Red cooking

Red-cookedpork bellyserved with thickened braising sauce

Red cooking,also called Chinesestewing,red stewing, redbraising,or flavor potting, is a slow braisingChinese cooking techniquethat imparts a reddish-brown coloration to the prepared food. Red cooking is popular throughout most of northern, eastern, and southeastern China.

There are two types of red cooking:

• Hongshao(traditional Chinese:Hồng thiêu;simplified Chinese:Hồng thiêu;pinyin:hóngshāo): can be done in less than 20 minutesand usually does not require much water
• Lu(traditional Chinese:Lỗ;simplified Chinese:Lỗ;pinyin:lǔ): usually requires prolonged cooking of up to several hours and the items must be submerged in the cooking liquid.

Types

Red-cooked ribs

Ham hock

Soy sauce(usually a mix of light anddark soy sauce),fermented bean paste,redfermented tofuorrock sugaris commonly used to both flavor and impart a reddish brown hue to the items being cooked. Food coloring is sometimes added for a more intense red coloration. Bothluandhongshaoare forms ofstewingorbraisingcharacterized by usage of soy sauce, Chineserice wine(Shaoxing wine,huangjiuetc.) and rock sugar. Whole spices (star anise,black cardamom(caoguo),cassiaorfennelseeds) orfive-spice powderare crucial elements in these dishes but are used in moderation so that their flavors do not overwhelm the main ingredients.

Red-cooked stews may be heavy in meat content or contain a variety of meats, vegetables, andhard-boiled eggs.Such dishes may be served hot or cold, and thesauceorstockis often reused asmaster stock.

See also

• Ah-so sauce
• Char siu
• Fujian cuisine
• Hunan cuisine
• Jiangsu cuisine
• Kho (cooking technique)
• List of cooking techniques
• Shanghai cuisine
• Zhejiang cuisine

References

• Charmaine Solomon's Encyclopedia of Asian Food,Charmaine Solomon, 1998, Tuttle,ISBN962-593-417-0
• Chinese Cooking for Dummies,Martin Yan,2000, For Dummies,ISBN0-7645-5247-3
• Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cooking,Martin Yan, 2000, Bay Books,ISBN1-57959-504-9
• Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (Modern Chinese Dictionary),Shang Wu Press, Beijing, 1996,ISBN7-100-01777-7

External links

• Article describing red cooking