Chinese Takeout Fried Rice Secrets Revealed

if you've ever tried to make Chinese takeout chicken fried rice at home and been disappointed in the results this video is for you today we'll discuss the most common mistakes homecooks make and how to fix them we'll talk about the closely guarded secret rice blend that is used exclusively by all the best restaurants we'll learn about all the top secret tips tricks and hacks to really level up your game by the end of this video you will be able to make fried rice at home better than 99% of takeout restaurants you're not going to need

to master any extreme techniques you don't need to cook your rice on a portal to Hades everything in this video is adapted for the average home cook on a standard burner now the first thing we'll need to address is what style of rice to use your local western style Chinese Takeaway is not using expensive or hard to find rice varieties from my admittedly unscientific survey of about three dozen restaurants they seem to all be using either a standard American long grain white rice the cheap kind you can find at any grocery store or a standard

medium grain also inexpensive readily a aailable Brands so what should you use this is really a matter of personal preference and there is no right or wrong answer do you like larger grains that are more separate then go with long grain do you like smaller grains that are slightly more sticky but chewier in texture then go with medium it's really up to you and both make great fried rice and at the end of the day the best rice is just whatever you happen to have on hand however in my research for this video I came

across something very interesting there were a handful of restaurants whose fried rice was noticeably better than the others and they were all using a blend of American long grain and Thai Jasmine rice long grain on its own is too bland and jasmen on its own is too delicate this seems to be the perfect combination of separate grains and body from the long grain and the Nutty Aroma and flavor from The Fragrant Jasmine and I highly recommend you try it because it makes the best takeout fried rice I've ever had before some companies like Mahatma in

Carolina actually have this exact blend made specifically for fried rice but if you want to do it on your own you'll just take two parts Long Grain and one part Jasmine mix them together before cooking and treat it as you would any other long grain white rice and that leads us to our next question what is the best way to prepare rice for fried rice no matter what kind you end up using you want to wash the Rice under several changes of water until it runs clear this will remove some of the surface starch that

makes the final product both sticky and clumpy but don't overdo it because we're trying not to hydrate the grains any more than necessary moisture is the mortal enemy of A good fried rice so typically about 3 to four washes is enough now obviously the best way to prepare rice is in a rice cooker or by steaming it but we've gone over both these methods in a previous video so I won't belabor the point here but I just want to say no matter what method you use to cook rice if it's coming out too wet or

clumpy you may want to experiment with the ratio of water to rice the range for perfectly cooked rice is generally somewhere in between 1 and 1/2 Parts water to one part rice to an exact 1: one ratio fried rice generally works with a slightly less hydrated grain and you've got to just experiment and find what works for you and I also want to reiterate if you're storing your rice overnight in the fridge to dry out you should always let it come to room temperature before refrigeration and you should never wrap it tightly like this this

will trap in the evaporating moisture and make your rice soggy it should either be left uncovered or Loosely covered with a piece of parchment or plastic and it should be refrigerated for a minimum of 12 hours now that we've dealt with the rice let's talk about one of the biggest mistakes I see when trying to recreate takeout style fried rice at home using the wrong kind of soy sauce the biggest culprit is kikoman and that's a great soy sauce that I use often but it's also Japanese and has an entirely different flavor profile that is

not really suited for Chinese style takeout food the two most common Brands I've seen at almost every western style Chinese restaurant are leom key and Pearl River Bridge and you can't go wrong with either of them but in the soy saile you'll see so many different kinds what do you use the two Styles you'll need to familiarize yourself with are light soy sauce and dark soy sauce light soy sauce doesn't mean low sodium it's just the Chinese version of standard soy sauce you'll sometimes find it labeled as just soy sauce or premium soy sauce it's

used to add flavor and seasoning to dishes without adding much color dark soy sauce like its name implies is much darker and thicker than its light cousin and is typically used to add color to dishes without adding much flavor it's flavor is less salty and slightly more sweet than the light version for today's rice we'll be using both light and dark soy sauce the last two ingredients you may be unfamiliar with are shaing wine and toasted sesame oil shaing wine is ubiquitous in Chinese cooking it's used in like 90% of stir-fry dishes the flavor is

