Regarding Chinese food in the United States

[YoshidaYui]

Last edited Sun Apr 16, 2023, 07:24 AM - Edit history (1)

[NJCher]

1. She said

I hope that helps and it did.

I knew a few of her tips for finding authentic Chinese restaurants, but certainly not all of them. Very helpful post.

[leftieNanner]

2. My Dad used to take us to the Jackson Cafe in

San Francisco. It's long gone now.

There was a regular printed menu on the table and several mimeographed pages in back that were written in Chinese. That was the good stuff.

[fierywoman]

4. Someone introduced me to the Hunan restaurant in downtown SF in the mid seventies--

located in an ex-Dunkin' Donuts shop (the tea was served in the left behind Dunkin' Donuts mugs.) It seated about 28 people and I often dined alone, seated at the counter, where I got to observe the wizardry of the two cooks (and listening to a grandmother constantly chop vegetables at the end of the counter.) I left SF as their cookbook was just published, and I've been cooking out of it all over the world ever since.

[NullTuples]

9. slightly OT, but a SF story about restaurant-donut shop combos...

https://missionlocal.org/2010/07/the-story-behind-chinese-food-and-donuts-restaurants/

[fierywoman]

13. How interesting!

[NullTuples]

17. I'm so curious about the cookbook! Do you recall the title &/or author(s)?

[fierywoman]

18. Here you go (cheap if used!):

https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Chungs-Hunan-Chinese-Cookbook/dp/0517533251/ref=sr_1_10?crid=4TRFEIASKS73&keywords=hunan+restaurant&qid=1681661894&sprefix=hunan+restaurant%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-10

fwiw, I'm much more satisfied from the result of cooking from this book than I am going out to eat in almost any Chinese restaurant around here (just outside of Seattle) and, as the lady says in the above video, at the restaurants full of Chinese people, the recipes in this book (to me) are about equal... bon appetite!

[NullTuples]

19. Oh! You mean Henry's Hunan Restaurant in Chinatown!

For some reason I didn't make the connection even though you specified Kearny Street. When he passed in 2018, it felt like another little piece of the SF I knew was gone.

I had no idea he had a cookbook - I have a copy coming now. THANK YOU!

[fierywoman]

21. I think after the restaurant I knew, they opened a branch (or two?)

Of all the yards (literally) of cookbooks I have, Henry's is one of my handful of favorites. He tells the sweetest stories in between each food section.
(You're very welcome!)

[NullTuples]

22. My copy of the cookbook came today! It's a fun read. Thank you so much!

[fierywoman]

23. When I cook from it, it tastes exactly like what I remember from the restaurant (back in the 70s!)

[NullTuples]

24. His writing style is very amusing

It almost feels like he was one of those people who could tell a story and only later would his audience realize there was a slight chance he was pulling their leg. But only a slight chance, so they'd never really be sure. Likewise with the recipes. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but if you don't already know Chinese cooking, the tiny crucial details he may - or may not - have left out could easily turn an amazing dish into a mediocre one. I don't blame him, as that feels like a number of cookbooks of that era and several others. It just means his book is now sitting right next to Corrine Trang's Essentials of Asian Cooking on the shelf, and I think I'm going to have fun learning some of his dishes.

Thank you again so much for the recommendation, this brings back such memories of the SF I knew and love.

[brush]

11. I used to get Hunan region food in a NY restaurant. Spicy as I remember.

Last edited Sun Apr 16, 2023, 11:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Loved it.

Sechuan is also spicy. Are those regions close geograhically

[fierywoman]

12. Yeah, spicy! If I understand correctly, they are literally next to each other.

[brush]

14. Thank you. This thread makes my mouth water, and hot.

[fierywoman]

15. Here's the book -- really easy to cook out of:

https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Chungs-Hunan-Chinese-Cookbook/dp/0517533251/ref=sr_1_10?crid=4TRFEIASKS73&keywords=hunan+restaurant&qid=1681661894&sprefix=hunan+restaurant%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-10

[brush]

16. Thank you. I'll check it out.

[3Hotdogs]

3. I remember a restaurant in the Chinese section of NYC (Bowery/Canal Street area). One menu item,

chicken feet. In larger letters, was the warning to ask about this before you order it.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

6. one of our lunch group ordered fish, the cooked fish came with the head and eyes

the group was horrified. I think the head was covered up with a napkin before the person could it eat.



Nothing wrong with chicken feet, fish head and eyes... it's what one is accustomed too.

[NullTuples]

20. Right? Plenty of wp in the South think of smoked or grilled hog's head as "comfort food".

Eyes and all.

Same with pickled or smoked pig's feet.

Now, the dishes where the animal - typically a fish or crustacean - is still alive though par-broiled or flash-fried such as "Yin and Yang Fish" (do NOT look up photos or videos if you like animals)? Horrific and mostly outlawed here. But still a cultural difference. If we hadn't had an animal rights & similar movements here, I could see many people having a similar attitude about animals. Although here it would more likely be religious based & having to do with dominance over Creation. Also, I seem to recall a craze here in the USA regarding swallowing live fish, so there's that...

[dvduval]

5. More details

I live in Los Angeles and I would say most Chinese restaurants are not the traditional American Chinese restaurant that most people know. And I've heard that almost every region of China is represented here in Los Angeles with a restaurant to fit that region's style.

Hong Kong style food and Shanghai style food tends to be fairly normal in the sense that it doesn't stray too far from what the average American person has eaten.

But as you get into some different regions, you may encounter some things that may seem very unfamiliar or strange. For example, it would be common to serve things like cow tongue and intestine, or turkey neck or roast duck that includes the head.

And the vegetables are quite different. There's a Chinese broccoli that is pretty common in Chinese restaurants and a different type of eggplant, but there is a wide variety of vegetables that we don't typically eat here.

The Sichuan cuisine is very spicy and there is a type of spice called Ma La that will actually make your lips, tongue and throat feel numb depending on how much space there is and I can even be a little alarming if you've never tried it and don't know what's going on haha

Of course, she did not mention hot pot which is extremely popular in Sichuan but also popular throughout china.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

7. I saw this video a few weeks ago. I like how she straightforwardly addresses the issue

[SleeplessinSoCal]

8. This is such a helpful video for DU.

I'm just imagining the responses from the "freepers". Or the MAGAts. (Are there still freepers?)

[brush]

10. Very helful. She knows what she's talking about. Thanks for posting.