Favorite Chinese Dishes

[archmichael]

I assume I'm like everyone else. Faced with a selection of 100 choices, you end up gravitating to the same ones over and over again. Nothing sucks like experiment with a new dish and finding out you hate it.

Lake Tung Shrimp? What the hell is that? Is it good? ::the waiter shrugs::

What are your favorites? Maybe we can expand our Chinese food horizons.

Minced Chicken in Lettuce Cups: Might be a West Coast, or Cali Chinese thing. Minced Chicken sauteed in Hoisin sauce. Wrap it in iceberg lettuce leaves and eat.

Imperial Shrimp: Has different names in different restaurants. Has a sweet & spicy sauce. Tastes like it has a ketchup base. Cant find it here in MS, so it might be a West Coast thing again.

Sweet & Sour Chicken: But only with brown sweet & sour sauce. None of that bright red stuff.

Hot & Sour Soup: Great soup, but hard to find places that do it right

General Tso's Chicken: Never heard of it until I came to MS. Sweet, spicy. Very important that the chicken is done crisp, before covered in sauce.

[Scumpup]

Just about any kind of lo mein.

[Trunk]

This discussion starts and ends with the General's Chicken for me.

I never get anything else. I don't eat Chinese enough to branch out.

My wife like to get Mu Shu Pork.

[Dolores Reborn]

Mmm...

General Tso's Chicken.
Lo Mein Noodles.
Egg Foo Yung.
Hot and Sour, done right.
Pan Fried Dumplings!
Mongolian BBQ.

I know what I'm having for lunch. Can you say buffet? I knew you could.

[Motorgirl]

Szechuan Spicy Shredded Beef With Carrots & Celery - don't find it on menus very often, but I almost always order it when I find it. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes it's superb. Yum.

Pork Fried Rice

I wonder if Imperial Shrimp is Yu Hsiang Shrimp, which I get sometimes & like. The description sounds similar.

[Licentious Ectomorph]

Imperial Shrimp: Has different names in different restaurants. Has a sweet & spicy sauce. Tastes like it has a ketchup base. Cant find it here in MS, so it might be a West Coast thing again.


This sounds like my favorite dish in my favorite Chinese restaurant. There they just call it sliced shrimp with sweet and spicy sauce. The shrimp has a crispy coating and the sauce is to die for (not sure about the ketchup base, though). I've never seen anything like it in any other Chinese restaurant.

There's also a sushi place I go to that has a few Chinese dishes, among them a spicy chicken with plum sauce. The combination of flavors is exquisite and this also appears to be a unique dish.

[archmichael]

This sounds like my favorite dish in my favorite Chinese restaurant. There they just call it sliced shrimp with sweet and spicy sauce. The shrimp has a crispy coating and the sauce is to die for (not sure about the ketchup base, though). I've never seen anything like it in any other Chinese restaurant.Pretty sure about the ketchup sauce. I've played the, "You know that dish with..." game with a lot of Chinese restaurants. When I mention sweet & spicy ketchup sauce they know what I'm talking about. It's usually a chef's specialty dish, and expensive as hell. I thought for a while that it was only a Korean-Chinese dish.

Forgot to mention Mongolian Beef. If you have a P.F. Chang's next to you, order it!

[CynicalGabe]

When I go to Noodle Express, I order:
Sweet and Sour Pork

When I go to Silver Dragon, I order:
Sweet and Sour Pork

When I go to China Gate, I order:
Sweet and Sour Pork

You get the idea.

[baronsabato]

Maybe it's cause I'm Chinese (or despite it?) but I love Chinese food of all kinds. Authentic, Americanized, I'll scarf it down.

But I think that some of you need to branch out beyond General Tso's and Sweet and Sour Pork! By the way, General Tso's was virtually unknown to me when I lived in the San Gabriel Valley (SoCal- full of great authentic Chinese restaurants). I first heard of it when I came to Santa Cruz, so I don't know where it really comes from.

Anyway, my personal favorites, and what I would order if I were in the perfect Chinese restaurant with five other people of similar tastes:

Siu Mai Dumplings: Mm mm, I'm pretty sure these only show up in dim sum restaurants, but I love em!

Hot and Sour Soup

Gan Pong Chicken: Anyone else hear of this? I've actually only had this here in Santa Cruz too, but it's delicious. I guess it's sort of like a sweet and sour/General Tso's kinda dish, but it's a little different.

