One dish I used to see frequently on the West Coast was Fuzhou fried rice. Maybe you know it. It's a simple egg white friend rice topped with seafood gravy. Usually the ones I had had shrimp, squid, and scallops. Usually there was dried scallop in the gravy, and sometimes there was a fine mince of dried fish. Usually also pieces of gailan or celtice, and straw mushrooms or slices of shiitake, too. It was my favorite dish to get, and it really fell out of fashion around here. I miss it so much. I've only seen red yeast rice sauce with pieces of fermented tofu, but that's a flavor a lot of Americans are very receptive to. It reminds me of red wine with like a sweet gorgonzola. I've served it to plenty of US Americans who become instantly obsessed with it. Also fermented tofu in general? It sounds weird, and it tastes so dang good.
I make Fuzhou fried rice weekly because my toddler loves it. Fry eggs in a hot wok, add rice, season with salt, and set aside. Reconstitute shiitake mushrooms and dried scallops, saving the liquid. Marinate chicken and shrimp in cornstarch and soy sauce, stir-fry them until they change color, and set aside. Sauté diced shiitake and gailan (though choisum works too), add back the mushroom liquid and some chicken stock, reintroduce the chicken and shrimp, and thicken it with a cornstarch roux and oyster sauce. I serve it over the rice-it's my quick, under 30-minute dinner. You can try making it at home too if you miss it! I might have a sample size. It helps to explain fermented tofu is kind of like cheese, but most Americans I know don't like it. :( I LOVE it with congee!
Amazing video! I have a ton of random thoughts :-) For a time, I went around to all the Chinese markets in Southern California asking for the red yeast rice sauce... I don't even know if it is ever sold that way. No one in the markets seemed to know what I was talking about when I asked for 紅糟, haha. I wonder if what you said about American diners not noticing the change to Fujianese cooks is not entirely true. What I mean is, although they wouldn't make the connection like "Ah, before Guangdong people were cooking and now it is Fujian people," I have observed a lot of commentary over the years about how people find the food "different" than it was in the past-which they express in several different ways. I have been to Xiamen and Fuzhou (in Fujian province) and was obsessed with trying local dishes! I found not only "Fujian" food to be unique but also those two cities were noticeably different :) One place it gets blurry, I feel, is that Chaozhou (Teochew) food straddles the poles of "Guangdong" and "Fujian." It's like, Chaozhou is in Guangdong but leans toward Fujian. The other confusion comes in that so much Taiwan food is based in Fujian food, and American diners might encounter those Fujian dishes branded as Taiwanese (with the Taiwanese food further branded simply as "Chinese"). Sort of like you said, there is also the potential for mix up with Vietnamese food, with those dishes based in Chaozhou food. There is something I've wondered about -- if some dishes with a "gravy" poured on top lean toward Fujian. Like, what's up with the so-called "Chaozhou fried rice" that Hong Kong (?) places might serve?--consisting of a starch gravy poured over rice as opposed to dry, 炒 rice? I have eaten Fuzhou food at three different places in New York (Manhattan and Brooklyn) and was disappointed! I don't mean disrespect, but it was like "trashy" food! And this wasn't for non-Chinese diners. In the worst place, they didn't speak any English and it was packed with Chinese diners drinking, smoking, playing. The food they gave me didn't even look like what I thought I ordered-it looked like random scraps from the kitchen. So weird. Which brings me to another conversation I just had with my (Northern Chinese) wife. We had just eaten at an American Chinese restaurant in the California desert... for fun! We ordered beef with snow peas, thinking it would be "safe": just stir fry some beef and snow peas together, nothing fried and sticky. The beef was way TOO soft, like it had been marinating in baking soda forever and the soda had already digested the beef. Of course, the peas were way too soft, too, and they threw in random vegetables like button mushroom and carrot. And it was starchy/gooey. We talked about how we don't mind the idea of changing recipes, but this was just badly done, we thought. We debated: Is this what the cooks think "Americans" want, either based on what their customers actually evidence or based on their imagination? Or is it what they (the cooks) think is good? Or are the cooks just bad (perhaps, immigrants with no cooking background who just found the job)? I have no idea! I feel like it's no trouble to just cook the marinated beef quickly, take out, stir fry the snow peas a few seconds (it's all they need), throw the beef back in, and season. Voila! Beef and snow peas. So why "so bad" (in our opinion)? I'm honestly stumped by some of the genuinely badly made food in American Chinese restaurants and what are all the factors that come into play. I also had the thought that gu lu rou is from lychee pork :) Lastly: Are those 核桃包 at 2:01? :0 I buy them frozen from the supermarket and I didn't know that, aside from a novelty item in a supermarket freezer, they might have an actual basis in Fujian food!
