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Q: Do you think Chinese can really master Chinese cooking?
Seems I've lost the fight against having an Ayi. Right now there is a middle aged woman doing dishes from breakfast (that I cooked) Based on the past couple of days, I can not look forward to a tasteless lunch. She managed to use a staggering amount of oil for cooking 4 dishes for lunch the other day. Those dished had two properties, they left us with moist lips due to the oil, and they left us drinking lots of water the rest of the day, despite the lack of taste, there was plenty of salt.
I am aware our palates are different. But lets take something simple like a fried beef noodle. Easy, slice the meat, fry it, flip some noodles in it, maybe add a ready made sauce, and presto, you have achieved food. But this is so often done without caring for the ingredients. Spend a little time with the beef, make sure it is cut correctly and evenly. Marinate for some time. Fry it at the right temperature in a good oil, use some fresh vegetables/herbs for flavor. Then flip in the noodle.
I really like fried noodles. There just only a few that can make it properly. But the thing is, when I talk to people, lots of people agree that the places I think make good fried noodles, are also considered the better places. So what is up with all the places that server crap fried noodle?
Can Chinese people ever learn to cook or is it all about cutting corners and just making it look real rather than making it taste real.
There's literally zero advantage in having an ayi. I have nothing personal against them, I just don't understand what service they are supposed to give me.
Instead of wasting an hour constantly supervising someone, I'd rather clean up by myself, which I do better. If you feel like spending money anyway, just buy better detergents or whatever.
About the dishes, it's an even bigger no no. I mainly cook stuff myself with imported ingredients. I'd like not to, but I'm left with no choice. I like Chinese food. Some food, but I just don't trust small joints anymore. My stomach feels much better since I took that resolution, who would have guessed.
Oh, yeah, and I don't do losing arguments with my wife over this kind of decisions. Fortunately she understands I am the one gifted with logic. She's in the process of getting some of her own.
I had an ayi once.
I wanted to kill her. I wanted to throw her off the forking balcony.
I'll never have an ayi again.
Ayi: In my opinion, unskilled in anything useful.
However...
The general consensus must be that an older local woman is better at all basic household chores including cooking and even babysitting. This generalization is based on what exactly? The food is usually the same thing daily or a variation of the same oily, "msg" laden, chopped up ingredients. Nothing to ever look forward to.
We had one, she lasted 4 days.
3 weeks in, I can add, although she seems like a nice person, the only time saver for the household is that I don't need to do dishes after lunch. All her chores are supervised alongside heavy chatting/gossiping, so no one has any time free up. Except me who doesn't need to do the dishes.... a thing I actually don't mind doing.
Based on looking at how much oil is used from the kitchen, I am thinking the Ayi uses 10 times the oil I don, 5 times what my wife does and 2 times what the MIL does
Thanks for the update Scan, it is rare that we ever get one here 
I had another afternoon last weekend making dumplings with a local friend and her family.
Mother and aunties made 5 dumplings for every one i made - and theirs looked so much better. My friend was embarrassed to demonstrate her poor cooking skills in comparison.
thankfully the dumplings were steamed 
Ayi? God no. I can do a half-assed job cleaning my apartment for free.
Simple answer - NO. Too many approach cooking the same way as everything else, it is just a job to be done and the quicker you can do it the better. No-one thinks if it could be better just do what my 50 times great grandmother told her daughter and so on. After all you cannot go against 5,000 years of culture. If it was good enough for stone age peasants it's good enough today.
I've lost 8Kgs since our Ayi started.
I've even stepped down the dog walking to spare the dog the burning south China sun.
about 3 weeks ago, our Ayi with 1 day notice said she was going for a 10 day trip to visit some relatives (one province over) The wife has sent a couple of messages that where never answered, as to when we could expect her back.... then today, she called my MIL and said she'd be back tomorrow. Awesome, back to crappy food and halfhearted cleaning.
In the old days (1½ years ago, we had a cleaning only Ayi, we lost her to "going to see family" she simply never ever responded again.
For reliability, don't have an Ayi.
BHGAL:
I am not bragging or complaining, SIR, but the time I spent with your Ayi recently should not be thought of as a "freebie" for you. The intense training and exuberant education given to your "young" lady by both myself and my wife should, and I am guessing, will not go unnoticed.
Today is your lucky day! If not happy in a week or so...send her back where she came from...not here dammit.
Can Chinese cook Chinese food?
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..........................NO!
I can hardly wait to take my wife for some real Chinese food while we're in Australia soon.
Chinese food is a reflect of the average Chinese folk during the past 5000 years: poor.
I used to be crazy about food in China, we all used to, when it was still exotic for us, tasting different, having different textures and never being sure about what we were eating.
Then the more time you spend in China the more you buy imported groceries, go to foreign-owned restaurants with foreign chefs, because you realize that Chinese food always taste the same, is always boiled or oily and that variety means the same dishes with regional variations, but nothing exceptional or unique.
royceH:
A fair description...poor.
My big problem right now is to decide where we'll eat tonight. She suggested the Peking Duck joint but found that they've closed the entire 4 floors to get stuck in with jackhammers. As they do.
So now she says it's up to me to choose.
I'm sick of all the other places because they all serve up the same ol' muck/slop.
Which limits us to Uyghir or hot pot, as usual.
There is a pretty cool joint that serves up hambugers and pizzas that aren't too far from being real but a sm bottle of beer costs Y20 and I don't really get off on spending several hundred for a hamburger.
China really does need some alternative dining options. Or I just need to be living somewhere else.
Gotta start looking at buying food from Taobao.
Eorthisio:
Where are you living? You don't have a Metro supermarket nearby? They are in most first and second tier cities, they sell thousand of different imported groceries and prices are lower than what you would pay for the same products at expat targeted shops like City Shop in Shanghai, Jenny Lou in Beijing, Corner's Deli in Guangzhou or Olé Supermarket nationwide. Metro used to require a registration using your passport to shop there, but not anymore since about 6 months or so. I always found everything I needed there, one is located 5 minutes from my place by city bus.
I don't think so. They just follow the menu, can't do a little bit change.
