Most Chinese restaurants where I live taste pretty similar as far as meat texture, batter, and sauces. Do most Chinese restaurants get their sauces and meats from distributors? If they do, what is the distributor? Or are the sauces all made in the restaurant?
>>7602380
If you go to your local Asian market you'll find containers with several liters of sauce and 5kilo bags of MSG for a few bucks.
That red sweet and sour sauce that every place seems to make the exact same? Yeah, you can buy that.
If you go to the frozen section you'll also find all the deep fried stuff ready to reheat.
>>7602380
most chinese plaes use hte same bland recipes. They buy the rice and pasta at the same stores same with the fish and seafood, meat, chicken an pork they can get cheap cuts from the local butcher tho.
The only place you can get autentic chinese food here is in the same store chinese restaurants owners buy their ingridients but you either have to sit at the bar o share one long overcrowded uncomfortable table.
Its actually surprisingly cheap for being pretty much the most ethnic dining experience around
>>7602380
I wonder that too, there are a few cheap takeout places where the food is almost identical at all of them. Same with Italian restaurants here, I think they buy stuff from the same distributor so it's all the same.
>>7602403
Im friends with someone who owns a Chinese restaurant.
Of course whenever I see him eating, it is never the fried sugar sauce shit lol. Always steamed veggies and rice. Maybe chicken.
It always looks bland and unseasoned, although very healthy.
>>7602417
>>7602403
>>7602391
>>7602380
A lot of Chinese places use template menus as well.. This is pretty common knowledge.
Pic related, I'm sure we have all seen this menu at some point.
>>7602423
>family dinner for one person
Sounds good......
>we don't use m.s.g.
Aaaaaaand DROPPED.
>>7602423
i once went to a chinese buffet and saw the owner eating cup noodles, freaked me to the core but dad said its ok
>>7602431
I like when this is advertised, as if the other chemicals in the food are not harmful.
MSG is probably the safest thing on the plate lol
>>7602436
The dude can't even trust his own noodles? Fuck.
Your dad sounds like my dad hahaha. He'd yell at me for not eating at those Chinese buffets.
>>7602439
It's about the marketing since MSG is a "scary" chemical that people give a shit about. You think that their customers would know what they meant if that restaurant said they use home made soy sauce that's free of sodium benzoate?
>>7602490
Oh yeah, I'm aware of this.
It's like the box of Whoppers I bought yesterday. Said it has 25% less fat than other whoppers, which is nuts.. but people use it to justify their decisions.
>>7602495
Technically that's not a lie. It's even better when a product is advertised as UP TO 20% less calories or 99% recycled material. It could be 1% better than the previous incantation for all we know, but using the phrase "up to" somehow makes it ok.
>>7602490
Why do people get so worked up about MSG? It's just another seasoning. I buy bags at the Asian market and put it in my food, definitely makes it taste better. Is it because it has a science-y sounding name?
>>7602827
No, it's because it's lazy.
I don't know about nationwide, but here in Wisconsin all the 'normal' Chinese places get their food from Asian Foods Inc.
Most other places get a good amount of their food from Sysco. It's just a thing. Making things like onion rings by hand is a pain in the ass. Buying them frozen is the difference between reasonably-priced food and 'artisan' delicacies that are 3-5 times more expensive.
I decided to google, for the point of this comment, whether Asian Foods Inc is national or local. It's regional (pic related) and guess what I just learned? It's a subsidiary of Sysco. LOL. Thanks /ck/, you tricked me into learning something
>>7602906
Why should you care if it tastes good?
>>7602380
Standard recipes. There's very slight variation from place to place, but it's literally a generic recipe. They all use the same bulk ingredients, so the only difference is preparation.
They cycle through chefs as they come in from China, though, so if somewhere changes slightly you may need to change takeaways.
>>7602827
You can't break down MSG. Back when they still used it, I ended up pissing/sweating it out for a day or two after eating chinese.
I miss it, but I don't miss the smell of it hanging around me.
>>7602827
It tastes like burning and cheapness to me. Doesn't add anything.
>>7602380
>>7602423
Just for comparison, here a menu from my Local Chinese, it's very popular and always full.
>>7602827
LIterally racist during 70s and 80s making up shit as a reason to not go to the increasing number of Chinese restaurants. None of those studies have been confirmed in recent years and most of them have been shown to be placebo effect.
Yes op your a 100% right about the modern day "american Chinese" scene, its been concertized and killed by mass consumerism, its also designed very similar to junk food.
Now compare that to a much more recent fad of Vietnamese restaurants who (until very recently in Canada anyways) haven't had warehouses and big distributors to cut down costs and please plebs.
Basically Chinese food has dropped so low in quality its all mall tier except for a few good restaurants here or there. In no way am i advocating Cantonese or "American chinese" is bad its just become Lowest-Common-Denominator.
>>7604111
most but not all. I get migraines from eating too much stuff with MSG in it, even if I'm not aware it has it and only find out afterward when my head starts pounding and I read the label. same with disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, autolyzed yeast extract, and certain fermented things like soy sauce.
that being said, I can tolerate a small amount, so I can eat chinese every now and again provided I stay away from certain items that I know from past experience have too much of the wrong stuff in them.
>>7604241
Am I correct in assuming you also will get headaches if you consume a lot of onion, Parmesan cheese, or Japanese soups (which traditionally use kelp-dashi for broth base)? Those things contain the same sort of compound, which is why they're so commonly used as flavor enhancers. In fact, onions, Parmesan and kelp are the most concentrated "natural" sources of said compound.
Allergists will often ask about those since it is a rather accurate way to determine if someone's claimed MSG sensitivity is a legit thing or psychosomatic.
