n the first part of a series introducing the classic techniques of Chinese cooking, Ken Hom demonstrates his simple method of preparing one of China's most spectacular dishes, Peking Duck. He prepares it with its traditional accompaniments of paper-thin pancakes and spring onion brushes. Ken visits a top Hong Kong restaurant to see how Peking Duck is traditionally cooked and served at an authentic Chinese banquet, and makes a delicious northern Chinese dish, potsticker dumplings.
The wok is China's most versatile cooking implement and in today's programme Ken Hom advises on choosing and using a wok. He makes three mouth-watering dishes using the classic Chinese technique of stir-frying - fragrant chicken in black bean sauce, stir-fried prawns with eggs, and a quick and easy vegetable dish, stir-fried ginger broccoli. He also visits a young Chinese family in Hong Kong to see what they have for dinner.
Ken Hom demonstrates two delicious vegetable dishes - braised spicy aubergines from Western China, and an unusual colourful Buddhist casserole. He also makes the ever-popular sweet and sour pork and visits a fascinating Chinese temple in Hong Kong which is famous for its vegetarian restaurant.
Chinese noodles come in a variety of shapes and sizes and in this programme Ken Hom gives a guide to the most common types. He shows how to make delicious stir-fried rice noodles with vegetables, and in Hong Kong a young chef demonstrates the spectacular art of noodle-making. Ken also makes an ideal winter dish, fragrant Peking braised lamb and a quick and easy vegetable dish with oyster sauce.
Ken Hom focuses on some of the key techniques used to cook meat in Chinese cuisine. Steaming preserves the natural flavours of food and is a method much favoured in southern China, where the recipe for steamed beef meatballs comes from. Ken introduces two dishes from western China - spicy chilli pork spare ribs and stir-fried hot and sour kidneys. Ken also looks at the types of meat available in a Hong Kong market and finds out how soy sauce is made.
The local market is where most Chinese prefer to do their food shopping, and in this programme Ken Hom visits a variety of stalls in a typical food market in Wanchai, Hong Kong. He also demonstrates his foolproof method of making perfect steamed rice, and makes two of his favourite spicy dishes - a hearty hot and sour soup and a tasty northern Chinese dish, stir-fried beef with orange.
Chinese cuisine is famous for its wonderfully varied range of sharing dishes. In this programme Ken Hom joins his family for a traditional dim sum at a restaurant in Hong Kong. He also shows how to make three different delicious snacks - deep-fried sesame prawn toast, stuffed peppers with an unusual pork and fish filling, and a northern meat dish - cold Peking pork.
The last in a series of programmes in which Ken Hom introduces some of the most important techniques and ingredients used in Chinese cookery. Ken Hom visits the fascinating fishing village of Lau Fau Shan in the New Territories of Hong Kong. He shows how to make his favourite fish dish, steamed fish with garlic, spring onions and ginger, and a thick sweet corn soup with crabmeat. He also prepares shredded chicken with sesame seeds which is his version of a fragrant dish from western China popularly known there as 'strange-taste chicken'.