Tangerine Peel Beef

Honey Walnut Shrimp

Hong Kong Style Chow Mein

Sweet Coconut Tapioca Soup

Eight Treasure Pudding

[Ike Witt]

Ginger Fried Beef (extra spicy) is the food of the gods.

[badomen]

I love Ma Po Tofu with some nice steamed rice. Minced pork, tofu, nice spicy sauce. Mmmm.

[Terrorcotta]

I always get the Mu Shu Pork when we go to Xian and they are the only place in town that I have fiound Steamed Pork Buns. I have had so much trouble finding them I have started making them myself. Mmmmm.... Pork in Plum Sauce.... Walnut Chicken.....really, really good Hot and Sour.... ahhhhhh, I need to head out for lunch soon!

[Bippy the Beardless]

Ma Po Tofu and hot and sour soup are great dishes to order at an unknown Chinese restaurant. You can often gage a lot about the resaurants quality from these dishes, and they are almost allways eadible even in very bad restaurants. Neither though tell you if the restaurant can deepfry in batter, and many restaurants make soggy disgusting batter. So in a first order I would stick to just one deep fried dish (orange peel beef usually) so as not to ruin an entire meal if they can't cook battered food.

When I am used to a place and know they are decent cooks I will try many different things off the menu. I think you should experiment, but only at a place you trust. This is because too often I have met people who say they can't stand squid or scallops or ... because they tried them first at a bad place that cooked them wrong, and then assume that is what those items are allways like.

[baronsabato]

I love Ma Po Tofu with some nice steamed rice. Minced pork, tofu, nice spicy sauce. Mmmm.

Oo, Ma Po Tofu is delicious. Unfortunately, I can never get my friends to try it because they have a tendency to want meat, meat and more meat. When I tell them that Ma Po Tofu HAS meat in it, they don't believe me.

Steamed Pork Buns. I have had so much trouble finding them I have started making them myself.

Ah, those are great too. If you have a Chinese market nearby, you can easily find big packs of those in the freezer section. You know what else I like? Steamed juicy pork dumplings, which are great. They have a little pocket of soup that bursts open when you bite into each dumpling.

Man, I'm getting hungry!

[silenus]

This is why we frequent the local World Buffet. I usually load up on Pepper Chicken, Chicken and Mushrooms, Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken (detecting a trend here? :D ), Teriyaki Chicken, Sesame Orange Chicken, and Hot & Sour Soup.

Anywhere else, the default order is Sesame Orange Chicken, or General Tso's.

[archmichael]

Gan Pong Chicken: Anyone else hear of this? I've actually only had this here in Santa Cruz too, but it's delicious. I guess it's sort of like a sweet and sour/General Tso's kinda dish, but it's a little different. Spicy chicken dish with peanuts? I think it might be known as Kung Pao Chicken.

This is why I started this thread. Yeah, General Tso's Chicken kicks ass, but you go out on a limb and order Beef with Broccoli and it's so disappointing. Or you order Garlic Chicken to discover that it's Spicy Chicken only with garlic

Now I'm gonna have to try that Ginger Fried Beef.

[Winnie]

Hot and Sour soup, made well, is something I'll even eat for breakfast.

Pork Egg Foo Young

Combination Fried Rice

Crispy Beef

It's called something different everywhere, but it's basically shrimp in the shell, coated in salt and deep fried. It comes out SO crunchy and tasty you have no idea you're eating the shell. I crave that stuff in my sleep.

[baronsabato]

Spicy chicken dish with peanuts? I think it might be known as Kung Pao Chicken.

No no, it's definitely not Kung Pao chicken. Gan Pong chicken consists of deep-fried chicken cubes in a light batter, much like General Tso's, and is covered with a brown sauce that is somewhat sour with just a little hint of sweetness. It's usually accompanied by some wood ear mushrooms mixed in but little or no vegetables.

Yeah, General Tso's Chicken kicks ass, but you go out on a limb and order Beef with Broccoli and it's so disappointing. Or you order Garlic Chicken to discover that it's Spicy Chicken only with garlic

Well, broccoli with beef is great, but it's definitely more a dish to be made at home rather than ordered at a restaurant, unless you're getting takeout or something. I actually like getting it in more authentic Chinese restaurants because they make it with Chinese broccoli, which is different and very delicious. Garlic chicken is really good, but from your description, it sounds like the restaurants you've had it at don't make it the way I've had it, which is as a whole roasted chicken.

