The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Sports & Leisure => Topic started by: Arachno-capitalist on March 16, 2007, 10:16:16 pm
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Everytime I get Chinese I order General Tso's with white rice. I think its delicious but its getting boring and those chinese menus are so long. The universe of chinese cuisine appears to be deep and broad and yet I have only dabbled. (Meanwhile I've had everything a sushi chef could ever make).
What Chinese food do you all enjoy?
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there is a variety which is variously called Tangerine or Orange, and then a kind of meat. I normally like this. Such as "Tangerine Beef" or "Orange Chicken." this is usually good, I think.
I also enjoy the classic "Sesame" family. As well as the Sweet and Sour shrimp at the Chinese place down the street from me in Charlotte.
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All of it. Or rather, all of it that I have tried, which is quite a lot, I think, compared to most people. For reasons which I won't go into just now, Chinese food, and the availability of it, has become very important to me... I treat Chinese food the same way my Depression-era grandparents treat free condiment packets on the table at Denny's: as something to be hoarded when available, and set away in preparation for possible lean times. You won't find moldy paper boxes of Ma-po Tofu stashed in the back of my cupboard, necessarily, but the mentality is there nonetheless.
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I was all about the sesame chicken.
Now I just get the hottest thing, made with tofu.
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Such as, when people order it at work, and there is hell of left overs, you take them home and freeze them for later?
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I was all about the sesame chicken.
Now I just get the hottest thing, made with tofu.
Man, I had some excellent Braised Bean Curd for lunch today. It was tasty.
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A great, greasy appetizer that few people know about is the cheese wanton. The only chinese food dish with cheese, it's cream cheese and chives in a fried wanton. (10) 2.50
I like to get pork and broccoli, shrimp roll, egg drop wanton soup, chicken with garlic sauce, fried chicken (chinese food restaurants in NY have amazing fried chicken, especially in Jamacia, but probably not as good as Crown Fried on Hillside Ave.) man, everything at a chinese food joint is good, it doesn't matter what you order.
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Many, many things. Though I don't really do take-out anymore as all the places here are a bit shit. I posted a mean Kung Po recipe on here some time ago though.
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I ate a lot of really gloppy Chinese food when I was young, and now I just can't bring myself to go to a Chinese restaurant. Fortunately there is basically every other world cuisine within 15 minutes of my house, so I get by.
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Having been raised appropriately half-Taiwanese, I think anything involving fried tofu or steamed giraffe is excellent. These are generic enough that most Chinese restaurants should have them.
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A great, greasy appetizer that few people know about is the cheese wanton. The only chinese food dish with cheese, it's cream cheese and chives in a fried wanton. (10) 2.50
This sounds exactly like my favorite appetizer, crab rangoons sans the crab.
Also, hunan <meat> especially if you can get it without all the nasty broccoli
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This sounds exactly like my favorite appetizer, crab rangoons sans the crab.
Also, hunan <meat> especially if you can get it without all the nasty broccoli
I thought that said <human> meat, and I loved that it was just kind of tossed out there. But I was also terrified.
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Oh maaaannnn... mu shu is delicious. It's a stir-fried dish served with thin pancakes and plum sauce, and you make little burrito-like rolls out of it. I adore that stuff with extra plum sauce. Hell of delicious.
Sesame chicken is also good if you like buttery chunks of fried chicken in delicious sauce.
I love broccoli in garlic sauce...the broccoli holds in an insaaaane amount of flavor and sauce and it's just delicious.
Dammit, now I'm all hungry.
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Oh maaaannnn... mu shu is delicious. It's a stir-fried dish served with thin pancakes and plum sauce, and you make little burrito-like rolls out of it. I adore that stuff with extra plum sauce. Hell of delicious.
Even though I tend to prefer spicier Chinese foods, Moo Sho is a big favorite of mine. Good stuff, Maynard.
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I think it really depends what kind of chinese restaurant you are going to.
