Knife work: Follow the cutting and slicing instructions for each dish. Examples include Egg-coated glutinous rice cakes, Steamed pumpkin, Chive scrambled eggs. Open a full recipe for ingredients and the complete method.
On a stable board, cut the rice cakes into small rectangles that are easy to turn. If too hard to cut safely, soften according to the package before cutting.
The pieces are similar in size and lie flat in the pan.
Cut into slices about 2 cm thick and arrange evenly in a heatproof dish.
The slices have similar thicknesses so they cook evenly.
Wash the chives, drain thoroughly and cut into roughly 3 cm lengths.
The chives have no visible water droplets and similar lengths.
Wash the choy sum and trim tough bases. Split thick stems to help them cook evenly. Mince the garlic and optional chili; wash your hands after handling chili.
The stems are reasonably even and the garlic is ready.
Peel the century eggs and cut each into quarters. Drain the tofu, gently slice or cube it and plate with the eggs.
The tofu holds its shape and the egg wedges are even.
Store and prepare the fresh noodles as labeled, separating gently and preheating if required. Shred the cucumber, separate and slice scallion whites and greens, crush the garlic and cut cooked gluten into pieces. Beat the egg.
All ingredients are ready and the noodles are separated without breaking.
Wash, drain and dry the scallions, then cut into long sections, separating whites from greens. Mix both soy sauces and sugar in a bowl.
The scallions are dry and the sauce mixture is ready.
Slice half the ginger and finely shred the rest. Cut scallion whites into sections and greens into fine strips. Keep the garnish in a clean container away from raw-fish utensils.
Steaming aromatics and clean finishing garnish are kept separate.
Weigh the current ingredient-list amount of drained firm tofu; the baseline three portions use 900 g, about three 300 g blocks. Follow the scaled ingredient list when portions change, rather than using three arbitrary packages. Slice about 5 mm thick and pat the surfaces dry. Chop scallion; rinse, deseed and cut pepper into about 1 cm pieces. Fry in uncrowded single-layer batches.
Tofu slices are intact and surface-dry; other ingredients are separated.
Peel the potato; cut potato and eggplant into roughly 15 g pieces, and tear peppers slightly larger. Thoroughly dry the vegetables before frying. Mince scallion and ginger; mince and split garlic equally. Mix the light soy sauce, sugar, starch and listed sauce water; keep the bowl ready beside the stove.
Vegetables are surface-dry, garlic is split and sauce mixed.
Peel and deseed the melon, cut pieces no larger than 2 cm and dry their surfaces. Prepare ginger and scallion; gradually mix cool water into the starch to make a flowing slurry.
Melon pieces are similar and surface-dry; slurry flows.
Slice eggplant about 2 cm thick, cut into strips and then diagonal chunks. Chop pepper, onion and tomato; thinly slice scallion and crush garlic. Drain washed produce and keep the groups separate.
Vegetables are prepared and eggplant pieces are similar in size.
Stem and wash peppers, cut each lengthwise into 3–4 strips and dry thoroughly. Peel and mince garlic. Wash after handling peppers and avoid touching your eyes.
Pepper surfaces are dry and garlic minced.
Wash and drain bok choy; separate stems from leaves. Cut scallion and ginger. On a separate board, slice pork across the grain into roughly 3 mm strips; clean hands and equipment afterward. Separate refrigerated rice-cake slices. Frozen or dried products need package-directed preparation first; never force a knife through frozen blocks.
Even pork strips, separated stems and leaves, and loose rice-cake slices.
Thinly slice the pork, wash and cut garlic scapes into short lengths, and chop scallion, ginger and garlic. Keep raw-meat equipment separate and clean it afterward.
The pork slices are even and vegetables are prepared separately.
Unmold and slice on a clean board, spoon over the dressing and add washed optional cilantro. Eat promptly and refrigerate while waiting.
The jelly strips are intact and springy with an even coating of dressing.
Weigh the fresh wide noodles before cooking: this version uses 190 g per portion, not four variable-size strands or 190 g dried noodles. Chop scallion and mince garlic; rinse greens and optional sprouts. Prepare a deep heatproof bowl that tolerates hot oil and dry its rim. Follow the noodle package and do not stretch already-formed noodles.
The aromatics are ready, the bowl is heatproof and stable and vegetables are clean.
Rinse and chop tomato. Trim and deseed the green bell pepper, weigh it, then cut small diamonds. Weigh peeled garlic and mince it. Chop scallion whites and greens separately and beat the egg; keep raw-egg utensils separate from cooked-food utensils.
Tomato, pepper diamonds, minced garlic and separate scallion whites/greens are prepared; egg is beaten.
Wash and shred the cucumber and chop scallion. Use clean equipment for the ready-to-eat cucumber, separate from raw pork.
The cucumber shreds are clean and scallion is chopped.
Check the cured pork’s storage and thorough-cooking directions, then dice it small. Wash the greens, dice stems and slice leaves, keeping raw-pork equipment separate.
The pork cubes are similar and stems and leaves are separated.
Cut pork belly into fine strips retaining lean and fat. Thaw frozen pork safely in the refrigerator rather than leaving it at room temperature. Mince shallots and garlic. If using eggs, boil until white and yolk are firm, cool until safe to handle and peel.
Pork strips are even, aromatics ready and optional eggs fully cooked and peeled.
Trim the enoki base, separate into small loose clusters, wash and drain. Wash and chop scallion and mince garlic. Clean any board or strainer that touched raw mushrooms before using it for cooked ones.
The mushrooms are separated into small loose clusters with chopped aromatics beside them.
Wash the celtuce, peel away the tough skin to the tender green flesh and cut even batons. If using radish, wash, peel and cut thin batons. Slice ginger and chop garlic and chili.
Celtuce has no tough skin and the batons are evenly sized.
