|
So thanks to this thread I can have delicious, spicy, saucy food while away from home. However, I have one problem - I'll fry meat and then reserve it, and it'll be just perfectly tender. Then, however, when I add it back in with vegetables and then add sauce I think it cooks a little too long and becomes a bit tougher. I mean it's still good but it's not as delectably soft as when I cooked it by itself. I realize that I should probably cook it to just a bit before it's perfect before I reserve it, but I'm not sure how to tell. Is it okay if, say, chicken is still has some pink parts? Also, let's say I end up messing up and the meat is where I want it before I add it back to the pan. Should I add the sauce and cook the vegetables in it, then maybe turn the pot down to medium heat and add the chicken? I'm just wondering about the specific technique you guys use to avoid overcooking the protein.
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2011 04:53
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 03:23 |
|
|
gret posted:For most Chinese stir-fry dishes, you really shouldn't need to cook a sauce for more than 30 seconds or so. So first cook your meat until it's just caramelized, take it out, cook the veggies, add the meat back in, add the sauce, let the sauce reduce for 30 seconds or so, then scoop everything out. That 30 seconds of cooking in the sauce shouldn't overcook your meat that much. GrAviTy84 posted:If you're doing it little by little to make up for an underpowered heat source: the meat should still be rare-med rare when you reserve it, even chicken. You're just looking for some char/caramelization the first go round. Cook through when you replace it in the wok. Thanks guys, by frying the chicken by itself for only long enough to caramelize it at the beginning (I still had some pink on a lot of the pieces), I was able to get it to exactly the tenderness I wanted to after I added it back in with the sauce! Best stir fry yet!  I currently live in Japan and have a one-burner electric stove, a relatively small wok, and a tiny fridge so stir fry, donburi, and some home-style Caribbean food are pretty much the only things I've been cooking lately due to lack of variety of available ingredients. These recipes have basically been keeping my taste for spicy food intact since I live out in the country and there's not much in the way of spicy or non-Japanized Chinese food around here. So thanks a lot for letting me continue to enjoy Chinese food!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 1, 2011 04:03
|
|
|
I think that soy sauce is supposed to have a stronger flavor than the "usukuchi" soy sauce. I see it all the time in stores and I think my last bottle might have been that one, but right now I'm using "koikuchi" soy sauce. I think it should be fine for Japanese cooking.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 21, 2011 15:37
|
|
|
I've been wanting to make some Lo Mein akin to what I get at local places around Columbus but it seems like most recipes I find use soba noodles as opposed to udon (The closest equivalent I can find to what the restaurants near me use). Does anyone happen to have any recipes for good Chinese fired noodle dishes using those thicker noodles? Edit: A little further research has led me to believe that what I'm trying to make is Shanghai Lo Mein. Does that sound right? Nickoten fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Mar 3, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Mar 3, 2012 08:59
|
|
|
DoleMIGHTY posted:Does anyone have a good recipe for Chicken Chow Mein? My only exposure to it is at the standard chinese fooderies (you know, the ones whose names are pairings of the words "China", "Garden", "Express", "Dragon", and "Golden") but I really like how simple and satisfying the flavors are. I can't help but feel that it all starts to taste the same after a bit, so I'm looking for a starting point to make it at home. Are you talking about something like this? I may be mistaken about what you're talking about, but if not try looking for a pan fried noodles recipe.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2012 17:27
|
|
|
For what it's worth I sometimes used gochujan instead of toubanjan to make Yu Xiang Rou Si and while the taste was of course different, I thought it was delicious.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2012 06:59
|
|
|
Yeah I really like Bok Choy in sweeter stir fries, too. I even add it to Japanese curry sometimes, as bizarre as that may sound.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 11, 2012 21:07
|
|
|
For what it's worth, most places in Ohio call Sheng Mian "Pan Fried Noodles" and refer to the thicker fried noodles as Lo Mein, and what a lot of take out places around here call Chow Mein is a dish mostly comprised of meat and bean sprouts (Image here). In the Caribbean, it's generally called Chow Mein and refers to soft fried noodles but usually of a thinner variety. It's really nice to learn the real name of what I've always heard referred to as Pan Fried Noodles, thanks guys!