hard to describe it's sort of mildly acidic and faintly tastes of caramel it's a great way to add just a tiny bit of sweetness and acidity to a dish we're going to use this to deglaze our fried rice at the end of cooking and it's really going to brighten things up and bring all the other flavors to the Forefront if you're not able to track it down you can use a dry Cherry instead the second ingredient we'll need is toasted sesame oil this is a finishing Oil we're going to add after we're done cooking because

we're dealing with the low heat of an average kitchen burner it's hard to recreate that W flavor you get in restaurants this will help us get some of that toastiness that makes restaurant fried rice so tasty it's not absolutely necessary but I highly recommend trying to track some down if you can as it really does improve the final flavor for the chicken the most common cut you'll see is little slivers like this 100% of the takeout places I've talked to use breast meat the problem with using such thin slices like this is that breast meat

is so lean it tends to dry out really quickly so today I want to show you a trick almost all Chinese restaurants use to keep lean meat super tender even when cooked over really high heat baking soda but before we get to that let's break down how to cut it you'll just take your breast half flip it over and remove the Tender Loin then cut off the tapered end where it gets really narrow and thin Reserve these because we are going to use them now depending on how big your chicken breast is cut it lengthwise

into four to five slices then take each of these slices turn them perpendicular and cut across the grain making little slivers that are about A4 of an inch thick and repeat this process with the reserved tenderloin in the tip we cut off earlier now I know this may sound unusual but most Chinese restaurants wash their chicken under cold running water before they marinate it the process of washing the meat and squeezing out the excess water by hand supposedly tenderizes the meat and makes the marinade penetrate deeper this step is optional but in all honesty it

does make a difference so I high recommend implementing this step into your stir fry routine all you'll do is swirl the meat around in cold water for about 30 seconds then squeeze out the water either in your hand or by pressing it against a strainer after the chicken is washed we'll mix in half a teaspoon of baking soda and massage it into the meat for about 30 to 45 seconds this is another secret a lot of Chinese restaurants use to get lean proteins even more tender baking soda alkalizes the surface of the meat which makes

it harder for protein bands to tighten when cooked this results in lean Cuts like chicken breast that are much more tender than what you're used to at home after the baking soda treatment we'll add half a teaspoon of light soy sauce half a teaspoon of sugar half a teaspoon of corn starch 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt an e/ of a teaspoon of MSG and 1 teaspoon of neutral oil then mix everything into the chicken and allow it to marinade for at least 15 minutes or up to overnight the final two components we'll need to prepare before

cooking are the sauce and spice mixture traditional fried rice in China tends to be very light on sauce and a lot don't even use any and opt just for salt and some vegetables like scallion but western style takeout rice uses a bit more sauce for both flavor and color so to make our sauce mixture let's start with half a teaspoon of sugar 2 teaspoons of light soy sauce and half a teaspoon of dark soy sauce then stir until the sugar is dissolve and set aside and I know you're probably thinking sugar and fried rice yes

a slightly sweet element is something a lot of homecooks Overlook you don't really taste anything sugary in the final dish but there are so many salty components that a tiny bit of sweetness helps balance the flavors nicely another peculiarity of western style takeout fried rice is that it is heavily seasoned the sauce mixture does help us out in that regard but to get the real restaurant flavor we're after we'll still need to amp things up with some additional seasoning so for the dry spice mixture let's start with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt two pinches of

white pepper and half a teaspoon of MSG then mix everything together until it's well combined and set it aside before we cook the rice it's very important to have everything ready to go because it comes together in a matter of minutes you don't really have time to prep as you're cooking we'll go over all the ingredients as we're making the rice but it's essential to have everything prepared beforehand to get started let's heat our walk or cooking vessel over medium high heat until you see very light wisps of smoke then add 1 tablespoon of a

