American Chinese cuisine
Encyclopedia
American Chinese cuisine refers to the style of food served by many Chinese restaurants
in the United States
. This type of cooking typically caters to Western
tastes, and differs significantly from the original Chinese cuisine
.
, and developed a style of Chinese food not found in China. Restaurants (along with Chinese laundries) provided an ethnic niche for small businesses at a time when the Chinese people were excluded from most jobs in the wage economy by racial discrimination or lack of language fluency.
s as a side dish or garnish while cuisines of China emphasize vegetables. This can be seen in the use of carrot
s and tomato
es. Native Chinese cuisine makes frequent use of Asian leafy vegetables like bok choy and kai-lan
and puts a greater emphasis on fresh meat
and seafood
.
Stir frying
, pan frying
, and deep frying
tend to be the most common Chinese cooking techniques
used in this cuisine, which are all easily done using a wok
. The food also has a reputation for high levels of MSG
to enhance the flavor. The symptoms of a so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome or "Chinese food syndrome" have been attributed to a glutamate sensitivity, but carefully controlled scientific studies have not demonstrated such negative effects of glutamate. Market forces and customer demand have encouraged many restaurants to offer "MSG Free" or "No MSG" menus.
American Chinese cuisine often uses ingredients not native and very rarely used in China. One such example is the common use of western broccoli
(xi lan, 西蘭) instead of Chinese broccoli (jie lan, 芥蘭) in American Chinese cuisine. Occasionally western broccoli is also referred to as sai lan fa (in Cantonese) in order not to confuse the two styles of broccoli. Among Chinese speakers, however, it is typically understood that one is referring to the leafy vegetable unless otherwise specified. This is also the case with the words for carrot
(luo buo or lo bac) or (hong luo buo hong meaning red) and onion
(cong). Lo bac, in Cantonese, refers to the daikon
, a large, pungent white radish. The orange western carrot is known in some areas of China as "foreign Daikon" (or more properly hung lo bac in Cantonese, hung meaning "red"). When the word for onion, chung, is used, it is understood that one is referring to "green onions" (otherwise known to English-speakers as scallion
s or spring onions, green onions). The many-layered onion common in the United States is called yang cong. This translates as "western onion". These names make it evident that the American broccoli, carrot, and onion are not indigenous to China and therefore are less common in the cuisines of China. Since tomato
es are New World
plants, they are also fairly new to China and Chinese cuisine. Tomato-based sauces can be found in some American Chinese dishes such as the "beef and tomato". Hence, if a dish contains significant amounts of any of these ingredients, it has most likely been Westernized. Even more divergent are American stir-fry dishes inspired by Chinese food, that may contain brown rice instead of white, or those with grated cheese; milk products are almost always absent from traditional Chinese food.
Ming Tsai
, the owner of the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts
, said that American Chinese restaurants typically try to have food representing 3-5 regions of China at one time, have chop suey
, or have "fried vegetables and some protein in a thick sauce," "eight different sweet and sour dishes," or "a whole page of 20 different chow meins or fried rice dishes." When asked by a CNN
interviewer about whether American Chinese foods "stand as its own cuisine," Tsai said "I don’t think so. Chinese-American cuisine is “dumbed-down” Chinese food. It’s adapted for the wrong reasons, to be blander, thicker and sweeter for the American public."
Most American Chinese establishments cater to non-Chinese customers with menus written in English or containing pictures. If separate Chinese-language menus are available, they typically feature delicacies like liver
, chicken feet or other exotic meat dishes that might deter Western customers. In New York's Chinatown, the restaurants were known for having a "phantom" menu with food preferred by ethnic Chinese, but believed to be disliked by non-Chinese Americans.
have opened in San Francisco and the Bay Area. The trademark dishes of American Chinese cuisine remain on the menu, but there is more emphasis on fresh vegetables, and the selection is vegetarian-friendly.
This new cuisine has exotic ingredients like mango
s and portobello mushrooms. Brown rice
is often offered as an optional alternative to white rice
. Some restaurants substitute grilled wheat flour tortillas for the rice pancakes in mu shu dishes. This occurs even in some restaurants that would not otherwise be identified as California Chinese, both the more Westernized places and the more authentic places. There is a Mexican bakery that sells some restaurants thinner tortillas made for use with mu shu. Mu shu purists do not always react positively to this trend. (Page Removed).
