[amorthermador]

I have had a chance to look at the DVDs as well. They were really interesting and informative!

[bughut]

>where are these recipes? There has to be some sort of shared code out there or else hundreds of different places wouldn't have almost identical Hunan Beef,<


My son's ex-girlfreind worked in a chinese takeaway for a while. She told us that they buy in ready made sauces in big gelatinous blocks and simply cut off a chunk of sweet and sour, kung po etc. as and when, which quickly melts into the rest of the ingredients.
I would imagine that explains a lot.

The curry sauces come from a powdered packet, available at your local cash and carry

[siduri]

thanks phatch. I'll keep that in mind. I have a pretty good stove, with a double ring burner, but i guess it;s still low compared to a professional one.

[MikeLM]

You might try to find a copy of

The Chinese Restaurant Cookbook by Barbara Myers, copyright 1982.

Published in 1984 by Greenwich House, ISBN 0-517-43606X

It's pretty complete, with detailed descriptions of the five major regional cooking styles- Szechuan, Hunan, Peking, Shanghai and Canton, as well as hundreds of recipes.

Mike

[phatch]

Siduri, you've got a private message....

[DC Sunshine]

Many of the base ingredients are the same, especially the aromatics. Garlic, ginger, onion. Combine them with with soy, chicken stock, and oyster sauce, sometimes chillies, and they do taste similar.

But its like any cuisine. You ask for a classic dish, and it should taste pretty much the same anywhere.

I don't particularly like take out oriental food, although maybe I'm getting it from the wrong places. Deep fry does seem to come into it a lot, frankly, I'd rather make my own. I get my wok smoking before anything comes near it, and fry for as short a time as possible.

A good fried rice with enough of the right ingredients cooked well is hard to beat