Scallion, ginger, and garlic.
These are the kitchen’s 3 treasures.
It’s like the saying:
Every peony flower needs green foliage to stand out.
They enhance the flavor of the dish.
To make sure our food tastes good.
where we uncover the stories of the food we eat.
In this season,
we’re going back to basics,
to the building blocks of Chinese flavor.
Let’s talk about aromatics.
Aromatics are vegetables, spices, and herbs
that add flavor and aroma to food.
Different countries tend to have different go-to aromatics.
In China, the holy trinity is scallion, ginger, and garlic.
Scallion, ginger, and garlic
are vital to all 8 types of Chinese cuisine.
They can be used in all sorts of ways. You have to use them.
This is Leung Kin-sum.
He’s chief instructor at the Chinese Culinary Institute.
Raw scallion, ginger, and garlic are aromatics that taste spicy.
They mainly add an extra oomph to the dish.
Cooked garlic tastes nutty.
Scallions add a sharp and peppery flavor.
Ginger brings earthy and floral notes.
When we heat up the wok,
we fry them so they become dry
and release their flavor so that the ingredients can absorb it.
They can also get rid of unpleasant smells in the ingredients.
We usually pair ginger and scallion with seafood.
And ginger and garlic with meat.
They can also be used as garnish.
Chinese people have been using them for at least 2,000 years.
This is Lin Weihui.
He studies the history of Chinese food.
So whenever we eat food that is seasoned with them,
it’s like a special code.
We know it’s Chinese food.
Scallion is common in southern China.
Leeks are more common in the north.
Leeks grow better in colder climates
so they grow more abundantly in the north.
Scallions can grow in different climates
so you find them in both northern and southern China.
Scallions and leeks are both from the onion family.
You can tell a leek in general
because they’re bigger than scallions.
Leeks taste slightly sweet.
So they can also be eaten as a vegetable.
In northern China, people eat it raw with dips.
Southern Chinese people are still surprised by that.
There are other members of the onion family.
Like shallots, which look like small onions and taste sweet.
And red scallions, which have a red tip and are spicier.
Ginger came from Southeast Asia,
which has a tropical climate. It was brought to China.
They don’t grow well in places that are very cold.
So they mostly grow in Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan.
The northernmost place that would farm them is Shandong.
People there grow them in summer.
People who don't like spicy food usually use regular ginger.
Some cooks use the cousins of ginger as well.
Like galangal, which is often used to make master stock,
and turmeric, which is usually used as a powder.
A Chinese diplomat in the Han dynasty named Zhang Qian
brought garlic to China
when he explored central and western Asia.
The whole country can grow them
because they can survive under 5°C (41°F) to 30°C (86°F).
People in northern China like to eat raw garlic with everything.
There is also a type of garlic that’s just a whole, single clove.
It’s called solo garlic, or monobulb garlic,
which I think you’ll agree are pretty great names.
History shows us we’ve been using scallion, ginger, and garlic
to season our food for the past 2,000 years.
We are masters at using them.
There are some rules to the way aromatics should be diced,
because this affects the way a dish tastes and looks.
Depending on the ingredients,
we cut the aromatics differently
so they give the right amount of flavor to the dish.
When we make braised chicken,
the chicken is cut into small pieces.
The ginger has to be of similar size.
Leung shows us 4 ways he usually prepares aromatics.
They are minced, shredded, sliced, or chopped.
Sometimes, he uses whole garlic cloves without dicing them.
Other times, he chops ginger into cubes and flattens them.
It depends on what he’s making.
The smaller and thinner the aromatics,
the faster they release their flavor.
They are more common in dishes that need to be cooked quickly,
like stir-frys.
The thicker and bigger pieces tend to be used for
dishes that need to be cooked slowly, like in braising.
The aromatics release their flavors gradually.
Beef stir-fry is a classic example
of using thinly-sliced ginger and scallion.
After we heat up the wok,
we add some oil into it and fry the beef.
We just cook it slightly, not fully.
Then we sauté the ginger slices and scallion
until they look slightly golden yellow.
The ginger gets rid of the pungent smell in the beef.
After the scallion is fried, it absorbs the juice from the beef.
Then, we start frying the dish.
We put in the minced garlic, or small pieces of garlic,
and the sautéed scallion first.
Garlic adds flavor to the dish. The taste of garlic.
Then we toss the beef in.
After that, we add some Shaoxing wine.
And then we add the sauce.
We stir-fry until the sauce thickens, then it’s ready.
It’s hard to cook
if a kitchen doesn’t have scallion, ginger, and garlic.
Traditionally, you have to cook with them.
I think it’s difficult to cook a tasty dish without them.
Does your family like this dish?
Only if I cook it.
We’ll talk about chopsticks,
a utensil that billions of people in the world use every day.
Stay tuned.