In addition, many restaurants serving more native-style Chinese cuisines exist, due to the high numbers and proportion of ethnic Chinese in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Restaurants specializing in Cantonese, Sichuanese, Hunanese, Northern Chinese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong traditions are widely available, as are more specialized restaurants such as seafood restaurants, Hong Kong-style diners and cafes (also known as Cha chaan teng
(茶餐廳)), dim sum
teahouses, and hot pot
restaurants. Many Chinatown areas also feature Chinese bakeries, boba milk tea shops, roasted meat
, vegetarian cuisine, and specialized dessert shops. Chop suey
is not widely available in San Francisco, and the city's chow mein is different from Midwestern chow mein.
Authentic restaurants with Chinese-language menus may offer 黃毛雞 (Cantonese Yale: wòhng mouh gāai, Pinyin
: huángmáo jī, literally yellow-feather chicken), essentially a free-range
chicken, as opposed to typical American mass-farmed chicken. Yellow-hair chicken is valued for its flavor, but needs to be cooked properly to be tender due to its lower fat and higher muscle content. This dish usually does not appear on the English-language menu.
Dau Miu is a Chinese vegetable that has become popular since the early 1990s, and now not only appears on English-language menus, usually as "pea shoots", but is often served by upscale non-Asian restaurants as well. Originally it was only available during a few months of the year, but it is now grown in greenhouses and is available year-round.
, resident Chinese cuisine forms a component of the cuisine of Hawaii
, which is a fusion
of different culinary traditions. Some Chinese dishes are typically served as part of plate lunch
es in Hawaii. The names of foods are different as well, such as Manapua, from Hawaiian meaning "chewed up pork" for dim sum bao, though the meat is not necessarily pork.
with meals rather than the traditional warm tea served in China.
Overseas Chinese restaurant
Overseas Chinese restaurants serve various forms of Chinese cuisine outside China. Some have distinctive styles, as with American Chinese cuisine and Canadian Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese restaurant style...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. This type of cooking typically caters to Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
tastes, and differs significantly from the original Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
.
History
In the 19th century, Chinese in San Francisco operated sophisticated and sometimes luxurious restaurants patronized mainly by Chinese, while restaurants in smaller towns served what their customers requested, ranging from pork chop sandwiches and apple pie to beans and eggs. They developed American Chinese cuisine when they modified their food to suit a more Western palate. First catering to miners and railroad workers, they established eateries in towns where Chinese food was completely unknown. These adapted local ingredients and catered to their customers' tastes. In the process, cooks adapted southern Chinese dishes such as chop sueyChop suey
Chop suey is a Chinese dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce...
, and developed a style of Chinese food not found in China. Restaurants (along with Chinese laundries) provided an ethnic niche for small businesses at a time when the Chinese people were excluded from most jobs in the wage economy by racial discrimination or lack of language fluency.
Differences from native Chinese cuisines
American Chinese food typically treats vegetableVegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s as a side dish or garnish while cuisines of China emphasize vegetables. This can be seen in the use of carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s and tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es. Native Chinese cuisine makes frequent use of Asian leafy vegetables like bok choy and kai-lan
Kai-lan
Kai-lan, also known as Chinese broccoli, is a leaf vegetable featuring thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems and a small number of tiny, almost vestigial flower heads similar to those of broccoli. Broccoli and kai-lan belong to the same species Brassica oleracea, but kai-lan is in...
and puts a greater emphasis on fresh meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
and seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
.
Stir frying
Stir frying is an umbrella term used to describe two Chinese cooking techniques for preparing food in a wok: chǎo and bào . The term stir-fry was introduced into the English language by Buwei Yang Chao, in her book How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, to describe the chǎo technique...
, pan frying
Pan frying
Pan frying is a form of frying characterized by the use of minimal cooking oil or fat ; typically using just enough oil to lubricate the pan...
