Archive for December, 2010

What is the difference between Chinese food in America and Chinese food in China?

How does Chinese food in China taste compared to Chinese food in America? What are the differences in ingredients, styles, etc.?

Authentic Chinese food is much healthier, with more vegetables, less meat. In addition, they use much larger variety of meat (no, dog is not that common, but yes to chicken, beef, pork, duck, rabbit, frog, snake) and larger variety of vegetables, many of which can’t be found in the US. American Chinese food is greasy, loaded with msg, salt, sugar, etc. You’ll never see a first generation Chinese order general tso’s, chicken and broccoli, and other popular American Chinese dishes in Chinese restaurants, because they know it’s nasty. There are also way more fried items in American Chinese restaurants. In China, some regions never eat fried. One responder above said that all the Chinese restaurants in the US aren’t Chinese owned, but this is untrue. All the Chinese restaurants in my area are Chinese owned. The problem is they change the dishes to make them more suitable to American tastes, so they aren’t going to be authentic. If you ever want to try somewhat more authentic dishes, you can try asking the owner/manager of the restaurant what they would suggest. Sometimes these restaurants have a separate menu for Chinese customers.

What Chinese restaurant in Atlanta to take a Chinese tourist to?

What is a good authentic Chinese restaurant in Atlanta to take a Chinese tourist to?

I would take him to Little Szechuan on Buford Hwy. There are always a number of Asian people eating there, and the menu includes items not often seen in this country (like pea sprouts … not pods!) It’s very good.

If you want delicious American-Chinese, try Canton Cooks on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. A lot of Jewish New Yorkers (of which I am one) eat there — we know our Chinese food! — as well Asian people. It’s always crowded.

Good luck!

Why are there always Asian Americans at American Chinese Restaurants? Isnt real Chinese cuisine different?

I love asian food, every kind. And for the record, I could care less who I dine with. But, I’m always curious when I see asian families at an American Chinese restaurant. Isn’t American Chinese food a lot different than food from China? Why do Asian Americans enjoy American Chinese food so much?

real chinese cuisine… there are so many other "subcategories" of chinese food – shanghainese, pekinese, cantonese, szechuan food, so even in china there isn’t one type of chinese food.
i’m asian and i don’t cook, so when i miss "chinese" food, i go to the american chinese restaurants. there isn’t any other way i can get my fix.

Ching He Huang/Chinese Food Made Easy/Spicy Sichuan/Spicy hotpot

Ching He Huang/Chinese Food Made Easy/ Spicy Sichuan
Spicy hotpot

http://www.chinghehuang.com/

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chinese-food-in-minutes/id374143443?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ching-He-Huang/e/B0034NOWOK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Ching makes a mouth-tingling Sichuan hotpot with a spicy broth in which fresh ingredients are poached.
Ingredients
For the spicy soup stock base
2 tbsp groundnut oil
3-4 long dried Sichuan chillies or long dried chillies
50g/2oz whole Sichuan peppercorns
1 tbsp chilli bean sauce (available from Asian grocers)
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1.7 litres/3 pints hot vegetable stock
2 whole star anise
6 dried Chinese mushrooms
1 small handful dried tangerine peel (available from Asian grocers, or subtitute with the zest of 1 orange)
1 large spring onion, roughly chopped
250ml/9fl oz chilli oil
2.5cm/1in piece fresh root ginger, peeled
2 red chillies, de-seeded, sliced
250g/9oz ready-made fish balls (available from Asian grocers) (optional)
1 small handful Chinese cabbage, thickly sliced
1 small handful deep-fried tofu
1 small handful fresh tofu, cut into 2.5cm/1in chunks
For the vinegar, chilli and soy dipping sauce
3 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 red chilli, de-seeded, finely chopped
For the Taiwanese dipping sauce
1 free-range egg, yolk only
1 tbsp oriental satay or barbecue sauce (available from Asian grocers)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp finely sliced spring onion
To serve
lamb fillet, thinly sliced
raw prawns, shelled and de-veined
firm tofu, cut into chunks
enoki mushrooms
baby sweetcorn, sliced
250g/9oz ready-made fishcakes (available from Asian grocers)

