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Posts: 240

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Q: Have you cooked Western Food for Chinese people?

Have you cooked any Western food for Chinese people?  Any hits or misses?  Especially curious about Western foods that I could cook for Chinese friends that the ingredients are available.

 

I've made egg salad for them before, some love it (one friend is addicted, and frequently requests new batches), some are very afraid of it.  I have to teach them how to dip it on a ritz cracker.  I've also been trying to spread the gospel of peanut butter.

11 years 44 weeks ago in  Food  - China

 
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I'm glad there is peanut butter. l made GF a peanut butter/honey banana sandwich, she liked it. , I though China traditionally traded spices 5000 years ago, did they run out?  I can't get ingredients I want or what I get is crap.Meat sucks, no wonder all you get in a meal is bones, they throw the meat away. I bought a second hot plate so I can cook two things. My first meal, thought I'd make something I like for GF, cabbage rolls, find tomato sauce no way, it takes me an entire evening to cook down the plastic tasteless things they call tomatoes here, next night cook rice filling (family secret) and steam cabbage, no oven, i used two pots as a double boiler to finish cooking cabbage rolls, make potatoes and fried chicken, that chicken had to be from the  original breeding stock for this country, Ming Dynasty, it was so old, even the skin was so tough it could not be eaten,the rubber chicken you buy in a joke store would be easier to eat, the cabbage rolls weren't very good , so how do I convince my GF that I'm a good cook? I've cooked the family dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas for years with all the trimming and pies.Yet here everything I cook is not very good. I drew a cow and where the tenderloin is and when I go to buy beef, I show this and say I want tender beef from this piece, either they give me eye of round or all the beef is shoe leather. The last beef I cooked, I cut up and fed it to a dog. Haven't found good bacon or ham yet.

 My GF like grilled cheese with ketchup, but is fussy if  there is a tiny bit of burnt. She likes French toast, forget pancakes, no baking powder, crepes are crap, I think the flour might be rice flour. I tried making hamburgers, but the beef was chopped not ground and the beef here just isn't tasty, it's not aged at all and probably from a water buffalo that died of nature causes due to extreme age.

 So without an oven, gas barbecue or decent ingredients, I just cook simple or go out.

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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I have tried many times to cook Western type food for friends and local family, and I have met more failures that successes.  Most of the complains are "too sweet; too salty; not cooked enough and/or afraid to taste".

For example, since they do eat so much noodles, I made once real Italian spaghetti and meat balls.  It took me almost 9 hours to make the tomato sauce taste acceptable to me, plus making the meat balls from scratch, etc.  At dinner time, no one even tried to taste it, a total failure.  Yet, a seafood "paella", and a shrimp omelet were two home runs.

So, now days I do cook western style for me, and Chinese dishes for the rest.  

And with beef,  for Chinese you must cook it until it is totally burnt, otherwise they will not touch it.  To me it is very funny to see their faces when I do eat a sirloin medium rare in front of them.  They all tell me I will get sick with some infection, by not killing germs while fully cooking it.

And if you ever try to make desserts, they will think you are crazy.  What is that, many will say?  So, I do enjoy my custards, bacon from haven, tembleques( that is a dessert typical of Puerto Rico), capuchinos, etc, while they tell me it is too sweet.  Ja, Ja, I do not really mind, as a result it is more for my enjoyment.

 

Ted:  You are in Guilin, about 4 hours away from me. If you really want a good electric oven like those back home, between 3500 to 4500 Rmb will get you a brand new one here in Nanning.   I have one, and use it almost daily.

TedDBayer:

Loan it to me, I'll give it back in July, not sure if I'll come back in September or not yet. My girl friend is always mad because I spend money or I waste a lot of money. I wanted to buy another scooter because she uses mine, she had a fit, she'll leave the scooter for me, but I know it makes her day easier, so I insist she takes it. I bet thats the major cause of penis removal in this country , buying a oven, she'd kill me. I can do without an oven until July.but not wheels, so I'll come over and use yours, your scooter and your oven

11 years 44 weeks ago
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HappyExPat:

Ja, Ja, happy to have you visit, and have room also to put you up. If you see the oven you will buy one.

11 years 44 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

Did you find me a woman to walk in front of me or behind me ?

11 years 44 weeks ago
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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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Complete waste of time. I did a pasta evening a while back, took me ages to source prepare and present everything JUST SO. Then, as an afterthought, I made a Western-style chicken chow mein just in case ONE person wouldn't eat the pasta. Every bastard (minus the foreigners) dug into the instant noodle dish and some wouldn't even touch any of the pasta ones. Not doing it again.

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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I've done roasts and stuff, they like that. 

