Moo goo gai pan?

Question

what is it?

Answer 1

The Chinese name for Moo Goo Gai Pan is  and is actually pronounced "Maw Goo" (蘑菇 = button mushroom, not the popular mispronunciation "Moo Goo"); "Gai" (like the English word "guy," 雞 = chicken); "Peen" (片 = slices).  In Mandarin, it's pronounced as "Mu-aw Gu Jee Pi-an."  

Basically, it is an Americanized version of our Cantonese-style (廣東式....廣東 = Guangdong province, which is also called Canton province and 式 = style) stir fry sliced chicken with vegetables.  In America, the "marketable" ingredients are snow peas, American broccoli, baby corn, carrots, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and Chinese cabbage.  That is because the general American population love "crispy" texture more than we do.  That's also the exact reason that we have added so many Americanized appetizers, such as Cheese Wontons, Egg Rolls, and Fried Chicken Wings.  But in the original, homemade Cantonese-style version, we throw in whatever vegetables that we like:  nappa cabbage (as opposed to the more crispy Chinese cabbage), snow peas (we really do love these because it's very healthy), Chinese broccoli and other green veggies.  We don't eat much bamboo shoots and water chestnuts because those don't contain as much nutrients as other Chinese greens, such as Yau Choy (油菜)....Oh, and most of all, no carrots, that's just an Americanized ingredient to comply with the "color" display and arrangement of a dish, as the art of traditional Chinese cooking lies in 色 (= color), 香 (= aroma), 味 (= taste), and 美 (= beauty, which, in cooking, refers to the artistic presentation or arrangement display).  And in Cantonese stir fry, we use soysauce, so the sauce is darker.  But the lighter sauce gained more popular American votes because "less sodium" is the healthy motto here.  We just like the soysauce because we eat rice as the "main dish," whereas meats and vegetables and soup are all "side dishes" (餸菜).  So we only eat a small amount of side with LOTS of rice, so our "side dishes" are more robust in flavor.  Perhaps it's because our ancestors came from a time period of poverty, there is a tendency to make all the "sides" with stronger taste so that we are literally forced to eat much more rice.  Over time, we just got used to that style passed on from one generation to the next.  Besides, at one point in time (since now that rice has become sooo much more expensive recently, but now we must settle for noodles in replacement), eating more rice was the economic way of budgeting.

Here's a pic of the dark mushroom that's supposed to be used in Moo Goo Gai Pan:

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/113547...

http://www.houstoncooking.com/images/Moo...

Some other restaurants even use the Straw Mushroom instead:

http://www.tasty-chicken-recipes.com/ima...

http://www.wingsnmorejoplin.com/images/f...

http://www.wingsnmorejoplin.com/images/f...

Here are some recipes:

http://www.tasty-chicken-recipes.com/moo...

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/poultryr...

Here is a recipe translated directly from Chinese:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...

NOTE:  In traditional homemade recipes, we use Tapioca (太白粉), available in Chinese grocery stores in the "powder" or spices isle, instead of Cornstarch, because the powder texture is much finer than Cornstarch.  So the thickened sauce comes out "smoother" and more refined than Cornstarch (we find that sauces made from cornstarch is way too coarse on the tongue).

I,for one, who grew up in a traditional Chinese household, don't like most of these Americanized dishes.  My dad used to own one of those Americanized Chinese restaurants, so he taught me the history behind every dish as well as the traditional way of cooking them compared to the Americanized methods.

Answer 2

it's a Chinese dish which has chicken & mixed veg

Answer 3

moo goo - mushrooms

gai pah (in cantonese) - chicken cutlets

so its basically mushrooms and chicken cutlets stir-fried together. its pretty simple.

Answer 4

Moo goo gai pan is usually a simple stir-fried dish consisting of sliced or cubed chicken with white button mushrooms and other vegetables. Popular vegetable additions include snow peas, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and Chinese cabbage. Moo goo is different from other Chinese take-out chicken dishes in that it eschews the traditional "brown sauce" in favor of a light chicken broth-based sauce

Answer 5

Now, you can add anything to it.  In the pass, all these kinds of veggies were to expensive.  In the pass it was just chicken and waterchestnuts only, and I dislike it very much.  All of these dishes are not standard.  It is also translated into "something mushroom sliced chicken"

Answer 6

that's something you should never order...get the chicken with broccoli