Why Why WHY can't I make Chinese food taste great??

Last night I tried again - another “authentic” recipe. They NEVER taste like it does in a good Chinese place - NEVER! I’ve followed directions to a T- got all the right spices, black beans sauce, fermented, not fermented, spicy fermeted, garlic non-fermented, yuzu, ponzu, black soy, black vinegar, hoisin, rice wine rice vinegars, sesame oils, black sesame seeds, toasted rice, homemade chicken stock, seasoned wok, organic chicken, organic garlic, ginger, on and on and on and it NEVER tastes like it should…WHY? WHY???

Ha! Thought of that but I go to a lot of places that claim no MSG. If true, the food still rocks.

1. You are probably not using enough oil. (actually you’re almost certainly not using as much as a restaurant… it’s disturbing how much oil they slap on the pans before stir frying)
2. they may not use MSG, but a restaurnat probably uses some sort of artificial flavoring… chicken powder etc…
3. Ingredient… black bean sauce for example - 100 different iterations… some good, some not so good…

I ditched my wok and use a stainless all-clad fry pan; results seem to be much better.

oh yah… that’s the other thing… odds are your pan temperature/fire level isn’t as high as the restaurant…

My favorite Hunan place (no MSG) in SF did once tell that they could never do catering because standard stoves dont generate enough heat and it wont cook the food right.

The heat makes a huge difference and you can’t get close at home or even in most non-Chinese commercial kitchens - 75,000 to 125,000 BTUs per burner are common

Secret chinese ingredient…don’t tell anyone, very few caucasians know it…cream of someyoungguy.

The brand I prefer is OneHungLow…unfortunately, the owner suffer a hernia recently.

I agree with the stovetop wok not getting hot enough as a big issue. Also be sure to velvet when appropriate both meats and vegetables(green beans esp). I’m a fan of the China Moon cookbook, and before you can begin you need numerous flavored oils and juiced up chicken stock. Very time consuming, and results have been very good. If we had better Chinese in my town I would just get it out. Mike

China Moon…I have that cookbook somewhere…I remember thinking the same thing- too much prep for all the sauces. But maybe its the trick…besides the cream you speak of.

What?

I presume he is referring to something cornstarch related.

A dredge of cornstarch and egg whites, often with a little soy added to it. Velvets protein

+1 but instead of soy add oyster sauce. The good stuff.

Velveting is a way to increase the moisture of the item and perhaps increase caramelization. I usually do as Eric and David say with a marinade and then either short partial dip in hot oil or water prior to being put in the final addition to the dish. Mike

Here’s a confession for you: I almost NEVER cook Chinese food at home. I’ll cook virtually any other cuisine, but other than dumplings and steamed whole fish, I won’t even try. I go to Chinatown.

Smart woman

I’ve puzzled over food for some time… When I was last in Singapore I commented to a Singaporean friend that the Singaporean hawker scene was becoming increasingly industrialised. My Singaporean friend replied that the raw ingredients were increasingly being more industrialised! Even soy sauce is being more industrialised in east asia. There is soy sauce and soy sauce! There is hoisin sauce and Hoisin Sauce!