# Chicken Chow Mein



## membrane (Jan 24, 2006)

I'm looking for a good chicken chow mein receipe since I cannot find a restaurant in my area (Las Vegas) that serves it the way I'm grow to like it.  I'm originally from Minneapolis, and there is a place called "Jin's Chow Mein" that serves the best chicken chow mein I have ever had.  It consisted of white rice, celery sauce (this is the best way I can describe it-it's a real thick sauce with mostly celery) and crunchy noodles with little strips of chicken breast.

If anyone has a receipe for this, or can recommend a restaurant in the Las Vegas area that serves this, please reply.

Thanks in advance!


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## jkath (Jan 24, 2006)

Have you seen this thread yet, membrane?

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/need-authentic-chicken-chow-mein-recipe-5532.html?highlight=chicken+chow+mein

ps - welcome to discusscooking! We hope you stay around!


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jan 24, 2006)

This recipe is an exerpt from my cookbook "You Can Be A Great Cook With Poulty".  Please honor the copyright.

Chicken Chow Mein/Chop Suey
The only difference between Chicken Chow Mein and Chop Suey is the addition of chow mein noodles.  If you have them, the dish is chicken Chow mein.  If not, it's Chop Suey.  Either way, it was created in the United States, not China.
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
2 lbs. cut up frying chicken 
1/4 cup diced onion
2 stalks celery, bias sliced (slice at an angle toward the ends from the    
                     back of the arch to the ends)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups fresh bean sprouts.
2 tbs. Peanut oil
1 tsp. Accent flavoring (optional)

Skin and bone the chicken.  Place the skin and bones in two cups of boiling water and cover.  Turn heat down to simmer.  Cut the chicken meat into 1/2" thick strips.  Heat 2 tbs. of the peanut oil in a steel wok, or large heavy skillet (I prefer seasoned cast iron if I'm not using my wok).  Add the chicken and half of the salt.  Cover with a lid and cook for about seven minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove the cooked chicken to a large bowl (very large) and pour any juices from the pan into the boiling chicken stock.
Return the wok to the stove and reheat.  Add the onion, garlic, and celery and 2 tbs. of water.  Cover and cook until the celery is tender-crisp.  Remove and add to the chicken.  Place 1 cup of the chicken stalk into the pan and add the bean sprouts. Cook on high for five minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients to the bean sprouts and mix.  Turn heat to simmer and cover the pan or wok.  Stir 3 tsp. Corn starch into 4 tbs. water.  Stir until lump free.  Add the corn starch to the simmering pan and stir until a light gravy is formed.  Mix the chicken and veggies together.  Serve with rice and chow mein noodles.


Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## BigDog (Jan 24, 2006)

membrane said:
			
		

> . . Minneapolis . . . there is a place called "Jin's Chow Mein" that serves the best chicken chow mein I have ever had.


 
Donde esta? I'll have to go check it out. I'll see if they have anything with a recipe for you too if I go!


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## Robo410 (Jan 24, 2006)

Jin' sin Minneapolis is famous at least to those who grew up there.  I know of a lady who carts the dish back to Calif. each year for a dinner party of transplants!  really.

A good Cantonese/ Chinese-American restaurant will still serve it right.  It is a classic...Chinese method, American ingredients dish.  using celery for chinese cabbage or boc choy which was not available then (later 1800s) 

It is difficult to get the Chinese taste at home without the intense heat of the real wok, and gas wok ring.  But one can get pretty close.


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## membrane (Jan 24, 2006)

We've tried quite a few of the Chinese restaurants since we have moved to Vegas, and none of them came close to Jin's chicken chow mein. In fact, they were totally different dishes! It's been really surprising to me that the chow mein dishes in Vegas are so much different than that in Minneapolis.

The only thing I need the recipe for is the celery "sauce" (I'm sure I can figure out how to steam the rice  ).


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## membrane (Feb 10, 2006)

Does anyone know how to make the celery "sauce" for chow mein?


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## membrane (Feb 21, 2006)

membrane said:
			
		

> Does anyone know how to make the celery "sauce" for chow mein?


 
I'm still looking for the right "celery sauce" for chow mein.  It looks like a big pile of brownish-green goop with celery (nothing else really in it).


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## Chopstix (Feb 21, 2006)

I don't have a recipe but this is what I would do given your description of the dish, except that I didn't add rice here -- I've never encountered rice mixed in chowmein (which literall means stir-fried noodles in Chinese):

1.  Saute some crushed garlic and onions.
2.  Add chicken strips, soy sauce, oyster sauce, good chicken stock, then sliced carrots and chopped celery stems/leaves. (Add shrimps, pork strips and sliced chinese sausages for better taste.  You can also add lots of chives.) Simmer until cooked and adjust seasonings to taste.  
3.  Ladle out all solids and enough liquid for topping noodles later.  (You must have enough remaining stock simmering in your wok to be absorbed by the noodles.)  
4.  Add noodles until cooked. Place noodles in serving platter.  
5.  Return reserved toppings into wok and bring to a boil. 
6.  Add slurry of cornstarch while stirring. When cornstarch all cooked and combined and you get the right consistency of the topping liquid, pour everything over the noodles.  Serve while hot. 

