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Chinese Cuisine Showdown: Orange vs. Sesame vs. General Tso's

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Just go with the General and save some time!
 
The argument between authenticity and whether that is inherently "superior" is kinda dumb. I'm all for eating authentic food prepared the traditional way and what not, but every now and then the Americanized variations are goddamn delicious.
I love stopping by a Chinese buffet every once in a while and I don't feel the experience is any better or worse. It's still food, and at the end of the day it tastes fucking good.
 
Sesame chicken is and always will be my favorite. Never cared much for Tso and I prefer orange beef over the chicken variety.

TruFacts: it took a long time to find even decent Americanized sesame chicken in Seattle, but once I did, the search ended. Period. My go-to place gave me food poisoning twice and I still keep ordering from them because the sesame is perfection.

Also, the Fortune Cookie Chronicles has a bunch of wonderfully interesting stories about the history of American-style Chinese food.
 
I'm in the middle of nowhere China and can find "orange chicken", actually this thread inspires me to have it for dinner tonight! Will take photos and confirm that yes, it is actually "real" Chinese food.

I think what most people here are saying is not authentic is presentation and pairing. Nobody gets a plate with fried rice some boiled vegetables ladled with 1/2 pound of boneless chicken breast here.

Too tell you the truth, as long as you live in a fairly metropolitan western city you can find pretty authentic Chinese/Japanese/Thai if you look a little harder than the nearest food court. Actually I think the Thai and Chinese food I've had in LA was better on average than what I can find in my neighborhood unless I go upscale.
 
Best Chinese food is Northern Islamic style Chinese food.

Just look for any Chinese place that serves thick sesame/onion breads. Order any lamb/beef dish and a hand sliced noodle dish.

As for the OP, General Tso's Chicken has always been a guilty pleasure of mine.
 
Ken said:
It's probably just called "eggplant in black bean sauce."



I can't eat peking duck with those white buns. Only lettuce or the thinner, tortilla-like stuff.
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this man here knows what he's talking about
peking duck is to be served with that tortilla thing, and like i said, the perfect peking duck is the skin only, a real good chef can even cut it without the fat under the skin as he's cutting it in front of the diners

usually, the left over meat is to be cooked in a different manner, either to be cooked in a soup or what we do is usually just chopped in minces and pan-fried with some spices, then served with a fresh lettuce

quotes from wiki
The dish is prized for the thin, crisp skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook.
The remaining fat, meat and bones may be made into a broth, served as is, or the meat chopped up and stir fried with sweet bean sauce. Otherwise, they are packed up to be taken home by the customers.[23][24][25]
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Qvoth said:
usually, the left over meat is to be cooked in a different manner, either to be cooked in a soup or what we do is usually just chopped in minces and pan-fried with some spices, then served with a fresh lettuce
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Yes yes yes. Best two-parter course meal.
 
Erico said:
Best Chinese food is Northern Islamic style Chinese food.
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I don't know if it's the best (I hate such rankings anyway) but Xinjiang it's the fucking bomb indeed.

Talon said:
Child. You best not tell this Asian about his food.
l.jpg
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If you're going to pull the "I'm Asian, respect my authority" card, you should really put some effort into finding a more traditional image of the dish.
;)
 
Rasamalaysia is wonderful. My favorite Chinese restaurant was a place called Szechuan House, run by this lovely old couple. Their place was nice already, but they moved to a larger spot in the same shopping center, and did this great remodeling job. Then the utter fucking bastards that owned the shopping center dropped their lease because they wanted to move to big brand stores only. They were so crushed they decided to retire and never reopened. I used to get Kung Pao Beef from them regularly on my lunch break. Rasamalaysia's Kung Pao recipe tastes just like it. ;_;
 
General Tso's, extra-crispy and extra-spicy if possible.

Greatest American Chinese take-out dish ever.

General Tso's, pork fried rice, egg roll, iced tea, fortune cookie. yes.gif
 
None. That's all americanized $5.99 lunch special food. That's like saying:

Mexican food showdown:
Taco bell taco supreme vs Nachos bell grande vs Doritos tacos locos

or

Italian food showdown:
Pizza hut supreme pizza vs Olive Garden lasagna vs Subway meatball marinara
 
This thread is blowing my mind. I literally had General Tso's, pork fried rice, and crab rangoon yesterday. GET OUT OF MY MIND GAF!!!
 
