I was waiting for someone to say it and finally... So true... It's MSG. And maybe a well seasoned wok. You just cannot develop that kind deep flavor in such short time span without relying on a short cut.
I rather disagree. If there's a secret it relies on the power of fermented flavorings. Most of the seasonings like rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, bean paste, leverage time and microbes for flavor. Rather than time in the pan, they build on time in fermenting.
How I learned was I ate at many authentic Chinese places with Chinese friends. This way, you learn what you like. Secondly, I had a Chinese give me a tour of the Asian markets so I began to know the basic ingredients.
The chef's above have given some great advice. More than one person mentioned high heat. I have a super stove with a 34,000 BTU burner, which is better than most homes have. The restaurant has a 100,000 BTU or even hotter. Food can become fragrant when cooked at such heat. You cannot duplicate that exactly with better equipment. Millionsknives above mentioned outdoor wok -at home, that is the way to go. The smoke created by proper wok'ing it too much for a flimsy indoor hood.
The cheftalk site has recomendations for cookbooks. Grace Young's books are popular. The Food of China is good starter book.
Here is my mise en place for stir fry tonight - shrimp marinated in ginger, garlic, pepper flake, oyster sauce, dark sesame oil, white pepper, anchovy paste and corn starch. The plate contains clockwise from 1-o'clock - ginger, garlic, red bell pepper, shaved celery, seasoned tomato, pineapple, in the center is cilantro. These are laid out in order of operations. The pot has steamed broccoli and the little bowl has raw peanuts. The sauce is oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, tamarind sauce, low sodium soy sauce, fish sauce, peanut butter, coconut milk and corn starch. I'm using virgin coconut oil and sesame oil and I'm probably leaving something out, but you get the idea. This is not a "challenge" dish for this month - /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif
Not counting the meat, fowl, fish or shell fish, I like to have most of these ingredients ON HAND. I tend to cook extemporaneously so I may not have everything planned but with these ingredients I can coble together fairly good flavors. I do keep a supply of Thai and Chinese noodles as well.
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Chinese Essentials
Comments
Brand(s)
1
Jamine Rice
Fragrant Long Grain aka Hom Mali - "good smelling"
Elephant Brand
Golden Phoenix
2
Soy Sauce
Kikkoman
Pearl River Bridge
San-J Organic Tamari
3
Soy, Black
Thai brand with molasses (add flavor and some sweetness.)
Healthy Boy (Thai)
4
Soy, Mushroom
dark syrupy
Lee Kum Kee or
Pearl River Bridge
5
Sa Cha Sauce
Chinese Sauce made from shrimp, brill fish and a mixture of spices, has an aromatic seafood flavor
Lee Kum Kee
6
Char Siu Sauce
Chinese BBQ sauce wt honey and Maltose
Lee Kum Kee
7
Mirin
Rice Wine, sweet (actually Japanese)
Kikkoman Aji-Mirin
8
Oil, peanut
9
Oil, Toasted hot sesame
toasted sesame oil seeped with red chilles
Look at ingredients
10
Fish Sauce
made from anchovies and water
Tiparos
11
Shaoxing cooking wine
fermented from rice from Shaoxing
many
12
Vinegar, black
stronger smoky woodsy flavor than rice vinegar.
Chinkiang
13
Vinegar, seasoned rice wine
aka sushi vinegar
Marukan
14
Corn starch
Thickener and sauces
15
white pepper
16
Chinese (tianjin) chilies
(both crushed and whole)
17
Sichuan pepper
18
Garlic
19
Fresh Ginger
20
Dried mushrooms
hot pot, stir fry, soup, spring rolls
21
Fermented Black beans
shell fish, fish, stir fry
22
scallions
23
onion
24
Napa cabbage
25
firm tofu
26
Water Chestnuts
27
snow peas
28
bean sprouts
29
Green bell peppers
30
carrots
I make my own hot sauce from peanut oil in garlic, ginger, red arbor chilles, and fermented black beans.
I read in a book (that I cannot seem to find at the moment) that the combination of flavors has as much to do with taste as it does philosophy. Each ingredient represents something, each process brings out the "chi," and the collection of ingredients within that process needs to be harmonious. It completely upended my perception of food in general. Especially Chinese food.
I wish I could remember the book. It's buried somewhere.
The health unit in my city made restaurant health inspections available online for all to see. No offense and i don't mean to be racist, a majority of chinese and Japanese restaurants have received severe infractions and some have even been closed down 1 or 2 times.
The health unit in my city made restaurant health inspections available online for all to see. No offense and i don't mean to be racist, a majority of chinese and Japanese restaurants have received severe infractions and some have even been closed down 1 or 2 times.
I worked for Lockheed Martin in San Jose. The cafeteria was run by the Marriot Hotel. In 9 years, I have gotten sick there three times because of unsafe food handling by the staff. I also ate off a Mexican food truck for 11 years without even getting sick. Eventually the truck was shut down because it did not pass code.
Can you draw any conclusions from these data. Not too much.
I can say that if a place makes me sick, I am not going to want to eat there. I am sure our cafeteria never failed a health inspection.
I read in a book (that I cannot seem to find at the moment) that the combination of flavors has as much to do with taste as it does philosophy. Each ingredient represents something, each process brings out the "chi," and the collection of ingredients within that process needs to be harmonious. It completely upended my perception of food in general. Especially Chinese food.
I wish I could remember the book. It's buried somewhere.
In Chinese Gastronomy, the authors Hsiaang Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin speak to the harmonious "marriage of flavors". Their second chapter is dedicated to "flavour". Perhaps this is the book you are thinking of?
The Chinese have perected their art for 5,000 years while I...I am still in the stone age!
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