Looking for some American Chinese recipes

[Dejah]

For our shrimp in tomato sauce, I'll have to look up the recipe for our special sauce base.

Man! This is a walk down memory lane for me.

[jo-mel]

If you woldn't mind my asking, there is another dish that I really like in restaurant, and it is served as shrimps in tomato sauce. Would you know how to make that tomato sauce (is it just the ketchup or is there something else?). If you happen to know, then please let me know. Thanks a lot Dejah, I really appreciate your help.

ash---- Dejah's recipe might be just what you are looking for, as it is a bone fide restaurant recipe.

This one I got from Hugh Carpenter (cook book author). He uses a lot of fusion, but the recipe is good.

TOMATO FIREWORKS SAUCE == To 1 Tbsp. oil, add 2 tsp. minced garlic and 2 tsp. minced ginger and cook till fragrant. // Add 2 scallions sliced into ¼ inch pieces and ¼ cup sweet red pepper cut into ¼ inch pieces and stir/fry another 15 seconds. // Add 2 Tbsp. sherry, 2 Tbsp. tomato catsup (a bit more to taste), 1 tsp. curry paste, 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce, ½ tsp. sugar, and ½ tsp. sesame oil and bring to a boil. // Add stir/fried shrimp to the sauce and heat.

[hzrt8w]

[...]As for the washing without soap, that's the same thing I've heard through the rumor-mill. Just use very hot water. Dry the wok and then put it back on a hot burner/flame (just like what you would do with a cast iron skillet) until any damp spots are gone and the wok is completely dry. This flame drying helps prevent rust on the wok.

There are supposed to be special (bamboo?) brushes, too, that you can buy that are supposed to help clean your wok without disturbing the wok-hey (hai?). 

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It is not just rumor. I can testify that it is true. In most of the restaurants that I used to work at, the cooks washed the woks with hot water, brush them, and used the burner to dry the woks immediately between cooking different dishes. Of course they do that on the same wok hundreds of times a day and the wok hey builds up much faster.

They carry the bamboo brushes in our local markets. I plan to pick up one after I purchase my wok. Really handy.

[hzrt8w]

It would be great to have the pcitorial guide for ingredients. Please let me know when you are done with it. After sometime you can even publish a book and make some good money. :-)

[...]

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Done with it? It's a long-term open project! I do one page whenever I have spare time. Here is where they are posted. 10 pages so far I think:

A pictorial guide to Chinese cooking ingredients

Malt sugar does have a nice characteristic taste. More fragrant than brown sugar (and definitely better than white sugar). It is very sticky at room temperature. If you heat it up in the microwave for 20 or so seconds, it turns soft and it's much easier to handle. Then dissolve it in some water. They are quite common. Most Asian grocery stores carry them. Many Chinese recipes use malt sugar.

[hzrt8w]

[...]there is another dish that I really like in restaurant, and it is served as shrimps in tomato sauce. Would you know how to make that tomato sauce (is it just the ketchup or is there something else?). If you happen to know, then please let me know. [...]

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Here is one dish that is made with tomato sauce and shrimp:

Imperial Shrimp (Shrimp with Chili, Garlic and Tomato Sauce) (乾燒蝦)

[ash123]

Jo-mel: I guess I will be after Dejah now

Thanks for sending me this recipe. It looks quite appealing. There are variety of flavors in it. It would be fireworks for sure. I will try and let you know.

Thanks!

If you woldn't mind my asking, there is another dish that I really like in restaurant, and it is served as shrimps in tomato sauce. Would you know how to make that tomato sauce (is it just the ketchup or is there something else?). If you happen to know, then please let me know. Thanks a lot Dejah, I really appreciate your help.

ash---- Dejah's recipe might be just what you are looking for, as it is a bone fide restaurant recipe.

This one I got from Hugh Carpenter (cook book author). He uses a lot of fusion, but the recipe is good.

TOMATO FIREWORKS SAUCE == To 1 Tbsp. oil, add 2 tsp. minced garlic and 2 tsp. minced ginger and cook till fragrant. // Add 2 scallions sliced into ¼ inch pieces and ¼ cup sweet red pepper cut into ¼ inch pieces and stir/fry another 15 seconds. // Add 2 Tbsp. sherry, 2 Tbsp. tomato catsup (a bit more to taste), 1 tsp. curry paste, 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce, ½ tsp. sugar, and ½ tsp. sesame oil and bring to a boil. // Add stir/fried shrimp to the sauce and heat.