neutral oil and swirl it around until it's lightly shimmering then turn the heat down to medium low and immediately add two beaten eggs that have been seasoned with a pinch of salt and a pinch of MSG you should notice the eggs start puffing up a bit around the edges this is what you want want so give it about 15 to 20 seconds and then start stirring to lightly scramble the eggs because we'll be cooking everything in stages we're aiming to slightly undercook them because they'll be added back to the dish where they can finish cooking

after they're done remove the eggs to a bowl and set aside then return your walk to medium high heat and I like to wipe out the pan after the eggs to prevent little burnt bits in the final fried rice once the walk is heated again let's add another tablespoon of neutral oil swirl it around the pan and once it's shimmering toss in 2 OZ of our marinated chicken push it down so that it's in one layer and let it cook for about 30 to 45 seconds or until it gets a bit of color on the

first side continue cooking the chicken until it's about 95% done then remove it to the bowl with the reserved eggs and I know there's an eternal debate about whether or not to do everything in the same pan at the same time in my experience when you're working with the decommission jet engines they cook on at restaurants it's fine to do everything in one go but at home our burners are less powerful and you do get better results cooking in small batches so you can ensure every ingredient is cooked to Perfection now turn your walk to

medium high heat and add your last tablespoon of oil and swirl it around until it's shimmering there's no reason to wipe out the pan this time because the fawn from the chicken will give us a bit of extra flavor then toss in half a cup of medium diced onion and 2 tablespoons of medium diced carrot cook for a minute or two until the onion is beginning to look translucent but still has a bit of bite to it then toss in two roughly chopped cloves of garlic sauté for about 15 to 20 seconds and then add

2 cups of our cooled rice stir in the vegetables and using your spatula or you utensil gently press down on the rice so it makes an even layer then break up any large chunks of white rice you see using the tip of your utensil constantly stirring and flipping the rice so that all sides get fried now at this point if you notice your fried rice is always coming out really dry it's most likely because there's not enough oil so you may want to add just a bit more before the rice but don't add so much

the US military considers invading you just a touch to prevent the grains from drying out after a few minutes of toasting the rice toss in the reserved chicken and egg and incorporate it into the mixture Now using your spatula push everything to the center of the walk and add the sauce mixture around the rim and not directly into the rice this will lightly caramelize the sauce and increase the depth of flavor immediately stir the rice so the sauce is fully Incorporated and no large chunks of white rice remain if you notice anything is burning at

any point adjust your heat level now toss in the dry spice mixture and stir it in so everything is well seasoned and you don't see any traces of the salt pepper or MSG then add 2 tablespoons of frozen peas and a handful of bean sprouts gently mix them in and using your utensil push the rice mixture to the center of the Walk de glaze with 2 teaspoons of shaing wine and immediately stir it into the rice cook off the alcohol for about 20 to 30 seconds then kill the Heat and finally toss in 2 tbsps

of sliced green onion and 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil then stir so they're both fully mixed in with everything give it a taste and adjust the seasoning with extra salt and white pepper and then you're ready to serve now let's give it a taste test and see how we did all right really quick before our taste test I just want to say this is my version of classic Chinese style takeout fried rice but there are as many ways to make fried rice as there are grains of rice in a bowl of it at the

end of the day your perfect fried rice is ultimately personal and you've just got to find what works for you all right back to the taste test this is so much more flavorful than your standard takeout version like 99% of the time when you get takeout fried rice it's super Bland but today we've went over some best practices and I truly believe if you implement some of these tips you can make fried rice at home better than almost any restaurant you've ever been to and before we call it a day if you've just had takeout

and have that leftover carton of white rice I want to show you how to turn it into great fried rice instead of storing it in the carton in the fridge like this which will make it really clumpy what you want to do is take it out and spread it on a baking sheet let it come to room temperature and then store it in the fridge overnight the next day just use this as your rice for fried rice instead of making it from scratch yourself it's as simple as that and if you got some value out

of this video you might like this one too thanks for watching see you next time