American Chinese V.S Authentic

V

VanLifer39

Joined
Sep 8, 2023
Messages
75
I want to see what everyone's thoughts are of authentic Chinese cuisine. I was born in 1983 when authentic Asian cuisine was virtually impossible to get. My mom is Korean, so I have a perspective on the challenges of obtaining ingredients to cook Korean food at home. I grew up in a rural part of Maryland with an hour drive to Baltimore.

I've noticed a lot of Chinese cuisine specific apps like Chowbus, Fantuan, and HungryPanda.

I disagree that Beef & Broccoli is American. It is Cantonese along with Moo Goo Gai Pan.

General Tso, Orange Chicken, and Sesame Chicken are American Chinese dishes. Too greasy IMHO.....

I personally enjoy a good Ma Po Tofu that is exceptionally spicy and numbing from Sichuan Pepper which is from an Ash Bush which is related to Citrus plants.

A good Dan Dan Noodle is also great. It's noodles with a spicy minced pork sauce that is similar in look to an Italian Bolognese sauce.

I'm on the fence about trying Hunan cuisine because I'm unfamiliar. Hunan is supposedly spicier than Sichuanese. There are a lot of Sichuan and Cantonese Dim Sum restaurants

Yunnan cuisine looks interesting since Yunnan Provence borders Burma, Lao, and Vietnam. There's a lot of SE Asian influence on Yunnan.

I still appreciate a American Hunan Chicken, Happy Family, Triple Delight, and Huge Eggrolls that Chinese look at as crazy.
 
My Friend from Taiwan owned several restaurants over the years. She would serve us real Chinese and there are a couple of restaurants in the DC area that have Chinese language menus for OGs with OG dishes that we've gone to. She and her sisters would order for the table and everything is on a turntable family style.. As Fong says, Americans won't eat this stuff, so we don't offer it in our place.
Be a white guy delivering Chinese Food in a Mercedes sedan on weekends if you want to see some funny faces and comments. I would just say I married into the family and delivery is my penance.
 
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VanLifer39 said:
I was born in 1983 when authentic Asian cuisine was virtually impossible to get. My mom is Korean, so I have a perspective on the challenges of obtaining ingredients to cook Korean food at home. I grew up in a rural part of Maryland with an hour drive to Baltimore.
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There shouldn't be problem getting ingredients anymore. I have a Korean Aunt, my deceased first wife was Korean, but left us at 26 YO, and my present wife is Thai. You've got Lotte and H-Mart up there in Catonsville and Delicate City. We used to take a big cooler and shop either up there or over in Annandale, VA. Large Korean immigrant populations in those areas. Even a couple of decent Korean restaurants in and around Baltimore.
 
CleanSump said:
There shouldn't be problem getting ingredients anymore. I have a Korean Aunt, my deceased first wife was Korean, but left us at 26 YO, and my present wife is Thai. You've got Lotte and H-Mart up there in Catonsville and Delicate City. We used to take a big cooler and shop either up there or over in Annandale, VA. Large Korean immigrant populations in those areas. Even a couple of decent Korean restaurants in and around Baltimore.
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Ingredients are easy to get these days with Chinese specific grocery stores opening. The 2 big chains are Great Wall Supermarket, and 99 Ranch. There's a lot of overlap with Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese since it is NE Asia.

The biggest difference would be that China eats a lot more meat since they have land to farm. The other would be that Chinese use Peanuts 🥜 while Korea/Japan doesn't.

Taiwan is an extension of China with opposing political views. The food of Taiwan is delicious.
 
My friend's parents went to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek during the Nationalist evacuation (or retreat) to there, so not Taiwanese by family history or culture.
I remember when Great Wall was a dirty little place in Rockville. Ugh. Korean Korner was much better. Many choices now. Need a toilet with electronic doo-dads, a blanket, or a travel agent? The big chains are one stop shopping.
P.S. My references to Rockville and some of the stores goes back to when you were just born.
 
Most Chinese food and Chinese restaurants here in the US are a garbage conglomerate run by the (who knows what). Even the delivery drivers are Chinese.
I judge ALL Chinese restaurants by their Gen TSO. I have only found one place that makes it correctly, and that is (was?) the Golden Gate Rest. in Clairton, Pennsylvania. These days, some local Chinese Res. have gained popularity by using the now common lab grown chicken, which is trash.
In Clairton, the Gen Tso is made with real chicken, real brocolli, water chestnuts, those tiny red hot peppers that saved my sinuses on cold winter nights, sesame seeds, garlic, a fantastic sauce, and the list goes on.

I like the real food, and Americanized is not the answer in my opinion, saving/making money is, and catering to the local suppliers for the ingredients. If I ever find an equivalent, I'll let you know.
 
In Honolulu, Mei Sum, Nice Day, Happy Day, Legend Seafood and Fook Yuen are authentic or near-authentic Chinese restaurants. the others have been localized/Americanized to sell and make money because a good portion of he population won't eat the authentic stuff.
 
anndel01 said:
In Honolulu, Mei Sum, Nice Day, Happy Day, Legend Seafood and Fook Yuen are authentic or near-authentic Chinese restaurants. the others have been localized/Americanized to sell and make money because a good portion of he population won't eat the authentic stuff.
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We have an amazing Asian market about 30 mins away which has all the authentic ingredients. It also has a few huts and restaurants which serve various authentic dishes from different countries. I love the bold flavors and different varieties of seafood. Especially the soups. I’m a sucker for a bold/spicy seafood soup.
 
