This Fortune Cookie Can Make You A MILLIONAIRE!
Got your attention, didn’t I? Well, it’s true! I will tell you how in just a moment. First, take a look at this Chop Suey: a classic Chinese food…or is it?
And speaking of legendary chinese food recipes: what about this General Too and his famous chicken?
“The Search For General Tso”!
Yes, a documentary was released that searches for the origin of General Tso’s chicken…and that is all part of a great book about the origin of chinese food and how fortune cookies can make you rich!
Moo Goo Gai Pan! Chop Suey! Who Knows?
Behold the classic Chinese dish: Moo Goo Gai Pan. Wait, perhaps it’s Chop Suey. It doesn’t really matter, since neither one of them – OR GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN – was ever made in CHINA!
Here are a couple of fascinating books that blow away all of your misconceptions about Chinese food, both here in the US and over there in China – and I have included a terrific Chinese food recipe to satisfy your craving, because these books will make you hungry!
First up, a great book that looks at how the lottery inspired the Author to go off on a mad Chinese food adventure!
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures In The World Of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee
Here’s what started it: In one single week, dozens of people from all across America all won the lottery. They ALL used the EXACT SAME NUMBERS!
How is that possible? Well, this book shows you what happened – they all picked numbers they got from a fortune cookie – and those fortune cookies all came from Chinese restaurants!
Using this amazing beginning, Author Lee decides to dig deeper into the phenomenon – and to find out why Chinese food has such a mystical hold on America – now only that, she explains how America’s love affair with Chinese food began.
The Fortune Cookie!
You’ll find out the origin of the fortune cookie, including the impact it had on early immigrants and their struggles in America- and she also tells how “chop suey” came to be… you will go back in time – and revisit how Chinese immigrants originally came to this country, and how Chinese food helped save them…
it’s a fascinating book – a tour through a uniquely AMERICAN food – CHINESE FOOD – and the origins of this so-called “Chinese food” in the US – it’s fascinating, and Lee’s obsession with the topic makes it all the more fun to read.
Guess Who’s To Blame For All Those Take-Out Food Flyers?
Yep, Lee reveals the origin of the dreaded paper menu that is stuffed in your mailbox or front door…and you will visit the greatest Chinese food restaurant in the world – wait until you find out where it is!
And you’ll find out what Confucius REALLY said.
This book is so entertaining, you will never look at an egg roll the same way again!
Now that’s I’ve whetted your appetite:
Make Your Own Chop Suey Recipe!
Here you go, make some classic Chop Suey!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups diced pork loin
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup hot water
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can bean sprouts, drained
and rinsed
1/3 cup cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar
Directions:
1. Heat shortening in a large, deep skillet. Sear pork until it turns white, then add onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add celery, hot water, salt and pepper. Cover skillet and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sprouts and heat to boiling.
2. In a small bowl combine the cold water, cornstarch, soy sauce and sugar. Mix together and add to skillet mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, or until thickened to taste.
Enjoy!
Now that you have eaten, take a look at some of these other Chinese foods – like these crazy chip flavors sold ONLY in China!
Pepsi-Cola Chicken-Flavored Lay’s Potato Chips!
Yes, they exist and are for sale in China! Thanks to The Huffington Post’s Food section, I found this amazing taste treat!
Ad Age points out that “cola chicken” is a popular dish in China. Cola is often mixed with soy sauce and spices in a marinade that caramelizes when sauteed.
Here is a great video that shows the recipe for making cola chicken:
I simply have to try this!
Pepsi Chicken Potato Chips!
And of course, the best potato chip flavors in the world are from China as well.
These chips are one of several new chip flavors PepsiCo has launched in recent years in China. Others include lemon tea, cucumber and hot-and-sour fish soup.
HOT AND SOUR FISH SOUP CHIPS??!!!????
Yes, and here they are!
Let’s All Go To China!
If this all makes you want to head to the far east, I’m right with you…Oh, you just MIGHT want to read this book first:
“Lost on Planet China: One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation” by J. Maarten Troost
OK, I’ve written about Troost before. He’s the bestselling author of “The Sex Lives of Cannibals” and “Getting Stoned With Savages”, two terrific travel books about the South Pacific. Troost returns with a sharply observed, hilarious account of his adventures in China —
As you can see, China is BIG BIG BIG – and it’s a complex, fascinating country with enough dangers and delicacies to keep him, and readers, endlessly entertained.
J. Maarten Troost has charmed legions of readers with his laugh-out-loud tales of wandering the remote islands of the South Pacific. When the travel bug hit again, he decided to go big-time, taking on the world’s most populous and intriguing nation. In “Lost on Planet China”, Troost escorts readers on a wild journey through the new beating heart of the modern world – probably the most fascinating place in the world right now – CHINA.
It’s also very crowded, as you can see:
“Lost on Planet China” finds Troost exploring the crazy side of China: from dodging deadly drivers in Shanghai to eating Yak Dumplings in Tibet…
Cattle Penis With Garlic! Yum!
Troost must decipher all sorts of food and restaurant menus – such as those offering local favorites like Cattle Penis with Garlic, and of course, eating those delicious-looking Yak dumplings…
But in addition to his trademark gonzo adventures, the book also delivers a telling look at a vast and complex country on the brink of transformation that will soon shape the way we all work, live, and think.
As Troost shows, while we may be familiar with Yao Ming or dim sum or the cheap, plastic products that line the shelves of every store, the real China remains a world—indeed, a planet–unto itself.
Food can be classified as meat, poultry, grain, fish, fruit, vegetable and Chinese. Embrace the Chinese. If you love it, it will love you back. True, you may find yourself perplexed by what resides on your plate. You may even be appalled.
The Chinese have an expression: We eat everything with four legs except the table, and anything with two legs except the person. They mean it too. And so you may find yourself in a restaurant in Guangzhou contemplating the spicy cow veins…
Again, cue up the yak dumplings in Lhasa, or the grilled frog in Shanghai, or the donkey hotpot in the Hexi Corridor, or the live squid on the island of Putuoshan.
Troost has proven himself a terrific writer, and this is just another great adventure to take with him!
Check out both books and get some Chinese education!
Categories: Art, Books / Media, China, cookbooks, documentary films, Exotic Travel, Food, food blog, Food Review, Funny Pictures, Independent Cinema, Memoirs, Movies, Recipes, Restaurants, Talent/Celebrities, Technology, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Uncategorized, Wacky Food
johnrieber 
Recently, I’ve been reading about Chinese leader, Tang so this is quite an interesting post.
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I you are interested in China, check out this amazing book by Travel Writer Paul Theroux – he travelled through China in the late 80’s – the book captures them at a time of tremendous change – here is my post – https://johnrieber.com/2017/05/09/a-train-to-the-roof-of-the-world-fascinating-paul-theroux-book-incredible-tibetan-pictures/
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Reblogged this on johnrieber and commented:
Delicious chinese food – and a search for General Tso and his chicken recipe!
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