, and deep frying
Deep frying
Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used....
tend to be the most common Chinese cooking techniques
Chinese cooking techniques
Chinese cooking techniques are a set of methods and techniques traditionally used in Chinese cuisine. The cooking techniques can either be grouped into ones that use a single cooking method or a combination of wet and dry cooking methods.-Wet:...
used in this cuisine, which are all easily done using a wok
Wok
A wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating in China. It is used especially in East and Southeast Asia.Woks are most often used for stir frying, but can also be used in other Chinese cooking techniques, such as in steaming, deep frying, braising, stewing, smoking, or making soup...
. The food also has a reputation for high levels of MSG
Monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
to enhance the flavor. The symptoms of a so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome or "Chinese food syndrome" have been attributed to a glutamate sensitivity, but carefully controlled scientific studies have not demonstrated such negative effects of glutamate. Market forces and customer demand have encouraged many restaurants to offer "MSG Free" or "No MSG" menus.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
(xi lan, 西蘭) instead of Chinese broccoli (jie lan, 芥蘭) in American Chinese cuisine. Occasionally western broccoli is also referred to as sai lan fa (in Cantonese) in order not to confuse the two styles of broccoli. Among Chinese speakers, however, it is typically understood that one is referring to the leafy vegetable unless otherwise specified. This is also the case with the words for carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
(luo buo or lo bac) or (hong luo buo hong meaning red) and onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
(cong). Lo bac, in Cantonese, refers to the daikon
Daikon
Daikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish...
, a large, pungent white radish. The orange western carrot is known in some areas of China as "foreign Daikon" (or more properly hung lo bac in Cantonese, hung meaning "red"). When the word for onion, chung, is used, it is understood that one is referring to "green onions" (otherwise known to English-speakers as scallion
Scallion
Scallions , are the edible plants of various Allium species, all of which are "onion-like", having hollow green leaves and lacking a fully developed root bulb.-Etymology:The words...
s or spring onions, green onions). The many-layered onion common in the United States is called yang cong. This translates as "western onion". These names make it evident that the American broccoli, carrot, and onion are not indigenous to China and therefore are less common in the cuisines of China. Since tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es are New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
plants, they are also fairly new to China and Chinese cuisine. Tomato-based sauces can be found in some American Chinese dishes such as the "beef and tomato". Hence, if a dish contains significant amounts of any of these ingredients, it has most likely been Westernized. Even more divergent are American stir-fry dishes inspired by Chinese food, that may contain brown rice instead of white, or those with grated cheese; milk products are almost always absent from traditional Chinese food.
Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai is a Chinese-American fusion cuisine chef, restaurateur, and Emmy Award-winning television personality.Tsai currently hosts Ming's Quest, a cooking show featured on the Fine Living Network, and Simply Ming on American Public Television...
, the owner of the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston. The population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census.It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College...
, said that American Chinese restaurants typically try to have food representing 3-5 regions of China at one time, have chop suey
Chop suey
Chop suey is a Chinese dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce...
, or have "fried vegetables and some protein in a thick sauce," "eight different sweet and sour dishes," or "a whole page of 20 different chow meins or fried rice dishes." When asked by a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
interviewer about whether American Chinese foods "stand as its own cuisine," Tsai said "I don’t think so. Chinese-American cuisine is “dumbed-down” Chinese food. It’s adapted for the wrong reasons, to be blander, thicker and sweeter for the American public."
Most American Chinese establishments cater to non-Chinese customers with menus written in English or containing pictures. If separate Chinese-language menus are available, they typically feature delicacies like liver
Liver (food)
The liver of mammals, fowl, and fish are commonly eaten as food by humans. Domestic pig, ox, lamb, calf, chicken, and goose livers are widely available from butchers and supermarkets....
, chicken feet or other exotic meat dishes that might deter Western customers. In New York's Chinatown, the restaurants were known for having a "phantom" menu with food preferred by ethnic Chinese, but believed to be disliked by non-Chinese Americans.
American Chinese dishes
Dishes that often appear on American Chinese menus include:- Almond chicken - chicken breaded in batter containing ground almonds, fried and served with almonds and onions
- General Tso's ChickenGeneral Tso's chickenGeneral Tso's chicken is a sweet and spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in North American Chinese restaurants...
