Go Figure!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Lately, I've been trying to reproduce a dish at my favorite Chinese restaurant called General Tso's Chicken. The recipes online aren't even CLOSE and it's not your generic chinese restaurant recipe. It's a Mom & Pop (or momma-san & poppa-san) joint. Needless to say, it's DELICIOUS and i'm hooked.

ANYHOO, back to the story. I've been trying to reproduce it and havent even come CLOSE. Except for tonight, when i not only came VERY close, but SURPASSED IT! It was WILD excellent!

The problem is: I was frying up the chicken while making the sauce. i could only fry up the chicken in batches cuz my pot wasn't big enough. While i'm frying, (and wishing i was an octopus for the additional arms) i noticed that my sauce wasn't NEARLY enough even after i added the Corn Starch.

So, starving, i thought "The **** with it, i'll just throw together more sauce and not worry if it's close or not". I put in a few splashes of oyster sauce, a few splashes of hoisin, and a few splashes of soy sauce. LO and BEHOLD, i sat down and it was AWESOME! and i have NO CLUE how to remake it the exact same way!! GO FIGURE!

[deltadoc]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zoidberg

Lately, I've been trying to reproduce a dish at my favorite Chinese restaurant called General Tso's Chicken. The recipes online aren't even CLOSE and it's not your generic chinese restaurant recipe. It's a Mom & Pop (or momma-san & poppa-san) joint. Needless to say, it's DELICIOUS and i'm hooked.

ANYHOO, back to the story. I've been trying to reproduce it and havent even come CLOSE. Except for tonight, when i not only came VERY close, but SURPASSED IT! It was WILD excellent!

The problem is: I was frying up the chicken while making the sauce. i could only fry up the chicken in batches cuz my pot wasn't big enough. While i'm frying, (and wishing i was an octopus for the additional arms) i noticed that my sauce wasn't NEARLY enough even after i added the Corn Starch.

So, starving, i thought "The **** with it, i'll just throw together more sauce and not worry if it's close or not". I put in a few splashes of oyster sauce, a few splashes of hoisin, and a few splashes of soy sauce. LO and BEHOLD, i sat down and it was AWESOME! and i have NO CLUE how to remake it the exact same way!! GO FIGURE!

I had the same experience with a "Mom and Pop" place in Minneapolis called China Taste. They had this dish Kung Pao Beef that came as a dark rich brown sauce with cashews served on white rice.

Despite him not showing me how to prepare the dish as promised, they retired, and I spent a long time figuring out how to make it.

A combination of red and green chilis, red bell peppers, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, sliced beef, carrots, onions, and soy sauce. Now I'm made it so many times, I'm sick of it!

doc

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Ahhh, Good news! I tried to make it a few days later and VIOLA, the exact same!! I've made it a few times since and i have it down pat now. I still dont know the exact measurements, but use the L.A.R. (Looks About Right) method and it comes out nearly the exact same every time!

[Someday]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zoidberg

Ahhh, Good news! I tried to make it a few days later and VIOLA, the exact same!! I've made it a few times since and i have it down pat now. I still dont know the exact measurements, but use the L.A.R. (Looks About Right) method and it comes out nearly the exact same every time!

Did you put MSG in it?