Divvy said:
Here's an amusing bit from No Reservations where Anthony Bourdain visits a Chinese restaurant from his childhood where he finds out that they had a secret menu that served actual Chinese food.
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There are like 3 levels for some restaurants. There's the Americanized stuff which you usually see in buffet trays, the stuff written on signs in Chinese that Americans probably won't even bother trying and then the stuff that is reserved for the bigger spenders or those that are cool with the manager.

this_guy said:
None. That's all americanized $5.99 lunch special food. That's like saying:

Mexican food showdown:
Taco bell taco supreme vs Nachos bell grande vs Doritos tacos locos

or

Italian food showdown:
Pizza hut supreme pizza vs Olive Garden lasagna vs Subway meatball marinara
Click to expand...

Was about to post this...
 
Gotta go with my main man the general. General Tsos and Sesame are basically the same, but I prefer the spiciness of Tso.

Also, crabmeat rangoon is waaaaay better than fried wonton.
 
I lived in China for half a year, will move there for 2-3 years this year for work, can speak chinese and never heard of "General Tso" and some other dishes here.

What about 西安包子， 排骨, 番茄蛋汤 and some other real stuff? I would say these are far superior than those "western chinese" dishes which are full of glutamate.
Oh. And I cant wait to eat another Beijing Duck again. Somehow whenever I eat it here or had it in Chinatown in London, it was just the duck-meat, no "pancakes", no sauce, no side dishes...
 
Gully State said:
There are like 3 levels for some restaurants. There's the Americanized stuff which you usually see in buffet trays, the stuff written on signs in Chinese that Americans probably won't even bother trying and then the stuff that is reserved for the bigger spenders or those that are cool with the manager.



Was about to post this...
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My wife and are on level 3 in a few places around seattle. We can order some things they are not on any dinner menu.
 
I used to live in Hoboken and coming from London, the Chinese food is a bit different. I loved getting some General Tso's Chicken from a local take-out place. Never ate the broccoli though.
 
Chairmanchuck said:
I lived in China for half a year, will move there for 2-3 years this year for work, can speak chinese and never heard of "General Tso" and some other dishes here.

What about 西安包子， 排骨, 番茄蛋汤 and some other real stuff? I would say these are far superior than those "western chinese" dishes which are full of glutamate.
Oh. And I cant wait to eat another Beijing Duck again. Somehow whenever I eat it here or had it in Chinatown in London, it was just the duck-meat, no "pancakes", no sauce, no side dishes...
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How about some 熱口袋? Or 麥當勞? My favorite is 谷歌翻譯麵條.
 
GungHo said:
How about some 熱口袋? Or 麥當勞? My favorite is 谷歌翻譯麵條.
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I have to say the second is the worst of all of them, though for 15RMB during lunch you cant go wrong. The google translate noodle seems the most tasty ;)
 
HEY GUYS DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT EATING REAL AUTHENTIC CHINESE FOOD?!

OH...YOU DO?

WHAT WAS THAT? YOU DON'T CARE?

HOW DARE YOU?! HOW ELSE WILL I FEEL COOL AND HIP AND SUPERIOR?!
 
As a genuine Chinese person, I don't mind this stuff every now and again. Authentic Chinese is better, of course. Everything is better if you can see the head and can eat it.

Eat the head.
 
Takuan said:
As a genuine Chinese person, I don't mind this stuff every now and again. Authentic Chinese is better, of course. Everything is better if you can see the head and can eat it.

Eat the head.
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Actually, with chicken the butt technically is the best thing. Since you're supposed to give it to the most senior person at the table and all.
 
That does not look like Chinese Cuisine to me. Although it does look tasty.

edit: Oh looks like I'm not the first to notice

edit2:
ABi5HbC.png

of course
 
Takuan said:
As a genuine Chinese person, I don't mind this stuff every now and again. Authentic Chinese is better, of course. Everything is better if you can see the head and can eat it.

Eat the head.
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Yeah pretty much. You can eat whatever man. I'll go to a chinese buffet and enjoy the absurdity of the food they have in addition to the chinese food.

Sometimes my local take out place will include for free some fried wonton skin filled with cream cheese. Anyone know wtf that thing is? It tastes great surprisingly enough.
 
Gully State said:
There are like 3 levels for some restaurants. There's the Americanized stuff which you usually see in buffet trays, the stuff written on signs in Chinese that Americans probably won't even bother trying and then the stuff that is reserved for the bigger spenders or those that are cool with the manager.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much all Asian restaurants.
 
Eschaton said:
This.

Also i like americanized chinese food and the real shit, don't be such purists/plebes and enjoy both.
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I can agree with this, I like a lot of the americanized stuff but I wouldn't call it Chinese food, that should be reserved for more authentic stuff. I'll eat it and enjoy it but it's not Chinese food.
 
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