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[ash123]

I don't know how I missed this recipe. It is my favorite. Now I have to cook it soon. Thanks for letting me know.

BTW, I tried your "Shrimp Paste Wrapped in Bean Curd Sheets" yesterday. I liked it. It was my first experience with bean curd sheets. I think I soaked it a little too long so it became very soft. Kindof became difficult to handle. So unlike the neatly tucked rolls like yours, they were all horribly disfigured pieces (that rolling isn't all that simple as you had shown it to be ). But the end product came out really well. I also added few drops of oyster sauce and sesame oil to the shrimp paste. I loved it, akindof remeniscent of the fond memories of chinatown dim sums.

[...]there is another dish that I really like in restaurant, and it is served as shrimps in tomato sauce. Would you know how to make that tomato sauce (is it just the ketchup or is there something else?). If you happen to know, then please let me know. [...]

←

Here is one dish that is made with tomato sauce and shrimp:

Imperial Shrimp (Shrimp with Chili, Garlic and Tomato Sauce) (乾燒蝦)

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[ash123]

Thanks Dejah, I really appreciate it.

Now that I have discovered that you were none other than a restaurant chef, I am going to be after you. You are just the person I had been looking for!! Please do make a trip down the memory lane. I will sponsor it. I have few more recipes to get from your secret pot.

Thanks!

For our shrimp in tomato sauce, I'll have to look up the recipe for our special sauce base.

Man! This is a walk down memory lane for me.

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[hzrt8w]

[....]BTW, I tried your "Shrimp Paste Wrapped in Bean Curd Sheets" yesterday. I liked it. It was my first experience with bean curd sheets. I think I soaked it a little too long so it became very soft. Kindof became difficult to handle. So unlike the neatly tucked rolls like yours, they were all horribly disfigured pieces (that rolling isn't all that simple as you had shown it to be  ). But the end product came out really well.

[...]

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The timing is very important for soaking the dried tofu sheets. If you use the fresh tofu sheets (called "Seen Jook" in Cantonese) it would be easier (and tastier). It is considered a higher grade of tofu sheet and is slightly more expensive.

Soaking for 30 second to 1 minute max. Take the sheets out of water and try them. If they are not soft enough, you can always soak them a bit longer (but not the other way around). Or you can try Tepee's method of wrapping the tofu sheets (one at a time) between 2 wet towels.

[hzrt8w]

ash123:

I posted a pictorial recipe on Sweet and Sour Pork Sparerib:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=86605

You can almost order this dish at any American Chinese restaurant that you walk into. While it has its Cantonese origin, it is quite popular in the USA.

[ash123]

ash123:

I posted a pictorial recipe on Sweet and Sour Pork Sparerib:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=86605

You can almost order this dish at any American Chinese restaurant that you walk into.  While it has its Cantonese origin, it is quite popular in the USA.

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Ah Leung, thanks a lot for this pictorial! Really!! Infact I already saw and commented on your posting (even before I read this response). Please take a look at my comment on your posting. Thanks, Ah Leung, much appreciate it.

Ash

[kangarool]

Was just about to post a request when I saw this thread, so thought I would add my question here, rather than start a new one:

I had some takeaway Chinese the other night with some Australian friends here in Melbourne, but it was from a reasonably legit (aka "authentic") Chinese place. Most interesting was the "chow mein"... what we had was the Chinese version, with proper noodles that are softened then fried, and the sauce, seafood and veg were all well cooked, fresh, etc.

so then I tried to describe American-Chinese (aka NYC style take out) "Chicken Chow Mein". The "noodles" you get in the little cello bags were pretty well understood, but the "chicken Chow" part of it took a bit more describing, and in the end, I said I'd just have to try to make it.

Here's what I would do:

(Velveted?) Sliced chicken breast

Onion, Bean Sprouts, Celery, maybe bamboo shoots & slimy straw mushrooms? can't remember for sure on those last two

for the sauce, I'd guess:

Chicken Stock

Light cornstarch slurry

plenty of salt and MSG

bit of white pepper

maybe a bit of rice wine, a touch of sugar and soy. But i remember the sauce colour being quite light/clear, so I think the saltiness would have come from salt and or MSG.

What do you reckon? Would that come close? Any other suggestions that might help me replicate a "23rd & 3rd" CCM for my mates?

