American Chinese Restaurant Menu Items
Dishes that often appear on American Chinese restaurant menus include:
- Almond chicken - chicken breaded in batter containing ground almonds, fried and served with almonds and onions
- General Tso's Chicken – chunks of chicken that are dipped in a batter and deep-fried and seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chili peppers.
- Sesame chicken – boned, battered, and deep-fried chicken which is then dressed with a translucent red or orange, sweet and mildly spicy sauce, made from soy sauce, corn starch, vinegar, chicken broth, and sugar.
- Chinese chicken salad – it usually contains sliced and/or shredded chicken, uncooked leafy greens, crispy noodles (or fried wonton skins) and sesame dressing. Some restaurants serve the salad with mandarin oranges.
- Chop suey – connotes "assorted pieces" in Chinese. It is usually a mix of vegetables and meat in a brown sauce but can also be served in a white sauce.
- Chow mein – literally means "stir-fried noodles". Chow mein consists of fried crispy noodles with bits of meat and vegetables. It can come with chicken, pork, shrimp or beef.
- Crab rangoon – Fried wonton skins stuffed with (usually) artificial crab meat (surimi) and cream cheese.
- Fortune cookie – Invented in California as a westernized version of the Japanese omikuji senbei, fortune cookies have become sweetened and found their way to many American Chinese restaurants. Fortune cookies have become so popular that even some authentic Chinese restaurants serve them at the end of the meal as dessert and may feature Chinese translations of the English fortunes.
- Royal beef - deep-fried sliced beef, doused in a wine sauce and often served with steamed broccoli.
- Hulatang - Chinese traditional soup with spices.
- Pepper steak - Pepper Steak consists of sliced steak, bean sprouts, green bell peppers, tomatoes, and green onions. The condiments that are stir fried with the ingredients are salt, sugar, and soy sauce.
- Orange chicken - Chopped, battered, fried chicken with a sweet orange flavored chili sauce that is thickened and glazed.
- Fried wontons - somewhat similar to crab rangoon, a filling, (most often pork), is wrapped in a wonton skin and deep fried.
Read more about this topic: American Chinese Cuisine, Dishes
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