Oh and how could I forget to add peking duck to my list of favorites? Well-made peking duck is so incredibly delicious and I hate duck!

[Podkayne]

Crispy Bean Curd: Largish cubes of medium-firm (maybe even soft?) tofu breaded in cornstarch and fried to a light golden color, served with a very simple sauce on the side. Sometimes it's just rice wine vinegar and minced garlic, sometimes it's sweetened soy sauce.

I often get this when we're getting a bunch of dishes to share, and non-veggies initially turn their nose up at the idea of tofu, but when the dishes get to the table, it's gone like that.

[chinbender]

Sometimes I get General Tso's Chicken, sometimes I get General Tsao's. I've tried General Gau's chicken, but honestly prefer General Chow's Chicken. I occaisionally get General Gou's Chicken, and I even ordered General Maou's Chicken once! I think General's Chicken is ocay, but a bit generic.

Seriously though, I haven't seen Crab Rangoons on this list. I have turned so many people on tho this appetizer I am becomming fearful it is my ultimate purpose in this life.

And Szechuan Chicken is wonderful when served spicy and with peanuts.

[Rabid_Squirrel]

Another fan of ma po tofu. It's a simple dish that is damn tasty when done well.

Can't remember the name of this dish, but it's slices of fatty belly pork layered with taro. Unhealthy, but oh so nice.

Deep fried ice cream is a bit of a showboat dish, but it's quiet good too.

[Ephemera]

At my favorite restaurant in Salem, I generally get beef and broccoli, whatever that steamed green bean dish is called, some spring rolls, sweet and sour pork, sesame chicken, and as much fried rice and lo mein as I can fit on a plate.

They also have a sushi bar (Japanese, I know) and I always have three or four inari as well. I stay away from the kind with fish though. I hate seafood.

[ralph124c]

Anuybody ever tried clams in black bean sauce? heavenly? Also, lobster wor bar is pretty hard to find..try it!
One thing I have noticed..the old-style "cantonse"Chinese retaurants are dying out..everything now is Szechuan (which i like, but you DO get tired of red pepper after a while).
Old-style Moo Goo Gai pan or Hong su Gai is great!
My favorite cantonese restaurant (Ho Sai Gai, Brookline, MA) closed many years ago-the proprietor (Mr. George Chung) was a great guy!

[NoCoolUserName]

My favorite dish is Three Penis Soup--not because I'd eat it (I'm vegetarian) but because I love to tell my friends it's on the menu.

[Odinoneeye]

My wife and her entire family only get Almond Boneless Chicken. I hate going to the chinese restaurant with them since we can't do the pass everyone's around and taste everything.

As for me, I'm very experimental. My favorite soup is hot and sour, favorite appitizer is pot stickers (dumplings, steamed preferred to fried).

As for entree, the best is a place near my parents house that serves spicy ginger and garlic sauce. What kind of meat is whatever I'm in the mood for at the time (baby shrimp, beef or 4 treasures which is beef, chicken, lamb and pork).

I also like

Mongolian Beef
Garlic Chicken
Orange Chicken
Kung Pao beef or chicken
Lo Mein
Egg foo yung

really just about anything but sweet and sour or almond boneless chicken.

[JThunder]

My favorite is Combination #4.

[UrbanChic]

My favorite Chinese take-out dishes:

Yat Gaw Mein, but it has to be Baltimore-ghetto style

Egg Foo Yung

House Fried Rice

Dragon and Phoenix

Happy Family

Hot & Sour Soup

Wonton Soup

I'll try just about anything, though.

[Rufus Xavier]

I have a P.F. Chang's in very close proximity to my office. I got so addicted to their Kung Pao Chicken I had to stop eating their altogether. I was getting fat(78g of fat! No wonder it's so good)! Anyway, other dishes from Chang's that I love (but no longer eat, except on special occasions):

Ma Po Tofu
Cantonese Roast Duck
Beef A La Sichuan

[Glory]

Ma Po Tofu - no meat

There's a place near our house that makes the BEST VERSION, with crunchy little bites of water chestnut. It is insanely good, I start craving it really hard every 2 weeks or so.

