General Tso's Relatives

[skchai]

This crispiness / sogginess issue is real interesting to me - I feel the same way about letting deep-fried foods sit in sauce for a while.

But I've also noticed that at virtually all Chinese-Korean places there is a dish called "Rajogi" that is quite similar to General Tso's but where the deep-fried chicken is usually allowed to cook in the sauce until the coating becomes fairly soft. This is definitely done on purpose - there are other deep fried items on the Chinese-Korean menu that don't get that treatment.

I guess the goal here is to get a tender but slightly resilient mouthfeel on the coating. One difference between Rajogi and most deep-fried dishes is that the coating is extremely thin and delicate, just a light dusting of flour, usually, before it goes into the deep frier. It took a while to get used to it, but now I can see the logic. . .

And while I'm not aware of Chinese-Chinese dishes built on the same principles, there are plenty of dishes that use a deep fry-then-steam technique that must seem somewhat weird to Western conceptions, where the whole point of deep-frying is to make things crisp. Likewise, there are Indian snacks in which the deep-fried pakoras are soaked briefly in water to remove their crispness before being sauced or filled.

I guess, this is my roundabout way of asking - it this obsession with oily crispness a specifically American cultural trait? Have we simply failed to acquire a taste for what we would call sogginess but others might call delicacy?

Again, I'm not suggesting here that we all should let our GSC sit around for hours before eating it!

[Gary Soup]

And while I'm not aware of Chinese-Chinese dishes built on the same principles, there are plenty of dishes that use a deep fry-then-steam technique that must seem somewhat weird to Western conceptions, where the whole point of deep-frying is to make things crisp. Likewise, there are Indian snacks in which the deep-fried pakoras are soaked briefly in water to remove their crispness before being sauced or filled.

By the same token, Japanese noodle places will put tempura IN the soup.

[Jason Perlow]

And while I'm not aware of Chinese-Chinese dishes built on the same principles, there are plenty of dishes that use a deep fry-then-steam technique that must seem somewhat weird to Western conceptions, where the whole point of deep-frying is to make things crisp.  Likewise, there are Indian snacks in which the deep-fried pakoras are soaked briefly in water to remove their crispness before being sauced or filled.

By the same token, Japanese noodle places will put tempura IN the soup.

Yeah, like in Tempura Udon or Nabeyaki Udon. I totally don't get those dishes at all. Not that I don't like Japanese noodle soups but I think that putting a nice crispy fried shrimp in a bowl of soup to get soggy just seems like a criminal offense to me.

[jo-mel]

Hot deep-fried rice crusts are dropped into hot soup --- for the sizzling effect.

[skchai]

It also occured to me - Mexcian chicaquiles (sp?), in which the fried tortillas sit in a chile sauce until they lose their crunchiness.

Jason, I feel the same way about tempura or nabeyaki udon. I even ask then to toss tradition and to serve me the tempura on the side. But I've wondered if this somehow a manifestation of our cultural biases, and if so, where those biases came from.

[jo-mel]

Maybe it's not quite the same thing, but there is a 'pizza' place near me with great pizza selections and even better cheese calzones. The bread on those calzones are starch-junkie heaven. Yeasty, soft inside and a nice lightly crusted exterior. Pure anti-Atkin fare. BUT, they ALWAYS want to pour a tomato sauce on top!!

To keep this post in the Chinese mode ----- Those calzones look like a huge dumpling!! LOL!

[SobaAddict70]

Just wanted to bump this up again.

The other night, I had...drumroll please...Kung Pao Scallops (not bad, I will post about this in another thread) and General Tso's Shrimp.

Kind of like GTC except that the shrimp were deep fried in a water chestnut powder kind of preparation and then coated with the usual sauce.

I want some more.

Soba