Sunday, June 28, 2020

Dim Sum

Dim sum is a style of Chinese cuisine. It is prepared as small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets or on a small plate. Dim sum is generally considered Cantonese, although other varieties exist. Dim sum dishes are usually served with tea and together form a full tea brunch. Due to the Cantonese tradition of enjoying tea with this cuisine, yum cha, which means "drink tea" in Cantonese, is also synonymous with dim sum. Dim sum traditionally is served as fully cooked, ready-to-serve dishes. In some Cantonese teahouses, carts with dim sum are served around the restaurant.

In Cantonese-speaking regions, yum cha is sometimes described as 一盅兩件 (literally "one cup accompanied by two pieces"), in which "cup" refers to tea, while "two pieces" refers to two pieces of dim sum which were historically bigger in size and could fill up one's stomach. Nowadays, however, it is common that people would order much more than two dishes during yum cha.

Many Cantonese restaurants start serving dim sum as early as five in the morning, and each restaurant will have its own signature dim sum dish. It is a tradition for the elderly to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises. For many in southern China, yum cha is treated as a weekend family day. More traditional dim sum restaurants typically serve dim sum until mid-afternoon. However, in modern society, it has become commonplace for restaurants to serve dim sum at dinner time; various dim sum items are even sold as take-out for students and office workers on the go.

A traditional dim sum brunch includes various types of steamed buns such as cha siu bao (a steamed bun filled with barbecue pork), rice or wheat dumplings and rice noodle rolls, which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns, and vegetarian options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed green vegetables, roasted meats, congee and other soups. Dessert dim sum is also available and many places offer the customary egg tart. Dim sum is usually eaten as breakfast or brunch.

Dim sum can be cooked by steaming and frying, among other methods. The serving sizes are usually small and normally served as three or four pieces in one dish. It is customary to order family style, sharing dishes among all members of the dining party. Because of the small portions, people can try a wide variety of food.

Dim sum brunch restaurants have a wide variety of dishes, usually several dozen. Among the standard fare of dim sum are the following:

  • Dumpling
  • Roll
  • Bun
  • Cake
  • Meat
  • Seafood
  • Vegetable
  • Rice
  • Dessert
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum

Other Useful Links:




No comments:

Post a Comment