Great books by the way, I hope you have more in store for us.

One of the thrilling things about doing cookery presentations with my Sichuanese chef friend Yu Bo in various countries has been the total amazement of our audiences, who have generally seen nothing like what he does – in terms of the delicacy of his preparations, the imagination of his art, and the sheer beauty of the food he produces. Most Westerners, including culinary professionals, don’t realise this kind of thing exists in Chinese cuisine.

There is nothing wrong with cheap, simple food – in fact Chinese home cooking can be wonderful, even in very poor places (and do read my post some time ago about the catering at Chinese construction sites) – but that’s not the whole picture.

Mel: I agree that high-end Chinese restaurants in the West sometimes offer more glamour than good food. When I was reviewing Chinese restaurants for Time Out a few years ago, I found shockingly mediocre food in very expensive places. Generally, I don’t expect to find really good food in fancy Chinese restaurants that don’t cater mainly to the Chinese community – with a few exceptions, like Hakkasan and Yautcha, and Mr Chow, which I haven’t been to for a while but have always enjoyed.

P.S. James, I’ve no idea about good Chinese restaurants in San Francisco! When I was last there, I think the best meals I had were at the marvellous Zuni Cafe, and Delfina.

Impression is that American barbecue owes much of its lineage to the Caribbean and also somewhat to Mexican barbocoa. The citation of Brunswick Stew in tandem w/ South Carolina low country cuisine (despite its strong African and Caribbean influences) may be a worthier candidate for consideration as per indigenous cuisine in the “North” portion of the Americas.

I’ll start with the “bland chickens,” at least here in the United States, I tend to agree… This is one of the results of factory farming, and it extends beyond chickens to all poultry, beef, lamb, pork, etc… I started buying non-factory farmed meats and vegetables out of a sense of social conscience about a decade ago, and now I would not go back out of a selfish sense of flavor. Find a place that sells free-range “organic” meats, not stuffed with growth hormones, and you’ll find a more flavorful product.

Alas, you’ll also find a deeper hole in your wallet.

In that vein, it is probably not the most opportune economic time to chastise about the lack of respect for high-end restaurants, in any cuisine. In case you weren’t aware, San Francisco has something like 1 in 5 people unemployed or underemployed right now, and everyone I know is looking to cut costs. (The official rate is 12.3%, but that doesn’t count people who are “working part time for economic reasons” and people who have been out of work so long they’ve exhausted unemployment benefits.) Personally, I’ve seen my salary cut 30% after I was lucky enough to find work after a layoff. I appreciate expensive food, but for the time being, I’m having to abstain.

Oh, I’ll note that in Silicon Valley, the curry situation is much, much worse. So bad that when I used to fly to London it was hard to convince me to anywhere but an Indian restaurant, because the comparison between Brick Lane and California curries is greater than any other cuisine comparison I’ve seen.

As for “American food,” there are two decent answers. In many ways, we’ve adopted the traditional British food, with an American twist. If you accept that the traditional British meal is roast beef and potatoes, we’ve modified to be steaks and potatoes. We just don’t cook the beef to the texture of shoe leather.

There is something, though, that I’ve often thought should be considered more traditional American food, although it is primarily in the US south: American barbecue. As I understand it, the slow cooking/smoking of the meat may have its origins in the native Americans going back to before Leif Erickson… Regardless of the origins, it has been adopted with a vengeance throughout the south, with many different, interesting regional variations. I am not familiar with all of them, but here are some:

North Carolina barbecue (my favorite, as my mother is a native of the state, and I went to university at Duke University): pulled pork with a light vinegar/pepper sauce with a hint of brown sugar. The best ones are vinegary and not sweet. In the state, it is divided into eastern and western, in the west they add tomato to the sauce. Always, though, it is not sweet. Alas, my favorite place closed after a hurricane wiped it out, Melton’s in Rocky Mount. Great cue, great brunswick stew, and great hushpuppies.

South Carolina barbecue is also pulled pork, but they add mustard to the sauce. Like most of South Carolina, the folks who run the most famous BBQ places have some unusual political views…

Memphis barbecue and Kansas City barbecue are also well known, have less vinegar and tend to be a bit sweeter. One has a dry rub of spices on the meat, the other has a thicker sauce, and I always get them confused.

Alabama (or is it Mississippi?) has a variant of barbecue in part of the state made with mayonnaise. Never tried it.

Texas is probably the best known barbecue; beef brisket, ribs, etc, and with a heavy tomato/vinegar sauce, (Some North Carolinians deride it as “beef with catsup.”) The sauce is usually thick and spicy sweet. I like it, but prefer North Carolina pork.

Anyway, that’s a brief look at what I would call “American” food.

Last, a couple question: What are the high-end Chinese restaurants you recommend in San Francisco? I’ll admit two preferences which aren’t high end, Old Mandarin out near the zoo is wonderful, and for good Sichuan I go to Classic Sichuan in Milbrae. (I also like Sam Lok in the city.)

Another question, which you may not be able to answer? Is there another regional Chinese cookbook on the way? If so, what region? I was thinking about what regional Chinese cuisine needs more exposure, and, well, there are a few.

Anyway, sorry for the long post…

Having said that, Chinese food is an industry. It’s made cheaply in many places in the world. Unfortunately, business constantly looks for ways to save money and ultimately make more money. We’ve grown a little too accustomed to that I think.

Michael – I also like Phoenix Palace. I don’t think the dim sum are as good as Royal Chinas, but they often have excellent specials, using quite interesting ingredients. And good soups.

On chickens – I’ve eaten the most delicious chickens I’ve ever had in China, mainly in farmhouses where they are free-range, fed on household scraps, and killed an hour or two before dinner. When I first lived in Chengdu (mid-1990s), I think most of the chickens must have been free-range, because they were very flavourful, quite lean and a little scrawny – better suited to stews and soups than stir-fries. At that time, however, you could also buy, in some places, what my Chinese friends called disparagingly 欧洲鸡, ‘European chickens’ – pale, plump, unmuscly, somewhat tasteless birds, which must have been intensively farmed. These days, I suspect most chicken will be the latter, because of the rapid industrialisation of the food chain, and because restaurants that serve free-range birds always mention this, by calling them 土鸡 (‘rustic’ chicken, i.e. farmhouse chicken) on the menu.

I’d also be interested to know of any sources for black-skinned chickens!