If anyone has a decent Ma Po Tofu recipe - I'd love to try to make it at home.

[Hunter Hawk]

By the way, General Tso's was virtually unknown to me when I lived in the San Gabriel Valley (SoCal- full of great authentic Chinese restaurants). I first heard of it when I came to Santa Cruz, so I don't know where it really comes from.
It really comes from New York City. It was invented there sometime around the early 1970s, IIRC.

[Mahaloth]

I like "Ding Ding Chow Mian", as it is cooked at the Chinese Muslim restaurant on Dong Ting Lu, in TEDA Tianjin China.

The "mala yangrou"(Chinese Chili with lamb) is excellent at the Tarp restaurant on BeiHai Rd. off De San Da Jie in TEDA as well.

These are the best I've had in China and I've been here for awhile.

[Crandolph]

My favorite is Singapore mei fun, the curried thin rice noodles with a combination of meats and veggies. Most take out places have it on the menu but you usually have to order the large (quart) size for them to bother. I don't mind; I can eat the large happily!

As the name suggests, this is a dish of the Chinese diaspora and likely unknown in China itself. I imagine that's true for most of the dishes named, or at least the versions you get in the Western world would likely be unrecognizable at home. I'd be interested what any Dopers in China, or spent time there, ate or eat.

[jsgoddess]

Another vote for ma po tofu (which on menus here is written ma po dao fu).

There's a dish a local restaurant makes called "beef fun noodle" which is a mild dish with hai fun and some diced beef. We always call it "big fun."

Another local restaurant makes curry chicken with onion which is to die for.

Other dishes I love:

singapore rice noodle
chicken in black bean
mollusk in black bean
curry beef with potato
hot and sour soup

And I know it's not Chinese, but the only restaurants anywhere near that serve pad thai are Chinese restaurants and pad thai is of the gods.

[jsgoddess]

My favorite is Singapore mei fun,

Hey, you beat me to it. It's outstanding if you like curry flavors, which I adore.

[Kamino Neko]

My usual chinese meal:

Sweet and Sour chicken balls (which seem to be a Canadian thing, from discussions I've had...).

General Tso's chicken.

Egg roll.

Lo mein.

Fried rice.

[LavenderBlue]

We go for dim sum at least once a month at a local place that serves it on weekends.

I especially like shrimp with eggplant, shrimp with green pepper, beef shu mai, mini pork buns and sticky rice.

Yum.

[rjung]

Geez, too many to choose from:

Hot and Sour Soup

Egg drop soup

Shredded pork/chicken in garlic sauce

Scallops in black bean sauce

Beef with broccoli

Chicken with mushrooms

Black pepper chicken

Seafood hot pot

Fried bean curd

Steamed fish

Orange flavor chicken (which IMO is what "General Tso's chicken" really is ;) )

Peking duck

Beef lo mein

Beef with egg over rice

Shrimp in lobster sauce

Honey walnut shrimp

Pickled vegetables

Soy chicken

Crispy skin chicken

Beef tripe (alone or with rice or noodles)

Barbecue pork, any variety


And I gotta agree with Winnie -- if you find a restaurant that makes a damn good Hot & Sour Soup, patronize it often! I used to work within ten minutes of a Szechwan restaurant that makes the best H&SS in the west Los Angeles area, and I'll still go out of my way to visit them just for another hit every few months...

[roger thornhill]

We go for dim sum at least once a month at a local place that serves it on weekends.

I especially like shrimp with eggplant, shrimp with green pepper, beef shu mai, mini pork buns and sticky rice.

Yum.
Dim sum is a great way to eat. Besides what's already been recommended, cheung fan is good. It's like steamed gelatinous pancakes filled with either barbecue pork (cha siu for the sinophiles), shrimps or beef. As an alternative to ha gau (shrimp dumplings), you might like to try ha gwo (deep fried shrimp dumplings, which come with salad cream). At Chinese New Year, loh baat gou (turnip cake - better than it sounds, it contains many other ingredients) is excellent with some chilli sauce.

[singular1]

[QUOTE=chinbender]

Seriously though, I haven't seen Crab Rangoons on this list. QUOTE]

Oh, man, I love these things! I haven't had them in years - I'm definately going out for some this weekend!