If it's your average take-away joint then like inev said anything with Orange (or honey or lemon) in front of it is probably awesome, doubly so if deep fried. I also have a powerful love for salt and pepper squid.
If you're in an honest-to-god restaurant I find the simpler dishes can often by the most delicious, I had some cashew chicken the other day (actually my lady-friend ordered it and I stole it) that was just barely seasoned with a little salt and the chicken was so goddamn tender I wanted to cry, it was pure joy.
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The thing I long for the most is steamed giraffe. I've tried making it at home and it's just not the same. If I'm just ordering from a takeout place though, I'll usually get black-pepper beef. And I could eat pot stickers until I died.
My obsession with Chinese food started when, because of some circumstances barely a year ago, I was forced to live in a horrible little town of <1k people. They didn't even have a grocery store. I imagine a Chinese restaurant would have scared the living daylights out of these people. The nearest Chinese place was in the next town over--population just over 1k--and it was so horrible that even when I was Jonesing the hardest for Chinese, I refused to go there. We went there exactly once.
The nearest real Chinese place was a 45-minute drive away, so to eat there usually required a bit of a production since I was working in that city and my husband was at law school in the other city 50 miles from the one-hoss town where we were living. I used to get cold sweats wanting Chinese, and knowing full well that by the time we got to the city, the place would be closed, so I'd just suck it up and let the desire kill me.
When we finally moved back to the city, the first night--our moving truck wasn't even unpacked--we ordered Chinese. I gorged myself.
The first two weeks back in the city, I at Chinese food at least 6 times. It was soooooooooooooo delicious.
More on topic: I also like ma-po tofu quite a bit; although since developing an allergy to soy, I haven't ordered it. I sure miss it though.
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tonight, we watched Chinatown.
every time the mentioned "Chinamen", I lusted after some grelicious chinese dishes.
PS my mom makes potstickers that are pretty awesome.
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Interesting "Clerks" fact - the line "that's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artifical insemination" was originally "that's why I shoot Chinamen for the railroad" in the first draft.
Interesting "Roger Rabbit" fact - the company Cloverleaf Industries was named after the proposed title for the third and final Chinatown film that was never made... "Cloverleaf"... that was to be about the conspiracy of the oil and tire and car companies that tore up the light rail that made LA the freeway hell that it is today.
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my friend Sarah decided that from now on if someone is aggravating her, she will say "Goddamnit, you're screwing me like a chinaman!"
Also: i wish they had made Cloverleaf, that would have been awesome. Is the other movie (The two jakes?) supposed to be any good?
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The Two Jakes is really pretty good. It isn't Chinatown good and so it gets a bad rap.
But in and of itself, quite entertaining.
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I liked it. I'm not terribly discerning when it comes to movies however.
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I didn't even know there was another film. Interesting; I'll have to see it.
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The Chinatown reference in Hot Fuzz made me laugh so loud I embarassed my friends, and we were all laughing pretty loud.
And I've never even seen Chinatown.
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The Two Jakes is certainly worth seeing. Too bad they didn't make the third one, I had no idea it was even contemplated.
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Since I'm Chinese, is it considered cheating for me to reply to this topic?
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I'm Italian, Slovenian and Belorus and I... know nothing of making pasta, slivovitz or borscht.
Despite having Ethnicities, I basically don't even know how to cook "American" let alone the delicacies of relatives of mine who have been dead for well over a hundred years.
If you know stuff about cooking Chinese food, it probably has a lot more to do with you having applicable talents and an attention span for learning, not where your family first remembers being.
So, Chewy, I'd say that you should go right ahead.
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The saddest thing: My favorite Chinese food is rice porridge. Yup. Rice and water boiled together overnight. Second favorite? Pickled radishes.
Though I won't say no to some delicious steamed giraffe, Shanghai eels, fresh shrimp, or lions head meatballs. (http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=lion%20head%20meatballs&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi)
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lions head meatballs. (http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=lion%20head%20meatballs&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi)
Ohyesyesyes! How could I forget! My dad always made really, really good lion's head meatballs. And cha sui bao!