— chunks of chicken that are dipped in a batter and deep-fried and seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chili peppers. - Sesame chickenSesame ChickenSesame chicken is a syncretic dish, commonly found in Chinese restaurants throughout the English-speaking world...
— boned, battered, and deep-fried chicken which is then dressed with a translucent red or orange, sweet and mildly spicy sauce, made from soy sauce, corn starch, vinegar, chicken broth, and sugar. - Chinese chicken saladChinese chicken saladChinese chicken salad, as its name suggests, is a salad with chicken flavoured by Chinese seasonings, popular in the United States. The Chinese influence comes from common Chinese-themed ingredients...
— it usually contains sliced and/or shredded chicken, uncooked leafy greens, crispy noodles (or fried wonton skins) and sesame dressing. Some restaurants serve the salad with mandarin oranges. - Chop sueyChop sueyChop suey is a Chinese dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce...
— connotes "leftovers" in Chinese. It is usually a mix of vegetables and meat in a brown sauceBrown sauceBrown sauce may refer to:* Brown sauce , in French and Scandinavian cuisines* Steak sauce, a spiced condiment containing fruits and vinegar** A1 Steak Sauce, an American brand of steak sauce** HP Sauce, a British brand of sauce...
but can also be served in a white sauce. - Chow meinChow meinChow mein is a Chinese term for a dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties.-Etymology:...
— literally means "stir-fried noodleNoodleThe noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of doughs, formed into long thin ribbons, strips, curly-cues, waves, helices, pipes, tubes, strings, or other various shapes, sometimes folded. They are usually cooked in a mixture of boiling water and/or oil. Depending upon the type, noodles...
s". Chow mein consists of fried crispy noodles with bits of meat and vegetables. It can come with chicken, pork, shrimp or beef, the latter often with red tomatoes. - Crab rangoonCrab rangoonCrab rangoon are deep-fried dumplings served in American Chinese, and more recently, Thai restaurants, stuffed with a combination of cream cheese, lightly flaked crab meat , with scallions and/or garlic...
— Fried wontonWontonNot to be confused with WantonA wonton is a type of dumpling commonly found in a number of Chinese cuisines.-Filling:...
skins stuffed with (usually) artificial crabCrabTrue crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
meat (surimiSurimiSurimi is a Japanese loan word referring to a fish-based food product that has been pulverized to a thick paste and has the property of a dense and rubbery food item when cooked...
) and cream cheeseCream cheeseCream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting, white cheese with a high fat content. Traditionally, it is made from unskimmed milk enriched with additional cream....
. - Fortune cookieFortune cookieA fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a "fortune" wrapped inside. A "fortune" is a piece of paper with words of faux wisdom or a vague prophecy...
— Invented in California as a westernized version of the Japanese omikujiOmikujiOmikuji are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Literally "sacred lot", these are usually received by making a small offering and randomly choosing one from a box, hoping for the resulting fortune to be good...
senbeiSenbeiare a type of Japanese rice crackers. They come in various shapes, sizes, and flavors, usually savory but sometimes sweet. Senbei are often eaten with green tea as a casual snack and offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment....
, fortune cookies have become sweetened and found their way to many American Chinese restaurants. Fortune cookies have become so popular that even some authentic Chinese restaurants serve them at the end of the meal as dessert and may feature Chinese translations of the English fortunes. - Royal beef - deep-fried sliced beef, doused in a wine sauce and often served with steamed broccoli.
- Yaka meinYaka meinYaka mein is a type of beef noodle soup commonly found in many Creole and Chinese restaurants in New Orleans. Yaka mein is sometimes referred to as "Old Sober," as it is commonly prescribed by locals as a cure for hangovers...
- Chinese-Creole food found in New Orleans with similarities to Beef noodle soupBeef noodle soupBeef noodle soup is a Chinese noodle soup made of stewed beef, beef broth, vegetables and Chinese noodles. It exists in various forms throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia. It was created by the Hui people during the Tang Dynasty of China.In the West, this food may be served in a small portion... - Hulatang - Chinese traditional soup with spices.
