Chinese cooking techniques (中餐烹調法) are a set of methods and techniques traditionally used in Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...

. The cooking techniques can either be grouped into ones that use a single cooking method or a combination of wet and dry cooking methods.

Wet

Wet-heat, immersion-based cooking methods are the predominate class of cooking techniques in Chinese cuisine and are usually referred to as "zhǔ" (煮). In fact the term (zhǔ, 煮) is commonly used to denote cooking in general.

Quick

Fast wet-heat based cooking methods include:

Prolonged

Prolonged wet-heat based cooking methods include:

Air-based

Food preparation in hot dry vessels such as an oven or a heated empty wok include:

Oil-based

Oil-based cooking methods are one of the most common in Chinese cuisine and include:

Without heat

Food preparation techniques not involving the heating of ingredients include:

Combination

Several techniques in Chinese involve more than one stage of cooking and have their own terms to describe the process. They include:

• Dòng (凍): The technique is used for making aspic
  Aspic
  Aspic is a dish in which ingredients are set into a gelatin made from a meat stock or consommé. Non-savory dishes, often made with commercial gelatin mixes without stock or consommé, are usually called gelatin salads....
  
   but also used to describe making of various gelatin dessert
  Gelatin dessert
  Gelatin desserts are desserts made with sweetened and flavored gelatin. They can be made by combining plain gelatin with other ingredients or by using a premixed blend of gelatin with additives...
  
  s
  1. Simmering meat for a prolonged period in a broth (Lu, 滷) or (Dun, 炖)
  2. Chilling the resulting meat and broth until the mixture gels
• Hùi (燴): The dishes made using this technique is usually finished by thickening with starch
  Starch
  Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
  
   (勾芡)
  1. Quick precooking in hot water (Tang, 燙)
  2. Finished by stir-frying (爆, 炒) or Shao (燒)
• Liū (溜): This technique is commonly used for meat and fish. Pre-fried tofu
  Tofu
  is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...
  
  is made expressly for this purpose.
  1. Deep frying (Zha, 炸) the ingredients until partially cooked
  2. Finishing the ingredients lightly braising (Shao, 燒) it to acquired a soft "skin"
• Mēn (燜):
  1. Stir-frying (爆, 炒) the ingredients until partially cooked
  2. Cover and simmer (Shao, 燒) with broth until broth is fully reduced and ingredients are fully cooked.