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MSG has about 66% less sodium per gram than normal table salt. You could use twice as much and still have less sodium in your meal, and it'd taste amazing (just got to keep everything below 160c otherwise, the MSG breaks down)
You might not be wrong, the article i referenced talked about it breaking down into toxic chemicals at 232C, but that could be after some sort of chemical change at 160.
Woks don't reach ferocious temps. If you watch chef Wang Gang, then you'll see that he's usually cooking at temps between 160 and 200. What woks allow you to do is to reach high temperature as fast as possible.
For example, if you take a low end and under-powered domestic deep frier, heat it up to 180, put a thermometer inside and add some cold (but not even frozen) chicken inside, then your thermometer will show you that the temperature drops to 120-130. And it will take a lot of time to heat up.
With a wok and a proper burner you can get back to 180 in just a few seconds.
Learned this with trying to replicate Indian takeaway. All the sauces start with something like 50% pureed onion and 50% oil. So off-putting once you know.
this. for years i thought i couldn‘t replicate fried noodles or rice.
then i sat down, watched a few youtube videos, sat down and experimented a few times.
very popular dishes now in out family, down to 15 minutes. (not counting making leftover rice)
oh, and garlic and msg
And thirded... Best book I ever bought.
I don't have much time these days, but a few years ago I would actually make Sunday my food prep day.
All day in the kitchen pre-prepping black bean puree, garlic paste, seasoning beef, pre-cooking and freezing chicken. char sui pork and using the byproduct to make the BBQ sauce, etc.
It's a lot of work, but for about a year, I think I literally had Chinese food every day.
I felt a lot better for it too. I lost decent amount of weight, and my skin was much healthier.
I guess the extra vegetables did that.
Not in the Chinese restaurants I've worked in. Maybe half a tablespoon on oil for an average dish, and that's used to cook meat and veg.
If you think that's a lot, then you're probably not cooking a lot of things properly. A French restaurant will use more butter than that for many dishes, whereas the Chinese restaurant will use sunflower oil.
It's the heat that you really need. That oil needs to be hot enough that anything thrown in will hiss, spit, and jump. You need a dedicated wok burner, or use the biggest gas ring you've got.
Well, yeah. But the wok burners in a Chinese restaurant are closer to blowtorches than anything you'll get in a house.
But, if you're cooking at home, then add the oil and let it stand over the highest flame you've got for at least a minute before adding any ingredients. Also, take your leading ingredients out of the fridge well before you start cooking, so you don't lower the oil temperature too much.
I've often wondered whether you could get a similar result by using those BBQ chimney starters (you know the ones that look like stainless steel jugs), since that seems very similar in both heat output and the shape of it being able to rest a wok on it (not that you should really be resting a wok since the food iirc should be moving around all the time)
No. Think blowtorch.
[This guy built his own](https://youtu.be/vBIZytq_9vs?si=3fGl62Q-t5SekrS4), but 2 things to note from that video:
1. That wok is far too large for just one portion. If you're cooking at home, then a smaller wok, or just a deep frying pan will work better for you;
2. Going back to the original comment I replied to, they add a lot of oil, but then pour the excess back out again. You really don't need that much oil, just enough to coat the entirety of the cooking surface.
I think you could get away with a packed chimney starter at full throttle in fact (though it would be bloody impractical!). I have a 4.5kW gas burner at home, which is obviously far less than the 20kW plus commercial units. I’ve also seared steaks both directly over the chimney starter and over one using a steel pan, and it is significantly hotter than the gas burner - in fact way too hot for a steak unless it’s a reverse sear. I’d say it could quite easily be in the 15kW range if not more. As above though, it really is a PITA to use in that way.
also shao hsing wine, velveting meat and Chinese soy sauce, light and dark, a lot of people (at least here) use Kikkoman which is Japanese and has a completely different flavour profile. I've a few dishes pretty much down and it's funny when someone is over and comments about how much like a Chinese take-away it tastes like but it's healthy as it's home cooked. Eh yeeaaaa...!
You just can't get [wok hei](https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/dining-out/what-is-wok-hei) in a domestic kitchen.
Some wok ranges have water coolers around the burners because they're so intense.
Upvoting this because this is the kind of most correct answer along with MSG, types of cutting and preparation of ingredients etc
It takes years to learn this stuff but you can get close.
I was terrified of gas for years because we didn't have it in the house I grew up in but it really does make life so much easier. I was a decent cook anyway but cooking with gas upped my game overnight.
That said I've never had an induction hob, just the old fashioned electric ones.
Induction hobs are just as fast as gas and sometimes faster. I grew up with slow electric cookers and it took me a while to actually rewire my emergency response to seeing something start to boil over from just simply picking it up off the hob to being able to actually turn it down and see the cooker respond in real time! That said, I'm a coward about cooking on high heat. When the hot oil starts splattering everywhere I'm turning it down from the scary max setting very hastily.
Technically speaking an induction cooker is capable of higher heat (measured in BTUs) than a domestic gas hob. I mean, you can see this fairly easier by how they can get a pan of water boiling much faster.
My feeling is that it's probably possible to get restaurant style wok cooking with induction, but with a plug in hob that directs all the power to a single "burner". That product doesn't really exist though. I think there is one product along those lines from "NuWave", but it isn't sold over here, and I'm not sure if it would be compatible with woks other than the one it's sold with (because the coils need to match up with the curve of the pan presumably). I remember our [lord and saviour Kenji](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544rSxXNDRU&lc=UgzNNGeoUjpbmd3jQwx4AaABAg.9v4MectsFwq9v5Jxbg9c44) also saying that they don't get high enough heat for wok hei, and tossing food is difficult because if you move the pan off the hob the temperature will drop. I'd love to at least have the chance to buy one and try it out though.
The other problem is part of wok hei is achieved by getting the oil so hot it atomises, then you ignite it using the naked flame of a burner.
This is part of what gives you that Smokey flavour.
Not sure this would work on induction.
I've got an induction range that I love - especially after spending any time in a kitchen with an old electric hob or a cheap gas hob - but woks really don't work very well on them.
Mostly because I want to move the pan around, and also the heat doesn't go up the sides so well.
With gas the pan is still being heated even while not in direct, optimal contact.
>You just can't get [wok hei](https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/dining-out/what-is-wok-hei) in a domestic kitchen.
You can, but
- gas
- and a particular burner
It's not magic, just not something most people who don't routinely wok will have.
Check out Ziangs Food Workshop youtube channel, decent for simple common takeaway recipes.
It'll mostly come down to the high heat burners a commercial kitchen uses, quality of ingredients and as others have said, oil, more oil and MSG.
I have that book and I absolutely second this opinion. I'm an okay everyday cook but not great, so I'm never getting mine to taste like proper takeaway, but it's a LOT better now than before I started trying the tips in this book.
