thread of pictures of real chinese food

probably another reason for the lack of great chinese food in america is that the model of a chinese-american restaurant as profitable business has already entered into the fabric of the US. americans already have a fixed idea of what chinese take-out is and recent immigrants are more than happy to provide that experience. it takes creative rebranding to break out of that rut, i.e. by labeling your restaurant as a 'sichuan/szechuan' restaurant specifically instead of as a 'chinese' restaurant.

someone told me it's that the thai food most tourists have is the one that's served in tourist destinations, which is... tailored to fit the tourist's tastes.

yeah probably true. also i was staying with a local in chengdu, not so in thailand. not so mysterious i guess.

chengdu has a reputation of being a foodie paradise in china. no mistake that the three blog posts dylannnn referenced were all about chengdu. my own tour of chengdu was def pretty amazing, that's where I had 干锅 (pictured somewhere in this thread). probably the only other place I thought comparable to chengdu in food terms is taipei.

http://jessieandthegiantplate.com/media/blogs/a//potsclosed.JPG

The real, slow-baked deal, however, can be found just outside Chengdu in Pixian, where the Zhao Feng He company has been producing doubanjiang using only traditional methods since 1666. In their courtyard, thousands of earthen-ware pots are neatly arranged according to their level in the fermentation process. The doubanjiang here is mixed everyday, the lids of the pots taken off in good weather, and the product is left to ferment for at least two years before being sold to private customers only. Various ages of doubanjiang are available at Zhao Feng He, including an eight year-old, limited vintage - the finest and most unadulterated doubanjiang in China.

http://jessieandthegiantplate.com/media/blogs/a//douban.JPG

by the person I stayed with in Chengdu

salivating

I think the best meal i had in China was in a cheap restaurant somewhere like Guiyang which was just a huge plate of vegetables i've never subsequently been able to identify, soy sauce, garlic and something that looked like cumin seeds but wasn't. Brought in a sizzling, spitting iron pot. Cost 12 RMB, as far as i can remember.

Another reason Chinese food tends to taste better in China, certainly in smaller towns and cities, is the link with fresh local produce. I can buy any number of Chinese vegetables in London but most have been out of the ground for a week by the time they get to me. English vegetables aren't much better. Most of the places i went to in Yunnan or Guizhou were cooking stuff that was still growing earlier that day.

12 RMB sounds expensive!

dude! south jersey/philly chinese food FAP would be awesome

I would definitely be down for this if I were in the area (about a 1/4 chance)

^^^would get on a train from DC for this

ive definitely had my eyes opened abt chinese food since some places serving more regional food have opened up in london

http://i.imgur.com/1bdwm.jpg

红烧狮子头

also people who complain about the saltiness of chinese food, ever eat a big bag of potato chips in one go? my tongue is swollen

Australian Chinese food:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JYvTgrndSpA/TmsFC07g4kI/AAAAAAAAED4/Vll1vVRgiYk/s1600/photo.PNG

i hear there's plenty good chinese food in australia?

It's down under, do you see.

http://dzh.mop.com/whbm/20110917/0/5glzglI27aa1fbFl.shtml

http://i.imgur.com/UGhuL.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OaYQu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/p9c1C.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wUwzi.jpg

goddamn i hate/love this thread.

http://static.quna.com/meishi/caipuimg/819/185819.jpg

杀猪菜

http://img02.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploaded/i2/T1VzpwXaVaXXc3uiM4_053346.jpg_310x310.jpg

【【【【【哈尔滨红肠】】】】

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/jiaoqu/cheeselobster.jpg

Classic Great Taste

http://i.imgur.com/OaYQu.jpg

what is that jelly stuff

you mean the egg ”white“? its century egg / thousand year old egg 皮蛋 with peppers on top

On June 28, 2011, CNN's division CNNGo.com published an account of a Texan blogger in an article on "the most 'revolting' food in the world". The blogger said the dish "tastes like the devil cooked eggs for me".[5] [......] A week later, CNN officially apologized for its remarks on century eggs,[6] describing it "a delicacy in Chinese culture and by global gourmets in the know."

i dunno, i find it more mellow than a hardboiled egg. not particularly offensive.

i don't know if i described it on this thread but i used to buy large mcdonalds fries, peel 2 pidan, and mix them up like a salad. works best with the softer yolked pidan. :(( so good.

Apropos of those Lay's lobster chips, I'm allergic to crustaceans, on top of my revulsion for all fish dishes. Thought my fellow AZNs should know.

there'll be no degustations, of friendly crustaceans, under the leee

http://i.imgur.com/efICi.jpg

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

http://i.imgur.com/bBzSZ.jpg

i am technically allowed to post itt since i briefly lived in shanghai, i guess, but since i'm a complete idiot when it comes to food i will refrain. i will only state the obvious, which is that real chinese food is pretty much the best food ever. i really miss it.

everybody is allowed to post itt! Z S what was the best thing you had in shanghai

I'm invited to go to a meeting in Xi'an in a few months; should I go? I'm kinda squeamish about traveling that far, but I've heard the food's fantastic, & that might be enough to tip the balance.

xi'an is okay, I found the soldiers part to be pretty boring, idk what specialties xi'an has but pretty much any restaurant you go to will have really great chinese food

sorta have to decide whether to go through Beijing or Shanghai on the flight in; which is going to be less bewildering qua getting great food, when I don't speak any Mandarine & will be alone?

how long would you be staying?

oh, my memory is awful, so i can't remember the "best" thing, but i do remember loving the easy access to xiaolongbao, the Shanghai style DUMPLINGS! that are filled with broth:

http://www.cityspoonful.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/DUMPLINGS!.jpg

Also, street food! i used to grab a Cōng Yóu Bǐng on the way to work EVERY DAY, and never got sick of it:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WuCYra3-fYw/S_epPaFaNtI/AAAAAAAAAx4/ReJmmPhYtsw/s400/_MG_0513.jpg

those are both really simple things and don't do chinese food justice, but i was obsessed with both.

the conference in Xi'an is for like 5 days; I'm thinking of adding a couple of days at the start (or end? too?) in whatever city I connect in. I don't even know if this is a good idea, as I don't know how easy it's gonna be for me to get into town from the airport & then back out to the airport. I'm kinda stressed by the prospect just b/c I've heard that China's pretty unforgiving, even to the experienced traveler.

looooool, the top image broke because the part of the URL that mentioned d-umplin-gs was replaced with DUMPLINGS!!

xiaolongbao:

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/images/xiao_long_bao.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vcl6w.jpg

mmmmmmm, DUMPLINGS!..

so, so good. bite the top off, suck out the broth, then slip the rest..

this is getting a little sexy

Z S I made some congyoubing today! (葱油饼）well to be accurate my dad made some dough and I froze it and fried it today and it was great. my dad kind of taught me how to make them too and it's pretty nifty actually, there's a reason why they're layered after you fry them

the conference in Xi'an is for like 5 days; I'm thinking of adding a couple of days at the start (or end? too?) in whatever city I connect in. I don't even know if this is a good idea, as I don't know how easy it's gonna be for me to get into town from the airport & then back out to the airport. I'm kinda stressed by the prospect just b/c I've heard that China's pretty unforgiving, even to the experienced traveler.

― Euler, Saturday, March 10, 2012 3:14 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

I think it's probably a wash between BJ and SH - lot of opportunities to get scammed either way. but if you're adventurous I'd go for it!

i make them myself, occasionally, although i'm a bad cook and it's not nearly as good as the real thing. but it's really fun to crack the egg on top of the pancake and then flip it all over.