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I guess I have a different perspective. However, we still have a lot of Americanized Chinese food options.

I I’ve spent decades here where the options were mostly Cantonese but slowly branched out into different regional Chinese cuisines. Most Americanized Chinese cuisine is related to the Cantonese cuisine that came in the 19th century. Often made palatable for American tastes, like egg foo yung.
 
I’m fine with American Chinese food it’s my favorite food and a lot better than regular American food in my opinion lol. I don’t recall ever having authentic as I thought what I was eating was authentic for awhile.
 
VanLifer39 said:
I want to see what everyone's thoughts are of authentic Chinese cuisine. I was born in 1983 when authentic Asian cuisine was virtually impossible to get. My mom is Korean, so I have a perspective on the challenges of obtaining ingredients to cook Korean food at home. I grew up in a rural part of Maryland with an hour drive to Baltimore.

I've noticed a lot of Chinese cuisine specific apps like Chowbus, Fantuan, and HungryPanda.

I disagree that Beef & Broccoli is American. It is Cantonese along with Moo Goo Gai Pan.

General Tso, Orange Chicken, and Sesame Chicken are American Chinese dishes. Too greasy IMHO.....

I personally enjoy a good Ma Po Tofu that is exceptionally spicy and numbing from Sichuan Pepper which is from an Ash Bush which is related to Citrus plants.

A good Dan Dan Noodle is also great. It's noodles with a spicy minced pork sauce that is similar in look to an Italian Bolognese sauce.

I'm on the fence about trying Hunan cuisine because I'm unfamiliar. Hunan is supposedly spicier than Sichuanese. There are a lot of Sichuan and Cantonese Dim Sum restaurants

Yunnan cuisine looks interesting since Yunnan Provence borders Burma, Lao, and Vietnam. There's a lot of SE Asian influence on Yunnan.

I still appreciate an American Hunan Chicken, Happy Family, Triple Delight, and Huge Eggrolls that Chinese look at as crazy.
Click to expand...
I was grown up with people telling me what the Chinese restaurants serve us here in the states is not good for us and not authentic Chinese cuisine. But what is authentic Chinese cuisine because Singapore chow mei fun differs from chow mei fun its like Italian food it may be similar but a dish from northern Italy is different from a dish in the lower part of the boot.
 
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Were you able to go to Chiu Quon Bakery in Chinatown while you were in Chicago?

Luckily, Chinatown does have a lot of traditional Chinese restaurants and Chinese-American ones as well for both apetites.
 
No idea what authentic Chinese cuisine is. All I know is I won't eat any Chinese except for a serving of something along the lines of grilled red snapper or any grilled ocean caught fish which is hard to find many times. One place I go to, it's all I order.
But as far as anything in any kind of syrup, oil or fried = never, won't eat it.
 
CleanSump said:
My friend's parents went to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek during the Nationalist evacuation (or retreat) to there, so not Taiwanese by family history or culture.
I remember when Great Wall was a dirty little place in Rockville. Ugh. Korean Korner was much better. Many choices now. Need a toilet with electronic doo-dads, a blanket, or a travel agent? The big chains are one stop shopping.
P.S. My references to Rockville and some of the stores goes back to when you were just born.
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My Grandparents were Christian (Brethren) Missionaries, stationed...somewhere in China... before the revolution. when we were learning about the Chinese Communist Revolution in Middle school, mom told me this story -

one night, she and her siblings were sent to bed early, because "someone Important was coming to visit" turned out to be Chiang Kai-shek, warning them that the Red army was closing in on their area. shortly afterwards, the whole family loaded up into a Surplus WWII Jeep, and fled in the night with only what they could carry.
Afterwards they went back to the states for a while, so my Grandparents could learn another language, and then off To India.

so even being a born and bred midwestern white boy, I've been raised with a taste for both Chinese and Indian Food.
( we FINALLY got 2 Indian restaurants here locally, both opened in the past few Months)
 
My Chinese food preference aligns with @AutoMechanic Chinese food preference.

I enjoy well prepared "American" Chinese food. I don't care for authentic Chinese food.

Saw the mention of Chinese food in Honolulu. Having regularly visited the Chinese food markets/ fish mongers in Honolulu- there is zero chance I would ever order authentic Chinese food in Honolulu. The lack of even the most minimal sanitary conditions at the Honolulu Chinese markets told me to stay away or be at risk to a food borne pathogen.
 
If you want some excellent chinese food, come visit Vancouver Canada.
Metro population is near 3.4 million, about 500,000 chinese live here, no exaggeration.

We used to have western chinese restaurants, we still have some, but the higher end, gourmet chinese restaurants is the norm now.
The city gets a lot of international attention , especially for ethnic restaurants, which is very much like NYC in terms of variety.
Not just chinese, everything . Hundreds of Indian eateries, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, long long list.

Look up my city, especially the online articles desribing the food scene.
Bonus, big bonus.. American money is like 0ne US dollar is about $1.32 here. So your American money buys a lot here.
Eat, hotel room, rent a car, go for entertainment, bars, strip clubs, sports events, lots to spend your strong dollar on here .
 
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