|
|
#
¿
Oct 19, 2012 03:12
|
|
|
Would it be inappropriate to ask about recipes for Jjajangmyun here? I liked the Chinese version posted earlier but wanted to make something closer to what they serve in Korea, and I didn't see any Korean food threads posted. Sorry again if it's off-topic.quote:Could you do Mapo Dofu with ground chicken or turkey or something instead of the pork? I don't eat any pig products, which somewhat limits my Chinese repertoire, but that looks so delicious. I personally also enjoy it with ground beef, so if you can do beef that should make a decent substitute I think.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2013 17:59
|
|
|
Shadowhand00 posted:The recipe here is pretty good - http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/jjajangmyun - make sure you find good sauce and use plenty of onions. Obviously, there're slight differences between gan jjajang and regular jjajangmyun, but this should get you started. That's actually the recipe I've been using for a while! Good to know other people use it, too. Apparently the video is new, though, which is nice because her measurements could be a bit confusing at times ("Throw about a teaspoon of sugar in" as she dumps what appears to be at least a couple tablespoons in there). The problem was that I tried some Jjajjangmyun in Seoul sometime after and there was just something about it that tasted amazing, unlike anything I'd had before. Mine felt a bit earthier in comparison, but it might be due to me using sweet potatoes. Maybe I really just need to add a lot more sugar like the video says?  I feel like maybe I ought to add light soy, too? Dunno if that's a crazy idea. Edit: This new video is really good. Thanks for posting that! Nickoten fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Apr 18, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2013 19:46
|
|
|
TehSaurus posted:Help me, goons! There's what I believe to be a quite authentic Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood, and I need to figure out how to make their noodles! Typically we get the "BBQ Pork Soft Noodle," or "叉燒撈麵"? (http://www.firstchinesebbq.com/Menu.asp#softnoodle) which comes out as a big plate of noodles that are really tender but have a good deal of flavor that I can only assume is wok hei. They don't have a whole lot of meat in them and it's mostly just delicious noodles. I only just now realized that these might be lo-mein as their menu on the website is different than in the restaurant. I, too, was looking for a good recipe for some Lo Mein. What I ended up doing was getting some good pad thai paste from a grocery store and mixing it with about 3 tbsp superior light soy, 3 tbsp shaoxing, maybe a couple tbsp of black vinegar (I've tried it without vinegar and it tasted fine, so I guess it's preference), and a tbsp of sesame oil. Then I add a bunch of chili oil and pickled chilis. I fry the vegetables and meat first and reserve them, then fry the noodles in the aromatics (used garlic, ginger, and chili peppers). After frying them a little directly in the oil I then add the sauce, then the vegetables and meat. For vegetables I tend to go with onions and maybe maitake mushrooms. Near the end I add a bunch of bean sprouts and sometimes a little artifical crab meat. I dunno, I just like the color I guess. This will make some VERY saucy lo mein, just so you know, so you might want to cut down on the sauce a bit if you don't like it really wet like I do. I definitely wouldn't call this lo mein, it's just some meat and noodles that I like eating.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2013 16:25
|
|
|
hallo spacedog posted:Personally I always liked this Cantonese lady, wantanmien for good videos. She apparently personally emails and thanks everyone who subscribes to her. What a nice lady. 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2013 02:38
|
|
|
I recently moved into my own place for school and so had to get my own wok. I seasoned it and it turned nice and black and seems to work fine (I just made my first real meal with it), but I'm really itching to be able to use black vinegar to cook again and I'm told that it will ruin the patina. About how low long does it take/how many cooks do I need to do before I can start putting black vinegar in it? I'm contemplating cooking everything in the wok, and then depositing it into a different pan just to add the sauce and let it reduce, but I dunno how important the high temperature is for that last stage in the process. Any ideas for what's good to do until the wok's patina is solid enough for sauces with black vinegar in them? Edit: To give a bit of background I seasoned it with peanut oil and cooked some green onions and ginger, then cooked some onions and then afterward some bacon, letting the wok cool between each thing. Then I finally got to use it for real just now when I made some beef and bok choy in oyster sauce.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 21, 2013 00:15