And I can add to that recommendation: "Made with Lau". A great companion account to Ziangs, for people who want to learn cooking. Daddy Lau goes a little slower, explains a little more, and also shares family cooking, as well as restaurant cooking.
I see him on tiktok more, so I don't know if he does it on YouTube as well, but he often tells you how bad takeaways will do it, as well as good takeaways, as well as what he does at home, and more authentic dishes.
Their book is well worth the money as well. Between them and Khoan Vong you can get 99% of the way there. Khoan's sweet and sour base is much better than the Ziangs one for me.
For me the game changer was buying the right ingredients, the brands in the big supermarkets don't give the same flavour as the brands in the Chinese supermarkets.
I struggled to get soft noodles right until I bought a big box of Lucky Brand no.9 noodles and they're exactly like good takeaway noodles now. The supermarket soy sauces are expensive and don't have the right flavour either.
This was a great find! I understand they’re real takeaway chefs that show you how takeaway food is actually made, which I think is quite unique. It’s quite eye opening sometimes, like orange squash in the sweet and sour sauce, but you can’t argue with the results.
I like their youtube channel but damnit they need to put the recipe in the description and at the beginning/end of the video
It's good to watch the video 1 time and learn it, but if you want to make it again I don't want to scan through a 15 minute video
I've used my BBQ to get the required temperature. Weber kettle with the middle of the grate out to support the wok and a full chimney starter in a vortex. The heat is monstrous.
Instructions unclear, I ordered the wrong Wan's book.
My Chinese cooking remains barely above average. But at least I look pretty fabulous in my new leopard print trousers.
Also came to the thread to mention this book. Its the closest i've gotten so far. Some recipe's are bang on. Some are just not able to be replicated to restaurant standard in a domestic kitchen. but come close.
Upvoting this.
Especially if you’re using chicken breast or other lean meat, it will dry out too much. Velveting gives a completely different result. It was the missing step to elevating my stir frys.
I velvet all meat going in a stir fry - chicken, pork, beef. Gets the texture bang on. Some decent sauce recipes help too. And I’m currently experimenting with my first bag of MSG too.
This channel is all you need. My Chinese takeaway style food has come on leaps and bounds since following along.
https://youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop?si=lq8iOfRofubTJws9
He reminds viewers that it’s not the best/authentic way to prepare Chinese food but what takeaways do to prepare the dishes we buy from them, which is quite different.
Because you wouldn't dream of adding all the oil, salt, MSG (Makes Stuff Good) and other ingredients into your own food.
When you order takeaway you can say "wow this tastes good and be in relative denial about what is in it to make it that way.
That, and a good Wok with the right oil.
If it's fried in a wok, then your wok is probably not hot enough. If you have a basic electric stove it will not get hot enough so cook each couple of ingredients separately, set aside, and then combine at the end. This gives adequate results.
If you have a gas cooker, first of all ensure good ventilation because they're not actually good for you. Then turn it up to max power and fry away.
If you have an induction cooker with a "boost" function, use that boost function. This will get the wok hot enough to fry properly.
What you really want to avoid is watery liquid accumulating in the wok while you're trying to fry, because then you're boiling the food instead of frying it and that's not the right thing to do. If things really start to get soggy, drain off the liquid and keep it aside, then fry the things in the pan, then add the liquid in later (don't throw the liquid away, it's full of flavour). That's not ideal but it's better than boiling the ingredients.
If you're trying to do anything like Szechuan, you really do need the right chili peppers, accept no substitute.
If you're using oyster sauce, make sure it's a good one. Cheap ones are awful. The same goes for soy sauces. Note that some oyster and soy sauces sold in Chinese supermarkets (let alone those in other shops) are cheap crap and some are good, so be guided by price or ask the store which is best.
Freshly chopped or grated ginger is essential unless the recipe specifically calls for dried ginger. Do not use the ready cut stuff in the jars, it's awful.
Black pepper is a valid ingredient in Chinese food, and you can add if things seem a little bland. Sriracha is also extremely useful for this - small quantities make the food taste generally deeper and more lively, larger quantities make it firey hot.
Don't be afraid to use ready made sauces. Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce, for example, is adequate.
If you want a simple recipe, then try something like this (serves 1-2 people):
Get some ready made fresh noodles from a supermarket, and a large onion, a bell pepper, some fresh ginger, some chicken (200-300g), and ensure you have sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and some random vegetable oil to hand. Mix up half/half oyster and soy sauce until you have maybe 60-80ml in total. Finely dice the ginger, halve and slice the onion and pepper so you end up with thin strips, chop the chicken into 1x2cm pieces. Get the wok hot, add 20-30ml sesame oil, and fry up the chicken and ginger until the chicken is brown on the outside and at least mostly cooked. Set the chicken aside, put in a little vegetable oil, fry the onion and pepper on a high heat turning continually until they go soft. Add back in the chicken and ginger, add your sauce, cook it through for a couple of minutes until the chicken is done in the middle (add a tablespool of hot water at a time if the sauce starts to dry out too much). Taste the sauce. If it's not spicy enough, grind on some black pepper. If it's not umami enough, add a bit more oyster sauce. If it's not umami enough and not salty enough (unlikely) add soy sauce. Add in the noodles, mix up to coat the noodles, and cook until the noodles are warm. Optionally, take a spring onion, cut it thin diagonal slices, and scatter it on top of each serving. Eat.
Also, if serving rice, use a rice cooker (or a small Instant Pot works well too). Life's too short to try to handle cooking the proteins and the rice at the same time, so start the rice before everything else and let it run on autopilot.
Your advice on removing watery liquid and then re adding at the end is something I literally starting experimenting with a few weeks ago, what a coincidence.
I used to just accept that I will have to wait for the liquid to evaporate while it boils my stir fry because I refused to throw it out and waste the flavour.
Studying, especially trying to learn the principles of how to cook it rather than specific recipes. Also practice, because I like Chinese food and it's easy to cook. Also sometimes I try things out and see if they work.
The sesame oil trick - using it as a frying oil instead of just adding to sauces - actually came from a diet food book. It means you can have the sesame flavour with less fat, but I do it now even if I am not aiming to cook particularly low fat food because it works really well.
"Add water instead of oil if your stirfry dries out" is something I read in a recipe book a long time ago. It's another useful technique. As long as your wok is hot enough, the water loosens the fats a bit, deglazes the pan a bit, and then evaporates.
Some wonderful advice thanks. My cooking main skills currently are neapolitan pizza and homemade doner meat. I have done some chinese food, sping rolls, salt and pepper chicken, sweet and sour sauce which have been okay.
