im from boston area all my life and chinese take out is my favorite food. i moved to the south and cant find comparable chinese food ANYWHERE. does anyone have a recipe for pork fried rice like the take out joints in the areas north of boston?..........A REQUEST PLEASE: if you are not from mass or have never lived there, you dont even know what i am asking so please dont bother giving a recipe unless it has been verified by a bostonian as authentic boston/mass-chinese food. it just isnt the same anywhere, not NY, not san-fran, no, not anywhere! ive been searching the internet for hours now to NO avail. HELP ME!!!!!!! PLEEEEASE!!!!
For those of us in Boston, willing to give us the name of a restaurant or two that serve the style that you miss so much?
I'm looking for a recipe for pork fried rice that is just like 99.9 percent of the take out places in the boston area. pork fried rice like at kowloon's in saugus. although kowloon is probably not my favorite chinese restaurant it is very well known and properly represents the kind of pork fried rice I am speaking of.
I'm not sure if its still there but the China Pearl is one of my favorites, outside Boston was the Kowloon [known also for its upstairs band and fun], I also remember the China Palace I believe it was called, closer to Boston on the same side as Kowloon...Closed in the 1980's amazing place 5 star atmosphere [But a little to much for a Chinese restaurant, last time I was up there it was still empty and trying to be sold off. Sat up on the hill massive restaurant.
Do you have recipes or are you a poser?
Can you describe it?
I think this is what you are looking for- I actually found it in an old CH post! It also has pictures, so anyone who is not famiiar with this style of rice can take a look.
Good find, macca. I think Kowloon uses char sui pork made with either with pork belly or pork butt...
I admit I do like some of the "american style" Chinese food- but not a huge fan of fried rice. I prefer what the take out places call "house special fried rice"- more like a seasoned white rice, with lots of shrimp, pork, chicken, egg- and anything else that happens to be in the kitchen!
(Truthfully macca, ever since I've been cooking the COTMs especially Vietnamese, Shichuan, and Cantonese I've prefered to make my own fried rice. The variations are endless....)
I can't stand all that soy sauce in my fried rice; it just obliterates the flavor of the rice. My favorite fried rice in this area (Hong Kong Eatery in downtown Quincy) uses dried (dehydrated) scallop and Chinese sausage, some egg, a modest amount of vegetable, and lovely white rice.
Yep! That sounds right. Especially amazing to me in my youth was the amazing red color. I had no idea it was food coloring.
sorry macca, although it looks similar it looks too gooie. also I can tell you that that is definitely not the recipe. I am sure that they use molasses or at least something that looks like molasses.
Now I am curious to see if you find the recipe. I did not think it was molasses, as it is not sweet tasting. the picture in the link looks like the fried rice served at a lot of take out places just north of boston. The rice is not gooey, as you say and I thought it may be the mushroom say sauce, as the rice is dark brown, but is not too salty. Hope you find the right recipe!!
I was just going to post that same link, from this similar thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/329906
You are the bomb, I moved to California many years ago from Quincy, Ma and I've never been able to figure out how to make the fried rice like back east!!! After looking at this rice, I know I've found it....hope it comes out like it looks in the pictures!!!! TY for posting!!
Signed, Been lookin forever
So is mushroom flavored dark soy the secret the Op was trying to articulate? I use mushroom dark sauce often. Thanks for the reference link.
Sorry I don't have a suggestion for a recipe but I wanted to back you up on your statement, if you have to have it described then you just don't get it.
I live in NH now (formerly in Boston) and there is just nothing like Boston area rice. I stopped looking up here for anything like it as there is just no comparison at all.
My favorites in Boston area are Kowloon (not their other food though but rice is spot on), Lo Kai in Dracut, Golden House in Everett and Bali Hai in Lynnfield.
I wish you luck in your search! Please post back if you find anything!!
GOLDEN HOUSE!.... it took me about 8 years but I have just recently perfected golden house chicken wings! golden house chicken wings are probably the best thing you could ever put in your mouth! also everything they have is the bomb.
Lol, I'll be the judge!! Please deliver enough for me, my husband and the doggy of course. :) Golden House is so good, and Lisa is the nicest Chinese woman I know!! We have been known to get off the highway to pick up takeout to take back to New Hampshire as it's THAT good.
oh my gosh. i forgot how good chinese take out was in boston. sadly i dont know how they make it soooo good. i wasnt much of a cook when i lived in boston. but i remember this place, when i was going to berklee, it was near the corner of mass ave and boylston. oh my goodness the place was awesome. nearly every night i would go there at about midnight, after having a few too many, and devour pork fried rice and whatever entree caught my fancy that day. mmmm.
