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Old December 25th, 2020 #3
Crowe
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Originally Posted by Larry the Raysiss View Post
I have never tried it yet myself, but I have read and heard the reason why the beef and chicken in chink food is the consistency it is is because they soak it in a baking soda "marinade". Some sites will tell you that you can do the same thing with a milk marinade, but I did try that and it did absolutely nothing (soaked overnight).

And you're right about the cost. Unless you make the sauces from scratch (and even then I have doubts), it's expensive to buy that stuff and make it yourself, compared to the take-out places. Look at the prices for one small bottle of sweet and sour or some other asian sauce. Once won't even be enough for one recipe.
Trying to nail the flavor profiles, and the texture of the meat is tricky to get with the Asian food. I've tried a number of things as well, and haven't been successful. I even bought a wok, and some wok oil to cook the stuff. But those work better on gas stoves.

They got the kitchen in viewing distance as soon as you walk into the place. I can look behind the counter and see that the kitchen looks clean, and that they all wear masks, so from a culinary perspective, their operation looks professional, and not second rate, cutting corners. They got the gas turned up blasting on those woks too. Me not being able to get the texture and consistency right probably has something to do with me not being able to get as much heat onto a wok as they do. I will say that cooking on a wok is really convenient, you turn the heat all the way up, put a little oil in there, like if you want to sautee a whole bunch of vegetables at once, it's pretty efficient. The hotter you can get a burner, the more efficient the wok is.

They don't have one near me (or I'd be spending a lot more money on take out....), but Panda Express has really good food as well. Last time I ate at one was about a year ago, and Beijing Beef was pretty legit. I like the places that are open where you can look over the counter into the kitchen, and I could see that the kitchen was spotless. I'm kinda OCD when it comes to my kitchen, and cooking surfaces. It's one of the reasons why I really don't like cooking stuff very frequently that's going to make a huge mess. Dumb bitch I dated a few years back would pile up dishes in my sink, and that drove me up the fucking wall, I literally wanted to ring this cunt's neck out, and the dishwasher was empty too. She didn't last long.

Beijing Beef, this stuff is crazy good. It's breaded, kinda like a chicken fried steak, and smothered in a hot sauce.

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Last edited by Crowe; December 25th, 2020 at 05:07 PM.