I once tried a recipe in a long-lost cookbook that was stir-fried chicken and vegetables and cantalope. It was exquisite, and I made it several times. But I've lost that cookbook, and I can't seem to locate the recipe online. Damn, it was so exotic and flavorful! Anybody that can find this recipe (it was in a Sunset Cookbook) will be my BFF (and recipient of a free dinner, if they're in the Puget Sound area)......

[tarragon918]

Yum! I enjoy Chinese food, and am willing to experiment with different dishes, so my favorites cover a wide variety:

Appetizers: steamed dumplings, barbeque rib tips, crab rangoon (these are delicious!)

General Tso's chicken
Singapore Mei Fun
Moo Shu Pork
Lemon Chicken
Chicken with Cashews - the stir fry variety with brown sauce only!
Eggplant with tofu - but only from one particular restaurant - the others I've tried haven't been good

Now I'm hungry for Chinese ... and it's only 7:30 am!!! :p

[Anastasaeon]

Where I'm from, a Chinese family moved in and opened up their own wonderful, heavenly restaurant: for me, it was a combo #3: Fried rice, Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls, Delicious Egg Roll. :D

Though sometimes I'd get the Almond Chicken Soo Guy.

At a buffet, I get a little bit of everything I see, though all the buffets I have ever been to were more "North American" Chinese dishes - where sweet and sour sauce is brown, or is actually plum sauce... and no cherry sauce to be found.

[Ephemera]

..cherry sauce? What is that? Anything like plum sauce? I can (and have) drank plum sauce. God, I love that stuff.

[Shirley Ujest]

Chicken Chop Suey.

Pretty much every time, not because I am afraid of new things, its cause I loves it so much.


And the best Chinese I ever had was in DC at some small, down in the basement style, decorated slightly like a dentist office restuarant. Turns out it was a 5 star Zagat.

[RobuSensei]

Back when I lived in the states, my friends and I used to go to Chinese restaurants every week. One of them would always joke that the restaurants we frequented had two menus -- the Americanized, "Round-eyes" menu, and the more authentic menu. We would always order from the more authentic menu, and because of that, we became welcome as regulars at a few restaurants.

One of my favorite dishes was "Beef Chow Fun." (Fun is pronounced "foon") It's beef and really wide rice noodles and green peppers, in a black bean sauce. Mmmm...

Now that I live in Japan, there are a LOT more traditional Chinese restaurants I can go to, along with a bunch of Japanized Chinese food restaurants...alas, I can't read the menus that well, and for the most part I only know the Japanese names, so I apologize in advance for that.

I, too, love mabodofuu (er, ma po tofu), and I was thrilled to discover that you can buy instant mabodofuu at grocery stores.

I've also learned to love ramen. Miso ramen with pork, especially (since I can cook that myself with few problems). Although, it did take a while to get over the image of ramen that I had when I was in college (either plain noodles in the 20 cent pack, or the dehydrated stuff in the styrofoam cup).

Also, gyouza (pot stickers), shuumai, nikuman (steamed pork buns)...hm. It seems that most of my favorites are side dishes. Oh, well!

Aside: In Japan, you can buy steamed pork buns (nikuman) 24 hours a day at convenience stores. Niku means meat; the Japanified versions include pizzaman, curryman, sakanaman(some sort of thick creamy fish stew), keema-curryman, cheeseman, and just introduced last week...custardman. eew.

[TwistofFate]

Mai cha ko ro..... tangy Pork hot pot.... mmmmmmmm

[cckerberos]

Xiao Long Bao

[bouv]

Damn you people, now I'm gonna have to get Chinese take out for dinner tonight!

What will I get? Well, in the interest of having lots of leftovers, I will get:

General Tso's (the BEST thing ever, if done right. Oh, and rjung, some places it is basiaclly a slightly spicey citrus chicken, but I usually ask for it to be very spicy, so it's extra good! :) )

Pan fried dumplings

Wonton soup

Eggroll or two

Maybe some lo mein

And possibly sweet and sour chicken.


The sad thing is, I live alone, yet it will probably al be goen by tomorrow inght. (I mean,. there's dinner tonight, late night snack, breakfast, lunch, and then maybe even dinner tomorrow night!)