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General Tso's is the ol' reliable. Yeah, it's not all that authentic, but damn it's tasty. I also enjoy a good Kung Pao, and a nice lo mein is good now and then. Nearly all Chinese restaurant appetizers are good, but I can't pass up an egg roll.
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General Tso doesn't appear on any of the take out menu's around. We have a fairly descent Chinese population round here, so maybe the non-authenticness is why it's excluded? Or maybe it's called something else?
My favorite is squid in five spicy salt - there is usually something of this variation on any descent menu. I think this is probably similar to the salt and pepper squid Doc mentions. Damn fine.
Also a nod to the simple is better. There's a place, where if you order pea pods and beef, the beef is so tender, the pods just tender-crisp, that I'm all "What the hell? Chinese Food isn't allowed to be this good! You need a permit to make food this good! This is way too good."
Since I'm Chinese, is it considered cheating for me to reply to this topic?
chuano, it is required that you reply to the topic. It is now time for you to school us. You must school us in what we need to know! What do you order? Just as importantly, what do you avoid? I mean, I am a pretty damn fine chef, but every time I have Chinese food I'm confused. It's too good. There's a secret something that I am not doing when I cook Chinese.
I did have some really bad food-court style Chinese a while back. It was a pasty glue with pineapple sauce and the odd bit of overcooked meat stuff. The guy said it was shrimp as he scooped it on to my plate, and after I paid for it he said "Oh, actually it's chicken." What? It was so bad I could cry.
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Chinese food is easy to cook, hard to prepare. Basically, you have to chop things thinly and evenly without slicing off your fingers. Also, you have to cook using high heat, so you also have to keep whatever's cooking in motion, or else it will burn. But that's only for stir fry. I think the main things are the chopping, slicing, and fresh ingredients. Marinate meat with soy sauce, wine, and sugar before you start cooking it, but only for a few minutes. I still think you need to constantly cook Chinese food before you can make it well because cutting food is so hard! I've seen a chef so skilled he can cut tofu so thin it looks like noodles.
Whenever I go out to eat Chinese food with my family, we usually order steamed giraffe, crab of some sort, big pea shoots (these are extremely delicious and impossible to cook well at home), and some other sort of seafood. But we go to the restaurants in places with a large Chinese population, so that changes the menu content a lot. Food-wise, there's nothing that I avoid because well-cooked Chinese food always tastes good, but I do avoid bad restaurants.
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My girlfriend's dad works in international business, so we do quite a little bit of international dining with his colleagues. Indian, Korean, Brazilian, Spanish...and Chinese. The native-born will take us under their wing when we go to authentic Chinese places and order "off menu." This results in more "variety meats" than I knew existed but also some very delicious food as long as you don't really know what you're eating its too late.
Then last week GF and I went out on our own to a place that offered an "authentic" Chinese menu as a supplement to the Roundeye Usuals (General Tso, Anything Lo Mein). My choice, black pepper scallops, was on both menus but the authentic version was $1 more. I asked the difference and was told they were exactly the same. GF ordered peanut chicken, also on both menus, and we were told that the authentic version has fewer vegetables. We thought this was odd because the stereotype is that Fat Americans would be the ones to avoid corn and broccoli and water chestnuts.
My personal preference is Szechuan shrimp or chicken. Spicy is good, and the orange- or sweet and sour- sauces always seem cloying and syrupy after a few bites even at the high-class places.
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General Tso doesn't appear on any of the take out menu's around. We have a fairly descent Chinese population round here, so maybe the non-authenticness is why it's excluded? Or maybe it's called something else?
General Tso's Chicken is also known as various other monosyllabic generals in different parts of the US. In Boston it's General Gao's, and I've heard that in some areas it's General Tsu's. Probably "General (Anything)'s Chicken" is the stuff.
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General Gao's
This makes me picture Chinese-food chicken prepared by a dinosaur, which is easily the best part of this thread so far. And I like Chinese food, so it's not like I hate anything in this thread, just... compelling imagery.
