[plusone]

I've had a lot of Chinese food, but it's a lot of Koreanized-Chinese Food, like Chajangmyun (짜장면), you know? I just realized I didn't really even know what LEGIT Chinese Food was. Like China Chinese food, you know? I've tried Szechwan (sp?) but dunno if it counts.

So... just a few questions ... 1) What IS legit Chinese food, and 2) is it good, and 3) where can I get some (LA boy)???

Muchos Gracias.

[cbxjenn]

dan dan mian
peking duck
steamed fish topped off with green onions, oil/soysauce
....and more?

iono. haha there are so many dishes because there are so many sauces that can be used. when i think of old school chinese food, i think of "soon choy, salted dry fish, congee, steamed lapchurng".

[roguechinadoll]

I think authentic Chinese food can be pretty diverse considering how large China is.
If you're looking for a good restaurant in LA, try searching at www.yelp.com

[KenG69]

There are four (4) main groups of Chinese cuisine:

Sichuan Ma-La (Szechwan)
Yue Cai (Cantonese)
Hangbang Cai (Northern Chinese) - my Pinyin might be off on this one
Hunan

[plusone]

There are four (4) main groups of Chinese cuisine:

Sichuan Ma-La (Szechwan)
Yue Cai (Cantonese)
Hong Bong Cai (Northern Chinese) - my Pinyin might be off on this one
Hunan

What are the differences amongst them?

[kyaaax3]

Wikipedia works wonders. xD If you look at the right bar, there is different cuisine for different regions of China and beyond.

I'm Taiwanese myself, but I can't really explain how Chinese food is like. It's really diverse, (amongst the regions in China) and each region has their own different style of cooking. Because I've been eating Chinese food all my life, I guess it can be hard to differentiate where each of the dish I eat is from. Taiwanese food usually comes from street vendors, restaurants, and night markets. So the food is usually fatty, oily... kinda like fast food in a way, I guess. In general, Taiwanese people (at least in the cities such as Taipei) don't make their own food. Most of the times, they go out to eat for their meals.

[loveof]

^ lol thanks! i never knew what chinese food i ate.
kzone - here ima post it so you don't have to look trough everything in wiki.

* Jiaozi (steamed or boiled (shuijiao) dumplings)
* Guotie (fried dumplings)
* Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings)
* Noodles
o Fried noodles
o Noodle soup
* Kung Pao chicken
* Hot pot
* Fried pancakes (including green onion pancakes)
* Zongzi (glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, usually with a savory or sweet filling)
* Peking Duck - the trademark dish of Beijing
* Baozi (filled steamed buns)
* Soy egg (滷蛋; lǔ dàn): hard boiled egg, cooked in soy sauce
* Tea egg (茶葉蛋; chá yè dàn): hard boiled egg soaked or stewed in tea
* Congee (粥; zhou1): rice porridge
* Pickled vegetables (醬菜; jiang4 cai4; lit. sauced vegetables)
* Soy milk (豆奶; dou4 nai3 or 豆漿; dou4 jiang1) in either sweet or "salty" form
* Youtiao (油條), "Cow tongue pastry" (牛脷酥), or other fried Chinese doughfoods
* Shaobing (燒餅): a flaky baked or pan-seared dough pastry.
* Rice balls (飯糰; fan4 tuan2) with savory fillings or coatings
* Tofu with seasoning

Starches

* Mantou (steamed bun)
* Baozi (filled bun)
* White rice
* Chinese noodles

Other

* Century egg (皮蛋; pi2 dan4; lit. leather egg): thousand-year old egg, or preserved egg
* Mooncake Special cake eaten at Mid-Autumn Festival

[matango88]

to get authentic Chinese food, you must order from the secret menu that is written in Chinese

[.::HeaRt_brOkeN::.]

^lol that cracked me up, theres no secret chinese menu or is there o.O???

[plusone]

to get authentic Chinese food, you must order from the secret menu that is written in Chinese

LMAO
funny thing is, all the chinese restaurants ive been to (save one) have their menus in Korean haha

[matango88]

^lol that cracked me up, theres no secret chinese menu or is there o.O???

http://www.kingschef.net/images/c-banquet-3.jpg

yes, it looks similiar to this

[plusone]

http://www.kingschef.net/images/c-banquet-3.jpg

yes, it looks similiar to this

oh snap, i thought you were kidding
what does that say?

[PDURRR]

What are the differences amongst them?

those are like popular dishses amongst different areas of china

[KenG69]

What are the differences amongst them?

Sichuan Ma-La (Szechwan)
Yue Cai (Cantonese)
Hangbang Cai (Northern Chinese) - my Pinyin might be off on this one
Hunan

Most people in China still group Chinese cuisine into those four main groups.

Sichuan Ma-La is probably the most distinctive, due to the use of very fragrant (but numbing) peppercorns. Also features a lot of dried chili peppers and chili oil, the result is spicy but not searing heat with very bold flavors. Hotpot is another distinctive component of Sichuan cuisine. Lots of offal products used (pig intestine, duck intestine, pork blood, duck blood).

Cantonese/Yue is a lot lighter, with emphasis on subtle flavors, and an emphasis on seafood. Steaming technique used very prominently.

Northern Chinese has a lot of noodle/dumplings. Also a lot of pickled vegetables.

Hunan/Xiang cuisine is a lot of fresh chilis, so you get a lot of heat. Strong flavors, but distinctly different from Sichuan Ma-La. Lots of braising & stir fry.

[DoriMie]

LMAO
funny thing is, all the chinese restaurants ive been to (save one) have their menus in Korean haha

lol if ur willing to go to Norwalk/Cerritos, there's a restaurant that's called Happy House...
like, they used to be called Ten Ten (forgot what it meant xD)
and the old chef left :/
but i think like the "junior chef" stayed.. and so did the old waiters/waitresses
but it tastes pretty similar to what it used to.
some dishes i cant even tell the difference

ahahah sorry i dont go to LA for Chinese food. only time i remember eating chinese food from LA was at a Sam Woo near LAX

I have to look up the restaurant tho, i dont remember their address >,<