Mark Bittman - The Best Recipes in the World

Here are a few ideas for ways to assemble some of the many dishes scattered throughout the book according to their regional traditions. But please don't take them too literally. In almost every instance you can trade recipes from one menu to another, as if you were in a restaurant, and still be reasonably authentic.

The oily sauces, MSG, and fortune cookies of American take-out joints serving Chinese food are as representative of that country's great cuisine as pizza is of that of Italyprobably better defined as American food.

But even recently, when we've seen better Chinese food here, because most Chinese immigrants come to the United States from places like Hong Kong and Taiwan, most of us have been exposed to only a sliver of real Chinese cuisinethe food that those immigrants have brought from the major cities of eastern and southern China. Central and northern Chinese culinary traditions, most notably Szechwan, are only now beginning to make inroads. Here are a few typical menus for Chinese home-style meals; each would serve about six, except for the Chinese Banquet menu, which could easily feed many more.

Siu may, which literally means roasted flavor, is the name for the savory-sweet meats you see hanging in the windows of urban Chinese restaurants.

• Egg Flower Soup (page 115)

• Roast Duck (page 325), Soy-Poached Chicken (page 274), or Barbecued Pork (page 373), served on Basic Long-Grain Rice (page 506)

• Sliced oranges

• Tea

• Cream-Style Corn Soup (page 141) or West Lake Beef Soup (page 145)

• Basic Long-Grain Rice (page 506)

• Braised Whole Fish in Hot-and-Sour Sauce (page 260), Sea Bass or Other Fillets Wrapped in Bean Curd (page 228), or Stir-Fried Shrimp with Cabbage and Black Beans (page 213)

• Quick-Braised Root Vegetables with Hoisin (page 499) or Stir-Fried Potatoes with Chiles (page 473)

• Sliced oranges

• Tea

• Chicken and Watercress Soup (page 140)

• Basic Long-Grain Rice (page 506)

• Stir-Fried Pork with Asparagus (page 370), Soy-Poached Chicken (page 274), White Cut Chicken (page 273), or Steamed Dungeness Crab with Ginger (page 224)

• Gai Lan (Chinese Mustard Greens) with Oyster Sauce (page 463) or Snow Peas with Ginger (page 470)

• Seasonal fruit

• Tea

• Spicy Cold Celery (page 17)

• Minced Shrimp in Lettuce Wrappers (page 213)

• Basic Long-Grain Rice (page 506)

• Drunken Chicken (page 273) or Lemon Chicken (page 314)

• Gai Lan (Chinese Mustard Greens) with Oyster Sauce (page 463) or Snow Peas with Ginger (page 470)

• Sliced watermelon or other seasonal fruit

• Tea

• Cold Cut Beef Shank (page 39) and Soy-Poached Chicken (page 274)

• West Lake Beef Soup (page 145)

• Stir-Fried Chicken with Walnuts (page 311) or Stir-Fried Spicy Shredded Beef (page 368)

• Drunken Shrimp (page 212) or Shrimp with Peas and Ham (page 214)

• Tea-Smoked Duck or Chicken (page 327) or Roast Duck (page 325)

• Steamed Crabs with Soy Dipping Sauce (page 225)

• Whole Steamed Sea Bass or Other Fish (page 261)

• Egg Noodles with Spring Onions (page 536) or Fried Rice (page 506)

• Sweet Rice Flour Dumplings (page 639)

• Tea

Most Americans associate Japanese food with raw fish, rice, and soy sauce. These are all important aspects of the Japanese diet, but the cuisine is quite diverse, especially considering that it comes from a small island nation that existed in almost total cultural isolation for centuries. During that period, Japanese cuisine developed a personality based largely on a foundation of many foods that originated in China, like soy sauce, rice, and tofu.

Like all island nations, Japan has long depended on fish. Fresh seafood is grilled, fried, and steamed or served cold (or just barely warmed) with rice (sushi) or alone (sashimi). (Since sushi and sashimi are traditionally viewed as special-occasion foodslargely because raw fish tastes best when it's from fish that's exceptionally fresh, and that's never been easy to come byit is not generally made at home, so I haven't included recipes for it.)

Many Japanese recipes are well within the grasp of the non-Japanese home cook: tempura and other Japanese-style foods, teriyaki (a technique, not a bottled sauce), noodle dishes and soups, steamed dishes, and stews, many of which are based on dashi. And even though very little meat was eaten in Japan until it opened its borders to trade in the middle of the last century, it has created a sophisticated and delicious range of beef and pork dishesmany of which owe a debt to Korean and Chinese cooking.