|
|
|
Good that you told me that, because lacking any real good glassware I had to serve from the wok itself for a while and it was a bitch to clean after because I had left food in it. I'll go ahead and try some vinegar in small amounts and not leave it in the wok very long.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 21, 2013 05:01
|
|
|
The fact that all the American Chinese staples are clearly marked seems promising. I would go for the Twice Cooked Pork on the chance that it's reasonably authentic, but that's just because I really like that dish. I have no idea how rare authentic twice cooked pork is.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2013 22:10
|
|
|
This may sound like a stupid question, but when I put in dried chiles with my aromatics how do I keep them from burning and blackening? Also, can I substitute fresh thai chiles for those, or is the flavor too different?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2013 21:16
|
|
|
Thanks for the advice! I'll try adding them after I add the garlic and ginger but before I add everything else and see what happens.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2013 17:25
|
|
|
Anyone in here have a recommendation for a recipe for Three Cup Chicken? I recently tried it for the first time at a restaurant and absolutely loved it. Most of them seem to be just stir frying chicken with some aromatics and sesame oil and then boiling it in a bunch of shaoxing and soy sauce and reducing, then adding basil. Anything important here that's missing? I was considering adding in some bok choy or something so I didn't have to make it on the side, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2013 21:07
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Does anyone know how to make the standard Cantonese steamed fish? I know you steam a whole gutted fish and there's hot oil at the end to crisp the skin, I don't know the name of the dish. Paging Caberham. Something like this maybe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naNB9-0moBs I haven't tried this recipe but I think I was linked to this lady's channel from this thread, so I bet someone in here has.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2013 15:38
|
|
|
All this talk of Maggi makes me want to give it a try. Is this something you put a few drops of into a dish, or what?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2014 16:06
|
|
|
I recently had some chicken and vegetables on dry rice. Threw some chili crisp Lao Gan Ma on the rice and some Maggi on the chicken and broccoli. I was pretty blown away by how big of a difference it made. I used to only use Lao Gan Ma's black beans and chili oil but the chili crisp is pretty amazing. Anyway, moral of the story is to go buy a cheap whole rotisserie chicken from your local Kroger for less than 5 bucks, steam some frozen vegetables and rice, and throw that stuff on there for a really cheap, low effort meal.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 17, 2014 18:16
|
|
|
What's available at your grocery store? Many American grocers carry stuff like sesame oil, oyster sauce, black vinegar, etc. It's not always good brands, but it would be at least worth checking out. Maybe all you need to order from Amazon is some good soy sauce and some doubanjiang or something.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 29, 2015 01:13
|
|
|
So what happens to a ceramic coating at high temperatures? It's safe?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 10, 2015 20:23
|
|
|
That sounds great. I'm actually in the market for a secondary wok that I can put all the vinegar and boiling water into that I want without worrying about re-seasoning or anything like that. Would you recommend that one from Amazon for lower heat cooking? I'm *this* close to ordering it. I mean, I have a teflon frying pan for eggs and what not, but it would be nice to have something deeper.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 10, 2015 20:28
|
|
|
Adult Sword Owner posted:If you're boiling or using it lower temperatures, why does it need to be a wok vs a regular pot? I'm still in school so I like reducing the number of pots and pans I have for different purposes. If I could find something like the non-stick Japanese wok I used to use (kinda looked like this http://www.amazon.com/Amore-Kitchen...rds=ceramic+wok but probably had teflon), I could use it for a pretty wide range of purposes. Plus, some Caribbean dishes involve frying aromatics and meat, then adding a bunch of water to boil the meat the rest of the way. I use a relatively light wok-like deep aluminum (I think?) pot for this, but if I could do this with a nonstick pot it would be nice.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 10, 2015 20:34