Method
1. For the spicy soup base, heat a 2 litre/3½ pint capacity wok until smoking and add the groundnut oil. Add the chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and stir fry for a few seconds, or until fragrant.
2. Stir in the chilli bean sauce and chilli sauce and then pour in the vegetable stock. Add the star anise, Chinese mushrooms, tangerine peel, spring onion, ginger and chillies and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Ten minutes before serving, add the chilli oil, the sliced Chinese cabbage, deep-fried tofu, fresh tofu and fish balls, if using.
4. For the vinegar, chilli and soy dipping sauce, combine all the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set to one side.
5. For the Taiwanese dipping sauce, combine all of the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set to one side.
6. To serve, arrange the lamb, prawns, tofu, mushrooms and fishcakes on separate plates. Transfer the soup base to an electric wok or fondue and set it up in the centre of the table. Let guests help themselves and cook the ingredients in the spicy broth. Serve with the dipping sauces.

Duration : 0:4:54

Read more…

Chinese Food

Dining with friends at a Chinese restaurant

Duration : 0:1:16

Read more…

Wow.. Making Chinese Noodles

A tutor in the Chinese Cuisine Training School teaching students to make chinese noodles

Duration : 0:1:29

Read more…

What is the difference between chinese and japanese food?

I always tell people I don’t like chinese food but I love japanese food and they ask me what is the difference? and all I can tell them is that to me they taste different. I know it’s in the spice but what are the main chinese spices and the main japanese spices?

Authentic Japanese is quite different from authentic Chinese. Chinese cuisine should ideally be about using herbs and spices to bring out the flavor in each dish. Japanese cuisine, well, tends to favor sweet and sour foods (the impression of that as Chinese is incorrect; only Cantonese food tastes sweet) & focuses a lot on the materials themselves and the preparation. In China, the design is very important — believe it or not, good dishes have to look pleasing and have a "lucky" name.
Another difference is Japanese will eat raw food (esp. fish), and most Chinese hate anything raw, except maybe spices like garlic, ginger, and green onions.

How can I make chinese restaurant style fried rice?

I’ve tried at least a dozen recipes from the internet but everyone of them calls for using eggs. Whenever I use the eggs I basically end up with rice and scrambled eggs. I don’t know about the chinese restaurants where other people go, but everyone I’ve been to doesn’t have these egg chunks in it. The rice is is really yellow also. All of my attempts to infiltrate my local chinese restaurant have failed so does anyone have any ideas?

one rinse your rice ….before you cook it..rinse it twice
chop your veggies all the same size…or do those bags of frozen mixed veggies which is the lazy way out
with the rice throw in chicken bullion as it cooks…the powder kind so you can sprinkle it everywhere
take your egg or eggs and mix them with water mix them up
fry it…chop it up as you do
fry the veggies
throw the egg that has been fried in with it
throw the rice in on top
mix it well i always use a wooden spoon
i never use cold rice…it sucks ass
i also use a rice cooker i bought in japan about 20 years ago..makes the best rice
i use carrots scallions and eggs in my rice…the mixed veggies with corn and peas is not chinese..its phillipino rice

What book is the best for understanding the history of Chinese cuisine?

Ok! I think that "Food in Chinese Culture: Antropological and Historical Perspectives" by K. C. Chang, Yale University Press is my favorite, but maybe someone out there could shed some more light!
I live and work in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province!

This book is about childhood recipes and eatting:

Every Grain of Rice: A Taste of Our Chinese Childhood in America
by Ellen Blonder, Annabel Low
There may well be better Chinese cookbooks on the market, but Every Grain of Rice is special for the implied invitation to sit down and eat with the two authors, their families, and all their ancestors stretching back in time to the place where the recipes were originally developed.

This book has the history, recipes, and more:

The Chinese Kitchen: Recipes, Techniques, Ingredients, History, And Memories From America’s Leading Authority On Chinese Cooking
by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Alexandra Grablewski, San Yan Wong (Illustrator), Alexandra Grablewski (Photographer)

You might try to look for some in the bookstores, there are pretty much a lot of Chinese cookbooks….

Chinese Restaurant – Live menu (see to believe!!!)

Bulgarian guy in Chinese Restaurant! See the live menu. Shunde city – Guangdong. Chinese food! Bugs, snakes, turtles.

Duration : 0:1:46

Read more…