Note:  Use the best quality chowmein noodles you can find.  It's flavor and texture adds greatly to the overall taste of the dish.  

Good luck....


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## cipher (Feb 21, 2006)

membrane said:
			
		

> there is a place called "Jin's Chow Mein" that serves the best chicken chow mein I have ever had. It consisted of white rice, celery sauce (this is the best way I can describe it-it's a real thick sauce with mostly celery) and crunchy noodles with little strips of chicken breast.


 
Rice in chow mein?


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## Andy M. (Feb 21, 2006)

Here's the basic recipe. You can add some chicken, pork or beef, etc. and customize the dish to your liking.


*Chow Mein/Chop Suey*



*For the Sauce:*
2 Tb Oyster Sauce
1 Tb Soy Sauce
1/2Tb Dry Sherry
1/2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Cornstarch
1/4 C Chicken or Vegetable Stock

*For the Dish:*
1/4 C Peanut Oil, divided
2 cl Garlic
1 Ea Onion, chopped
1 Ea Green Bell Pepper, chopped
8 Oz Mushrooms, sliced
5 Oz Water Chestnuts, canned
2 Oz Snow Pea Pods
1 Ea Carrot, sliced
7 Oz Broccoli Florets
4 Oz Bean Sprouts

Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside.


Stir-fry the vegetables (except for the sprouts) in small batches. If you do one type of vegetable at a time, they will be more evenly cooked than if you stir fry batches of mixed vegetables.


When all the vegetables are stir fried, add them all back into the wok and make a well in the bottom of the wok. 


Add the sauce and stir over high heat until it boils. 


Add the sprouts, toss and serve.


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## Constance (Feb 21, 2006)

I don't like the crunchy chow mein noodles, so I use Ramen noodles instead. I don't really care if it's authentic or not.


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## Luv4Prada (Feb 21, 2006)

any one know why lo mein is called chow mein in the west coast?


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## Andy M. (Feb 21, 2006)

Here on the East Coast, lo mein and chow mein are two completely different dishes.

Lo mein is a soft wheat noodle dish with added meats and veggies.  The main ingredient is the noodle.  Lo mein translates to tossed noodles.

Chow mein is a veggie and meat dish with a sauce, served over deepfried crispy noodles.  Chow mein translates to fried noodles.


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## membrane (Feb 23, 2006)

cipher said:
			
		

> Rice in chow mein?


 
Yes.  The celery sauce is served on top of a bed of white rice, then topped with crispy noodles.


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## Pom-mom (Jan 27, 2008)

*Jin's Chow Mein*

If anyone is interested,
I found the recipe in a old chinese cook book. 1952
I lived in Minneapolis and often ate chow mein from Jin's.

4 Tablespoons cooking oil or chicken fat (pork sausage)
3 teaspoons of salt
1\4 teaspoon of pepper
2 cups sliced chinese cabbage or boya cabbage
3 cups cut celery
2 cups of canned bean sprouts
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups of stock
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 1\2 tablespoons of corn starch
1\4 cup of cold water
2 cups sliced cooked chicken
1 8 ounce bag of noodles
2 hardboiled eggs.

Heat oil salt and pepper in a deep hot skillet, add all the vegetables, the bean sprouts last.  Sprinkle sugar over them. Stir. Add the stock and mix well.  Cover the pan.  Cook till boiling point, then turn mixture over. Cover and let cook till boiling about 10 minutes in all.  Stir and add Soy sauce mixed with corn starch and water; stir slowly while the mixture thickens.

Place noodles on a plate cover with chow mein and top with sliced chicken and hardboiled eggs.  White rice is used as a side dish.

Makes 4 servings..

I think Jin's makes this recipe the day before they serve it, my leftovers tasted more like Jins then right after I cooked it.
Next time I make this I am going to leave it overnight in the fridge and then serve it up...     Jin also uses pork sausage as a filler, so next time I am using the pork sausage instead of cooking oil to cook my veggies.. 

Enjoy all you lovers of Jins Chow Mein!!
Tampa Florida Pom-mom


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## suziquzie (Jan 27, 2008)

Hey looks good, now I dont have to go to Minneapolis!


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## auntdot (Jan 27, 2008)

We sometimes collect old menus, sometimes means if we are in the mood.

And have a number of Chinese menus from the 20's and 30's that were basically chow mein and chop suey places.

When I was a kid that was what Chinese restaurants had to offer.