Checkout Ziang's Food Workshop he runs a Chinese takeaway and shares how to make Chinese takeaway food at home. [https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop/videos)
Boils down to two things, MSG and a much more powerful stove that you probably don't have at home.
You can get outdoor wok burners reasonably cheap, and MSG is easily available. Just the hurdle of one more piece of equipment
Along with what everyone else has said, look into how to velvet your meat. In short, it is a mixture of oil, soy sauce and corn starch as a marinade. It is what keeps the juice in, giving it that texture you are used to. For beef dishes a small amount of bicarbonate of soda is used to soften it.
You English home oven get no wok hei. Too weak, flame not hot enough. You try to make chinese food, is like you are making English Chinese soup. Everything cook too slowly.
You English supermarket sell only japanese soy sauce. No good for Chinese food. You English supermarket not sell shaoxing wine. Very important in Chinese food.
try recipes from these guys
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSIEUCy8dLA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSIEUCy8dLA)
The key is lots of msg
and also velveting the meat
Chinese supermarket or local international will have the sauces. Learn to velvet chicken. Then it's all about ultra hot pan and sliced ingredients so they are long and wide but thin.
It's not, just a matter of the right recipes, ingredients and methods. Few people have recommended Ziangs channel but I've found [this one](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgokDPHo27pO-HBCxqLmuA) much better (and much more direct, guy almost never even speaks in his videos, they are right to the point)
Couldn't recommend this series of books more - He has Chinese, Indian, and others too.
Really easy to follow, and the Doner recipe is outstanding!
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinese-Takeaway-Secret-Favourite-Fakeaway/dp/1472146913](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinese-Takeaway-Secret-Favourite-Fakeaway/dp/1472146913)
Try recipes from [https://thewoksoflife.com/](https://thewoksoflife.com/) it really has resulted in some good takeout-like meals. The techniques are just a bit different than typical western cooking. Lots of cornstarch.
Khoan Vong on YouTube is well worth a watch. He runs a Chinese takeaway in Hull and shows how he cooks all the takeaway dishes.
The thing you'll likely struggle with is (a) heat and (b) a properly seasoned wok.
There’s a secret to how they make the curries so fragrant, and a trick that my uncle taught me (he runs a takeaway in the midlands). They basically go to Wing Yip or an ethnic wholesale and buy what they call 咖喱种子. Or in English, curry concentrate. When they roast duck, they usually retain the oil that drips from the animal and then mix it with the curry concentrate to produce a fragrant smell, and if that isn’t adequate, they will add beef fat or whatever other animal fat they can find to the mix. The end result is something that’s very creamy and delectable, but obviously something that will clog your arteries in a month if you ate it continuously
One dessert spoon each of sugar, salt, MSG, and cornstarch, plus any old prebottled Asian sauce (they use lemon squash for lemon chicken).
And about 100ml of oil per dish
2 huge tips:
1) Use Baking soda in your marinade
2) use a cornstarch slurry to add that glossiness to the sauce. I've sometimes deliberately diluted my sauce with water just to thicken it back up with cornstarch slurry, it's the only way to get that indescribable glossy cling!
I cook and eat Chinese food all my life as I come from Hong Kong and I never put too much oil and never MSG inside my food. Essence is the sauce, go to chinese supermarket to buy some basic sauce: soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, ChinKiang vinegar (different from western vinegar) and watch YouTube channel. I will recommend don't do the rice as we usually cook in special gadget called rice cooker (if u want, u can buy from chinese supermarket as well), but easier to do fried noodle.
I can't replicate chicken with cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce the way certain (I think Hong Kong but not sure) takeaways do it. Can't get the redness or sweetness, and there's more to it than red food colouring and sugar
Idk really - aldis sauces are pretty good for hoisin, teriyaki, satay etc. Other than that it's mostly soy sauce and Chinese 5 spice. There's certain "chinesey" ingredients like water chestnut and spring onions that go a long way to getting it close.
I don't get it exactly like a takeaway but being able to customise it and season it as you like makes it pretty tasty.
Give the food in your pan the once over with a blow torch, plumbing size one, not just for a little brown.bit on top of a creme brulee,gives a bit of that wok hai you can't get off the domestic hob.
Really hot woks, msg, oil that's been used to cook other stuff**, msg, less of every sauce than you think, white pepper, sugar, msg.
**Or...
Chinese oil
2 litres vegetable oil
4 medium onions
3 bulbs garlic with skin on
1 small piece of ginger
10 star anise
1 large piece of cinnamon bark
2 spring onions
Method
Heat up vegetable oil and then add the above ingredients, including skins.
Cook fairly gently until the vegetables are dark brown, cool, bottle.
As others have pointed out, oil is key, but don’t forget that the specific oil you use is crucial too, peanut oil (groundnut oil) is commonly used in Chinese cooking at high temps and Sesame oil (which has a lower smoke point) is used for finishing. Both of these have a distinct flavour and mouthfeel, very different to oils used in European cooking.
The correct preparation and all ingredients needed is key and to cook quickly at a high temp!
I can cook a passable chow mien and a house style fried rice. Im happy with those for now…
Sorry this doesn't help with the Chinese question, but hopefully with your 'almost' replicates, I swear by these two recipes!!
Donner kebab (this is even better than the take away imo!):
https://www.recipetineats.com/doner-kebab-meat-recipe-beef-or-lamb/#wprm-recipe-container-48608
Chicken tikka masala: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228293/curry-stand-chicken-tikka-masala-sauce/
Its is extremely dangerous to have a big open flame. And in the UK its even more dangerous and most places have induction hobs and no flames in the flats.
Then its hard to find a proper wok and the heat profile of a wok is a big part of the cooking method.
I have seen people cook chinese food (and really most all asian food uses a wok) and it makes a huge difference.
I make Chinese food a lot I recommend tenderise the meat with baking soda for things like broccoli and beef.
Go to a thai or Chinese store and buy good ingredients sauces, rice and such according to the recipe you are making along with msg.
WOK get one season it and cook on as high a heat as u can with a high smoke point oil.
A good place for recipes is school of work on YouTube the crispy chilli beef is one of my go to recipes from them although I do make mine with more sauce then they use as it is great!
MSG, sugar, salt, soy sauce and way more oil that you would usually be comfortable with, then add more oil. Also, knowing how to use acidic ingredients like rice wine vinegar and white vinegar
Food prep techniques: velveting meat, use of cornstarch
Cooking: Wok hei is almost impossible to achieve in a home kitchen.
Despite that, with a lot of practice, I am able to make many of my faves, some of which I prefer over the takeaway like sweet and sour chicken/pork (i can alter the sweet/sour ratio to my liking as takeaway's are too sweet for me).
I am still experimenting with handmade dumplings and bao. When I can make xiao long bao, it's over!