I don't see anything special or different about this style of fried rice that is shown in the picture in the link (macca) has provided. ......it just has the inclusion of double soy sauce to give it the darker color. This style of fried rice was very common in NY/NJ area Cantonese/ Polynesian Chinese American restaurants from the 60-80s.
I agree that the Boston area fried rice is the same as that in metro NYC in the 60's and 70's. I've lived outside of Boston since the mid-70's and do not know if the NYC-area fried rice has changed since then.
Most of the fried rice you get today in take out locations is actually a very greasy yellow rice with peas, onions and scallions......sometimes egg, beansprouts, and or carrots. As noted by others, Young chow Fried Rice or House Special Fried Rice will be made with White Rice. In New York City Chinatown, you can get what is called *Chinatown Style*, where the rice is egg coated..
In Boston area, a lot of the take out places add an egg (scrambled) to the fried rice.
In my are of NY/NJ, it's pretty common for the take-out places to prepare a large amount fried rice and hold it in the steam table. Sometimes the defacto choice is red roast pork to be used for the Combination Platters....but given the increase in people eating less meat, or vegetarian, the fried rice is made without egg or meat.......when the order comes in, then they add meat or seafood accordingly.
If ever I order Chinese Combination with this type of Fried Rice....I'll usually take it home and doctor it a bit on my own with vegetables or egg.
When the family dines out.....the adult kids like to order Lop Cheong at their favorite place.
OOH- just looked up the recipe for Lop Cheong- looks delicioius- but not sure I want to attempt sausages at home. My meat grinder belonged to my grandmother- is 60+ years old, and clamps onto the table- but I bet it would still work well for sausages.
Try the fine grind pork as your first introduction. The larger coarse grind and cubed fat may be much for the first time. Goose liver is an acquired taste.
the rice I am speaking of is definitely brown. there are no vegetables in it aside from a little onion and maybe bean sprouts ( I specifically order mine with bean sprouts it doesn't always come with bean sprouts) he usually has chunks of red roast pork. looking at the how some others have commented here as well as other commentary I have seen about brown rice, I can tell you that it is not overloaded with soy sauce. I usually add a little soy sauce to my personal dish to give it a little extra saltyness.
after calling several chinese restaurants I finally got a guy to tell me what the secret ingredient was but that's all he would tell me. he called it thicksoy sauce
down here in georgia in norcross they have the biggest chinese supermarket that I have ever seen in my life. it is the size of a walmart supercenter but it is a chinese grocery store. they literally have everything conceivable. I just bought a jar of thick soy sauce. I took 1 taste and I am pretty convinced that this is the magic ingredient. it looks like molasses but it taste like a really really strong soy sauce with a smokey flavor to it. some onions a little bean sprouts some chinese roasted pork, a little msg and violla. going to experiment tomorrow, I have my rice pre cooked its it's in the refrigerator with the roast pork as we speak. tomorrow it will be pork fried rice, lobster sauce, egg rolls stuffed with mainly celery a little of the roast pork and no cabbage thank you very much, crab rangoon with actual boston style duck sauce and golden house chicken wings. all made from scratch. this has been 8 years in the making..... provided everything comes out the way I think it will tomorrow I will be a happy boy. I will be glad to share my recipes with anyone who wants them but chinese recipes are not that simple because they are just as much about technique then they are ingredients so if you want to know you would have to call me on the phone because although I have the ingredient list that I could post here for everything I have the techniques committed to memory
That particular soy sauce is discussed here http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/795184
It seems to be the same as a Thai thick soy sauce in the UK: http://www.tradewindsorientalshop.co....
That is an ingredient that is wildly available in the Boston area. I certainly hope that you succeed in your quest.
And if that isn't perfect, try this next time:
http://www.amazon.com/Koon-Chun-Doubl...
Ryan1, I'm curious about the location of your Chinese market. I live in your area and usually head toward the Buford Highway Farmers Market, Nam Dae Mun or Super H-mart for my international shopping sprees. Always looking for more great market recommendations.
i am looking for the same-- boston style chinese food--, so how are you going to make the lobster sauce.
I think that did it! it was really close to perfect. I made a few errors but I'm pretty sure next time it will be just right. I use a little too much oil and my pan was not quite hot enough. going to have to invest in the breville hot wOk.
So happy for you!! Everything you made sounds delicious!!
thank you. living in new hampshire you could not possibly live more than 2 and a half hours away from good chinese food. in fact I'm willing to bet that there are a few good places in new hampshire. I am so happy for you!! it's so much easier to dial the phone and have the food show up at your door. but when your 1200 miles away 2 hour drive seems just as good as delivery service!!! :-)
lol @ happy for me! we are about 45 mins from downtown boston so we can in fact get down there real quick. but...it's too far to go and have dinner with a few mai tais and scorpion bowls lol. New Hampshire really really doesn't have good Boston food. Don't even get me started about Italian food, esp. chicken parm or even a simple Italian sub. It's horrendous...