Then, when I got older, I used to walk across the Brookly Bridge every day for dinner in Chinatown.  I learned what real Chinese cooking was. Helped the Chinese with their lessons and got the real McCoy.  The Chinese are a great people. And it was not chow mein. In fact could order from the Chinese written menus.  Gosh was that food good.

But who cares?  People like what they like.  When I was a kid all that was available was Chung King chow mein in a can.  And that was OK because I liked the celery flavor and the bean sprouts. And it was thickened I would suppose with corn starch.

So Andy's recipe sounds good, it has the oyster sauce and the corn starch and all kind of good stuff, but it needs the celery flavor.

Look, I know the Chung King stuff was awful but sometimes you need a bit of your dhildhood.  And nothing brings it back more than the food.

And if it tastes good to you it is good grub, and don't let anyone tell you anything different.

And if they go on, sic Auntdot on them. Good food is what you like and want it to be.

Am in a feisty mood, God bless.

Andy, your recipe sounds great, but am in the mood for lousy old chow mein on a bed of rice.

Sometimes you just have to remember.  And am in the mood for that.

Again God bless and take care.


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## Pom-mom (Jan 28, 2008)

*Jin's Chow mein*

Hi Everyone,

You can also use Napa cabbage in the place of chinese cabbage..

I have been living in Tampa  Florida for 7 years , and I had been craving this chow mein for awhile.  I searched the web (thats how I found this site) for this recipe for years.  no luck!  Finally my husband brought home this old chines cookbook he found, and low and behold here is the recipe I had been searching for.  

This is "The Secret" at work, if you want something bad enough, it eventually shows up on your doorstep.  Now if only I could win the lottery.  

Smile..
Pom-mom


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## BreezyCooking (Jan 28, 2008)

Actually, "Napa" cabbage & "Chinese" cabbage are one & the same thing.


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## suziquzie (Jan 28, 2008)

Maybe they were thinking Bok Choy vs. Napa?


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## Pom-mom (Jan 28, 2008)

*Jin's Chow Mein*

You maybe right about the chinese cabbage and NAPA being the same, Sweet Bay has both names advertised, but you can never find the chinese cabbage, just the NAPA.  That's probably why..

Thanks!


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## BreezyCooking (Jan 29, 2008)

And to help make it even more confusing, some markets call Napa/Chinese Cabbage "Celery Cabbage", which is actually a variety of Chinese Cabbage that is narrower in shape & has more stalk than leaf to it.  Same color & taste though.


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## waxpoetic (Jan 23, 2013)

*Jin's chow mein*

I realize this thread is a few years old, however, I too am looking for a recipe similar to Jin's.  The recipe posted by pom-pom looks similar.  However, I don't remember Jin's having cabbage in theirs. Also, their eggs were a flat scramble then cut into strips. They did not use hard-boiled eggs.  I lived just minutes from Jin's for 35 years. Now I'm an hour away, and I still crave it, but I'm not driving an hour to get it.   Membrane, did you ever find true recipe you were looking for? HELP!!


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## CharlieD (Jan 23, 2013)

Membarane posted here first and the last time 7 years ago. i doubt you going to get any answer from him/her.


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## waxpoetic (Jan 23, 2013)

I realize it's a longshot. But thanks for pointing that out.  I'm trying every avenue I can.


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## buckytom (Jan 23, 2013)

here in nyc and joisey, chop suey and chow mein are slightly but decidedly enough different. and i don't just mean the fried noodles on top.

chop suey is slightly darker in colour, and the veggies are more varied. 

chow mein is more whitish, with more onion and bok choy white parts, and the aforementioned fried noodles.

and no respectable chinese person i know mixes his food into the rice.


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## waxpoetic (Jan 23, 2013)

The restaurant recipe that I'm looking for is probably more a chop suey, but they do call it chow mein.  And I know I'll never be able to pry the recipe from their hands! I don't believe it has bok choy in it. Actually, not real heavy on the veggies.  As for the rice: Here in Minnesota, with all the Scandinavians, for some strange reason, we like white food.  Thus, the rice.


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## buckytom (Jan 23, 2013)

lol, as an american i must stipulate there's no right or wrong here. just us. all of us.

my mom is norwegian, and always oders shrimp chop suey, eventually mixing it into the rice. 

she's still my mom and i love her, no matter what.


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## waxpoetic (Jan 23, 2013)

See, that does not sound good to me.  My parents are Danish and Norwegian, and love lutefisk.  Anything that looks like it's still moving on the plate does not appeal to me!


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## CharlieD (Jan 23, 2013)

I say just go there and tell them that you are moving and that you love them and that you really going to miss them and you really need their recipe to survive in the wilderness, or arctick. And just start crying and begging, it might work, you never know.


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## waxpoetic (Jan 23, 2013)

Funny! I had posted about this on Facebook, and a friend from the old neighborhood actually went there and got some for dinner tonight. She asked for the recipe but they will not release it.  It's pretty tightly guarded secret, since 1958!


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