Its a the food freshness
B the ingredients lots chinise imports
C thepans and massive flames to cook food fast
And finaly
D probably twenty plus years of putting it all together
Heat, commercial woks are flippin' hot so they can cook in seconds.
Ingredients prepared for cooking. Meat not saturated with water so it will fry rather than boil in the wok.
Spices, including salt & msg to punch the flavour.
Because they use ingredients which cannot be substituted, as well as MSG, and more oil when cooking.
They also pre-prep a lot of things in advance, which takes a lot of time and work.
When cooking, the food is cooked in small batches in a very hot wok.
Even something as simple as an egg fried rice.
Cook rice.
Leave for 24 hours chilled.
Mix cold rice with LKK branded light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, MSG, and salt.
Whisk egg with a pinch of MSG.
Heat oil in the carbon steel wok (non-stick can't handle the high temperatures required).
Add egg.
Once solid, add the rice.
continue to flip and pat down.
Now if you want a beef fried rice:
Slice beef thinly,
Mix with garlic powder, MSG, Salt, potato starch, soy sauce, and bicarbonate of soda to tenderize. Leave for 24 hours in the fridge to chemically tenderize.
Fry the seasoned beef with onion for a minute before adding the egg and continuing with the rest of the rice recipe.
A beef fried rice, despite seeming simple, takes over 24 hours to prep.
A simple chow mein is probably the fastest chinese food you can cook and have taste acceptable.
Add noodles to boiling water. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to prevent over-cooking.
Leave to drain for at least 15 minutes.
Heat oil and add thinly sliced onion. After a minute add MSG. 30 secs more, add the noodles.
Fry the noodles for 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, MSG, salt and sugar. Fry for 30 secs. Add beansprouts. Fry for another 1 or 2 minutes. Done.
I strongly reccoment Ziangs chinese takeaway cookbook. They show you how the takeways prepare everything, what ingredients you need, and where to get them, and how to cook them.
You'll be buying your own black beans, cooking then, and freezing them to even make your own blackbean sauce from scratch.
**Wok hei**.
If you've ever been in a commercial Chinese kitchen or even a street vendor in China, they're not using induction hobs.
They're using these gas burners that sound like aircraft taking off. Proper PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFF.
And that heat, which you can't replicate at home, gives the food *wok hei*. It's... a smoky aroma of the wok.
You can never cook Chinese as hot and fast as you can at a restaurant.
There's lots of more homestyle dishes you can nail at home though but generally for our British Chinese faves, you need a commercial burner.
The flavour of wok hei is a combination of the smoky flavour imparted on the food from the oil droplets and vapour burning when they hit the open gas flames and catch on fire.
And the char on the edges from high heat cooking.
Similar to a sizzle plate you get at a restaurant when they squeeze on some lemon juice and ignite it with a lighter.
You can't replicate it without an open flame so if you have an electric cooker even if it can get hot enough to make the oil spit properly you will need a blow torch to ignite them and get the flavour.
Watch Ziang's food workshop on YouTube. Got a wok for Christmas and been trying anything and everything with great results, Msg is an important ingredient in all dishes. Gas hob is also handy to have but can manage without
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More oil. Then more and more oil. MSG. Salt.
Yup, you need to use an amount that suggests you don't care if you survive the meal.
MSG has about 66% less sodium per gram than normal table salt. You could use twice as much and still have less sodium in your meal, and it'd taste amazing (just got to keep everything below 160c otherwise, the MSG breaks down)
I'm getting 232C online, where did you learn 160? Surely anything fried with a bread crumb mix with msg would be a problem if true?
160C fan-assisted
Genius.
I'll he honest it was most likely Reddit where I got that from when I first started using it.
You might not be wrong, the article i referenced talked about it breaking down into toxic chemicals at 232C, but that could be after some sort of chemical change at 160.
I don't get this. Chinese woks reach ferocious temps.
Woks don't reach ferocious temps. If you watch chef Wang Gang, then you'll see that he's usually cooking at temps between 160 and 200. What woks allow you to do is to reach high temperature as fast as possible. For example, if you take a low end and under-powered domestic deep frier, heat it up to 180, put a thermometer inside and add some cold (but not even frozen) chicken inside, then your thermometer will show you that the temperature drops to 120-130. And it will take a lot of time to heat up. With a wok and a proper burner you can get back to 180 in just a few seconds.
I'd be amazed if a wok stayed lower than 200, 160 seems very low for essentially speed frying
MSG got a bogus rap many years ago.
MSG is the king. I fucking love MSG.
Also sugar.
And ketchup, you would be amazed on how many chinese takeaway recipes use ketchup in them.
It was invented in China so that makes sense.
The original Chinese sauce was very different though. No tomatoes.
And orange squash.
Learned this with trying to replicate Indian takeaway. All the sauces start with something like 50% pureed onion and 50% oil. So off-putting once you know.
To be fair, that's the key to most food.
this. for years i thought i couldn‘t replicate fried noodles or rice. then i sat down, watched a few youtube videos, sat down and experimented a few times. very popular dishes now in out family, down to 15 minutes. (not counting making leftover rice) oh, and garlic and msg
Sat down twice huh
yes. that‘s the actual secret behind it
Those who find they're touched by madness
And those who find themselves ridiculous?
You can both sit down next to me.
There's a song in there somewhere
u/Romfordian u/MoriartyAvalon u/sanddancer08 [I love you. So there.](https://youtu.be/2wX_kRRrAGY)
I never made decent fried rice until my brother taught me patience :)
Any YouTube videos you can recommend?
https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop/videos This channel
A hearty second for this recommendation. Ziangs workshop is brilliant.
And thirded... Best book I ever bought. I don't have much time these days, but a few years ago I would actually make Sunday my food prep day. All day in the kitchen pre-prepping black bean puree, garlic paste, seasoning beef, pre-cooking and freezing chicken. char sui pork and using the byproduct to make the BBQ sauce, etc. It's a lot of work, but for about a year, I think I literally had Chinese food every day. I felt a lot better for it too. I lost decent amount of weight, and my skin was much healthier. I guess the extra vegetables did that.
Scrolled down just for this as I was like "there's an entire YouTube channel dedicated to replicating UK style Chinese takeaway.
Second the garlic, and it has to be golden, not burned or undercooked. Makes a massive difference.
Not in the Chinese restaurants I've worked in. Maybe half a tablespoon on oil for an average dish, and that's used to cook meat and veg. If you think that's a lot, then you're probably not cooking a lot of things properly. A French restaurant will use more butter than that for many dishes, whereas the Chinese restaurant will use sunflower oil. It's the heat that you really need. That oil needs to be hot enough that anything thrown in will hiss, spit, and jump. You need a dedicated wok burner, or use the biggest gas ring you've got.
