Please help me make Chinese Take Out at home

[LauraGB]

What's wrong with my stir fry that it doesn't taste like the Chinese take out place? I have tried numerous times, but I can't quite get it right.

 

Tonight I sauteed in olive oil (should have used sesame, but I don't think that's my problem) bok choy, green onion, lightly steamed broccoli and cauliflower, bean sprouts, and pea pods. For the sauce I put together 1/2 c veg broth, juice of 1 orange, a fair bit of honey (maybe 2 TBS?), tamari(maybe 1/3 c.), red chili pepper flakes, and about 2TBS corn starch; I sauteed about 6 cloves of garlic, about 2 tsp ginger until they looked about right, added the sauce, boiled til thick, re-added the veggies and served over rice.

 

It was...okay. Needed more tamari at the table, which I expected. Not entirely like the Chinese restaurant, though (okay, not hardly at all). What am I doing wrong? If it helps, ds and dh like beef with broccoli (rice) and dd likes veggie lo-mein and while I really like the lo-mein, I absolutely love the broccoli with garlic sauce.

 

Any help? Pretty please?

[KnitWit]

msg? seriously.

[LauraGB]

msg? seriously.

 

Is that what it is? The extra-super-duper salty taste is what does it? I thought maybe it was the HFCS, which is why I added all the honey, but maybe you are right.

 

Grr.:glare:

[Cricket]

I've started adding a little hoisin sauce. That seems to make a big difference in the taste.

[ktgrok]

It is also the difference in temperature. The woks at a restaurant are SOOOO much hotter than we can do at home. If you have an electric burner it's impossible to recreate.

[KnitWit]

I don't know for certain, but my dh grew up in a country that eats similar food. I've tried his family recipes with and without. There is a marked difference in taste.

 

Of course, if it's authentic, they may be using spices and seasonings that you will need to get at the Asian market.

 

(Pay attention if you buy a spice blend or packet though...they are likely to include the msg.

[KnitWit]

Also, many Asian recipes call for fish sauce, in very small amounts. That is a thought.

 

Maybe try searching on http://www.recipezaar.com

[Farrar]

Yeah, I say try MSG - they sell it at the larger supermarkets just in the spice aisle or with the Asian foods. So good. If the name turns you off, remember that the Chinese call it "flavor essence."

 

However, also keep in mind that you're essentially trying to make "fast food." I lived in China and ate in people's homes and the food there tastes very different than it tastes in restaurants (either there or here). My grandmother makes simply amazing fried chicken, but it's not anything like KFC. My mother's hamburgers are great, but they're not like McDonald's. Just saying.

[Amira]

I agree with the msg thing (that it makes a huge difference, not that you need it to make good Asian food). And restaurants often way way more oil that I do at home. I also never use olive oil for stir-fry because it can't handle hot temperatures and its flavor doesn't go with stir-fry. Peanut oil or vegetable oil is good.

 

When I decided that I shouldn't try to recreate meals I ate in a Chinese restaurant, I was a lot happier with the Asian food I made. Instead, I cook Asian food that you're not likely to see in a restaurant in the US. I also think it's worth getting a few good cookbooks to get started.

[kalanamak]

 

Any help? Pretty please?

 

In general, the problem with the home kitchen is lack of intense heat. Long ago, in a past life, came up with the idea that since the Chinese of yore used un-composted human waste as fertilizer, in desperation, those who cooked it very fast on very high 1) killed the germs without 2) killing the nutrient, and lived to reproduce and pass this trait on. IMO, the very high heat changes the tastes. In addition, I would not consider olive oil good for such high heat: I used peanut, a large hammer wok, small portions so you could really cook fast, chowing (stirring with those wok shovels) madly.

 

Another nifty trick is looking at:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Ingredients-Foodstuffs-Thailand-Vietnam/dp/006093204X

 

for the real skinny on the brands (with pics, in case there is no western writing) that make it taste like mu qing makes it.

HTH

[Shawna in Texas]

When I started cooking it on a higher heat, with a little more oil (not olive) than I was comfortable with, and use fresh ginger, and a little sesame oil to flavor, my lo mein turned out like the place down the street.