Stir-frying is the ultimate classic Chinese cooking method. Perhaps the most common method of Chinese cooking. All you have to do is chuck the ingredients in a wok and cook on high heat for a short period of time. Due to the short cooking time, vegetables and other ingredients will keep most of their nutritional value, and stir-fried meat is often juicy and tasty.

Deep-frying is used to produce crisp-textured food. It is usually used to fry a variety of meats and vegetables in oil heated to a high temperature. A widespread cooking method that is used across the world, deep-frying is where you fully submerge the ingredients in oil, to produce a crispy-textured dish. The usual way to deep-fry is to cut the ingredients into small chunks, soak them in a seasoning of your choice, coat with corn starch and then fry them in hot oil. The more seasoning and corn starch you use will determine the crispiness of the dish.

Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. It is considered to be the healthiest cooking technique. It can make dishes taste fresher and more delicious. Steaming is a good way to retain nutrients. By steaming the food, the water-soluble vitamins are also retained, which otherwise are lost in the other cooking processes. The most well-known dishes that are steamed are dim sum, dumplings, buns and fish.

Boiling is considered to be the simplest among all the Chinese cooking techniques. This method of cooking is quicker than other techniques and it preserves the color, texture, shape, and nutrients of the food.

The ingredients are washed and cut, then submerged into boiling water or broth. Once fully cooked, drain the ingredients immediately and then serve with seasoning. Vegetables are the most common ingredient to prepare in this form as you can cook them to your desired texture, hard or soft.

A method that is slightly more time-consuming is braising; However, it is certainly worth putting in the effort. Braising involves adding ingredients, spices, seasonings, and a small amount of water or broth to a wok or a saucepan, boiling everything together initially at a high temperature, and then simmering it at a lower temperature for a long time (usually one hour or more). The ingredients are usually cut into large-sized cubes or diamonds. Using this technique, all of the food is cooked thoroughly.

Many types of meat in Chinese cuisine are roasted, such as chicken and duck. Usually, the meat is cleaned, seasoned and then basted with cooking oil, to then be hung above a fire or cooked in a very hot oven. Once roasted, the skin should be crispy, and it can then be chopped and arranged on a platter in an arty form. Many roasted dishes are served with a sauce made from the meat drippings for extra flavour.