|
|
|
That also seemed like a good choice. Is chipping and flaking a concern if I primarily use bamboo spatulas though? I mean I have some strong metal spoons that I like using with Caribbean cooking but I'm pretty accustomed to the bamboo stuff at this point.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 10, 2015 20:55
|
|
|
This may be a stupid question, but is there a reason we chop garlic and ginger into chunks or slice them thinly for aromatics rather than grating them? It seems like they would dissolve into the oil faster that way. I ask this because my parents (Trinidadians) also use Chinese-style aromatics in their Caribbean cooking and they always do chunks instead of thin slices for aromatics. Can someone explain this to me?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2015 19:41
|
|
|
Jeoh posted:Different cuts of garlic will have different flavours. Grated garlic BURNS. Thoht posted:It's kind of like whole leaf tea vs BOP vs dust/fannings. You get a different flavor profile/strength from each. Which you want depends on what you're using it for. Aahh, so it's about the power of the flavor. That actually makes a lot of sense, thanks!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2015 00:42
|
|
|
totalnewbie posted:Went looking through the OP and noticed that beef noodle soup was missing. Everyone should learn to make beef noodle soup: http://imgur.com/a/9pWAb This looks good. I'll give it a try soon and report back. Thanks!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2015 15:34
|
|
|
On that note, I'm in the market for a good recipe or tips for making congee. Lately I've been wanting to make a little less fried food.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2015 15:24
|
|
|
Thanks for the tips guys! I'll let you know how mine turns out.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 24, 2015 17:38
|
|
|
Just checking in to say I followed Force de Fappe and paraquat's advice and my congee turned out great!
|
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2015 21:22
|
|
|
There's supposedly pretty good Sichuan food in Shinjuku. In Kansai I only ever found very Japanese-style Chinese food though.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 24, 2015 04:38
|
|
|
Jeoh posted:hoisin sauce comes close i guess? I have actually used chunjang as a substitute for tian mian jiang before in twice cooked pork, and it turned out fairly well.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 10, 2015 23:40
|
|
|
If you want to cook stuff at high heats on an electric stove, make sure you cook things in small batches. You obviously won't get the same results as gas even by doing that, but it'll still let you char the outside of your meat.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 27, 2016 03:26
|
|
|
Pollyanna posted:Is this why even when I pounded the poo poo out of thin sliced pork loin to something ridiculous like 1-2mm in width, it still came out kind of tough and chewy? I'm trying to make pork shogayaki, so it's not a Chinese dish, but I did want the pork slices to come out with this kind of consistency. Is it the thickness, the marinade, the amount of heat, or the length of cooking that gives meat the Chinese-food tender quality? I think there's a good chance it's the cooking time in this case. If it's cut that thinly it might need even less cooking than you're giving it. Are you reserving the pork after doing the initial fry?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2016 18:28
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:It's a Chinese vegetable, so try adding cadmium or cesium to your soil. I laughed out loud after googling this to understand it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2016 22:54
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Real laziji is like 80% chili peppers with some bits of chicken mixed in occasionally. Chicken fried in douban sounds sad but also like what Cantonese would do to Sichuan food. I can confirm, I recently had a Cantonese friend's "sichuan green beans" which were green beans stir fried with doubanjiang. I mean they still tasted good, but it was not quite what I was expecting.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2016 22:22
|
|
|
emotive posted:Since you're all dying to know, I made Mapo Tofu. I've also done this a couple times. I used minced shiitake and thought it was pretty good, and would recommend trying it if you're ever cooking for vegetarians.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 24, 2016 06:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 03:23 |
|
|
Wow, that blog is fantastic. That and the Mala Project probably belong in the OP.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2017 03:52
|
|