Are there secrets to eastern cooking that us westerners just aren't allowed to know?

Look... we all know there's stuff they aren't telling us ;). You go to a Chinese food restaurant in New York and order an egg roll... it's going to taste 90% similar to one you order in Miami. If you go to a Hibachi in Seattle and order steak and shrimp, it's going to taste the same, and the guy/girl will probably do most of the same tricks as a place you go to in Dallas. And I've never tasted dishes that get as complex and deep as curry dishes, but little hole in the wall Indian places seem to taste just as good, if not better than some of the most expensive places I've been to.



I bought a Wok, and now I want to cook. I am very confident in my skills as a cook. But as far as eastern cuisine is concerned, I've never been able to master anything more complicated than Fried Rice, My own stir fry creations, and Mu Shu... which is only because Hoisin (Mu Shu) sauce is sold at the grocery store! I even make my own mandarin pancakes for Mu Shu haha.



Anyway, I want recipes, techniques, any secrets that you might have. A web site with a wide verity of eastern cuisine would be AWESOME! So far I have found none.



I would LOVE to learn the secrets of hibachi flavor! I love the vegetables they use! I know the steak they use sometimes comes directly from farms overseas that raise their cattle so that every cut of meat in the entire animal has more marbling than PRIME in America! But I still want to learn how to get that flavor. I have a griddle, but I'm not sure if the cooking surface in this case is really the secret, Could I do hibachi in a wok?



Anyway, thank you for any help you can offer!Are there secrets to eastern cooking that us westerners just aren't allowed to know?
There aren't secrets, just research you must do. I'm a former Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese chef, and here's a few places to start:



All soy sauce is not the same. Soy sauces vary in texture and taste, from dark soy sauce, mushroom sauce, tamari... The same is also true much less fish sauce when you get into thai and vietnamese cuisine (nam pla and nuoc mam, respectively).



If all you've made before is stir-fry and fried rice, here are a few staples for an Asian kitchen which you can experiment with:

Nuoc Mam

dark soy sauce

japanese soy sauce

dried mushrooms

dried red chili peppers

mirin (sweet cooking wine)

rice vinegar

sesame oil

sesame seeds

specifically japanese ingredients will include dashi stock, seaweed, and one of my favorite flavors in the world, togarashi (a japanese seven spice mixture)

oyster sauce.



By Hibachi flavor, I'm thinking you mean the Japanese teppanyaki style of cooking popularized at places like benihana's. Here's a recipe for the sauce they use on everything (by the way, you don't need a special cooking surface, a griddle would be fine...just keep the heat high, make sure it's well seasoned so things don't stick, and move quickly).

Teppanyaki sauce:

4 cups water

1 1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup red wine

1/3 cup oyster sauce

dashi stock or hon dashi powder

6TBs sugar

a whole small onion, two whole cloves of garlic, a one inch piece of ginger (if you want to get really involved you can roast these, skin on, before tossing them in the broth)

3 TB sesame seeds



Stick this all in pot, bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour. Just wait until it reduces down to a flavor and consistency you like. Strain, add fresh sesame seeds if you like, and you've got it. You can refrigerate this sauce and use it anytime you want that teppanyaki flavor.



Another key to cooking this way is allowing the veggies to brown and caramelize when you cook...high heat is key.



Well, that's about it for now...there is a whole world out there which would be hard to capture in a post. Hope this helps with your asian excursions! I foyu can't tell, I love Asian food, which is my comfort food.Are there secrets to eastern cooking that us westerners just aren't allowed to know?
It's not a n ancient chinese secret lad. One tip is ';velvetting';.

Velvetting is taking one egg white and a teaspoon of corn starch and coating chicken,pork,or beef in it for a half hour. Then cooking quick till colored in hot oil for mere moments. It gives the flesh that soft ';Velvet'; texture we all love. Look it up for the in depth pointers.
you want to know the secret to getting the meat really really soft? Add cornstarch (tai bai fen) to the meat when you're marinating/seasoning.