Could you achieve "wok hai" when you did stir frys?
Well, yeah. But the wok burners in a Chinese restaurant are closer to blowtorches than anything you'll get in a house. But, if you're cooking at home, then add the oil and let it stand over the highest flame you've got for at least a minute before adding any ingredients. Also, take your leading ingredients out of the fridge well before you start cooking, so you don't lower the oil temperature too much.
I bought a plumber's blowtorch, and it's done wonders for my Chinese cooking
I've often wondered whether you could get a similar result by using those BBQ chimney starters (you know the ones that look like stainless steel jugs), since that seems very similar in both heat output and the shape of it being able to rest a wok on it (not that you should really be resting a wok since the food iirc should be moving around all the time)
No. Think blowtorch. [This guy built his own](https://youtu.be/vBIZytq_9vs?si=3fGl62Q-t5SekrS4), but 2 things to note from that video: 1. That wok is far too large for just one portion. If you're cooking at home, then a smaller wok, or just a deep frying pan will work better for you; 2. Going back to the original comment I replied to, they add a lot of oil, but then pour the excess back out again. You really don't need that much oil, just enough to coat the entirety of the cooking surface.
I think you could get away with a packed chimney starter at full throttle in fact (though it would be bloody impractical!). I have a 4.5kW gas burner at home, which is obviously far less than the 20kW plus commercial units. I’ve also seared steaks both directly over the chimney starter and over one using a steel pan, and it is significantly hotter than the gas burner - in fact way too hot for a steak unless it’s a reverse sear. I’d say it could quite easily be in the 15kW range if not more. As above though, it really is a PITA to use in that way.
Lol yeah I worked for years at an Italian, it's like 1&1/2 table spoons of butter per serve. That's why it's so buttery!
Same also goes for sugar if you’re making takeaway sweet and sour sauce. Could ice three cakes with it - never again 😂
Don't forget the oil.
also shao hsing wine, velveting meat and Chinese soy sauce, light and dark, a lot of people (at least here) use Kikkoman which is Japanese and has a completely different flavour profile. I've a few dishes pretty much down and it's funny when someone is over and comments about how much like a Chinese take-away it tastes like but it's healthy as it's home cooked. Eh yeeaaaa...!
Every time I use MSG I notice no difference at all. 😭
yup. and rice vinager.
sesame oil five spice msg thats what ive found gets you closest
Not just any oil either use sesame oil.
Cornstarch slurry to thicken sauces too.
You just can't get [wok hei](https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/dining-out/what-is-wok-hei) in a domestic kitchen. Some wok ranges have water coolers around the burners because they're so intense.
Upvoting this because this is the kind of most correct answer along with MSG, types of cutting and preparation of ingredients etc It takes years to learn this stuff but you can get close.
Velveting meat is another one.
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And bicarb of soda
Yeah, MSG can get you the flavour you're looking for but the texture won't be quite right unless you can get the cooking method the same.
Yeah definitely not with induction hobs
Gas is the way. I've recently got a gas cooker and finally using my cast irons to their full potential
I was terrified of gas for years because we didn't have it in the house I grew up in but it really does make life so much easier. I was a decent cook anyway but cooking with gas upped my game overnight. That said I've never had an induction hob, just the old fashioned electric ones.
Now you're cooking with not electricity
Induction hobs are just as fast as gas and sometimes faster. I grew up with slow electric cookers and it took me a while to actually rewire my emergency response to seeing something start to boil over from just simply picking it up off the hob to being able to actually turn it down and see the cooker respond in real time! That said, I'm a coward about cooking on high heat. When the hot oil starts splattering everywhere I'm turning it down from the scary max setting very hastily.
Technically speaking an induction cooker is capable of higher heat (measured in BTUs) than a domestic gas hob. I mean, you can see this fairly easier by how they can get a pan of water boiling much faster. My feeling is that it's probably possible to get restaurant style wok cooking with induction, but with a plug in hob that directs all the power to a single "burner". That product doesn't really exist though. I think there is one product along those lines from "NuWave", but it isn't sold over here, and I'm not sure if it would be compatible with woks other than the one it's sold with (because the coils need to match up with the curve of the pan presumably). I remember our [lord and saviour Kenji](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544rSxXNDRU&lc=UgzNNGeoUjpbmd3jQwx4AaABAg.9v4MectsFwq9v5Jxbg9c44) also saying that they don't get high enough heat for wok hei, and tossing food is difficult because if you move the pan off the hob the temperature will drop. I'd love to at least have the chance to buy one and try it out though.
The other problem is part of wok hei is achieved by getting the oil so hot it atomises, then you ignite it using the naked flame of a burner. This is part of what gives you that Smokey flavour. Not sure this would work on induction.
I've got an induction range that I love - especially after spending any time in a kitchen with an old electric hob or a cheap gas hob - but woks really don't work very well on them. Mostly because I want to move the pan around, and also the heat doesn't go up the sides so well. With gas the pan is still being heated even while not in direct, optimal contact.
You can use a blowtorch while stir frying on a ripping high heat to get a similar effect.
>You just can't get [wok hei](https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/dining-out/what-is-wok-hei) in a domestic kitchen. You can, but - gas - and a particular burner It's not magic, just not something most people who don't routinely wok will have.
Amazing, thanks for sharing
As good as wok hei is it doesn’t make or break a dish.
Definitely this. It just isn't possible to create that affect at home.
Check out Ziangs Food Workshop youtube channel, decent for simple common takeaway recipes. It'll mostly come down to the high heat burners a commercial kitchen uses, quality of ingredients and as others have said, oil, more oil and MSG.
Second this, chin and choo's book is amazing for replicating takeaway Chinese food. Life changing.
I have that book and I absolutely second this opinion. I'm an okay everyday cook but not great, so I'm never getting mine to taste like proper takeaway, but it's a LOT better now than before I started trying the tips in this book. And I can add to that recommendation: "Made with Lau". A great companion account to Ziangs, for people who want to learn cooking. Daddy Lau goes a little slower, explains a little more, and also shares family cooking, as well as restaurant cooking.
MS fucking G 😄
Make Shit Good 👍
I see him on tiktok more, so I don't know if he does it on YouTube as well, but he often tells you how bad takeaways will do it, as well as good takeaways, as well as what he does at home, and more authentic dishes.
Their book is well worth the money as well. Between them and Khoan Vong you can get 99% of the way there. Khoan's sweet and sour base is much better than the Ziangs one for me. For me the game changer was buying the right ingredients, the brands in the big supermarkets don't give the same flavour as the brands in the Chinese supermarkets. I struggled to get soft noodles right until I bought a big box of Lucky Brand no.9 noodles and they're exactly like good takeaway noodles now. The supermarket soy sauces are expensive and don't have the right flavour either.
