烹饪与刀工 · Chinese Vocabulary
Chinese Cooking Methods
煎煮炒炸，切丁切丝
Chinese recipes pack a lot into a single character — one word like 炒 or 蒸 already tells you how hot the pan is and how long the food stays in it. This guide walks through the cooking methods, the knife cuts, and the finishing moves you’ll see on every menu, with a classic dish along the way for each.
Six everyday methods · 六种煮法
Heat & technique
烹饪方法 — Cooking Methods
Grouped by what carries the heat — oil, water and steam, or dry heat. Most dishes on a Chinese menu are named after one of these.
用油 · With oil
用水或蒸汽 · With water & steam
干热 · Dry heat
卤肉
Taiwanese Braised Pork
Pork belly is cut small and left to 卤 over low heat in soy sauce, rice wine, fried shallots, and a little five-spice. After an hour or more of slow 炖, the sauce turns rich and sticky — spoon it over rice and you have Taiwan’s beloved 卤肉饭.
清蒸鱼
Steamed Whole Fish
A whole fish goes into the steamer just until it’s cooked through, then gets scallion, ginger, soy sauce, and a splash of sizzling oil. 清蒸 keeps the flavor clean, so the fish has to be very fresh.
Before the wok
刀工 — Knife Work
In Chinese cooking, how you cut decides how fast something cooks. Recipe steps and dish names often say the shape outright.
切法 · Cuts & shapes
刀的动作 · Knife actions
宫保鸡丁
Kung Pao Chicken
The name itself tells you the cut: the chicken is 切丁 into small cubes, about the size of the peanuts it’s cooked with. Then everything is 爆炒 with dried chilies in under two minutes.
青椒炒肉丝
Stir-Fried Shredded Pork with Green Pepper
Both the pork and the peppers are 切丝 to the same thin width. Garlic goes into the hot wok first to 爆香, then the pork and peppers follow for a quick 炒, finishing at the same moment — a good test of any home cook’s knife skills.
Seasoning & finishing
调味与收尾 — Prep, Heat & Finishing
The small steps recipes take for granted: what happens before the food hits the wok, how hot the fire is, and how the dish is brought together at the end.
下锅前 · Before cooking
火候 · Heat control
收尾 · Finishing
酸辣汤
Hot and Sour Soup
Right before the egg goes in, the soup gets a spoonful of 水淀粉. That 勾芡 step turns a thin broth into a silky one, thick enough to hold the tofu and egg ribbons in place.
凉拌小黄瓜
Cold Cucumber Salad
No stove needed. Small cucumbers are 拍 with the side of the cleaver or cut into pieces, then 拌 with garlic, vinegar, and a little chili oil. A classic 凉拌 side dish, served cold next to almost any meal.