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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Ive made plenty of different dishes for my gf, and she liked everything except the steamed veggies I made with a steak once. She said it had no taste.... i informed her that that is what the vegetable really taste like, not just like the oil and sauces added in stir fried dished.

 

The one she liked best was breadcrumb baked chicken breast (with a little lemon squeezed on top before serving). It was a hit, which I counted as a special achievement since people here generally dont like the chicken breast.

 

Ive done the spaghetti and meat sauce like some others here have. And when I asked it if was good, i got a sincere "its ok," with a tone that would more fit "well I had to eat, and it was there, so at least I didnt throw up..." also like the others here, i spent a long time making a damn good sauce

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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I have and as I mentioned in a prior post....never again! 

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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How about some hotdogs with all the toppings!

JackieChan:

They don't have real weiners here (except for you) or real toppings, even buns are mostly sweet. If you ever had a hot dog you'd know this

11 years 44 weeks ago
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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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hahaha your stories are funny! i cook most days of the week and i have all the ingredients i need - a few spices from home of course, but mostly, you just need to know how to substitute and how to find what you need. the chicken is fine, i don't eat beef so i wouldn't know as i'm no expert. but i cook for chinese friends all the time and they love my curries (made with spices bought in south africa and coconut milk bought here), stews, my fried chicken, and steamed bread. i make a mean tomato sauce for pasta too using tomatoes bought in the market and herbs bought from city shop - not sure what's stopping you. i use flour that's bought in walmart or tesco, i use local sunflower oil or imported olive oil (which i infuse with herbs for special occasions). the only thing that bugs me is that i don't have an oven and i've been meaning to buy one of those teeny tiny babies (the 4000 rmb oven mentioned above sounds like it could be heaven - if only i could afford it!)

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Governor

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Winners:

 

* A good Italian bolognase pasta, with a bit of chilli in there to make it some burn

* Chicken parmagiana (well that's what we call it in Australia)

* Garlic bread, with lots of butter, They f'ing love it

* I've had varying success with carbonara, add extra bacon (they love pig). A colleague took some home for her husband, who said he didn't want it. He then reheated it the following day, and smashed it all

* Tacos, burritos and other mexican flavoured dishes (the spicier the better)

* Lasagna

* Roast pork or lamb, with really crunched up roast vegetables

* Home made pizzas

* Salmon steaks (spicy herbs and spices)

* My girl loves oatmeal with cinnanom, honey, banana and nuts for breakfast

* French toast too

* Omelletes, over rice

* Bread and butter pudding for a desert

* I have my girl addicted to Spiders (soft drink with ice cream - I think you Yanks call em floats) - some good quality vanilla ice cream doused with Sprite

 

I can't recall any specific failures, I must have a very polite group of friends

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
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I agree with TheArchie. I've made many of those dishes for my Chinese family, too. For this past Christmas we had about 15 people over, and I made Spaghetti (from scratch), Bacon Carbonara, Italian Garlic Bread, a roast chicken (with Chinese five-spice instead of the normal sage rub that Americans do), Sage and butter potatoes, and a pumpkin pie and a cinnamon rolls. 

 

There wasn't a thing left that night, after people asked to take some dishes home. I've also had success with meatloaf, cabbage rolls, tacos... 

 

The only big failure that I've had is fried chicken. Loved by me and my two-year-old...not so much by my husband.

 

I guess you just have to find open-minded people who are willing to try and enjoy your food.

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11 years 3 days ago
 
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In the UK regularly for my wife, and for my mother-in-law when she visited.

My wife liked most (wasn't too fond of potatoes), and loved the Christmas dinners and spicy Spaghetti Bolognese.

However, in China if I venture into the Kitchen for anything more daring that a cup of tea my mother-in-law gets seriously upset, plus with just two gas burners and no oven I don't think there is much I could cook.

Edit: Oh yeah, French Onion Soup. with bread cheese the works went down a treat, don't think I could get all the ingredients in Nanning though.

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11 years 3 days ago
 
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I cooked my omelette the one breakfast meal I know how to make. Yes, they loved it! I would like to make my special omelette for you too! 

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11 years 3 days ago

There are cookies, bookies and too many rookies for me to sit here trying to be a hooky! Looky Looky don't call me a wooky. Touchy Touchy Feely Feely Spicy Spicy Nicey Nicey & that's what the doctor Ordered!!

 
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Shifu

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Successes:

-Butter Chicken

-Shepard's Pie and Cottage Pie

-Meatloaf

-Macaroni and Cheese casserole 

-New England Clam Chowder

-Corn bread

-Steak

-Mashed Potatoes

 

Hit or Miss

-Italian Pasta dishes

-Hamburgers

-Hotdogs

-Most deserts. 

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11 years 3 days ago
 
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