On 2014-02-10 5:14 PM, sf wrote:
> There is Chinese food and then there is Americanized Chinese food.
> Both can be delicious, but it's always good to know the difference
> between the two.
> http://dc.eater.com/archives/2011/10...e-dont-eat.php
>
> 1) Crab Wontons: These deep-fried dumplings filled with crabmeat and
> cream cheese are popular...but nobody eats cheese in China. We're all
> lactose intolerant. But we do like to curdle other things, like
> fermented bean paste and duck blood.


Around here, those things are called crab Rangoon.

>
>
> 2) General Tso's Chicken: Come on, this guy was too busy warding off
> rebellions to be cooking. This recipe is strictly American—chunks of
> chicken battered, fried and sweetened for Western tastes. No one in
> Hunan had even heard of this before 1970.
>
>
> 3) Chop Suey: Ah yes, the garbage disposal of the omelet world.
> Refrigerator scraps stir-fried and topped with an egg. It is said that
> some Chinese cook working during the Gold Rush served it as a personal
> "**** you" to some drunk American miners.

Egg in Chop Suey?? Not around here. However, the only difference between
Chop Suey and Chow Mein is those crispy noodles. However, if you order
Cantonese Chow Mein the noodles are soft.


>
>
>
> 4) Pu Pu Platter: Everything about this appetizer is an affront to
> poor people. It's nothing but fried, greasy egg rolls, spare ribs,
> chicken wings and beef teriyaki—which isn't even Chinese!
>
>
> 5) Sweet 'n' Sour Pork: Chunks of pork, battered, deep-fried and
> slimed in a thick orange sauce. There are obvious Southern barbecue
> influences here.
>
>
> 6) Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken: same treatment, but it's all white meat
> because somehow that makes it better. With pieces of pineapple to
> assuage your guilt.
>
>
> 7) Salad: We cook our food. When dysentery is a concern, you would
> too.
>
>
> 8) Egg Rolls: Does anyone eat these? These thick-skinned, blistered
> rolls that look like Linda Blair's face in The Exorcist are nothing
> like the real Chinese spring rolls, which are smaller, thin and
> crispy—and edible.

I confess that I like them. I also like Spring Rolls, which usually have
the same ingredients and are served with the same sauces.


>
>
> 9) Beef and broccoli: There's really nothing wrong with this dish,
> except that we don't have Western broccoli in the East.
>


can't help it ... reminds me of the old joke about the young Chinese
couple who wanted to spice up their sex life. The wife suggested that
they try number 69, and the husband says "What?? You want beef and
broccoli?"




However.... what are we to know? We go to a place that is billed as a
Chinese restaurant, staffed by Chinese people and get food cooked by
Chinese cooks. How silly of us not to know that it is not genuine.