[Anastasaeon]

..cherry sauce? What is that? Anything like plum sauce? I can (and have) drank plum sauce. God, I love that stuff.

It's a bright red, sweet-ish type of sauce made from cherries. It's similar to sweet and sour. I love, love, love plum sauce, as well, but plum sauce, if I remember correctly, is sweeter. (anyone can chime in and correct me if I'm way off, I'm just going by distant memory).

I don't know. It's all good. There's these little packets of "egg roll sauce" I get at some fast food type places, too, and that's goooooooood. I don't know what it is, though.. it's kind of a clear, vaguely yellow colour, and has a texture a little thinner than honey. Goooooood.

Damn, I'm hungry.

[Treviathan]

Ginger Fried Beef (extra spicy) is the food of the gods.

Game, set, match. Especially with onions, which absorb the thick sauce so nicely. The beef's gotta be crisp, though.

Barbecue pork buns are good too, and I need to try this Eight Treasure Pudding, just based on the name.

[Terrorcotta]

Barbecue pork buns are good too....

Oh, that does it! I am making these TONIGHT! Even if I have to use left over BBQ chicken....

[rjung]

I can (and have) drank plum sauce. God, I love that stuff.
Hoi sen (seafood) sauce for me. I could live on white rice and hoi sen sauce alone...

[Cockatiel]

Fried egg plant...mmm...

lomein...mmm...

szechuan string beans...*drools*

I'm a vegetarian, and these are some of the dishes i love. Simple but very very good.

[Tapioca Dextrin]

General Tso's Chicken.


The General (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16) and his chicken.
General Tso Tsungtang, or as his name is spelled in modern Pinyin, Zuo Zongtang, was born on Nov. 10, 1812, and died on Sept. 5, 1885. He was a frighteningly gifted military leader during the waning of the Qing dynasty, a figure perhaps the Chinese equivalent of the American Civil War commander William Tecumseh Sherman..........

The dish is the brilliant invention of .......a gifted Chinese immigrant chef named T.T. Wang...."We opened the first Hunanese restaurant in the whole country, and the four dishes we offered you will see on the menu of practically every Hunanese restaurant in America today."....General Tso never ate the dish named after him. The great warrior, the prop of the Qing dynasty, the subduer of rebels and uprisings who carved his name into Chinese history at the point of a sword, had to wait more than 100 years for an inventive expatriate chef to award him his American triumph and make his name famous in the West.

[Fenris]

The single best Chinese dish ever made was one that's now extinct. It was called "Crispy Shrimp With Walnuts"--it's been replaced by a dish with the same or similar name, but it's not the same thing*. You could get it at any mid-grade or higher resturant in the early '80s. It was shrimp that had been coated with a super thin batter and flash-fried--the coating just added crunch, no real "breadding" effect. The sauce was a brown sauce (think "Beef with Broccolli") but a bit spicier and sweeter. The walnuts were rolled in sugar and deep-fried so the sugar carmelized to near the point of burning so they were meaty, sweet and bitter all at once! I've tried to find a recipe but I never have and I've never gotten the sauce quite right, dammit.

Fenris

*The current version is made as follows: < gag > < retch > < choke > Take heavily tempura-battered shrimp, and pour a hot sauce made of mayonaise and orange juice over them. Then add some raw walnuts to the top. :: barfs ::

[sleeping]

I once had a dessert from a Chinese restaurant but I never found out what it's called: hollow three-inch balls of some kind of tasteless polymer that have been deep-fried and covered with sesame seeds. Inside, there's a glob of honey.

Anyone?

[Fenris]

Sesame Balls (http://www.mydigitalkitchen.com/pic/rec/137.jpg)---find a Chinese resturant that does dim sum and you'll be able to get 'em again. If they're fresh and made well, they're pretty good!

[sleeping]

Thanks!

[Hunter Hawk]

Seriously though, I haven't seen Crab Rangoons on this list.
Possibly because it's not actually Chinese food. It's from Trader Vic's.

[nivlac]

Peking duck, Sesame chicken, Kung pao prawn, Rock salt & chili prawns .... yummy
I'm getting an MSG high typing this!