Haha, I also went around looking for red yeast rice sauce in San Francisco years ago and found nothing (but you can get it online now!), the closest I found was also the red yeast rice fermented tofu like the commenter below you. Super interesting that you think some might have noticed the change in Chinese food, I always just dismiss it thinking it's because the old cooks were retiring. I think you're onto something here. I am happy you liked this video. It's hard for me to work on since I have never been to Fujian haha. And yes, I debated to even include any food items outside of Fuzhou in the video. I myself also got confused thinking my family habit of using shacha sauce on noodles is maybe from Fujian, but I think it's because my maternal grandfather's from Hakka and they also heavily use shacha sauce. When you say Chaozhou fried rice, that usually doesn't have a gravy, the ingredients vary, but it usually has salted bacon, preserved mustard with olives, taro and gailan. The one with gravy, did you mean Fuzhou fried rice? (See below commenter as well) The inconsistency is really taking a toll on people's perception of Chinese food in America. I would assume it's the combo of brain drain (older cooks retiring and newer immigrants not interested in kitchen), ingredient cost, and the changing work ethics (similar to job hopping Gen Z. When you don't think you'd stay in a profession, why try?). This is a big topic, even food in China is becoming worse. I AM STUMPED when I go back home and eat. Lastly: YES! This could be all BS. But the video was filming an elaborate ten course meal that apparently is on "intangible cultural heritage"? www.fzcl.gov.cn/xjwz/zwgk/zfxxgkzdgz/ggwhty/whycbh/202202/t20220206_4304541.htm
Wow! Amazing channel. I used to work for a Chinese restaurant in Minneapolis, MN called Rainbow Chinese Restaurant for many years. I have pictures if you'd like to use them from the 90s. The restaurant still exists today. If I can help you in anyway with your mission I will. Just ask me. In the meantime I will be watching your documentaries. I'm glad I found your channel.
Wow, thank you for your kind words. I have been thinking about how to scale this. There are so many Chinese restaurant stories out there that need to be told. Let me know if you have any particular stories you want me to cover.
American consumer's for the most part are accustomed to overtly rich, sensory overloading foods. As an individual I can say I'm guilty of this BUT these past few years I've been peicing together a diet of sorts which basically relies on traditionally made foods since they are the least processed, if the food is made traditionally with the traditional noncommercial ingredients it will likely not only taste healthy but make you feel good and healthy upon consumption. If a restaurant scheduled an on-demand day for reservation-prepaid non-refundable select-traditional-menu-day, I would be on board✌️
I am super lucky in this regard being born Cantonese! It's looked down upon to not have fresh ingredients. :) And I agree, I wish more restaurant owners/workers have the capacity to offer traditional menus to those who'd appreciate it.
Ive seen over the years how fujianese have taken over the canto restaurants and the taste that i grew up with and learned to love. But trust me when I tell you this(no offense) but the food flavor is just not the same. Even long time cantonese newyorkers agree that the taste is lacking. That being said I have tried to fujianese cuisine. Some peanut noodles and fuchou fish balls that i like.
I've traveled to China several times and I always enjoyed the food. I had a guy from Hong Kong who escorted me to Shenzhen and I told him liked hot food so he took me to a restaurant that was probably more Hunan type food and it certainly wasn't Cantonese. However the dish was FULL of chili pods and although the meat was fabulous it was ridiculously hot for me. Lesson learned on that one. I attended many meals with business colleagues at the facilities where they had private cooks preparing many dishes for lunch and always out to a restaurant with numerous dishes for dinner. You are almost always served peanuts as an appetizer which were pretty boring but for the meals there would be a few chicken and pork dishes (I hope) and several green vegetables and a whole steamed fish. I never trusted the fish because I've seen the waterways and fish farms in China and they can be quite nasty The other dishes I enjoyed for the most part. American Chinese food is usually over sweet and deep fried. I wish the Chinese restaurants would at least offer a few authentic dishes but I've never visited any. Really enjoying your content!