>>7604426
I don't eat much of any of those things. I will eat small amounts of parmesan but generally it's grated shit from a can because I'm a pleb. I like onions but my stomach doesn't. so I tend to skip them or just use small amounts of onion powder. and I don't really eat japanese food much because I live in rural minnesota.
I suppose it's still always possible that it's psychosomatic, but I'm having trouble figuring out how that would be the case when I have the same reaction whether I'm aware of the MSG or not. and it happens with foods that I would not expect to have MSG, but later find out it does because like I said, I ate it, got a migraine, then went back and double checked the labels. doesn't happen often because I got in the habit of checking labels most times. but it does happen.
>>7604490
>I like onions but my stomach doesn't
Proof Onions cause stomach aches
>>7602423
>It always looks bland and unseasoned, although very healthy.
This is definitely a Chinese thing, they eat a lot of pretty bland shit if it has interesting textures.
>>7604495
man I was so bummed when I figured out onions were making my acid reflux worse. I used to like a little onion on a burger but now I can't even have that. have to leave them out of sauces and chili too. shitsux
>>7603178
restaurants in general get food from sysco
the best asian joint in the milwaukee area is between huan xi and fortune and both get their food from pacific produce down in greenfield I believe
thats where I get my asian food from atleast
>>7602827
it causes receding fullness and overall means the food wasnt made with care for flavor since its basically an overriding flavor
I dont mind it in small quantities but then again I dont go to shitty asian restaurants but thats me being a third gen chinese who gets home cooked shit
its weird how Panda Express seems to have much more unique recipes than most random American Chinese take out places
but I guess that because it actually has some legitimate origins and history compared to those places
>>7604743
panda express is just a chain, every fuckin chinese immigrant opened a restaurant because they know it takes almost 0 effort depending on region
like seriously most people who order chinese take out dont know shit about good chinese or asian food in general and have low standards so you really just use frozen shit thats pre made and toss it in a box to go
panda express is only different because its not stock recipes every migrant works with
>>7604758
what I mean is Panda Express originated from higher quality normal style restaurant called The Panda Inn which still exists actually
their recipes are basically just cheaper versions of dishes originally served there like the honey walnut shrimp
thats the main reason its different from all these other random take out places that all seem to follow the same recipes
>>7604788
>honey and walnut shrimp
dude that been around for ages, not specific to panda express either
>>7604851
yeah of course
pretty much every dish at every Chinese take out place is something that has been around for a long time
I mean Panda Express has orange chicken too, the staple of staples for a chinese take out place, but its very noticeably different from all these other take out places to me
>>7604758
>every fuckin chinese immigrant opened a restaurant because they know it takes almost 0 effort
Restaurants are among the hardest businesses to keep afloat, and most of the workers bust their asses trying to make a living.
is it just me or is panda express better than any other chinese fast food, especially any at a mall (unless it's an asian mall). it's usually fried much crispier and sits around for less time than other places and the sauce is actually tastier.
>>7603939
>>7603942
Get the hot and sour soup and salt/chilli squid if you like spicy. Else go for the HK style sweet and sour pork and yeung chow chow mein.
>>7604124
You're right. It's basically Asian fast food, esp if you go to those places where you pay $6 for a rice box and three toppings of your choice. Ironically, actual Chinese food from the fancy establishments is on par with food back in China.
>>7604904
no they dont and thats why alot of them fail, we're talking about fucking chinese buffet style restaurants
they come and go alot second to mexican places or pizza parlors
>>7604743
>unique recipes
>everything is coated in msg sauce
Yeah nah, maybe in your flyover town this is true but I've been to many Hmong and Szechuan restaurants that are miles better than anything Panda serves.
All chinese places I went to are the same. Chicken with sauces and vegetables, beef with thick sauces and vegetables, pork with thick sauces and vegetables.
>>7604904
No, not really.
Restaurants below some level, is very easy to run.
You don't have to have open all day, just at hours where people want food. Which means its either open for people having lunch, or for people having dinner. Or 11 to 18, just to barely cover both.
Then there is ingredients. Ingredients are sold in bulk, almost finished.
For something like Asian food, that means you get to buy pre marinated meat, in bulk. Which removes the hardest part of making the food.
Most of it is sold dry or frozen, so there is no real failure point from FDA.
Cleaning of the kitchen can be done with some spray bottles and rotating some cloths to wash. The restaurant itself can be cleaned on closing.
Failing the FDA inspection means there is some point of major fuck up, because keeping it clean is very easy.
There's an excellent essay by Jeffrey Steingarten titled, "Why doesn't everyone in China have a headache?" which dispels every myth about MSG.
>>7602380
American Chinese food is basically fast food. If you want authentic Chinese food you have to know where to look
What are the cheat codes when you go to a Chinese restaurant?
>>7606607
Dump the hot mustard on everything. All you'll ever need.
>>7606607
Same as any other restaurant, learn to say a few words in their dialect. In Britain the Chinese restaurants are usually owned and run by expats from Hong Kong.
I was told by one Chinese lady to say 'Soir sur' . . . I can't find a translation for it anywhere but they seem to respect this and give better service . . .maybe a Chines speaker could enlighten me here?
I live in the west coast so getting legit chinese food is easy.
Always go for the Dim Sum places if you want legit Chinese foods.
>>7604931
Well that would be because panda is made to cater to gaijin baka taste buds.
Most Chinese hole-in-the-wall places I've been to are still miles better than panda. The orange chicken and Walnut shrimp are the only thing they've got going - even the broccoli beef is shit and the broccoli is chewy and weird.
But ss someone else said, maybe that's because i don't live in flyover country...
>>7605374
>RealTraveler TM detected
