Chinese Red Cooking

A Simmering Stew of Soy, Rice Wine, Sugar and Spices

Sep 21, 2007 June Chua

Chinese red cooking is a way of deeply simmering meats in a rich, red-like broth brimming with rice wine, soy sauce, rock sugar, ginger, cardamom and star anise.

Red cooking is a type of cuisine from China in which the ingredients are simmered over a low flame with lots of soy sauce, rock sugar and rice wine.

Red cooking, known in Mandarin as hong shao, is rarely seen in the Western world but it's a popular form of cooking throughout China. Though linked to Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, it has its variations everywhere in that country.

Red Stewing or Red Braising

By the way, it is sometimes also referred to as red stewing or red braising.

In some places in China, anything that is soy sauce-braised is considered "red cooked." The Cantonese are known to use the leftover soy poaching sauce from one recipe and reconstituted with more soy sauce, rice wine and spices in another dish. This is what I've provided in the recipe below.

Red cooking, simply put, uses a main protein such as pork, chicken, beef, tofu, duck or wheat gluten (sometimes even carp fish) which is simmered over a low flame with dark soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar, stock and other fragrant additions such as scallions, ginger, black cardamom, five-spice powder, star anise and cinnamon.

This stick-to-your-ribs cuisine is the equivalent of the Western Sunday night dinner. Although the food is hardly red in colour (more brownish red), for the Chinese, the colour is blessed, bringing luck and fortune.

Dark Soy Sauce is Key

One thing to remember, dark soy sauce is a key ingredient since it is thicker and sweeter than the regular kind.

Red-cooked dishes are often paired with stir-fried veggies, something light to go with a heavy meal. Other dishes to pair with a red-cooked meal include: Stir-Fried Pea Shoots, Steamed Tofu, Bean Sprout & Green Bean Salad, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Lemongrass Chicken.

Here's a quick red recipe from Meal Master:

RED COOKING SAUCE FOR POULTRY SHANGHAINESE

• 3 cups thin chicken broth
• 2 oz dry sherry or rice wine
• 2 oz dark soy
• 2 scallions
• 4 slices ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 star anise
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 4 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil

METHOD:

1. Bring all the ingredients to a slow boil in a large kettle. Add meat or poultry, return to slow boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook until done.
2. Drain meat and serve with some sauce (optionally thickened with cornstarch-water) on the side.
3. Save and re-use leftover sauce, which gets richer with each use.
4. Leftover sauce should be salted lightly, boiled a few minutes, skimmed, and cooled before storage in the refrigerator. If it is to be kept a long time it should be boiled and skimmed once in awhile.

The copyright of the article Chinese Red Cooking in Asian Cuisine is owned by June Chua. Permission to republish Chinese Red Cooking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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