One dish I used to see frequently on the West Coast was Fuzhou fried rice. Maybe you know it. It's a simple egg white friend rice topped with seafood gravy. Usually the ones I had had shrimp, squid, and scallops. Usually there was dried scallop in the gravy, and sometimes there was a fine mince of dried fish. Usually also pieces of gailan or celtice, and straw mushrooms or slices of shiitake, too. It was my favorite dish to get, and it really fell out of fashion around here. I miss it so much.
I've only seen red yeast rice sauce with pieces of fermented tofu, but that's a flavor a lot of Americans are very receptive to. It reminds me of red wine with like a sweet gorgonzola. I've served it to plenty of US Americans who become instantly obsessed with it. Also fermented tofu in general? It sounds weird, and it tastes so dang good.
I make Fuzhou fried rice weekly because my toddler loves it. Fry eggs in a hot wok, add rice, season with salt, and set aside. Reconstitute shiitake mushrooms and dried scallops, saving the liquid. Marinate chicken and shrimp in cornstarch and soy sauce, stir-fry them until they change color, and set aside. Sauté diced shiitake and gailan (though choisum works too), add back the mushroom liquid and some chicken stock, reintroduce the chicken and shrimp, and thicken it with a cornstarch roux and oyster sauce. I serve it over the rice-it's my quick, under 30-minute dinner. You can try making it at home too if you miss it!
I might have a sample size. It helps to explain fermented tofu is kind of like cheese, but most Americans I know don't like it. :( I LOVE it with congee!
Amazing video! I have a ton of random thoughts :-)
For a time, I went around to all the Chinese markets in Southern California asking for the red yeast rice sauce... I don't even know if it is ever sold that way. No one in the markets seemed to know what I was talking about when I asked for 紅糟, haha.
I wonder if what you said about American diners not noticing the change to Fujianese cooks is not entirely true. What I mean is, although they wouldn't make the connection like "Ah, before Guangdong people were cooking and now it is Fujian people," I have observed a lot of commentary over the years about how people find the food "different" than it was in the past-which they express in several different ways.
I have been to Xiamen and Fuzhou (in Fujian province) and was obsessed with trying local dishes! I found not only "Fujian" food to be unique but also those two cities were noticeably different :) One place it gets blurry, I feel, is that Chaozhou (Teochew) food straddles the poles of "Guangdong" and "Fujian." It's like, Chaozhou is in Guangdong but leans toward Fujian. The other confusion comes in that so much Taiwan food is based in Fujian food, and American diners might encounter those Fujian dishes branded as Taiwanese (with the Taiwanese food further branded simply as "Chinese"). Sort of like you said, there is also the potential for mix up with Vietnamese food, with those dishes based in Chaozhou food.
There is something I've wondered about -- if some dishes with a "gravy" poured on top lean toward Fujian. Like, what's up with the so-called "Chaozhou fried rice" that Hong Kong (?) places might serve?--consisting of a starch gravy poured over rice as opposed to dry, 炒 rice?
I have eaten Fuzhou food at three different places in New York (Manhattan and Brooklyn) and was disappointed! I don't mean disrespect, but it was like "trashy" food! And this wasn't for non-Chinese diners. In the worst place, they didn't speak any English and it was packed with Chinese diners drinking, smoking, playing. The food they gave me didn't even look like what I thought I ordered-it looked like random scraps from the kitchen. So weird.
Which brings me to another conversation I just had with my (Northern Chinese) wife. We had just eaten at an American Chinese restaurant in the California desert... for fun! We ordered beef with snow peas, thinking it would be "safe": just stir fry some beef and snow peas together, nothing fried and sticky. The beef was way TOO soft, like it had been marinating in baking soda forever and the soda had already digested the beef. Of course, the peas were way too soft, too, and they threw in random vegetables like button mushroom and carrot. And it was starchy/gooey. We talked about how we don't mind the idea of changing recipes, but this was just badly done, we thought. We debated: Is this what the cooks think "Americans" want, either based on what their customers actually evidence or based on their imagination? Or is it what they (the cooks) think is good? Or are the cooks just bad (perhaps, immigrants with no cooking background who just found the job)? I have no idea! I feel like it's no trouble to just cook the marinated beef quickly, take out, stir fry the snow peas a few seconds (it's all they need), throw the beef back in, and season. Voila! Beef and snow peas. So why "so bad" (in our opinion)? I'm honestly stumped by some of the genuinely badly made food in American Chinese restaurants and what are all the factors that come into play.
