This blog was created to allow me to vent my frustrations and deal with my depression. But I think that writing about things I like and am interested in could help too.
Today I want to teach you about Americanized Chinese food. This will cover where to get Chinese food, and what dishes to get. This is for anybody who wants to eat something familiar but a bit more interesting than orange chicken or "beef w. broccoli". It isn't authentic but it may be the closest you will get in the States.
Where:
First we will talk about what kinds of Americanized Chinese restaurants exist in the USA.
Buffet style - It is possible that a buffet style restaurant prepares excellent chinese food. When you enter, you can ask for a menu so that you can order freshly cooked food instead of dine on the overcooked food sitting under the heat lamps on the buffet. However, some Chinese buffets have grills where you can pick your own meat, seafood, sauce, and veggies and the grill cook will make a customized stir-fry for you. This customized stir-fry could be an excellent choice depending on the choices and the skill of the cook (I have had some that were excellent, and another that was so bad that he "boiled" my food on the grill by dumping water over it... yeck).
NY-style kiosk- These places are small, no buffet, and only have limited or no dining space. Since they cater to carry-out orders and make everything fresh, their dishes are usually a higher quality than compared t their buffet style counterparts. Basically, these are the kinds of Americanized Chinese restaurants you want to go to. There are exceptions. I have been to buffet-style places that have better dishes than carry-out places, but this isn't usually the case.
Bistro or slow casual (full service)- If you have upscale Chinese places with excellent food in your neighborhood, you're lucky. I have never eaten at P.F. Chang's (which is the Applebee's of Americanized Chinese food) but I heard it isn't very good. While I haven't eaten Americanized Chinese food in an upscale or a slow casual, my experiences with other cuisine tells me that usually the quality and authenticity aren't worth the sticker price. It seems to me that the hole-in-the-wall cheaper places also have the tastiest food.
What to get:
So what should you get when you go to a Chinese restaurant? The following is a list and why you should get it:
Chicken w. Black bean sauce - This stir fry usually comes with more vegetables than a few stalks of broccoli and has a tasty, tangy sauce. Most importantly, if you're use to the more popular Chinese dishes, the sauce might be something new to you. Chicken, vegetabes, tangy, but not as sweet. The Chinese probably prefer fermented black bean sauce though.
Kung Pao Chicken- This is a crowd favorite and the quality of this dish can vary widely from place to place. If you do find excellent Kung Pao, consider yourself lucky. I still recommend trying it though, as it has heat, tang, and isn't too sweet. The crunchy peanuts and crisp cabbage give the dish a variety of texture. I can't say for sure but I think most Kung Pao is close to the original version with the exception of schezuan peppercorns. American Chinese places will use American-friendly chile peppers to replace the peppercorns for the heat.
Moo Shu Pork- If you haven't had this dish before, it could be a new culinary experience for you. This dish consists of shredded pork, cabbage, and sprouts stuffed into paper thin pancakes (like a taco or burrito) and is topped with earthy (and authentic) hoisin sauce. The original version is similar except it has lotus flowers in it. The Chinese believe in making their food double as medicine.
Twice Cooked Pork- Pork praised in ginger and salt and then added to the wok with shiitake mushrooms, carrots, and nappa cabbage tossed in a Schezuan-style sauce. This dish is more consistent from place to place than Kung Pao Chicken. It is tangy, hot, and delicious!
Honey Walnut Prawns/Shrimp- a Hong Kong dish that is decadent boasting a mayonnaise based sauce and topped with candied walnuts. Wow! But it may be difficult to find depending on where you live.
Buddha's Delight- This dish basically employs most if not all of the vegetables used in a Chinese kitchen's arsenal. That could mean that Chinese vegetables might slip in there! A vegetarian choice.
Crispy Beef- strips of beef fried in a crispy batter and covered in a tangy, sweet sauce. It is a VERY American invention, but very good. It could be hard to find depending on where you live.
Mongolian Beef- Not *exactly* Mongolian, but let's say, *inspired* by Mongolian barbeque. It is usually a superior dish at Americanzed Chinese restaurants, consisting of slices of beef, onion, carrots, and bamboo shoots.
Schezuan Bean Curd- You may not be able to find the authentic "stinky" tofu, but at least you can have it spicy.
Dumplings (steamed)- not fried! You cannot go wrong with these, and they come with a wonderful sweet, chile oil based dipping sauce! Delicious!
A note about "authenicity": While stir-frys exist in China, the large and culturally diverse country has much more than stir-fry. But it is alright! Don't feel guilty about enjoying a spicy, tasty stir-fry at an American eatery. A good Chinese restaurant will use decent quality ingrediants and not skip steps in recipes (such as not cooking the pork in twice cooked pork twice or using orange juice instead of orange peel in orange chicken). To me, a Chinese restaurant is "authentic" if they prepare the recipes correctly (Americanized or not) because some changes to recipes are because of the American pallete, and those are fine, but some changes are meant to streamline the recipe and make it easier or cheaper to cook and this usually lowers the quality of the dish. But it is possible to find Chinese restaurants that are committed to quality.
If you live close to an army base: You are really lucky as many excellent Chinese places with the inclusion of more "unusual" items such as spicy squid, peking duck, etc are found on the menu. There are usually other excellent asian restaurants near army bases such as Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese as well. It is much easier to find asian restaurants with spicy, pungent, and authentic food at other asian restaurants because the dishes haven't been standardized by the prevalance of Americanized counterparts. I have to say that I enjoy authentic asian food much more, but the dishes I listed suffice if you don't have access to any (or can't tolerate strong tasting or smelly food).
Good luck! Enjoy Chinese food!
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