[baronsabato]

The single best Chinese dish ever made was one that's now extinct. It was called "Crispy Shrimp With Walnuts"--it's been replaced by a dish with the same or similar name, but it's not the same thing. You could get it at any mid-grade or higher resturant in the early '80s. It was shrimp that had been coated with a super thin batter and flash-fried--the coating just added crunch, no real "breadding" effect. The sauce was a brown sauce (think "Beef with Broccolli") but a bit spicier and sweeter. The walnuts were rolled in sugar and deep-fried so the sugar carmelized to near the point of burning so they were meaty, sweet and bitter all at once! I've tried to find a recipe but I never have and I've never gotten the sauce quite right, dammit.

Hmm... Well, back in Southern California I could get honey walnut shrimp, which is a cross between the dish you loved and the dish you abhor. I know what you mean by the current version though- I've gotten it before here in Santa Cruz, and it was disappointing. Lots of mayonnaise and poorly done walnuts. In SoCal, the dish was made with an extremely thin batter, the way you described, and there was definitely mayonnaise in the dish, but it was difficult to pinpoint the flavor exactly. There's no sauce; rather, the flavor all seems to be melded to the shrimp itself. And the honey walnuts were delicious. If you need a recipe for those, I can give that to you (my mom and grandmom make it all the time), but I'm afraid I don't really know what the sauce that you're describing is.

[rjung]

You can buy the honey walnuts from any halfway decent Chinese supermarket. My wife's got a couple of cans in the cupboard right now.

[China Guy]

Hairy Crab (the best are from yenchenghu lake) steamed is simply devine.

Xiaolongbao has been mentioned before. Just highlight it's got to be real Shanghaiese xiaolongbao. Plain ones are awesome. Hairy crab ones superb. Go to Chenghuamiao for the best ones in the world.

Any fish steamed to perfection by the cantonese. Dang, just about any soup made by the Cantonese as well.

Vegetarian fish at the wenshuyuan temple in Chengdu is without compare. The best veggie restaurant in China is at a Nunnery in Guiyang, Guizhou province.

In parts of tibet one can find a goat cheese that is awesome.

[Cherry2000]

I don't know. It's all good. There's these little packets of "egg roll sauce" I get at some fast food type places, too, and that's goooooooood. I don't know what it is, though.. it's kind of a clear, vaguely yellow colour, and has a texture a little thinner than honey. Goooooood.

Damn, I'm hungry.

Sounds like you are describing duk sauce (I have also seen it spelled "duck" sauce)

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Ginger Fried Beef (extra spicy) is the food of the gods.
Now I'm gonna have to try that Ginger Fried Beef.
Game, set, match. Especially with onions, which absorb the thick sauce so nicely. The beef's gotta be crisp, though.
Unfortunately, this is food of the Calgary gods. It's not an actual Chinese dish, but created by a chef in a Calgary Chinese restaurant. I make my own, and while it's pretty damned good, it's a lot of work. I get my fill when I go home in the summer - the best I have ever had is at a hole-in-the-wall place in Nobleford, Alberta (15 minutes out of Lethbridge), 10 minutes from Mom's.

[archmichael]

Unfortunately, this is food of the Calgary gods. It's not an actual Chinese dish, but created by a chef in a Calgary Chinese restaurant.
I was wondering why I couldn't find it anywhere around here. I thought it was because of the Chinese food wasteland that is Mississippi.

Damn you, Calgary Gods. Damn You!!

If it's good, it'll make its way across the hemisphere like General Tso's

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I was wondering why I couldn't find it anywhere around here. I thought it was because of the Chinese food wasteland that is Mississippi.

Damn you, Calgary Gods. Damn You!!

If it's good, it'll make its way across the hemisphere like General Tso's
Oh, it's good. It's damned good. However, Albertans tend to stay put. I would be the obvious exception (she said from her desk in Baltimore).

[Ephemera]

Sounds like you are describing duk sauce (I have also seen it spelled "duck" sauce)

Duck sauce, in my experience, is always plum sauce.

[Kitchen Wench]

Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread. I'm craving me some Hot Sour Soup and egg rolls now. I could seriously hurt myself on those alone. I really love Moo Goo Gai Pan and Sesame Chicken, too. Or any all veggie dish... And Lo Mein... And Beef with Snow Peas... And Egg Foo Yung... Oh, the list goes on.

Hmmm... Maybe I'll have to ditch the gargantuan pot of chili I made yesterday for some cheap Chinese from the grocery store for lunch today.