I also had the thought that gu lu rou is from lychee pork :)
Lastly: Are those 核桃包 at 2:01? :0 I buy them frozen from the supermarket and I didn't know that, aside from a novelty item in a supermarket freezer, they might have an actual basis in Fujian food!
Haha, I also went around looking for red yeast rice sauce in San Francisco years ago and found nothing (but you can get it online now!), the closest I found was also the red yeast rice fermented tofu like the commenter below you. Super interesting that you think some might have noticed the change in Chinese food, I always just dismiss it thinking it's because the old cooks were retiring. I think you're onto something here.
I am happy you liked this video. It's hard for me to work on since I have never been to Fujian haha. And yes, I debated to even include any food items outside of Fuzhou in the video. I myself also got confused thinking my family habit of using shacha sauce on noodles is maybe from Fujian, but I think it's because my maternal grandfather's from Hakka and they also heavily use shacha sauce.
When you say Chaozhou fried rice, that usually doesn't have a gravy, the ingredients vary, but it usually has salted bacon, preserved mustard with olives, taro and gailan. The one with gravy, did you mean Fuzhou fried rice? (See below commenter as well)
The inconsistency is really taking a toll on people's perception of Chinese food in America. I would assume it's the combo of brain drain (older cooks retiring and newer immigrants not interested in kitchen), ingredient cost, and the changing work ethics (similar to job hopping Gen Z. When you don't think you'd stay in a profession, why try?). This is a big topic, even food in China is becoming worse. I AM STUMPED when I go back home and eat.
Lastly: YES! This could be all BS. But the video was filming an elaborate ten course meal that apparently is on "intangible cultural heritage"? www.fzcl.gov.cn/xjwz/zwgk/zfxxgkzdgz/ggwhty/whycbh/202202/t20220206_4304541.htm
Wow! Amazing channel. I used to work for a Chinese restaurant in Minneapolis, MN called Rainbow Chinese Restaurant for many years. I have pictures if you'd like to use them from the 90s. The restaurant still exists today. If I can help you in anyway with your mission I will. Just ask me. In the meantime I will be watching your documentaries. I'm glad I found your channel.
Wow, thank you for your kind words. I have been thinking about how to scale this. There are so many Chinese restaurant stories out there that need to be told. Let me know if you have any particular stories you want me to cover.
American consumer's for the most part are accustomed to overtly rich, sensory overloading foods.
As an individual I can say I'm guilty of this BUT these past few years I've been peicing together a diet of sorts which basically relies on traditionally made foods since they are the least processed, if the food is made traditionally with the traditional noncommercial ingredients it will likely not only taste healthy but make you feel good and healthy upon consumption.
If a restaurant scheduled an on-demand day for reservation-prepaid non-refundable select-traditional-menu-day, I would be on board✌️
I am super lucky in this regard being born Cantonese! It's looked down upon to not have fresh ingredients. :) And I agree, I wish more restaurant owners/workers have the capacity to offer traditional menus to those who'd appreciate it.
Ive seen over the years how fujianese have taken over the canto restaurants and the taste that i grew up with and learned to love. But trust me when I tell you this(no offense) but the food flavor is just not the same. Even long time cantonese newyorkers agree that the taste is lacking. That being said I have tried to fujianese cuisine. Some peanut noodles and fuchou fish balls that i like.
You're definitely not the first one to tell me this. I've been thinking about how to capture this loss with an episode. I feel like it's important.
I've traveled to China several times and I always enjoyed the food. I had a guy from Hong Kong who escorted me to Shenzhen and I told him liked hot food so he took me to a restaurant that was probably more Hunan type food and it certainly wasn't Cantonese. However the dish was FULL of chili pods and although the meat was fabulous it was ridiculously hot for me. Lesson learned on that one. I attended many meals with business colleagues at the facilities where they had private cooks preparing many dishes for lunch and always out to a restaurant with numerous dishes for dinner. You are almost always served peanuts as an appetizer which were pretty boring but for the meals there would be a few chicken and pork dishes (I hope) and several green vegetables and a whole steamed fish. I never trusted the fish because I've seen the waterways and fish farms in China and they can be quite nasty The other dishes I enjoyed for the most part. American Chinese food is usually over sweet and deep fried. I wish the Chinese restaurants would at least offer a few authentic dishes but I've never visited any. Really enjoying your content!