Regional American Chinese dishes
- Chow mein sandwichChow mein sandwichOriginating in Fall River, Massachusetts in the 1930s or 1940s the chow mein sandwich, is a hot sandwich, which typically consists of a brown gravy-based chow mein mixture placed between halves of a hamburger-style bun, popular on Chinese-American restaurant menus throughout Southeastern...
— Sandwich of chow mein and gravy (Southeastern MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
). - Chicken fingersChicken fingersChicken fingers are deep-fried strips of chicken meat that do not include any bones or skin....
— boneless pieces of chicken, dipped in egg batter and deep fried. Served as an appetizer, they can also be covered in sweet and sour sauce and served as an entrée (New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
) or the sauce can be served on the side. - Chop suey sandwich — Sandwich of chicken chop suey on a hamburger bun (North Shore of MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
— the only known remaining restaurants serving this specialty are "Genghis Salem" and "Salem Lowe." (SalemSalem, MassachusettsSalem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
). - St. Paul sandwichSt. Paul sandwichThe St. Paul sandwich is a type of sandwich found in Chinese American restaurants in St. Louis, Missouri. The sandwich consists of an egg foo young patty served with dill pickle slices, white onion, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato between two slices of white bread.-Origin:One source has the origin...
— Egg foo young patty in plain white sandwich bread (St. LouisSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, MissouriMissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
). - Springfield-style cashew chicken — a style of cashew chickenCashew chickenCashew chicken is a simple Chinese-American dish that combines chicken , cashews, and a thick oyster sauce.-Springfield-style cashew chicken:...
that combines breaded deep fried chicken, cashews, and oyster sauce. (Springfield, MissouriSpringfield, MissouriSpringfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
).
Westernized versions of native Chinese dishes
- Egg foo youngEgg foo youngEgg foo young is an omelette dish found in Chinese Indonesian, British and Chinese American Cuisine.The name comes from the Cantonese language. Egg foo young is derived from Fu Yung Egg Slices, an authentic Chinese recipe from Shanghai.- Preparation :...
— A Chinese-style omelet with vegetables and meat, usually served with a brown gravy. - Egg rollEgg rollAn egg roll is an appetizer and dinner, a variant of spring roll that has spread throughout the world as a staple of Asian cuisine. Egg rolls with fillings are commonly served in Vietnamese cuisine.-Description:...
— While native Chinese spring rollSpring rollSpring rolls is an umbrella term used in some Western cultures to describe disparate varieties of filled, rolled appetizers similar to the Chinese chūn juǎn , from which the term was derived...
s have a thin crispy skin with mushrooms, bamboo, and other vegetables inside, the Westernized version (specifically the version found in such American Northeast metro areas as Boston and New York) uses a thick, fried skin stuffed with cabbage and usually bits of meat or seafood (such as pork or shrimp), but no egg. - Fried riceFried riceFried rice is a popular component of Asian cuisine, especially Chinese food. It is made from steamed rice stir-fried in a wok, often with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, and meat. It is sometimes served as the penultimate dish in Chinese banquets...
— Fried rice dishes are popular offerings in American Chinese food due to the speed and ease of preparation and their appeal to American tastes. Fried rice is generally prepared with rice cooled overnight, allowing restaurants to put unserved leftover rice to good use. It typically uses more soy sauce than the mainland version. - Ginger beefGinger beefGinger beef usually refers to a westernized version of a Chinese dish made from beef and ginger.While Chinese dishes made from beef and ginger are nothing new, the western Canadian version of it is claimed to have been invented in Calgary, Alberta in 1974 at the Silver Inn, and it can still be...
— 生薑牛肉 Tender beef cut in chunks, mixed with ginger and Chinese mixed vegetables. - Ginger fried beef — 乾炒牛肉絲 Tender beef cut in strings, battered, deep dried, then re-fried in wok mixed with a sweet sauce, a variation of a popular Northern Chinese dish.
- Kung Pao chickenKung Pao chickenGong Bao chicken , a late Qing Dynasty official. Born in Guizhou, Ding served as head of Shandong province and later as governor of Sichuan province. His title was Gōng Bǎo , or palatial guardian. The name "Kung Pao" chicken is derived from this title....