1200 is a bit of a drive. and you'd be hungry an hour later. ;)
I definitely ate at a place in haverill ( it's in the same plaza as a market basket) I forget the name of it, it was not bad at all. as far as homemade italian food and or subs that's easy as apple pie compared to this chinese stuff, wait a minute I don't know how to make an apple pie, nevertheless I don't eat at italian restaurants no matter where I am because it's always best home cooked unless it is a really top notch place weather it be hole in the wall top notch or 5 star top notch
I just woke up. total complete unconsciousness for about 3 hours. I think next time I'll load it up with salt instead of using msg lol
I use a little too much oil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I use a slight amount of oil to scramble the eggs....then use the residual oil to heat any vegetables or proteins.......I never use any added oil to heat the rice......the secret is a hot wok.
What a great happy ending!!!
HI,
I used to live in MOntreal and moved to Vancouver (East to west). Although the Chinese food here in Vancouver seemed to arrive at table fresher & hotter and was more authetically Chinese, I always wondered why the fried rice out here was so pale, I;ve made fried rice at home myself and never got it the way we used to get it in Montreal. The eggrolls are different, they give fortune cookies here, in Montreal we always used to get almond cookies. the dry garlic spareibs from Montreal had meat that was falling off the bone in a sweet, sweet sauce. Here the dry garlic spareibs are, well... dry, and you have to chew to get the meat off. If you have time, would you please, please post your recipe? I'd like to try making an Eastern North American round eye feast just for memory lane's sake.
Thanks, Susan (not complaing about the lighter more authentic stuff you get here. It's probably over all better, I love steamed cod with gai lan, and sauteed scallops & snow peas and I prefer spring rolls to egg rolls, but there are a few things you grow up with you just miss! :-)
I have tried everything to get this recipe! PLEASE send it to me if you find it. Florida has the worst food period. I am sick of taking back coolers of food to florida. Please share
How about the dark colored Boston area style lobster sauce. I grew up in boston and still live in Massachusetts but can not find this delicious dark lobster sauce ( no lobster involved) in western mass. I've looked for and tried a number of recipes but none of them are right. Does anyone, who has had this style of lobster sauce,have a recipe????? PLEASE :)
I am from MA. We used to go to this one restaurant once a week. My father always ordered the Pork fried rice extra dark. He asked them what they put in it for the brown color/flavor. Molasses was the answer. The pork strips are glazed with Ah-So sauce. I miss it so much. I moved to Nebraska. NOTHING LIKE MASS Chinese food ANYWHERE. I have had it on the west coast, which is more of a white rice with veggies, and have had it here in Midwest which is tan with veggies. Not good at all. Anyway hope that helps. That "thicksoy" sauce usually has mollasses in it, but you don't use much at all.
I've read all the comments about our familiar taste of chinese fried rice...but no one has actually submitted an actual recipe? does anyone have access to one that they are willing to share...
I too am wanting to remember the flavor of well made chinese fried rice
See http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8905...
H
Hytzipky
Aug 14, 2014 01:19 AM
Here you go........
PORK FRIED RICE
4-6 cups cooked rice
½ lb. (2-3 cups) bean sprouts
½ to ¾ cup frozen green peas
1 cup diced "cooked" pork (or "cooked" chicken if preferred)
8 medium shrimp (optional)
1-2 eggs
1-2 stalk diced scallions (separate white part from green end)
½ small can water chestnuts (sliced)
½ small can bamboo shoots (sliced)
1 tsp. sesame seed oil
3-4 tbsp. double dark soy sauce
2 tbs. hoisin sauce
3 tbs. apple sauce (optional)
2 tbsp. oil
1/3 cup oil
Peal and de-vein shrimp if you wish to add it to the rice. Slice 4-5 slices per shrimp (approx. ¼ inch slices). Dice cooked pork strip or boneless spare ribs (or boneless, skinless chicken breast) into approximately the same size pieces as the shrimp. Make sure you trim any excess fat from pork (or chicken). Place cooked, diced meat in a good-sized bowl. In another bowl, place ½ to ¾ cup frozen green peas. Cook up 2-3 cups of raw rice. This will yield about 4-6 cups of cooked rice.
Prepare wok by making the empty wok hot and then adding cool oil to it. Coat oil in wok. By adding the cool oil to the hot wok nothing will stick to the wok when you cook it. Put 1 clove of crushed garlic in hot oil. Add raw shrimp and cook for approx. 30 seconds. Remove shrimp. Scramble 2 eggs. Fry in the same liquid but spread the egg all around like a crepe. Turn over until cooked flat. Cut into strips and then into pieces. Add the egg to the cooked meat bowl.