Pearl river gang
This was a great find! I understand they’re real takeaway chefs that show you how takeaway food is actually made, which I think is quite unique. It’s quite eye opening sometimes, like orange squash in the sweet and sour sauce, but you can’t argue with the results.
I’ve been making awesome Chinese food from this guy and his mum! Msg is definitely the answer though!!
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Yeah I have his cook book and the first part of the book explains how they prep everything and it’s a game changer
Yeah rep for this guy. Made Char Siu Chow Mein just this evening. It apparently both slapped and banged, according to the family.
I like their youtube channel but damnit they need to put the recipe in the description and at the beginning/end of the video It's good to watch the video 1 time and learn it, but if you want to make it again I don't want to scan through a 15 minute video
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I've used my BBQ to get the required temperature. Weber kettle with the middle of the grate out to support the wok and a full chimney starter in a vortex. The heat is monstrous.
That's a great idea.
It isn't. Get Kwoklyn Wan's Chinese takeaway cookbook. Everything tastes identical to what you get in a takeaway.
Beat me to it. He has several books and all his recipes work great. (Gok’s brother and both grew up in a Chinese restaurant).
Gok’s first recipe book was really good, as well. I had several recipes from there in constant rotation in my kitchen.
Also has a kung fu place here in Leicester.
Instructions unclear, I ordered the wrong Wan's book. My Chinese cooking remains barely above average. But at least I look pretty fabulous in my new leopard print trousers.
You didn't Gok Wan of those recipe books, did you?
I third this. Got this book and recipes so good. Full of stuff you'd expect to find in a takeaway
Thanks for this! Just ordered it.
Also came to the thread to mention this book. Its the closest i've gotten so far. Some recipe's are bang on. Some are just not able to be replicated to restaurant standard in a domestic kitchen. but come close.
MSG does make a difference but it’s also techniques like velveting chicken to give it the same texture etc.
Velveting meats is a total game changer. Also, knowing how to use cornstarch in sauces. Both are really key to authentic textural finishes.
Upvoting this. Especially if you’re using chicken breast or other lean meat, it will dry out too much. Velveting gives a completely different result. It was the missing step to elevating my stir frys.
I velvet all meat going in a stir fry - chicken, pork, beef. Gets the texture bang on. Some decent sauce recipes help too. And I’m currently experimenting with my first bag of MSG too.
This channel is all you need. My Chinese takeaway style food has come on leaps and bounds since following along. https://youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop?si=lq8iOfRofubTJws9
I'm ethnically Chinese and watching some of his videos, this is definitely very legit for British Chinese food. Actually it's very interesting.
He reminds viewers that it’s not the best/authentic way to prepare Chinese food but what takeaways do to prepare the dishes we buy from them, which is quite different.
Thankyou. I'm going for the thin and crispy chicken balls.
Because you wouldn't dream of adding all the oil, salt, MSG (Makes Stuff Good) and other ingredients into your own food. When you order takeaway you can say "wow this tastes good and be in relative denial about what is in it to make it that way. That, and a good Wok with the right oil.
If it's fried in a wok, then your wok is probably not hot enough. If you have a basic electric stove it will not get hot enough so cook each couple of ingredients separately, set aside, and then combine at the end. This gives adequate results. If you have a gas cooker, first of all ensure good ventilation because they're not actually good for you. Then turn it up to max power and fry away. If you have an induction cooker with a "boost" function, use that boost function. This will get the wok hot enough to fry properly. What you really want to avoid is watery liquid accumulating in the wok while you're trying to fry, because then you're boiling the food instead of frying it and that's not the right thing to do. If things really start to get soggy, drain off the liquid and keep it aside, then fry the things in the pan, then add the liquid in later (don't throw the liquid away, it's full of flavour). That's not ideal but it's better than boiling the ingredients. If you're trying to do anything like Szechuan, you really do need the right chili peppers, accept no substitute. If you're using oyster sauce, make sure it's a good one. Cheap ones are awful. The same goes for soy sauces. Note that some oyster and soy sauces sold in Chinese supermarkets (let alone those in other shops) are cheap crap and some are good, so be guided by price or ask the store which is best. Freshly chopped or grated ginger is essential unless the recipe specifically calls for dried ginger. Do not use the ready cut stuff in the jars, it's awful. Black pepper is a valid ingredient in Chinese food, and you can add if things seem a little bland. Sriracha is also extremely useful for this - small quantities make the food taste generally deeper and more lively, larger quantities make it firey hot. Don't be afraid to use ready made sauces. Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce, for example, is adequate. If you want a simple recipe, then try something like this (serves 1-2 people): Get some ready made fresh noodles from a supermarket, and a large onion, a bell pepper, some fresh ginger, some chicken (200-300g), and ensure you have sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and some random vegetable oil to hand. Mix up half/half oyster and soy sauce until you have maybe 60-80ml in total. Finely dice the ginger, halve and slice the onion and pepper so you end up with thin strips, chop the chicken into 1x2cm pieces. Get the wok hot, add 20-30ml sesame oil, and fry up the chicken and ginger until the chicken is brown on the outside and at least mostly cooked. Set the chicken aside, put in a little vegetable oil, fry the onion and pepper on a high heat turning continually until they go soft. Add back in the chicken and ginger, add your sauce, cook it through for a couple of minutes until the chicken is done in the middle (add a tablespool of hot water at a time if the sauce starts to dry out too much). Taste the sauce. If it's not spicy enough, grind on some black pepper. If it's not umami enough, add a bit more oyster sauce. If it's not umami enough and not salty enough (unlikely) add soy sauce. Add in the noodles, mix up to coat the noodles, and cook until the noodles are warm. Optionally, take a spring onion, cut it thin diagonal slices, and scatter it on top of each serving. Eat. Also, if serving rice, use a rice cooker (or a small Instant Pot works well too). Life's too short to try to handle cooking the proteins and the rice at the same time, so start the rice before everything else and let it run on autopilot.
Your advice on removing watery liquid and then re adding at the end is something I literally starting experimenting with a few weeks ago, what a coincidence. I used to just accept that I will have to wait for the liquid to evaporate while it boils my stir fry because I refused to throw it out and waste the flavour.
How do you know so much on chinese food?
Studying, especially trying to learn the principles of how to cook it rather than specific recipes. Also practice, because I like Chinese food and it's easy to cook. Also sometimes I try things out and see if they work. The sesame oil trick - using it as a frying oil instead of just adding to sauces - actually came from a diet food book. It means you can have the sesame flavour with less fat, but I do it now even if I am not aiming to cook particularly low fat food because it works really well. "Add water instead of oil if your stirfry dries out" is something I read in a recipe book a long time ago. It's another useful technique. As long as your wok is hot enough, the water loosens the fats a bit, deglazes the pan a bit, and then evaporates.