— The authentic SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
dish is quite spicy, and the Westernized versions tend to be less so if at all. - Lo meinLo meinLo mein is a Chinese dish with wheat flour noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or wontons.-Etymology:...
— The term means "stirred noodles"; these noodles are frequently made with eggs and flour, making them chewier than simply using water. Thick, spaghetti shaped noodles are pan fried with vegetables and meat. Sometimes this dish is referred to as "chow mein" (which literally means "fried noodles" in Cantonese). - Mei Fun (see Rice vermicelliRice vermicelliRice vermicelli are thin noodles made from rice and are a form of rice noodles. They are sometimes referred to as rice noodles or rice sticks, but they should not be confused with cellophane noodles, which is another type of vermicelli....
dishes) - Moo shu porkMoo shu porkMoo shu pork is a dish of northern Chinese origin, possibly originally from Shandong...
— The native Chinese version uses more typically Chinese ingredients (including wood earWood earWood ear, or 木耳 , can refer to two different closely related species of edible fungus used primarily in Asian cuisine; these are commonly sold in Asian markets shredded and dried....
fungi and daylilyDaylilyDaylily is the general nonscientific name of a species, hybrid or cultivar of the genus Hemerocallis . Daylily cultivar flowers are highly diverse in colour and form, as a result of hybridization efforts of gardening enthusiasts and professional horticulturalists...
buds) and thin flour pancakes while the American version uses vegetables more familiar to Americans and thicker pancakes. This dish is quite popular in Chinese restaurants in the United States, but not so popular in China. - Wonton soup — In most American Chinese restaurants, only wonton dumplings in broth are served, while native Chinese versions may come with noodles. Authentic Cantonese Wonton Soup is a full meal in itself consisting of thin egg noodles and several pork and prawn wontons in a pork or chicken soup broth or noodle broth. Westernized wontons, especially in takeout restaurants, are often made with thicker dough than the authentic version.
- Cashew chickenCashew chickenCashew chicken is a simple Chinese-American dish that combines chicken , cashews, and a thick oyster sauce.-Springfield-style cashew chicken:...
— see Regional variations.
- Beijing beef — This dish exists in native Chinese form, but using gai-lan (Chinese broccoli) rather than American broccoliBroccoliBroccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
.
San Francisco
Since the early 1990s, many American Chinese restaurants influenced by California cuisineCalifornia Cuisine
California cuisine is a style of cuisine marked by an interest in fusion cuisine and in the use of freshly prepared local ingredients.The food is typically prepared with strong attention to presentation...
have opened in San Francisco and the Bay Area. The trademark dishes of American Chinese cuisine remain on the menu, but there is more emphasis on fresh vegetables, and the selection is vegetarian-friendly.
This new cuisine has exotic ingredients like mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
s and portobello mushrooms. Brown rice
Brown rice
Brown rice is unmilled or partly milled rice, a kind of whole, natural grain. It has a mild nutty flavor, is chewier and more nutritious than white rice, but goes rancid more quickly because the germ—which is removed to make white rice—contains fats that can spoil...
is often offered as an optional alternative to white rice
White rice
White rice is the name given to milled rice that has had its husk, bran, and germ removed. This alters the flavour, texture and appearance of the rice and helps prevent spoilage and extend its storage life. After milling, the rice is polished, resulting in a seed with a bright, white, shiny...
. Some restaurants substitute grilled wheat flour tortillas for the rice pancakes in mu shu dishes. This occurs even in some restaurants that would not otherwise be identified as California Chinese, both the more Westernized places and the more authentic places. There is a Mexican bakery that sells some restaurants thinner tortillas made for use with mu shu. Mu shu purists do not always react positively to this trend. (Page Removed).
In addition, many restaurants serving more native-style Chinese cuisines exist, due to the high numbers and proportion of ethnic Chinese in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Restaurants specializing in Cantonese, Sichuanese, Hunanese, Northern Chinese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong traditions are widely available, as are more specialized restaurants such as seafood restaurants, Hong Kong-style diners and cafes (also known as Cha chaan teng
Cha chaan teng
A cha chaan teng means tea diner, also called Chinese diner, is commonly found in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, known for its Chinese food, eclectic and affordable menus, which include many dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine. Cha chaan tengs are also popular in Macau...