[Dejah]

Here's what I would do:

(Velveted?) Sliced chicken breast

Onion, Bean Sprouts, Celery, maybe bamboo shoots & slimy straw mushrooms? can't remember for sure on those last two

for the sauce, I'd guess:

Chicken Stock

Light cornstarch slurry

plenty of salt and MSG

bit of white pepper

maybe a bit of rice wine, a touch of sugar and soy. But i remember the sauce colour being quite light/clear, so I think the saltiness would have come from salt and or MSG.

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On the prairies, we used canned sliced mushrooms, not straw mushrooms, shredded cabbage, thinly sliced celery and onions, fresh bean sprouts, and no bamboo shoots.

Sauce: no rice wine or soy. Yes to chicken stock,salt, sugar and MSG. But remember, you don't need a heap of MSG, just a little is all you'd need.

[Dejah]

ash123:

I posted a pictorial recipe on Sweet and Sour Pork Sparerib:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=86605

You can almost order this dish at any American Chinese restaurant that you walk into.  While it has its Cantonese origin, it is quite popular in the USA.

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I've never seen sweet 'n'sour spareribs like these before in Canadian restaurants. Is this how your family made them in the restaurant down east, Ben Sook?

Our Canton Spareribs had a clear sweet and sour sauce with thin strips of sweet peppers...no tomato or tomato sauce.

We breaded our ribs with cracker meal, deep fried them cooked in our "secret rib juice"

Just got in from opening night at our art gallery. I've been helping a visual artist from Montreal re-creating a typical Chinese restaurant on the prairies from the 60's. They served deep fried mini egg rolls so there was "that wonderful smell". We lent her many articles that were saved from my restaurant days. Some of the guests were our old customers, and they recognized many things: the black laquered screen, wrought iron gates, the electric consomme soup kettle, the Soo's plastic take out containers, etc etc.

In the storage area and "living quarters", we displayed many large glass relish jars filled with Chinese herbs, bamboo leaves, lotus leaves, real Chinese food!

In the back "bedroom" was my old leather suitcase that I brought with me when I came to canada in 1958.

Edited April 28, 2006 by Dejah (log)

[jo-mel]

C'mon -- we're friends! What's the 'secret rib juice'??

[Ben Hong]

I've never seen sweet 'n'sour spareribs like these before in Canadian restaurants. Is this how your family made them in the restaurant down east, Ben Sook?

Nope.

[kangarool]

So, my new eGullet motto is, don't think just cook. Decided to chuck it all together tonight to see how it turned out... visual results below.

Dejah thanks for the tips, I basically followed my guess and your tips as I threw a wokful of stuff together, and it turned out a dream. Actually, it was quite uncanny how incredibly, not just similar but the *same* Chicken Chow Mein turned out, as I had threatened to inflict on my friends. Actually, "inflict" isn't fair, because the dish was really quite tasty... different from what you get from takeaway shops here, but very much the NYC style I'd promised, and, really good. I'm lucky to have a well seasoned wok and a full-on built in wok burner. So, thanks again. I did leave out the mushrooms... in the end, I just couldn't purchase tinned mushrooms! Which defeats the whole point of the excercise, I know...

one with flash, one without, couldn't decide which looked better.

Anyway, good fun, and I introduced a roomful of mates to a whole new genre of "Chinese" food!

[Ben Hong]

OMG!!

[jo-mel]

Picture #2 looks great --- It is what I remember in my kiddie days when Chinese American was all over. I can smell the aroma just looking at your picture!

AAMOF, I guess I connect bean sprouts with that food.

I rarely use bean sprouts, when I cook, ---- except with beef chow fun.

[hzrt8w]

[...]Here's what I would do:

(Velveted?) Sliced chicken breast

Onion, Bean Sprouts, Celery, maybe bamboo shoots & slimy straw mushrooms? can't remember for sure on those last two

[...]

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The typical ingredients include onion, bean sprouts, celery, cabbage, straw mushrooms (typically canned), carrot, water chestnut, maybe bamboo shoots (typically canned). You mix and match whatever you like (or is available).

You picture does look like the "chicken chow mein" served in many American Chinese restaurants - San Diego and New York included - in both of which I worked as a waiter in Chinese restaurants. They typically lay the broken, deep-fried noodles on top to make the "mein" part. And the customers, of course... being that they are eating "Chinese"... would typically help themselves and pour plenty of soy sauce on top.

