siu mei is essentially the Chinese rotisserie style of cooking. Unlike most other Cantonese dishes, siu mei consists of meat only, with no vegetables.
Lou mei
Lou mei is the name given to dishes made from internal organs, entrails and other left-over parts of animals. It is widely available in southern Chinese regions.
Siu laap
All Cantonese-style cooked meats, including siu mei, lou mei and preserved meat can be classified as siu laap.
Little pan rice
Little pan rice are dishes cooked and served in a flat-bottomed pan (as opposed to a round-bottomed wok). Usually this is a saucepan or braising pan (see clay pot cooking). Such dishes are cooked by covering and steaming, making the rice and ingredients very hot and soft. Usually the ingredients are layered on top of the rice with little or no mixing in between. Many standard combinations exist.
Banquet / dinner dishes
A number of dishes are traditionally served in Cantonese restaurants only at dinner times. Dim sum restaurants stopped serving bamboo-basket dishes after the yum cha period (equivalent to afternoon tea) and began offering an entirely different menu in the evening. Some dishes are standard while others are regional. Some are customised for special purposes such as Chinese marriages or banquets. Salt and pepper dishes are one of the few spicy dishes.
Dessert
After the evening meal, most Cantonese restaurants offer tong sui, a sweet soup. Many varieties of tong sui are also found in other Chinese cuisines. Some desserts are traditional, while others are recent innovations. The more expensive restaurants usually offer their specialty desserts.
Delicacies
Many Cantonese delicacies consist of parts taken from rare or endangered animals, which raises serious controversy over animal rights and environmental issues. This is often due to the supposed health benefits of certain animal products, for example shark cartilage, which is widely believed to prevent cancer, although scientific research has found no evidence to support these claims.