(茶餐廳)), dim sum
Dim sum
Dim sum refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates...
teahouses, and hot pot
Hot pot
Hot pot , less commonly Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table...
restaurants. Many Chinatown areas also feature Chinese bakeries, boba milk tea shops, roasted meat
Siu mei
Siu mei is the generic name, in Cantonese cuisine, given to meats roasted on spits over an open fire or a huge wood burning rotisserie oven. It creates a unique, deep barbecue flavor that is usually enhanced by a flavorful sauce . Shops selling these meats are commonly found in Chinese-speaking...
, vegetarian cuisine, and specialized dessert shops. Chop suey
Chop suey
Chop suey is a Chinese dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce...
is not widely available in San Francisco, and the city's chow mein is different from Midwestern chow mein.
Authentic restaurants with Chinese-language menus may offer 黃毛雞 (Cantonese Yale: wòhng mouh gāai, Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: huángmáo jī, literally yellow-feather chicken), essentially a free-range
Free range
thumb|250px|Free-range chickens being fed outdoors.Free range is a term which outside of the United States denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. In the United States, USDA regulations apply only to poultry and...
chicken, as opposed to typical American mass-farmed chicken. Yellow-hair chicken is valued for its flavor, but needs to be cooked properly to be tender due to its lower fat and higher muscle content. This dish usually does not appear on the English-language menu.
Dau Miu is a Chinese vegetable that has become popular since the early 1990s, and now not only appears on English-language menus, usually as "pea shoots", but is often served by upscale non-Asian restaurants as well. Originally it was only available during a few months of the year, but it is now grown in greenhouses and is available year-round.
Hawaii
Hawaiian-Chinese food developed a bit differently from the continental United States. Owing to the diversity of ethnicities in Hawaii and the history of the Chinese influence in HawaiiChinese immigration to Hawaii
The Chinese in Hawaii frequently referred to by their Hawaiian name Pākē, constitute about 4.7% of the state's population, most of whom have ancestors from Zhongshan in Guangdong. This number does not include people of mixed Chinese and Hawaiian descent...
, resident Chinese cuisine forms a component of the cuisine of Hawaii
Cuisine of Hawaii
Modern Hawaiian cuisine is a fusion of many cuisines brought by multiethnic immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands, particularly of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian and Portuguese origins, including plant and animal food sources imported from around the world for agricultural...
, which is a fusion
Fusion cuisine
Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not being categorized per any one particular cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s.-Categories and types:...
of different culinary traditions. Some Chinese dishes are typically served as part of plate lunch
Plate lunch
The plate lunch The plate lunch The plate lunch (Hawaiian: pā mea ai is a syncretic menu item that is a quintessential part of the cuisine of Hawaii, roughly equivalent to a Southern U.S. meat-and-threes plate. However, the inclusion of pan-Asian ingredients makes the plate lunch unique to Hawaii....
es in Hawaii. The names of foods are different as well, such as Manapua, from Hawaiian meaning "chewed up pork" for dim sum bao, though the meat is not necessarily pork.
Southeastern United States
Southeastern American Chinese restaurants are known to serve sweet iced teaIced tea
Iced tea is a form of cold tea, often served in a glass with ice. It may or may not be sweetened. Iced tea is also a popular packaged drink. It can be mixed with flavored syrup, with common flavors including lemon, peach, raspberry, lime, passion fruit, and cherry...
with meals rather than the traditional warm tea served in China.
American Chinese chain restaurants
- Bamboo Cuisine
- China CoastChina CoastChina Coast was a casual dining American restaurant chain specializing in Chinese food. Founded in 1990 in Orlando, Florida, the company began a rapid and ill-fated national expansion in 1993, ultimately resulting in its demise. At the time of its closing in 1995, it operated 51 locations in the...
— closed in 1995; owned by General Mills Corp., formerly 52 locations throughout the United States - Chinese Gourmet ExpressChinese Gourmet ExpressChinese Gourmet Express is the second largest fast food American restaurant chain serving Americanized Chinese cuisine .-History:Samuel Y. Sim started the chain in 1990 in the Sherman Oaks Galleria...
