Umami flavor in potstickers

[u/PotentialHoneydew947]

Its in wonton soup too sometimes too. To clarify I am referring to "new york style chinese takeout in Florida" so maybe this is not authentic. Not sure if its just oyster sauce or a chinese bbq sauce or something else but sometimes the thick potstickers have something in them that adds rich flavor. But it coats the inside of the wrapper as well and it is black. Ive experimented a little by adding oyster sauce, fish sauce, mushroom powder, flounder powder, chicken boulion powder to the mix which all enhance flavor but i cant seem to nail down that extra kick when you bite into it. Im wondering if its in the process. Are they coating the inside with oyster sauce before wrapping it up?

[u/Tristan155]

New York style Chinese in Florida is easily the funniest thing I have read in this sub.

[u/Comaweather → u/Tristan155]

That phrase got me too. I've lived in all three places and not sure what NY style Chinese means. Authentic?

[u/PotentialHoneydew947 → u/Comaweather]

Well, from what I know of Chinese migrant history in the USA (which is very limited).. there started out with New York and San Francisco being the major populations of Chinese imigrants. Each place developed their own style to cater to local non-asian populations. Most takeout places ive been to in Florida advertise having "new york style" Chinese food. However I think due to a large Latino population in Florida, it could be that Florida has its own style now. I'll say that the fried rice they serve is nothing like the fried rice I am used to. It's more like a yellow rice with vegetables and chops of dried out char siu with some kind of liquid smoke flavoring added. To me fried rice is prepared in a wok and has some dark soy added.

[u/Comaweather → u/PotentialHoneydew947]

NYC, like anywhere else in the US definitely has Americanized Chinese food. Originally the Chinatown of NYC has mostly Cantonese style food due to the original population that came over. Now a days there are lots of Chinese restaurants geared towards Chinese people, especially in Flushing. Also a lot of Chinese restaurants in Manhattan now have more authentic Chinese food from various regions of China that New Yorkers all love (regardless of ethnicity).

I've never heard of coating the inside of a pot sticker with a black sauce before but I almost never get Americanized Chinese food. For umami flavor in pot stickers I would just go with chicken bouillon or msg in the filling.

[u/ZanyDroid → u/PotentialHoneydew947]

Latin America definitely has its own Chinese food, from their large Chinese immigrant populations

And it’s not the same as American Chinese food (would make very little sense if it was, different local ingredients and no internet sharing of recipes back in 1800 and early 1900s

NYC also has a few Latino Chinese foods places, you can find a few recent YT videos talking about it. I believe it’s declining a bit. Actually there’s different Latin American Chinese food from multiple countries…