Incidentally, we call the stir-fried green beans "squeaky beans." Man, those are good.

[Apos]

I'm very surprised not to see more duck and fish on this list. While many take-out places don't do much with this stuff, sit-down resturants usually have some incredible duck and fish courses. As for fish, try getting any kind of whole fish fried on the bone. Heaven.

[Apos]

General Tso's chicken (or tofu) is super easy to make on the cheap. This is my quick fix fave:

tofu or chicken:
for tofu, dry on paper towels, cut the block into inch by inch chunks and drain and dry again. If you want, you can then freeze these dried chunks in wrapped plastic in your freezer overnight, thawing them and draining/drying them again in the morning: gives the tofu more of a chickeny texture. Though I don't find that as important for this recipe tastewise, it helps avoid unpleasantness in frying
for raw chicken, just chunk it

for either, dip them in either 1 beaten egg yolk or a mix of vegan egg replacer (make to recipe) plus an extra 3 tablespoons of water in addition to the box dierctions, coating each piece completely. Sprinkle cornstarch over the sides of the chunks of "whatever", again mixing to coat them as evenly as possible (don't let the cornstarch clump up too much: this is harder with tofu since you don't want to break it up too much)

Heat up a fair amount of vegetable oil in a wok/pan until it's steady hot but NOT starting to burn (you aren't deep frying, but enough so that the chunks are sitting in a puddle of oil). Fry the chunks, turning regularly, until they are golden. Careful about hot oil splatter from any water being released from the tofu or chicken (this is where a good drying would have come in handy) Remove from the oil and drain them on paper towels. Don't overcook or the chunks will become uninterestingly hard and dry.

You can just deep fry if you want, but not everyone is equipped to do that. If you are, just fry it as you would anything else.

sauce:
-chop 3 entire green onions (the long kind)
-mince up a heaping Tablespoon each of both ginger and garlic
-make or get 2/3 cup of a flavorful vegetable stock (or chicken stock, whatever) ready to go, adding 2 TBsp of soy sauce, 4 TBsps of sugar, and 1 TBsp of some sort of white vinegar You can also hit this with a TBsp of sherry if you have any around
-now get yourself a few (don't overdo it) red chilis, dry or fresh (use less if fresh) split and de-seeded if needed, but not chopped up
-alternatively, add a good amount of spicy red pepper flakes to the stock/soy/sugar mix
-get a cornstarch mix ready to go: 1TBsp of cornstarch mixed in 2 TBsp of water

Now, heat 3 TBsps of vegetable oil, medium heat and saute the garlic, ginger, and onions for about 2 minutes, careful not to burn anything. Add the stock mix and peppers and stir. Add the cornstarch mix and keep stirring: it will quickly turn into goo. Toss in the chunks of "whatever" and coat it up good.

Serve with steamed veggies over brown rice or whatever. Easy and cheapo. Serves 3.

[Windwalker]

Hairy Crab (the best are from yenchenghu lake) steamed is simply devine.

Xiaolongbao has been mentioned before. Just highlight it's got to be real Shanghaiese xiaolongbao. Plain ones are awesome. Hairy crab ones superb. Go to Chenghuamiao for the best ones in the world.


Woah, hairy crab Xiaolongbao? Heh, didn't know that existed. Where can you get it in Shanghai? Probably anyplace, now that I think about it, since I can't read very much :smack:

Not that I'm a fan of hairy crab (too much work!), but that sounds like a neat combo.

Oh, and for the OP, I like:

Tang Cu Pai Tiao = I believe that's sweet and sour pork strips, tho not absolutely sure

Hui Guo Rou = A Sichuan dish with pork and cabbage and just the right amount of spice for my taste

Jian Bao Qie Zi = Eggplant with copious amounts of sauce (maybe soy?), absolutely delicious

Yu Xiang Qie Zi Bao = Fish-smelling eggplant arranged in somewhat hemispherical shapes

Ca Shao Shu = It's a dian xin (dim sum) thing, that's a small baked bun with pork inside. Absolutely fabulous, but probably frighteningly fattening.

Yao Zu Luo Bo Gao = It's a rice paste thing with radish.

Zong Ze = The sticky rice concoction usually in the shape of a pyramid covered in green (lotus?) leaf