- City WokCity WokCity Wok is a chain of Asian-themed casual restaurants in California, United States and in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.Restaurants are located in Studio City, Coachella, Palm Desert, Thousand Oaks, Orange, San Diego and Santo Domingo...
— California, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina - Leeann ChinLeeann ChinLeeann Chin is a Chinese-American fast food restaurant chain in Minnesota, operating approximately 40 outlets. Although the establishment's menu is dedicated almost entirely to chicken entrees and fried appetizers, it does offer at least one beef entree and a vegetarian dish. A shrimp entree is...
— Minnesota and Wisconsin; owned at one time by General Mills Corp. - Manchu WokManchu WokManchu Wok is a Chinese fast food trainer in the United States and Canada, similar in concept to Panda Express. Despite the name, the menu does not feature any dishes from traditional Manchurian Cuisine and instead is mostly made up of American Chinese cuisine and Canadian Chinese cuisine...
— throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Guam, Korea and Japan - Panda ExpressPanda ExpressPanda Express is a fast casual restaurant chain serving American Chinese cuisine. It operates mainly inside the United States, in casinos, shopping malls, supermarkets, airports, train stations, strip plazas, theme parks, stadiums, college campuses and The Pentagon...
— throughout the United States - Pei Wei Asian DinerPei Wei Asian DinerPei Wei Asian Diner is a restaurant chain in the United States. Owned by P. F. Chang's China Bistro , it offers a modest selection of freshly prepared Asian items influenced by the cuisines of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand...
— throughout the United States; a subsidiary of P.F. Chang's - P. F. Chang's China BistroP. F. Chang's China Bistro'P. F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc. is an American restaurant chain with headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.The chain was founded in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1993 by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang. The restaurants serve American Chinese cuisine from a menu originally conceived and planned by chef...
— throughout the United States; features California-Chinese fusion cuisine - Pick Up StixPick Up StixPick Up Stix is a San Clemente, California based "fast-casual" restaurant chain that serves fresh Asian cuisine through corporate-owned restaurants and franchises in Southern California. The company serves both dine-in and take-out customers, and offers offsite catering and some delivery services....
— California, Arizona and Nevada - Sam Woo RestaurantSam Woo RestaurantSam Woo Restaurant is a restaurant chain that serves Hong Kong-style cuisine. It has many locations in predominantly overseas Chinese communities of Southern California, in Las Vegas, and in the suburbs of Toronto. It is commonly referred to by non-Chinese-speaking customers as "Sam Woo's" as if...
— California, Nevada - The Great Wall — Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, New York, West Virginia, South Carolina
- Stir Crazy Fresh Asian Grill Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Florida, Indiana
See also
- Chinese cuisineChinese cuisineChinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
- American cuisineCuisine of the United StatesAmerican cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from the United States of America. European colonization of the Americas yielded the introduction of a number of ingredients and cooking styles to the latter...
- Canadian Chinese cuisineCanadian Chinese cuisineCanadian Chinese cuisine is a popular style of cooking exclusive to take-out and dine-in eateries found across Canada. It was the first form of commercially available Chinese food available in Canada. This cooking style was invented by early Cantonese immigrants who adapted traditional Chinese...
- Oyster pailOyster pailThe Oyster pail originally, later informally a Chinese food box or Chinese takeout container is a folded, waxed or plastic coated, paperboard container, traditionally with a handle made of solid wire, most commonly currently in use by American Chinese cuisine establishments primarily throughout the...
- Fortune CookieFortune cookieA fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a "fortune" wrapped inside. A "fortune" is a piece of paper with words of faux wisdom or a vague prophecy...
- Imperial Dynasty restaurantImperial Dynasty restaurantThe Imperial Dynasty restaurant was a five-star restaurant in Hanford, California. The restaurant was founded in 1883 in Hanford's Chinatown, and was run by the same family for four generations....
- Wanchai FerryWanchai FerryWanchai Ferry is a range of Chinese cuisine produced by General Mills. It consists of two product lines – recipe kits, which contain the sauces, flavouring and dry ingredients to make up a complete recipe when added to the consumer's choice of fresh ingredients, and in the United States they have...