Dennis M. Reed "Califa" - Cooking - Asian Tastes and Flavors

"TASTE IS NOT FLAVOR": "Some people use the terms taste and flavor interchangeably, as in 'that vanilla ice cream tastes good,'and 'I like the salty flavor of clams.' That's fine because that's the way normal people speak, yet taste and flavor have simple scientific distinctions that every cook can benefit greatly from understanding." from "The Fifth Taste - Cooking with Umami" by David & Anna Kasabian. According to the Kasabians, flavors are the result of taste and aroma.

Tastes or Flavors ===>	The Five Elements	SWEET	SOUR	SALTY	BITTER	HOT (PICANTE) (PUNGENT)	BLAND	FRAGRANT	GOLDEN	UMAMI (Japanese name) Xin Wèi 味 (Mandarin name means "tasty taste") Chinese information provided by liuzhou from eGullet
Source of Information \| \| V		SWEET taste & flavor	SOUR taste & flavor	SALTY taste & flavor	BITTER taste & flavor	HOT flavor	BLAND flavor	FRAGRANT flavor	GOLDEN flavor	UMAMI taste & flavor
The Five Elements Theory of Chinese Cooking - Learn about the Role of the Five Elements in Chinese Cooking chinesefood@about.com	Element Yin Yang Feeling Color Taste	Earth Spleen Stomach Thought Yellow Sweet	Wood Liver Gall bladder Rage Green Sour	Water Kidneys Bladder Fear Black Salty	Fire Heart Small intestine Happiness Red Bitter	Metal Lungs Large intestine Sorrow White Spicy
The Fifth Taste - Cooking with Umami by David & Anna Kasabian ©2008		SWEET taste	SOUR taste	SALTY taste	BITTER taste	HOT	BLAND	FRAGRANT	GOLDEN	UMAMI taste maybe flavor
Eight Immortal Flavors by Johnny Kan ©1963 W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka hzrt8w from eGullet has provided the Chinese characters suggests that the Chinese Flavor Names are probably Toisanese dialect because "This author most likely speaks the Toysanese dialect, as clued by the pronunciation of his family name".		SWEET Chinese flavor name: TEEM 甜 Toysanese: HEM not necessarily sweet like syrup; the flavor of lotus root is considered sweet	SOUR Chinese flavor name: SEEN 酸 Toysanese: THLUON like vinegar	SALTY Chinese flavor name: HOM 鹹 Toysanese: HAUM (falling tone) like salt	BITTER Chinese flavor name: FOO 苦 Toysanese: can be FU or more commonly "NIK" from very slightly bitter to very bitter	HOT Chinese flavor name: LOT 辣 Toysanese: LAHT like in mustard or chili peppers;	BLAND Chinese flavor name: TOM 淡 Toysanese: HUM (rising tone) like rice or the "baked" flavor of bread	FRAGRANT Chinese flavor name: HEONG 香 Toysanese: ? pan aroma Wok Hay 鑊氣	GOLDEN Chinese flavor name: GUM 甘 Toysanese: ? cool, acrid-sweet like citrus peel	UMAMI Chinese flavor name: ? Toysanese: ? not defined in this source
The Good Food of Szechuan - Down-to-Earth Chinese Cooking by Robert A. Delfs ©1974 (7th printing)		SWEET Sichuan flavor name: TIAN sweetness, from sugar or honey	SOUR Sichuan flavor name: SUAN sour, the taste of vinegar	SALTY Sichuan flavor name: XIAN salty, from salt or soy sauce	BITTER Sichuan flavor name: KU bitter, the taste of green onion or leek	HOT Sichuan flavor name: LA taste of red peppers or sometimes the taste of black pepper or Sichuan peppercorns Sichuan flavor name: MA the flavor of sesame imparted by seeds or oil; also the pepperiness of black pepper or Sichuan peppercorns	BLAND Sichuan flavor name: ?	FRAGRANT Sichuan flavor name: XIANG the taste of garlic and/or ginger	GOLDEN Sichuan flavor name: ?	UMAMI Sichuan flavor name: ?

Food Culture in China
by Jacqueline M. Newman
©2004

Note: John D. Keys, Food for the Emperor, ©1963, says Cantonese chefs
consider "natural" to be an additional taste.

Page 33:

Table 2.1

Five Chinese Tastes and Some Representative Foods with additional information from other parts of the book
including some ancient and modern Chinese names

SWEET	SOUR	SALTY	PUNGENT	BITTER	SAVORY	ANIMAL FAT
Ancient: kan Modern: kan	Ancient: suan Modern: mei	Ancient: hsein Modern: shiyan or yan	Ancient: hsin Modern: ciji	Ancient: ku Modern: ku	Ancient: jiang Modern: xian Japanese: umami	Ancient: fei or feipang Modern: fei or feipang (no actual taste name)
beef Chinese date foxtail millet frog lotus root melon onion orange oyster peanuts potato shark's fin shrimp spleen watermelon white radish	carrot celery cherry chicken liver eel jellyfish plum pork liver red seaweeds red turnip scallion tomato walnut watermelon wheat wild birds	abalone bean leaves beans black mushroom black seaweed carp chestnut clam cloud ear fungus dried persimmon eggplant ginko matrimony vine pig kidney prawn sea urchin all sauces jiang	adzuki bean almond bean sprouts dried fish garlic ginger horse lung kumquat long cabbage mud snail peach river crab taro yellow seaweed	apricot asparagus beer bitter melon cherry loach millet mutton pickled scallion river shrimp sea cucumber sheep heart spinach stone parsley strong wine white seaweed	fish pastes oyster and fish sauces meats mushrooms monosodium glutamate (MSG) all foods with glutamates, including those just names and others such as the tomato	animal fat

Notes: Foods can have more than one taste, depending upon how prepared and other factors. Regional and minority differences are not represented.

Toysanese pronunciations from Ben Hong at eGullet:

Posted 12 March 2010 - 09:52 PM

Unofficial Toysanese pronunciation of above terms:

Green plum sauce ... teng moi deng
Plain old fish sauce ... yu loo ... ngui loo
hom (salty) ... haum (falling tone)
fu (bitter) ... can be fu or more commonly "nik"
Tom (rising tone) bland like plain white rice ... hum (rising tone).
Heung means aromatic in any dialect, as in ng heung foon (5 spice powder)
teem (sweet) ... hem (Toysan)
Seen or suen (sour) ... thluon (Toysan)
Laht means "hot" in a capsaicin or chili sense.

To outsiders Toysanese sounds like the clearing of a lot of throats in conversation but to the speakers it was the only true Chinese dialect that was understood by all overseas Chinese until about 50 years ago. Sun Yat Sen (almost a Toysanese) had to speak the dialect when he went to all the Chinese enclaves all over the world to gain support and to recruit money. You might say that modern China was born speaking Toysanese.

Dennis M. Reed "Califa" - Cooking - Asian Tastes and Flavors
My approach to life: Altruistic Hedonism and moderation in all things including moderation!

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