Getting Inspiration Out Of PF Chang Recipes

Posted by The Popular News Today on Monday, June 27, 2011

By Debra H. Hooten


PF Chang recipes can be a wonderful source of inspiration for people who wish to cook their own Chinese dinners at home. Restaurants perfect their ingredients and processes until they find efficient ways to make food while maintaining the fidelity of the flavor and original spirit. By training oneself in these professionally designed methods, at home chefs can improve their culinary knowledge and their selection of future meals.

Lettuce Wraps are an easily customizable dish that can serve as either a main course when stuffed fuller, or as an appetizer when stuffed with less. A sturdy, curved-leaf lettuce, particularly romaine, is typically used for the wrap. The filling is comprised of chicken marinated in many sauces, including ginger and soy, sauteed together in a pan with hoisin sauce and citrus juices.

Though there are many Chinese dishes that involve noodles, the unique feature within each is the combination of sauce, spice, and meat that compliment the particular noodle texture. Dan Dan Noodles rest on the more spicy end of the spectrum, featuring garlic, various peppers, and diced onion. After softening these ingredients, wine and ground chicken are added to make a complete sauce that can then be poured directly on a serving of noodles.

Creating Mongolian Beef can be tricky for those who have never explored the process of caramelizing. The beef strips must be seared first in a frying pan before adding in the complimentary sauce. The goal during the stage just before serving is to evaporate out all of the water, leaving only a sticky coating of sesame, garlic, sugar, and soy glazed over the beef.

Spicy dishes are popular among many people, and Kung Pao Shrimp uses the namesake sauce to achieve a powerful kick and balance the flavor of various peppers. Large shrimp that have been deveined go into a saute mixture of chile, garlic, red pepper in flake or chunk form, and chopped green onions sizzling in Kung Pao sauce. Once done cooking, peanuts can be added as a contrastive topping that gives an interesting crunch.

The quality of Fried Rice served in different locations may vary, but making a high-end version of this dish at home is not terribly difficult to do. Egg, or egg replacement, is cooked first until it is solid on both sides, then promptly sliced into small chunks and set to the side. The main spices are finely crushed mustard powder, a small amount of molasses, and ginger which are mixed with the traditional peas, carrots, eggs, and extra soy sauce in rice.

Many people believe Wonton Soup is a highly complex meal to make from scratch, but by following the recipe one step at a time, it will prove to be less daunting. The mixture that goes inside the sticky wonton wrappers consists of pork, or shrimp if preferred, brown sugar, sherry for cooking, and ginger to help define the flavor. A chicken stock broth must be boiled and mixed with soy sauce and rice wine to form a complete soup and soften wontons before serving.

Though Chinese dishes may at first seem imposing, their ingredients tend to be a simple mixture of meat, vegetables, and sauces. The real secret to making these entrees and appetizers correctly is in the cooking and soaking methods used during preparation. With PF Chang recipes as inspiration, many more people will be able to customize their own dishes and learn how to make professional Chinese inspired meals.




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