Cantonese cuisine

Cantonese cuisine
Chefs cook with a wok
Traditional Chinese	廣東菜
Simplified Chinese	广东菜
Hanyu Pinyin	Guǎngdōngcài
Cantonese Yale	Gwóng dūng choi
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngdōngcài IPA [ku̯àŋtʊ́ŋtsʰâi̯] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gwóng dūng choi Jyutping Gwong2 dung1 coi3
Yuet cuisine
Traditional Chinese	粵菜
Simplified Chinese	粤菜
Hanyu Pinyin	Yuècài
Cantonese Yale	Yuht choi
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yuècài IPA [y̯êtsʰâi̯] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Yuht choi Jyutping Jyut6 coi3

Cantonese cuisine (simplified Chinese: 广东菜; traditional Chinese: 廣東菜; pinyin: Guǎngdōngcài) comes from Guangdong province and is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisine. Its prominence outside China is due to the large number of emigrants from Guangdong. Chefs trained in Cantonese cuisine are highly sought after throughout China. When Westerners speak of Chinese food, they usually refer to Cantonese cuisine.

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, has long been a trading port and many imported foods and ingredients are used in Cantonese cuisine. Besides pork, beef and chicken, Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats, including offal, chicken feet, duck's tongue, snakes, and snails. However, lamb and goat are rarely eaten, unlike in the cuisines of northern or western China. Many cooking methods are used, with steaming and stir frying being the most favoured due to their convenience and rapidity. Other techniques include shallow frying, double steaming, braising, and deep frying.

For many traditional Cantonese cooks, the flavours of a finished dish should be well balanced and not greasy. Apart from that, spices should be used in modest amounts to avoid overwhelming the flavours of the primary ingredients, and these ingredients in turn should be at the peak of their freshness and quality. There is no widespread use of fresh herbs in Cantonese cooking, in contrast with their liberal use in other cuisines such as Sichuan, European, Thai or Vietnamese. Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the latter are usually used as mere garnish in most dishes.