Chinese cooking uses food preparation techniques with familiar names in many unique ways to achieve desirable textures and preserve flavor and nutrients in the food.

For example, in Western cooking, braising is a process of browning food, then simmering in an acidic liquid. Beef stew, coq au vin, and Yankee Pot Roast are all familiar braised dishes. However, Chinese use dry-braising, red-braising (with dark soy sauce), and other methods, in addition to traditional Western brown-braising.

Many Chinese dishes have a broth from the vegetable juices or water used to simmer the dish during cooking. This can make a dish soupy, and must be controlled. Using a technique called DăQiàn (打芡) to glaze the food and thicken the broth to a smooth texture.

Most important to successful Chinese cooking techniques, especially stir-fry, are what  Chinese chefs call “Knife Skills”. Simply put, food needs to be cut or chopped evenly and consistently. If the pieces are different sizes, they will not cook at the same pace. Stir-frying, especially, is a very fast method of cooking with high heat, so it’s essential that ingredients be prepared with consistency. This is not as challenging as it sounds, and we have several videos showing how to quickly peel, cut, and chop your ingredients.

This section introduces these food preparation techniques, with videos and photos to help you learn. With a little practice, Chinese cooking techniques are easy to master.