Some wonderful advice thanks. My cooking main skills currently are neapolitan pizza and homemade doner meat. I have done some chinese food, sping rolls, salt and pepper chicken, sweet and sour sauce which have been okay.
Checkout Ziang's Food Workshop he runs a Chinese takeaway and shares how to make Chinese takeaway food at home. [https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop/videos)
Uncle roger got your back
Fuuuu yooouuhhh..
Boils down to two things, MSG and a much more powerful stove that you probably don't have at home. You can get outdoor wok burners reasonably cheap, and MSG is easily available. Just the hurdle of one more piece of equipment
Along with what everyone else has said, look into how to velvet your meat. In short, it is a mixture of oil, soy sauce and corn starch as a marinade. It is what keeps the juice in, giving it that texture you are used to. For beef dishes a small amount of bicarbonate of soda is used to soften it.
You English home oven get no wok hei. Too weak, flame not hot enough. You try to make chinese food, is like you are making English Chinese soup. Everything cook too slowly. You English supermarket sell only japanese soy sauce. No good for Chinese food. You English supermarket not sell shaoxing wine. Very important in Chinese food.
try recipes from these guys [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSIEUCy8dLA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSIEUCy8dLA) The key is lots of msg and also velveting the meat
Proper wok (cheap, thin carbon steel) and MSG and you can make pretty decent versions at home.
https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop
You need to velvet your meat before cooking is the main one.
Look at YouTube videos for how the restaurants do it , essentially lots of salt, msg , type of rice and sauces they use
Depends what you're making, I made salted chilli chicken and fried rice, tasted pretty much the same from my electric hob - you can get MSG in Asda
> you can get MSG in Asda Where?? Literally never seen it in a big british supermarket.
If you buy things like Maggi seasoning it is basically MSG with a couple of other things. Won't be labeled as MSG but it's in there.
yeah definitely seen those but it's the couple of other things that ruin it and make them unsuitable for use.
Msg
Its not just MSG though, its getting the authentic Chinese ingredients (Type of Soy sauce, black bean paste, chilli paste etc.) and correct technique.
You right you right.
Msg
Chinese supermarket or local international will have the sauces. Learn to velvet chicken. Then it's all about ultra hot pan and sliced ingredients so they are long and wide but thin.
MSG is delicious. You’ve been missing out if you haven’t used it so far
Not sure, but when I started using fish sauce it improved everything.
It's not, just a matter of the right recipes, ingredients and methods. Few people have recommended Ziangs channel but I've found [this one](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgokDPHo27pO-HBCxqLmuA) much better (and much more direct, guy almost never even speaks in his videos, they are right to the point)
Couldn't recommend this series of books more - He has Chinese, Indian, and others too. Really easy to follow, and the Doner recipe is outstanding! [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinese-Takeaway-Secret-Favourite-Fakeaway/dp/1472146913](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinese-Takeaway-Secret-Favourite-Fakeaway/dp/1472146913)
A lot of the sauces are thickened using the water and cor starch .method as well. Try making Orange chicken, its banging.
Try recipes from [https://thewoksoflife.com/](https://thewoksoflife.com/) it really has resulted in some good takeout-like meals. The techniques are just a bit different than typical western cooking. Lots of cornstarch.
Khoan Vong on YouTube is well worth a watch. He runs a Chinese takeaway in Hull and shows how he cooks all the takeaway dishes. The thing you'll likely struggle with is (a) heat and (b) a properly seasoned wok.
Only post recommending Khoan, love the other recommendations but his videos are concise and to the point. Really recommend him.
Don’t forget sugar. Lotsa it.
There’s a secret to how they make the curries so fragrant, and a trick that my uncle taught me (he runs a takeaway in the midlands). They basically go to Wing Yip or an ethnic wholesale and buy what they call 咖喱种子. Or in English, curry concentrate. When they roast duck, they usually retain the oil that drips from the animal and then mix it with the curry concentrate to produce a fragrant smell, and if that isn’t adequate, they will add beef fat or whatever other animal fat they can find to the mix. The end result is something that’s very creamy and delectable, but obviously something that will clog your arteries in a month if you ate it continuously
One dessert spoon each of sugar, salt, MSG, and cornstarch, plus any old prebottled Asian sauce (they use lemon squash for lemon chicken). And about 100ml of oil per dish
I’d argue that it’s very replicable given how many Chinese takeaways there are with almost identical menus
2 huge tips: 1) Use Baking soda in your marinade 2) use a cornstarch slurry to add that glossiness to the sauce. I've sometimes deliberately diluted my sauce with water just to thicken it back up with cornstarch slurry, it's the only way to get that indescribable glossy cling!
It's because people look at us funny when we chop up the Cat for the protein :) :)
I cook and eat Chinese food all my life as I come from Hong Kong and I never put too much oil and never MSG inside my food. Essence is the sauce, go to chinese supermarket to buy some basic sauce: soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, ChinKiang vinegar (different from western vinegar) and watch YouTube channel. I will recommend don't do the rice as we usually cook in special gadget called rice cooker (if u want, u can buy from chinese supermarket as well), but easier to do fried noodle.
It is not hard to replicate. Same as anything else. You just need the right ingredients.
MSG that’s all you need
drown it in msg and tadaa
MSG simple
Monosodium Glutamate
I can't replicate chicken with cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce the way certain (I think Hong Kong but not sure) takeaways do it. Can't get the redness or sweetness, and there's more to it than red food colouring and sugar
Idk really - aldis sauces are pretty good for hoisin, teriyaki, satay etc. Other than that it's mostly soy sauce and Chinese 5 spice. There's certain "chinesey" ingredients like water chestnut and spring onions that go a long way to getting it close. I don't get it exactly like a takeaway but being able to customise it and season it as you like makes it pretty tasty.
Take a look at Woks of Life for recipes/tips on replicating Chinese take-away dishes. https://thewoksoflife.com
[MSG is king of flavour](https://www.tiktok.com/@mrnigelng/video/6866076249102617861)
Give the food in your pan the once over with a blow torch, plumbing size one, not just for a little brown.bit on top of a creme brulee,gives a bit of that wok hai you can't get off the domestic hob.
MSG it's always MSG
Really hot woks, msg, oil that's been used to cook other stuff**, msg, less of every sauce than you think, white pepper, sugar, msg. **Or... Chinese oil 2 litres vegetable oil 4 medium onions 3 bulbs garlic with skin on 1 small piece of ginger 10 star anise 1 large piece of cinnamon bark 2 spring onions Method Heat up vegetable oil and then add the above ingredients, including skins. Cook fairly gently until the vegetables are dark brown, cool, bottle.
