[citation needed] However, lamb and goat are less commonly used than in the cuisines of northern or western China.

Compared to other Chinese regional cuisines, the flavours of most traditional Cantonese dishes should be well-balanced and not greasy.

[4] There is no widespread use of fresh herbs in Cantonese cooking, in contrast with their liberal use in other cuisines such as Sichuanese, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai and European.

Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the former are often used as a vegetable and the latter are usually used as mere garnish in most dishes.

In Cantonese cuisine, ingredients such as sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, corn starch, vinegar, scallion and sesame oil suffice to enhance flavour, although garlic is heavily used in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odours.

Some items gain very intense flavours during the drying/preservation/oxidation process and some foods are preserved to increase their shelf life.

A number of dishes have been part of Cantonese cuisine since the earliest territorial establishments of Guangdong.

There are a small number of deep-fried dishes in Cantonese cuisine, which can often be found as street food.

For instance, in some recipes, only a small amount of soy sauce, ginger and spring onion is added to steamed fish.

Siu mei (烧味; 燒味; shāo wèi; siu1 mei6) is essentially the Chinese rotisserie style of cooking.

Lou mei (卤味; 滷味; lǔ wèi; lou5 mei6) is the name given to dishes made from internal organs, entrails and other left-over parts of animals.

Such dishes are cooked by covering and steaming, making the rice and ingredients very hot and soft.

Dim sum restaurants stop serving bamboo-basket dishes after the yum cha period (equivalent to afternoon tea) and begin offering an entirely different menu in the evening.

After the evening meal, most Cantonese restaurants offer tong sui (糖水; táng shuǐ; tong4 seoi2; 'sugar water'), a sweet soup.