China ...in a bowl of soup

China
seasons in soup
Winter

Every Cantonese mother worth her hoisin sauce knows that no meal is complete without soup. Tang, or thin soup, must precede all meals and when melons are available, they are a great choice (or the meal quickly becomes barbarian—western style). Tang as being a tool is eaten because it can cure colds and rebuild an immune system. Mellon soup—is one of those chicken soup products we have here in the US; however, this can stand exclusively on its medicinal purpose rationale.

Research--If you want to know anything about everything, research is the first port of call. I wanted to know about the seasonal soups of China and quickly found a problem; foods are tools to be used in China, not necessarily to be glamorized as we do in the west. However, these are by themselves generalizations, which do not reflect the consumption of soup, per season, as I had envisioned. In my search to write about and recreate the seasonal Chinese soups… that idea became cultural, geographical and lingual. I began looking at China when I married my wife; until then, it was only a far, mysterious place where people swore by their medicines from nature, spices and silks.

America was able to provide a much better example. In the United States we do have seasonal soups: Chowders; Chilies; various appetizers and entré soups from various regions when the products are available for example, potato soups from the potato areas, green vegetable soups from their respective growth places… I wanted to see how people consumed soups per region to give a representation of the country in soups given specific seasons.

Looking at the Chinese as a source of how to use a food, rather than where it is most prevalent in a season I rethought my research. Like their use of food, their languages are no indication of food preferences. A mosaic of dialects and common regional languages make up Chinese. Han (which was the primary language tool in the period of the warring states) has been refined into areas, provincial barriers and simply languages of need. Han has become the greater “Putonghua”---standardized Mandarin (which is found throughout the mainland of China), to “YueYu” (sounding like “Hey, Hughie”) or the costal area of China’s Cantonese; it then followed with the myriad other dialects from Turkey, Vietnam, Arabic derivations, Mongolian as well as Korean additives. Each place has their own preference in foods and how they are consumed or eaten. So, as the language differentiations evolved thus began the regional and local influences upon cuisine and seasonal foods. Again, my primary goal was to see China in a bowl of egg drop soup and this view is as mysterious as the Chinese and the Orient.

I divided the country into North, South., East and West but quickly found distractions from the foods through region, religion, and relevance to the thesis, China in a soup bowl. Wonton and egg drop soups are country wide; their flavors different with regional spices, yet they are the same. Therefore, I began carving a new picture of China accordingly. These soups presented here by no means represent in total the types of soups in China, nor do the reflect the season all that well; however as the languages merged and refined from before the first Empire of the Qin, so have the foods I now offer for information and reproducibility.
Cantonese

Cantonese is not only a language but also a style. It utilizes much in the way of seafood and available, seasonal foods, which may vary from the Mongolian/Korean border areas; from Fangchenggang a border town in the south by Vietnam to Dandong on the Korean border Cantonese is the favored language excluding dialects. As with these dialects, come the various renditions of our thesis. Mussels, shrimp, crawfish, eel, octopus, squid, sea snake and other sea creatures from their watery homes spot the coastal regions of China. The vegetables are also chosen because of the seasonal temperatures achieved either in the north, south or in between. Melon soup [Dong gua (冬瓜)] is a great eating pleasure and has brothers of variation found in gourds and dried squash plants. This popular soup, featuring the mild sweet taste of winter melon, is often served at Chinese banquets. If winter melon is unavailable, the dish can also be made with a whole cucumber by peeling the cucumber, coring to remove the seeds, and dicing. Other squash variants are dependent upon region and availability.


Winter Melon Soup

Constituents

2 pound wedge winter melon
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
3 qts chicken or vegetable stock
1 1-inch piece ginger, sliced into matchsticks
Salt to taste
2-3 thinly sliced scallions or sautéed leeks
A few slices speck ham, sliced on the diagonal

Structered Guidence

Soak shiitake mushrooms in room temperature water for 20 minutes, until softened. Squeeze out excess water, then thinly slice. Set aside. Slice off and discard rind from winter melon. Remove and discard seeds. Slice melon flesh to 1-inch cubes. Bring broth to boil and add winter melon. Simmer winter melon for 25 to 30 minutes, until melon becomes slightly transparent and soft. Add shiitakes and ginger and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Divide soup into individual bowls. If using leeks, briefly sauté in a wok with a little oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Top soup with sautéed leeks or scallions, then sliced speck ham. Serve while hot.


China in a bowl, installment 1