AMA

Edit: it is busy here sorry I can't guarantee I can answer immediately it got busy almost as soon as I posted

Edit #2: I am not a chef, so I cannot answer specific food questions with certainty!

So when I got it, there was so much sauce it was basically a soup with a ton of big veggies and some noodles.

Today I called again, but asked for chow mei fun no veggies, she said ok but then I asked if it’s stir fried with no sauce? Again she said no. Then I said “can I please just have plain mei fun noodles stir fried?” And she goes “ummm…I can make it with only a little sauce” and I said “ok but is it stir fried?” And she said no we don’t do that. Doesn’t chow mei fun literally mean fried rice noodles? Why would it even be listed on the menu like that?

So I called a different restaurant, and they said the same thing!! It’s like they had no idea what I was talking about. How do I go about getting what’s pictured?? I’ve had it at all you can eat buffets but yet my local chinese restaurants don’t even make this.

Let me preface that I am part Chinese myself and grew up in Asia and eat almost exclusively Asian or Chinese food growing up. I notice that whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant and order a bunch of food, white rice is often the last thing they bring out. They will bring out all the entrees etc but with no rice?! I end up having to ask them to bring out the rice because I literally can’t eat the entrees without rice. It’s like eating a hamburger without the bun. A sandwich without the bread. It literally makes no sense but I notice this constantly at almost every place I go to these days. Whats up with that??

Robot malfunction

I wasn't sure where to post this, so thought Chinese food seems about right. I know it's important and to each their own, but I am super curious if there are more out there like her. So, when you go with a group to an American style Chinese restaurant (by American style I mean deep fried chicken balls, sweet and sour, fried shrimp, honey garlic pork bites, Kung Pao etc) do you order family style or each person orders their own dish? I have only known family style, with the exception being combination lunch plates and soup. We went out with a new couple and they did not want to share. I never imagined someone eating 12 chicken balls only for dinner. She was downright argumentative when I mentioned family style. I thought they were meant to be shared, we each get a bit of everything. Who's right?

In my mind I know a lot about Chinese food. I lived in China for years and travelled around quite a bit. What keeps me from thinking I'm an expert is probably this sub.

Every so often someone posts a picture asking "What dish is this?" And I think "Well, that doesn't look like Chinese food! I've never seen anything like that!" But, sure enough, someone in the comments will be like "Oh yes. That's luobing. Very popular in the town of Dusheng".

Cast iron and electric stove wasn’t cutting it. Should’ve done this years ago

It’s very frustrating to me that every place I’ve been to since I moved to Pittsburgh apparently has no idea what chow mein is. This is the third Chinese place I’ve tried to get chow mein at and the third time I’ve been given this dish. What is this even??? There aren’t even noddles in it!!! Even google knows what chow mein looks like and it ain’t this. What am I doing wrong with my order? I don’t want low mein either, I just want a decent side of chow mein like I used to get all the time.

Wish him nothing but the best!

I’m a 40 something white Italian American. I grew up with the idea that Italians taught the world how to eat, and Chinese food was something you ate on a special occasion in the strip mall. I thought I knew all the dishes Chinese food had to offer.

Then I hit my twenties and moved to NYC. Literally every day since I have been surprised by a new dish, new ingredient or new technique from authentic Chinese restaurants. Restaurants where the server goes to back to find the owner to explain to me that I might not like the dish I ordered because it has organ meat in it (true story. Spicy pork kidney with Chinese celery I think it was. Just remember I loved it. True story!)

I wish my grandmother was still alive so I could show her a few things I have learned. I think she would have loved hot pot.

Recipe book from the San Francisco classic.

...so, if I had to come up with something, it would be 乌鸡汤, silkie/black chicken soup.

It's one of the few full-on dishes that my wife actually cooks, because she can make it in an electric crockpot thingey, and steers clear of woks and such. She's inspired to make it because of those magical "health benefits" that some Chinese women are attracted to.

I find the soup, first, rather tasteless. It just has this faint essence of the black chicken and jujube and stuff that was boiled in the water, plus oil from the chicken skin. Nothing really savory or spicy.

The chicken is off-putting because it's just all parts of the chicken hacked up and thrown in: including the comb, the head, the feet. Jagged shattered chicken bones run throughout.

Most of all, though I'm totally good with eating meat on the bone, I don't like fishing random pieces of chicken on the bone out of hot soup. It's very awkward to eat.

We've had a frozen silkie in our freezer for months now, a combination of the fact that my wife is probably too lazy to cook it (she needs her hubbie to chop it up) and my past lack of enthusiasm.

What's your "no, thanks" dish or ingredient?