Authentic
Chinese Recipes
vs. What You
Can Do in Your Kitchen
vs. What Nobody
Should EVER Do in their Kitchen
Are these the real thing, are they authentic Chinese recipes? Absolutely!
Are they exactly the same thing you get in your favorite restaurant? Some are, some aren't.
Allow me to explain:
I have studied Chinese cooking for thirty years, and these recipes are both authentic and achievable at home without TOO much special equipment. You will, of course, need some special ingredients. All of the recipes taste and appear very much like the meals you get at Chinese restaurants, and some are even better! But you should remember that recipes vary widely from restaurant to restaurant, and from cookbook to cookbook. For instance, the version of Kung Pao Chicken that you have come to enjoy may be heavily sauced and sweet, lightly sauced and tangy-tart, or mostly hoisin-sauce flavor. I even had the misfortune to encounter it once with olives in it! All of these styles are "authentic" Chinese recipes, which should demonstrate that there are few dishes prepared in precisely the same way throughout China.
An analogy: an "Italian Sub Sandwich" is a different thing at Subway than it is at the great little sandwich joint on the corner, and both of those are different from the one you get at your neighbor's house. But they're still "sub sandwiches," and while you and I have our preferences, no one can say that one is "wrong" while the other is "right." And in all likelihood, nobody in Italy ever heard of any of them.
With that in mind, I found these recipes in several ways:
(1) — Many of these are the recipes I've been taught and refined over the years. I have searched cookbooks, newspapers, magazines and chef's brains, adapted what I found, and worked out "final" versions that suit my taste.
(2) — Some of these recipes are actual, certified restaurant formulations. How do I know? Because they were published by restaurants, often by local-branch chefs getting a little publicity in local newspapers or the local-interest segments of the daily news broadcast, or even in booklets or press releases issued by the restaurants. At times restaurants have been kind enough to give out their recipes in response to diners' requests. And occasionally one of the kitchen staff spills the secret (bartenders are especially good for drink recipes.) And they all found their way to the internet, where I joyfully reeled 'em in like big fat fish (sometimes I reeled in an old tire instead, which I'll tell you about below.)
(3) — Others are derived from cookbooks, though one has to pick and choose … some books produce the dish you probably had in mind when you ordered Szechuan Shrimp, some don't. I had to try a lot of recipes to "tweak" my versions, but in the end I think I came up with some great choices!
(4) — Some started as "copycat" or "clone" recipes, put together by professional writers and by members of the public to match their restaurant experience as closely as possible. These required quite a bit of editing, for a number of reasons. Members of the public sometimes produce great suggestions, but equally often they don't know what the heck they're doing, as a simple glance at their recipes will tell you. For instance, here's one of those examples where, in fishing for source material, I reeled in an old tire by mistake: I have a fine recipe for fried rice, but in exploring for other ideas I found one "just the way they make it" at one of the Disney theme park restaurants. It called for cooking up instant rice with a bouillon cube and some other nasty stuff no Chinese chef would use, all in a process that takes far longer and is far more complicated than the real, easy, simple Chinese way!
MONEY-SAVING SECRET: One thing I learned while going over these recipes: you're going to be using a LOT of boneless chicken breast! I hear the public reacting in horror, "Oh, no! That costs $5.99 a pound!" Not if you get smart. In my area, small packages are almost always on sale for $1.99 a pound at one or another of our 3 competing supermarket chains. And when I walk into the local small-restaurant supply store (see link below), it's usually $1.69 per pound in case lots. Find a supplier willing to work with you, maybe even go in with a few friends to get a case, wrap it in meal-size packages and freeze it while it's fresh. Just remember, when dealing with commercial suppliers, be prepared to pay cash, and maybe even be prepared to show a business license to get in the door (so you're a smalltime caterer with an unlikely name, what do they know?). And, while wrapping, if you buy your foil and plastic wrap in teensy rolls at the supermarket, you are wasting a lot of money! Foil in handy sheets and plastic wrap in massive rolls costs little more than a couple of teensy supermarket packs … that's what Costco and Sam's Club and the like are there for! See www.restaurantdepot.com for an education.
One last suggestion, not only Chinese but applicable to all cuisines: real chefs always have a few items for general use at their stations, their "mise en place" (French for "setting everything in place ready to work") and these basics can help make an ordinary cook into a star. What items do mainstream-cuisine chefs have? Minced shallots, minced fresh parsley, butter, and a grinder for last-minute additions of freshly-ground pepper. They will also (for instance) grate parmesan cheese for each dish instead of buying the much less flavorful pre-grated cheese. Look in the kitchen door of a Chinese restaurant and you will see the same thing with different ingredients: dried chilis, chili paste, minced ginger, minced garlic, hoisin sauce, bean sauce, a slurry of cornstarch and water for thickening. Easy expedients to make the cook's job easier and to increase the compliments you get by 100%! See the chapter on "ingredients," but don't go out and buy everything immediately until you're sure you'll use it.