This type of "chow mein", however, doesn't exist in Hong Kong or the many parts of China that I have been to.

Edited April 28, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[sheetz]

They typically lay the broken, deep-fried noodles on top to make the "mein" part. 

It's been brought to my attention that some places don't even include the fried noodles. In other words, the "chow mein" is just stir fried veggies, sometimes served over rice!

[Dejah]

kangarool:

Your dish is more like chicken and bean sprouts which I used to cook as a treat for one of the maitresses who worked for me. On my menu, chow mein and chop suey both had shredded cabbage to be "authentic Canadian Chinese" We made our own noodles to put on top of chow mein. They were not hard, but crispy and fluffy...so good and hard to keep your hands out of the barrel!

There must be quite a few differences between American and Canadian. bastardization of Chinese food. We didn't use straw mushrooms, waterchestnuts and bamboo shoots because of cost. Carrots would add a lovely colour but I don't think the actual taste of carrots would complement the other vegs.

Ben Sook, your "OMG! " - Was that your head or your stomach?

[Ben Hong]

Ben Sook, your "OMG!     " - Was that your head or your stomach?   

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Both!

Mea culpa! Mea culpa! Mea maxima culpa! I am one of the guilty ones who perpetrated this kind of slop shock on our naive, innocent, and unsuspecting gweilo clientele. I did irreparable damage to their taste buds and their perceptions of what is reality in "Chinese" food. May heaven forgive me. I am not worthy.

"Our client, who doth have gelt,

Here be thine Chow mein....

(Proffer me no questions,

But the veggies did not wilt),

Thou hast the money

And I have the wok

In the name of the celery, the cabbage and the holy sprout.

Allllll Right!!"

[wesza]

Tsk ! Tsk ! Tsk !

Being from the "Bronx" & "Brooklyn" where the best method of finding out if a neighborhood was Jewish was to see how many Chinese Restaurants were in the area. Ummmmm, guess that where Ben's, "gelt" (Yiddish for money) came from.

What everyone is forgetting is that dishes like "Chicken Chow Mein" and "Pork Chow Mein" or "Shrimp" had only one fundamental difference.

The "ONLY" Pork or Chicken or Shrimp being served in this type of dish was never mixed into the Sautéed Vegetable Mixture that rarely included the Sliced Mushroom Pieces (cheapest canned) reserved for only dishes featuring Mushrooms. Canned Waterchestnuts were a must item.

The Veggies were placed on the bottom of the serving plate, platter or metal covered bowl then garnished with Julienned Chicken, or Julienned Barbecued Pork Slices or Spit Shrimps that covered the top of the Veggies and appeared nice so customers could be sure that they received what they ordered.

The customers were expected to mix the Veggies together with the topping of whatever and then after plating mix again with the crispy chow mein noodles often with added soy sauce and a dash of hot mustard.

Many also added "Fried Rice" to the treat mixing everything together.

The only difference with "Chop Suey" was that sometimes the veggies were cut slightly different for appearance but toppings were the same and Chop Suey was served with a side of White Rice in place of the Crispy Noodles.

It still done this way in American Style Chinese places. Even just a few years ago many Chinese Restaurants away from main Cities still used "Canned Bean Sprouts".

Whats surprising to me is that West Coast American Style Chinese Restaurants serving "Shrimp with Lobster Sauce" don't add any ground Pork into the so called Lobster Sauce as has always been traditional on the East Coast where it always made with Pork for Lobster Cantonese (not served in the west) or Shrimps with Lobster Sauce.

I still feel that Lobster Cantonese would be very popular if offered in Hong Kong. I know that at Hong Kong Lindys the "American New York Barbecue Spare Ribs" {exactly the same as served in NYC Chinese places) were our most popular dish.

Irwin

[jo-mel]

You picture does look like the "chicken chow mein" served in many American Chinese restaurants - San Diego and New York included - in both of which I worked as a waiter in Chinese restaurants.  They typically lay the broken, deep-fried noodles on top to make the "mein" part.  And the customers, of course... being that they are eating "Chinese"... would typically help themselves and pour plenty of soy sauce on top.

This type of "chow mein", however, doesn't exist in Hong Kong or the many parts of China that I have been to.

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Xiao hzrt -- You just described my dear better-half!!!!!!! LOLOL! ---except, you didn't mention the fork!