Chinese Takeaway- What gives Chinese Takeway that distinctive taste?

Question

Often wondered, but i've never known what it is...certainly isn't Uncle Bens anyway!

Answer 1

soy sauce and MSG

Answer 2

corn starch, msg, and soysauce - the 3 main ingredients to chinese cooking

Answer 3

MSG, More MSG Soy sauce, Corn Starch, Sesame oil,Old vegetable oil,ginger,garlic powder,onion powder red chili flakes

Answer 4

MSG...

Its the most likely one.

Answer 5

The polystyrene

Answer 6

Yes we Chinese use MSG to season our food.But that's not the important reason leads good taste.

The most important skill of cooking chinese food is master the fire well.Have you ever think why the same food cooking by different cooker taste different.

Our ancestor have precised it 5000 years and then teach us.So,master fire is the most important skill to cooking,no matter what kind of food(colslaw except).

Answer 7

Actually, the flavor comes from cooking in a wok, known was "wok hei".  

The wok at Chinese restaurants have very high btu burners.

The burners when running full blast actually sound like a little jet engine.

The high heat sears the food, but also gives it a slight smoky flavor that is distinctive of Chinese takeaway.

Since we don't have high heat burners at home, we don't get that flavor, even if we use the same ingredients.  The closest we can come is to let a pan heat up really hot before we start cooking.