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General Tso's Chicken is also known as various other monosyllabic generals in different parts of the US. In Boston it's General Gao's, and I've heard that in some areas it's General Tsu's. Probably "General (Anything)'s Chicken" is the stuff.
I've seen it called General Zo's Chicken. Personally, I'm not that fond of the chicken but I love the sauce. I just put the sauce on my rice and I'm happy.
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I saw General Xao's chicken, once somewhere, but it escapes me at this time.
I thought "wow, that sounds like one of the Phantom Zone villains."
Because I am a nerd.
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So what would General ___ be called if it weren't called what it's called? I've checked every Chinese take out menu I've got and there's no sign of it. According to the ever reliable Wiki article, it's called General Tao's in Canada, but it's not offered on any of the places I order from. On our menu form the best place we order from we have "Ginger Chicken (Lightly Breaded)" and "Hot & Honey Garlic Chicken," which are both excellent - I wonder if either of these are it? Here's an interesting article. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr1)
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Are you telling me youve never had General Tso's chicken?
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I'm telling you I've never heard of it until everyone started posting about it here. Honestly, our Chinese community is pretty significant and none of the menu's I have are anything but descriptive of the food - no "romantic" names at all.
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Me. This guy. I'm the one who posted about it here. Its my A #1 chinese food and I've been hooked on it like its some kind of asian heroine. I live in chinatown and every place here has it.
I would look under poultry dishes for something described as breaded in a spicy sauce. Also sometimes they put it under chef specialties. Other places will only list it as a lunch special.
Lucy Liu?
Cheater.
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If it helps I've never heard of it either.
I always figured it was just one of those things Americans made up to fuck with the rest of the world like southern baptists and world series baseball.
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Are you telling me youve never had General Tso's chicken?
I wish I hadn't. It's so gross but every time I express this opinion people react as if I'd said, "Bowie sucks." The breading is terrible and makes me feel icky after 2 pieces. Sweet and sour chicken is the same way.
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At home, we call any generic dish with chicken chopped into chunks a "Ji Ding." This means "chicken chopped into medium sized pieces." If anything else is added to the chicken, like bell peppers and onions, we just add more words to "Ji Ding." In other words, I have no idea what General Blablabla's chicken is called in Chinese.
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If it helps I've never heard of it either.
I always figured it was just one of those things Americans made up to fuck with the rest of the world like southern baptists and world series baseball.
Yeah, from what I've read when I googled it, it's an American thing. Tsk.
Don't mind us folks, Doc and I will be snogging on the Chesterfield, talking about zed and planning our friends' gay marriages. Hott Common Wealth on Common Wealth Action!
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Hot and Honey Garlic Chicken sounds about right. The sauce is hot and sweet, and there's probably some garlic in there.
I pretty much can't stand the Chinese buffet version of chicken nuggets, no matter what the sauce. But I will confess a weakness for General Tso sauce, at least on other bases.
Scorn me if you will...
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Hot and Honey Garlic Chicken sounds about right. The sauce is hot and sweet, and there's probably some garlic in there.
I pretty much can't stand the Chinese buffet version of chicken nuggets, no matter what the sauce. But I will confess a weakness for General Tso sauce, at least on other bases.
Scorn me if you will...
That was the stuff that got me, that I mentione on pg1. Chicken nuggets drenched in sauce made chiefly from corn syrup. Jesus, no - what the hell is wrong with you?
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planning our friends' gay marriages
I wish, our government cut that one off a few years back by redefining marriage in law as being between a man and a woman. I didn't even hear about it until after it happened. I don't see it lasting though, we have a gay and lesbian mardi gra here that's like the equivalent of the macy's thanksgiving day parade.
I'm down with the rest of it though. Can we invite Sri Lanka too? Not new zealand though he cramps my style.
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Oddly enough I was watching the news, and there was a new study about Chinese food take-out and its horribly hight sodium content, and there was a shot of General Tso's in it. It is indeed the hot and honey chicken I've had many a time. Very tasty.