Add about ? cup oil to wok. Add white part of diced scallions. Add cooked bowl and fry for about 30 seconds. Add steamed or boiled rice. Stir together and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add 2-3 cups of bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Continue to cook but turn the heat down a little. Add the peas. Add 14 shakes of dark soy sauce (or approximately 3-4 tbsp.) for color and taste. Taste it. Add the hoisin sauce and apple sauce (if desired). Cook about 5 minutes. Add approximately 1 tsp. sesame oil. Stir. Salt to taste if necessary.
MY OPINION: Very tasty. It's a meal in itself. You could add anything you want to this recipe. You can eliminate the meat/chicken for a vegetarian dish.
Did anyone come up with the Kowloon fried rice or equivalent?
I totally agree with Ryan1. The Pork Fried Rice in Boston. Is nowhere to be found other than BOSTON. I to from the Natick Mass. Moved to Orlando. And Chinese has always been a favorite. There is no place or resturants, San Francisco,N.Y,Chicago. That can even compair. I've searched every website looking for the recipe. And it's not to be found. It's so simple. It's rice. What's the big serect? I wish a few of these Chinese restaurants in Boston, would give us the proper recipe. Pork Fried Rice from anywhere else or restaurants other than BOSTON is a joke. I've also been looking for a recipe for Shrimp in Lobster Sauce. And have the same problem. I wish some of those Chinese restaurants in Boston. Shut down, and move to Orlando. And open here. So I don't have to fly back home to Boston to get what I'm looking for. You would make alot of money here. And put places out of business.if anyone has any of these recipes. Please feel free to forward to my email. Shrimp and lobster sauce in a dark brown sauce with ground pork is what I'm looking for.the way it's done in Boston. Also the best seafood is in Boston. Again like no other place on earth. I can't wait to go home again for a visit. The Chinese restaurant is always my frist stop.
Boston Style Lobstah Sauce
Ingredients
• Vegetable or peanut oil
• 16 oz. ground pork or ground beef
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbs. oyster sauce
• 2 tbs. Hoisin sauce
• 1 tbs. dark soy sauce
• 1 c. water
• 3 tbs. molasses
• Cornstarch to thicken (5 tbs. plus 1/4 cup water mixed together)
• 2 egg beaten
• 2 chopped green scallion for garnish
• 1 tbs. sesame oil
Directions
Use enough oil to cover the bottom of a wok or deep frying pan. Heat the oil and stir fry the meat with the garlic. Add the water and then the molasses. Add the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Stir well. Add the cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Blend the eggs into the sauce and continue stir frying until the eggs are set. Stir in the sesame oil. Top with the scallions and serve with rice or noodles. Serves 3 - 4.
For shrimp or lobster in Lobster sauce:
6 colossal or 12 large (raw) de-veined shrimp cut into pieces
or
1 chicken lobster cut into small parts (raw)
Put the shell fish into the hot sauce at the end. Allow to sit in the hot lobster sauce and continue to cook with the heat turned off for about 5 - 10 minutes (or until shrimp is no longer transparent. The lobster might take a little longer in the shell. It might be best to cook the lobster in with the lobster sauce with the heat on simmer.
Serve over white rice or as a side with fried rice or lo mien.
OMG, Dude, I agree with you Sooo Much! I'm from Amesbury Mass. and I can't find Chinese food ANYWHERE down south that even comes Close to where we are from. It's like a fake version of Chinese food.......lol
Jade East in Tewksbury is my restaurant of choice. I live in Tennessee now and miss my chinese food. What they have here is nowhere near the food I grew up on in MA.
Hi I am from New Bedford MA home of the best fried rice email me I have a great recipe padabro@aol.com
Yes, it is crazy!! Everything I go back to Mass/Maine my first stop is Chinese Food for Subgum Pork Fried Rice, Egg Rolls and Spare Ribs... Then on the night before I leave I Buy several orders, vacuum seal them and bring them home in a cooler with dry ice. Southern Chinese food is not Chinese food!!
It's funny how I see a Chinese Restaurant down in North Carolina and I get the desire for Chinese, but my stomach says NO WAY... ITS JUNK.
I want a recipe for Subgum Pork Fried Rice, I have the Ribs down, the Egg Rolls take to much work making the fermented portions... But the rice? Come on....
Cathay Pacific, Quincy moved out of Boston 35 years ago every time I go back have the make this one of my stops.
Serious Eats has a pork fried rice recipe from 2010/updated 2018 that I'm going to try. I'm deprived because I've never had the great "Boston" version. Generally speaking, I'm wondering how it would vary.
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