Well, maybe P.F. Chang's wasn't the greatest example. To answer some of the questions, I did do some google searches and did find some Thai recipes, but based upon the ingredients, I wasn't sure those were what I was looking for. I don't recall tasting lime or coriander (leaves) in the soup type that I like. As for the board search, I looked through the recipe board and did a search and didn't find anything specific. Maybe I need to expand my searches to the other boards on this site.
As for what I'm looking for, from everything I've read, people have said that the Chinese version of hot and sour soup is a bit different than the Americanized version, with a thinner, more orange broth. P.F. Chang's wasn't a great example, but it's a big chain, so I thought it might work. What I'm looking for specifically is a hot and sour soup with a thicker broth with bold, strong flavors. The actual bits in the soup, such as tofu, bamboo sprouts, pork, etc are fairly variable, I know. It's really the flavors of the broth that I want.
As my best example, there's a smallish, modern Chinese/American place in Knoxville called Chopsticks that serves the best hot and sour I've had. The broth is a deep brown color and has a broth that is just thick enough to stick to the vegetables in the soup, but not so thick as to make me think that I'm eating hot and sour chowder.
I hope this clarification helps out a bit. I'll continue looking on the site to see if I can find that hot and sour soup thread that you mentioned. Thanks for the help, all.  |