Doc - I'm sorry to hear about the marriage thing. People are hella married up here. My coworker Kathy is married to her partner, also Kathy (to make things ever better I work with another Cathy, but it's nothing like KITH - Cathy with a C is unpleasent at best). I told another lesbian friend this and she was horrified "Oh! That is too gay!" she said. She keeps bugging the SO and I to get married and have kids, and I tell her in my most down talking condensending voice "but now you can get married, and your wife can have a baby."
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Y'know... that is something I've never considered about same-sex coupling...
You might be sleeping with someone with the same name as you. That's weird.
If they scream your name, are they screaming... their name?
Man. Weird thought.
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Y'know... that is something I've never considered about same-sex coupling...
You might be sleeping with someone with the same name as you. That's weird.
If they scream your name, are they screaming... their name?
Man. Weird thought.
It's not just a same-sex issue. There's Aaron + Erin. Not to mention Toni, Dawn, Sam, Charlie, Taylor, Tyler, and a boy named Sue.
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Well, this is true.
Indeed, my girlfriend has a name that is usually associated with men in this country, Adrian.
But... I've never met a girl who went as "Mike", so I've never had to really consider it.
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Oddly enough I was watching the news, and there was a new study about Chinese food take-out and its horribly hight sodium content,
I was almost going to link to this news report but decided it was too depressing. Not just the sodium content but the calories... well, big surprise that it's so tasty because of all the fat in the sauce, I guess.
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I was almost going to link to this news report but decided it was too depressing. Not just the sodium content but the calories... well, big surprise that it's so tasty because of all the fat in the sauce, I guess.
I've been making a lot of stir fries lately and this is totally true. Between bottled stir-fry sauces, oyster sauce, soy, and beef broth there is hell of sodium. Plus my meat is never anywhere near as tender as even the crappiest take-out. I lose at cooking.
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There's a traffic reporter here named (phonetically at least) Michael-Lynn, and her colleagues sometimes refer to her as Michael. FYI.
Also, I am saddened that one of my favourite Chinese dishes may not have the ring of authenticity. I'm mostly to blame for that, as I smugly informed my wife years ago that sweet-and-sour pork isn't "real" Chinese.
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My brother told me about the "Chinese food is bad for you" report, and we both laughed at fake Chinese food.
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My brother told me about the "Chinese food is bad for you" report, and we both laughed at fake Chinese food.
I wish I could wake up with the msg already in me
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Indeed, my girlfriend has a name that is usually associated with men in this country, Adrian.
AAAAAADRIIIIIIIAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!
ahem
There are apparently chicks called cameron (my name) and I know a dude called Erin (my lady's name) so I think anything's on the cards these days, but so long as your not shouting the name of someone named something dumb like moonbeam or raven it's probably all good.
I apologise to anyone out in internet land that is named moonbeam or raven. I apologise for your stupid parents and their terrible choice of name.
LFM and his lady should totally get it on to 'eye of the tiger'.
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Adri hears that pretty much every other day. I am not allowed to own any Rocky DVDs, even the ones that aren't completely bad, because she hates having that yelled at her every other day.
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Shameful disclosure
I call one of my coworkers "Lizard-breath" sometimes. Like she's never heard that one before.
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My Significant Lady is a child of 1978.
However, her aunt is also an Adrian. It seems there is a family tradition on her mom's side of the family of using that as a lady's name. Such family traditions may have clouded them to such cultural difficulties.
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This reminds me of a conversation I had with my mother re: the baby of a friend of mine.
Me: She ended up going with Adrian Graham, which is okay, I guess... a little faux-British for my taste, though.
My Mom: "Adrian Graham?" I don't know about that. Can you use Graham as a girl's name like that?
Me: ... Mom, the baby is a boy.
I suspect this may be another name lost, like Vivian, to the "if it sounds at all similar to its female equivalent, it will become female/unisex itself soon enough" trend.