Suiyuan Shidan

2 ideas

1. Eating with the ears and eyes

   'Eating with the ears' means choosing famous, costly ingredients like bird's nest for their reputation rather than their taste. 'Eating with the eyes' means covering the table with many dishes to impress by quantity. Both are faults because they serve the host's status instead of the guest's palate, and the sheer number of dishes forces the cook to spread effort too thin to make any of them well.

2. One ingredient, one pot, one flavor

   Each ingredient has its own proper flavor and must be cooked on its own terms rather than stewed together with others or dosed with the same all-purpose stock. Lazy cooks who simmer chicken, duck and pork in one pot make everything taste the same. Keeping flavors separate, even down to separate pots and utensils, preserves each ingredient's distinctness and lets it register on the palate.

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