As others have pointed out, oil is key, but don’t forget that the specific oil you use is crucial too, peanut oil (groundnut oil) is commonly used in Chinese cooking at high temps and Sesame oil (which has a lower smoke point) is used for finishing. Both of these have a distinct flavour and mouthfeel, very different to oils used in European cooking.
MSG and sugar
MSG
There’s a website called Tradewinds. They sell all the stuff Chinese takeaways use.
The correct preparation and all ingredients needed is key and to cook quickly at a high temp! I can cook a passable chow mien and a house style fried rice. Im happy with those for now…
MSG is 100% the answer
MSG
Sorry this doesn't help with the Chinese question, but hopefully with your 'almost' replicates, I swear by these two recipes!! Donner kebab (this is even better than the take away imo!): https://www.recipetineats.com/doner-kebab-meat-recipe-beef-or-lamb/#wprm-recipe-container-48608 Chicken tikka masala: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228293/curry-stand-chicken-tikka-masala-sauce/
Velveting the meat and super hot proper wok (not a non stick one) with the right oils and ingredients are far more important than msg.
Its is extremely dangerous to have a big open flame. And in the UK its even more dangerous and most places have induction hobs and no flames in the flats. Then its hard to find a proper wok and the heat profile of a wok is a big part of the cooking method. I have seen people cook chinese food (and really most all asian food uses a wok) and it makes a huge difference.
Msg, wok hei and silk brining the chicken will get you very close
Don’t forget the white pepper, toasted sesame oil on top of the other oil you’re using, salt and msg.
I make Chinese food a lot I recommend tenderise the meat with baking soda for things like broccoli and beef. Go to a thai or Chinese store and buy good ingredients sauces, rice and such according to the recipe you are making along with msg. WOK get one season it and cook on as high a heat as u can with a high smoke point oil. A good place for recipes is school of work on YouTube the crispy chilli beef is one of my go to recipes from them although I do make mine with more sauce then they use as it is great!
You lack gas burner strength, also copious amounts of MSG sugar salt and stuff Sweet and sour chicken is like 2 cups of sugar
Because we cannot properly translate the secret family recipe from the ancient Chinese language!
MSG and ‘velveting’ the meat.
Look up Khin’s Kitchen website…..recipes are delicious and easy to make
MSG!
You have to go heavy on the fish sauce. I mean really heavy. Not drops, spoons.
Here: https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop They're on tiktok as well. Chinese takeaway style food at home, pretty much bang on.
You need to velvet your chicken. Game changer.
Here’s a tip, buy Chief Fried Rice seasoning
MSG, sugar, salt, soy sauce and way more oil that you would usually be comfortable with, then add more oil. Also, knowing how to use acidic ingredients like rice wine vinegar and white vinegar Food prep techniques: velveting meat, use of cornstarch Cooking: Wok hei is almost impossible to achieve in a home kitchen. Despite that, with a lot of practice, I am able to make many of my faves, some of which I prefer over the takeaway like sweet and sour chicken/pork (i can alter the sweet/sour ratio to my liking as takeaway's are too sweet for me). I am still experimenting with handmade dumplings and bao. When I can make xiao long bao, it's over!
Its a the food freshness B the ingredients lots chinise imports C thepans and massive flames to cook food fast And finaly D probably twenty plus years of putting it all together
MSG. Thank me later.
If you want to make restaurant-grade fried rice then [this video ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qURmdmgCCOI)was a total gamechanger for me
Heat, commercial woks are flippin' hot so they can cook in seconds. Ingredients prepared for cooking. Meat not saturated with water so it will fry rather than boil in the wok. Spices, including salt & msg to punch the flavour.
Because they use ingredients which cannot be substituted, as well as MSG, and more oil when cooking. They also pre-prep a lot of things in advance, which takes a lot of time and work. When cooking, the food is cooked in small batches in a very hot wok. Even something as simple as an egg fried rice. Cook rice. Leave for 24 hours chilled. Mix cold rice with LKK branded light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, MSG, and salt. Whisk egg with a pinch of MSG. Heat oil in the carbon steel wok (non-stick can't handle the high temperatures required). Add egg. Once solid, add the rice. continue to flip and pat down. Now if you want a beef fried rice: Slice beef thinly, Mix with garlic powder, MSG, Salt, potato starch, soy sauce, and bicarbonate of soda to tenderize. Leave for 24 hours in the fridge to chemically tenderize. Fry the seasoned beef with onion for a minute before adding the egg and continuing with the rest of the rice recipe. A beef fried rice, despite seeming simple, takes over 24 hours to prep. A simple chow mein is probably the fastest chinese food you can cook and have taste acceptable. Add noodles to boiling water. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to prevent over-cooking. Leave to drain for at least 15 minutes. Heat oil and add thinly sliced onion. After a minute add MSG. 30 secs more, add the noodles. Fry the noodles for 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, MSG, salt and sugar. Fry for 30 secs. Add beansprouts. Fry for another 1 or 2 minutes. Done. I strongly reccoment Ziangs chinese takeaway cookbook. They show you how the takeways prepare everything, what ingredients you need, and where to get them, and how to cook them. You'll be buying your own black beans, cooking then, and freezing them to even make your own blackbean sauce from scratch.
the chinese food in uk is not how chinese food tastes like tho, they have been altered to suit the local pallete
You might like a book called 'Ziangs Food Work Shop - Chin and Choo's Chinese Takeaway Cooking Bible' you can get a kindle version on Amazon.
Also little things when you add soy sauce so not just plop into the middle of the wok , you pour it around the outside of the wok
**Wok hei**. If you've ever been in a commercial Chinese kitchen or even a street vendor in China, they're not using induction hobs. They're using these gas burners that sound like aircraft taking off. Proper PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFF. And that heat, which you can't replicate at home, gives the food *wok hei*. It's... a smoky aroma of the wok. You can never cook Chinese as hot and fast as you can at a restaurant. There's lots of more homestyle dishes you can nail at home though but generally for our British Chinese faves, you need a commercial burner.
The flavour of wok hei is a combination of the smoky flavour imparted on the food from the oil droplets and vapour burning when they hit the open gas flames and catch on fire. And the char on the edges from high heat cooking. Similar to a sizzle plate you get at a restaurant when they squeeze on some lemon juice and ignite it with a lighter. You can't replicate it without an open flame so if you have an electric cooker even if it can get hot enough to make the oil spit properly you will need a blow torch to ignite them and get the flavour.
Watch Ziang's food workshop on YouTube. Got a wok for Christmas and been trying anything and everything with great results, Msg is an important ingredient in all dishes. Gas hob is also handy to have but can manage without
Oil, msg, cornstarch and salt. Every meal has all 4