In the early 19th century, many of the Chinese who arrived in North America were Cantonese, and most of the restaurants they opened were naturally Cantonese restaurants. Take Canada as an example. Before the 1960s, Chinese restaurants were famous for the so-called "chowder". Since then, many teahouses and restaurants have been opened one after another, and their dishes and dim sum are modeled after Hong Kong standards. In big cities, there are many teahouses and restaurants advertised as "authentic Cantonese cuisine". By the 1990s, Cantonese food was mainly cooked in Toronto's Chinatown.

In the United States, Cantonese restaurants were not only popular with overseas Chinese, but also by Americans, and they quickly became one of the most prosperous businesses in Chinatown. In 1852, the Upper California Journal wrote: "For a time almost all the restaurants in the city were run by the Chinese." In the 1860s and 1870s, two Chinese officials who visited the United States also recorded in their diaries the Cantonese food they tasted in San Francisco: "Eat in Yuanfanglou, delicious from the mountains and sea, cooked like the mainland", "Eight-color refreshments and a plate of fruit." , all of which are widely produced.” An opinion poll in 1960 indicated that Cantonese cuisine was the second largest major cuisine in the United States at that time after Italian cuisine. In 2010, Guangzhou's famous snack fried rice noodles was rated as the champion of the top ten delicacies of the year by the Los Angeles Times website.

 

According to some newspapers, there are nearly 10,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States; 4,000 in the United Kingdom; more than 2,000 in France and the Netherlands; and no less than a few thousand in Japan. Most of the Chinese restaurants in these places are Cantonese-style teahouses and restaurants, and their business is very prosperous. In Sydney, Australia, under the influence of " Chinatown ", drinking tea has become a special term. Anyone who visits Sydney will enjoy the charm of Cantonese tea drinking and dining as soon as they come to "Chinatown". Cantonese cuisine is well-known both at home and abroad for its unique light flavor, leading the way.

Cantonese cuisine has a fine and fine amount of ingredients, many and clever ingredients, beautiful and colorful decoration, and is good at imitating innovation.

 

Cantonese cuisine pays attention to quality and taste, and the taste is relatively light. And it changes with the seasons. Summer and autumn are more light, winter and spring are more intense, and the pursuit of color, fragrance, taste and shape.

Cantonese cuisine uses a wide range of ingredients, not only the main ingredients, but also the ingredients and seasonings are very rich. In order to show the flavor of the main ingredients, Cantonese cuisine is very particular about the selection of ingredients and seasonings. The ingredients are not mixed, and the seasoning is to bring out the original flavor of the main ingredients.

 

Focus on color, aroma, taste, shape, and take the freshness as the main body. Animal dishes: more than 100 kinds of crispy roasted suckling pig , Tai Ye chicken, beef brisket in clear soup, etc. Seafood and fresh river fish have always been the basic raw materials for Cantonese cuisine to survive.

The biggest feature of Cantonese cuisine is the richness of ingredients and the many and clever ingredients. There are all kinds of delicacies from mountains and seas, Chinese and foreign food, and it can be said to be the best in the country. Cantonese cuisine has many optional raw materials, and naturally it is fine. Cantonese cuisine pays attention to the seasonality of raw materials, "not eating from time to time". To eat fish, there are "spring bream, autumn carp, summer three plow (shad) and midwinter perch"; for shrimp, "Qingming shrimp is the most plump"; for vegetables, choose "seasonal vegetables", which refers to vegetables that are in season, such as choy sum For "the sweetest cabbage from the north wind". In addition to selecting the best fat season of raw materials, Cantonese cuisine also pays special attention to selecting the best parts of raw materials.

 

The rich and fine selection of ingredients and the light taste are probably the important reasons for the popularity of Cantonese cuisine. The taste of Cantonese cuisine emphasizes "clear, fresh, tender, smooth, refreshing and fragrant", and pursues the original and fresh taste of raw materials. However, only a small amount of ginger, onion, and garlic are used as "materials", and less spicy condiments such as pepper are used, which will not be too salty and sweet. This kind of pursuit of lightness, freshness and tenderness, and the pursuit of original flavor, not only conforms to the climatic characteristics of Guangdong, but also meets the requirements of modern nutrition. It is a scientific food culture.

 

The white-cut chicken that Cantonese people like to eat, soak the chicken in boiling water to keep the original taste of the chicken, and only add ginger, salt and other ingredients when eating. Qingping Chicken is the best among the white cut chickens and is known as "the first chicken in Guangzhou". It is only soaked in white brine, without any ingredients, but the skin is smooth, the meat is smooth, white and fragrant, and the bones are full of flavor.

 

The real heroes behind such delicious Cantonese cuisine are a large group of master chefs with superb skills. As early as the early 1980s, the famous chef of Beijing Hotel, Kang Hui, was awarded the title of "Culinary Master" by the French Association of Celebrity Chefs, which was the first time in the history of Chinese cooking. Yang Guanyi, a famous Hong Kong chef with ancestral home in Guangdong, is famous all over the world for his superb cooking skills and the reputation of "Ayi Abalone is the best in the world". Guangdong has a strong culinary technology force and many famous teachers and chefs. With their superb cooking skills, they have made Cantonese cuisine shine, and they have also cultivated a large number of cooking descendants.

There are as many as 21 kinds of cooking methods, especially steaming, frying, frying, roasting, stewing, deep-frying, boiling, stewing, buckle, etc., pay attention to the heat, especially " wok gas " and freshly fried and eaten, the dishes made pay attention to Color, aroma, taste, shape. The taste is mainly clear, fresh, tender and refreshing, and it changes with the seasons. Summer and autumn strive to be light, winter and spring are more intense, and there are "five flavors" (fragrant, crisp, crisp, fat, thick), six flavors (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, fresh). The selection of ingredients is rich, the varieties and patterns are various, and the delicacies of mountains and seas, fish, shrimp, and crabs can all be served. Flavor pays attention to quality and taste, and the taste is relatively light.