Wash and break cauliflower into similarly sized small florets and slice thick stems thinly. Peel and slice garlic and measure the water for the pan separately.
Florets are similarly small and thick stems are thinly sliced.
Wash between the cabbage leaves and cut lengthwise into manageable wedges, splitting thick cores. If using enoki, trim the base, separate and wash, keeping it apart from other prepared food.
Cabbage wedges retain their leaves and any enoki is in small loose clusters.
Cut scallion into pieces, slice ginger and garlic and dice the luncheon meat. If using century egg, check that it is ready to eat, peel and dice with clean utensils and keep separately.
Aromatics are prepared, with diced meat and optional century egg in separate bowls.
Remove the cabbage core, tear bite-size pieces, wash and drain thoroughly. Slice ginger and garlic and cut chili and green garlic. Prepare vegetables before handling raw pork.
Cabbage pieces are similar in size and free of droplets, with aromatics prepared.
Use a separate board to cut pork belly into even thin slices and blot surface moisture. Do not rinse raw meat; wash hands and clean the knife and board afterward.
Pork slices have even thickness and raw-meat utensils are kept separate.
Remove damaged leaves and tough stems, wash thoroughly and drain. Cut manageable lengths and separate thicker stems from leaves. Finely mince the garlic.
The greens are clean and drained, with thicker stems separated from leaves.
Wash and cut zucchini into evenly thin slices. If using tomato, wash and dice it. Beat the eggs in a bowl and wash hands after handling the shells.
Zucchini slices are even and the beaten egg has no large white streaks.
Wash napa and cut stems and tender leaves separately. On a separate board, slice pork belly about 3 mm thick without rinsing raw meat. Wash hands and clean utensils afterward.
Cabbage stems and leaves are separate and pork slices are evenly thin.
Peel and slice potato about 8 mm thick. Arrange in a wide heatproof dish without a thick pile. Fill the steamer to its safe working level below the rack.
Potato slices are spread evenly across a wide dish.
Separate leek whites and greens; cut whites into pieces. Steep greens and sliced ginger in the measured boiling infusion water in a heatproof bowl, cool briefly and strain. Dice chicken breast about 1.5 cm on separate equipment without rinsing raw chicken.
The infusion is strained, chicken cubes even and leek whites set aside.
Wash, peel and cut radish into similar chunks. Slice ginger and garlic and knot the scallions. Check the whole spices are clean and keep them ready to add and later remove.
Radish pieces are similar in size, with aromatics and whole spices separate.
Let beef cool briefly on a stable heatproof board and hold with tongs while cutting into chunks; do not grip hot meat with bare hands. Mash red bean curd and mix with chu hou, oyster sauce, soy and rock sugar, reserving salt until tasting.
Beef is in chunks and the fermented bean curd is mashed into the sauce.
Cut pork into chunks about 4.5 cm without rinsing raw meat. Divide ginger into three portions and wine in two. Cut optional tofu skin into broad strips and keep fully hard-cooked peeled quail eggs refrigerated until needed.
Pork chunks are similarly sized, ginger divided and optional cooked eggs and tofu skin prepared.
Use chicken legs already cut into pieces about 4 cm; remove loose bone fragments and blot dry without rinsing. Trim tough shiitake stems and slice, wash and cut peppers and peel and chunk optional potato, keeping equipment separate from raw chicken.
Chicken pieces are evenly sized and dry, with mushrooms, peppers and optional potato separate.
Lift temperature-verified pork onto a clean plate and start a 3 min rest timer off the heat. After it finishes, cool just enough to handle, blot dry and cut about 2 mm thin without prolonged room-temperature holding. Mix half the bean paste with soy sauce.
Slices are thin and surface-dry; sauce is ready.
After confirming doneness, cool briefly and use clean tongs and forks to remove bones and shred roughly 1 cm wide pieces. Keep cooked chicken away from raw-poultry bowls and boards.
Bones are removed and cooked pieces sit in a clean bowl.
Cut corn into short sections and carrot into chunks, slice large scallion and chop the smaller scallion. Slice and divide ginger in two portions. Use ribs already cut into small pieces and separate raw-meat and vegetable work areas.
Vegetables are prepared, ginger divided and ribs in small pieces.
Wear gloves to peel yam and cut about 4 cm sections; hold in clean water if waiting. Cut carrot about 3 cm and corn about 4 cm. Divide ginger slices in half; tie half the scallion and chop the rest.
Vegetables are evenly sized and ginger/scallion separated by use.
Wash and thinly slice cucumber, peel and crush garlic and chop scallion. Check century eggs as labeled, peel and cut into even wedges.
The cucumber slices are even and the egg wedges intact.
Ask the seller to cut ribs into small pieces. Wash and halve bitter melon, remove seeds and white pith and slice into thin strips. Slice optional ginger and rinse dried shrimp as labeled.
The bitter melon is seeded and trimmed and rib pieces are similar.
Thaw beef safely, pat dry and slice thinly across the grain. Wash, seed and shred green pepper, cut scallion and chop optional chilies. Lightly crush cumin in a mortar if desired.
The beef slices are evenly thin and peppers shredded.
Shred ginger, work it with scallion, wine and water to release aroma and strain the liquid. Cut pork into even strips about 1.5 cm thick. Keep raw meat separate and wash hands after handling it.
The aromatic water is strained and pork strips are evenly thick.
Wear food-safe gloves to handle taro, cut into evenly sized thick batons and dry thoroughly. Do not eat raw taro; dry optional washed scallion well too.
The taro batons are even and have no surface water droplets.
Keep jelly chilled as labeled and confirm it is already cooked. Cut it into evenly sized small cubes, wash and chop scallion and mince garlic.
The jelly is cooked and evenly cubed and aromatics are ready.
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