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![[image loading]](http://www.augusta.com/images/masters/2004/040804/91700.jpg)
What I found when I googled "ethnic food". Apparently this is called "Redneck Stir Fry". I have no idea what it is but it looks delicious.
Sometimes the greatest pleasures in life are the simplest ones. In this day and age, where you can order Thai food at 2AM from your iPad and have it delivered to your apartment and pay with a debit card which collects the money electronically straight from your bank account, it's easy to forget that. With the convenience of modern technology, some of the magic of the past has been lost. The simple life seems like a relic from another age. Many of us, "modern men", don't really have time to sample these more basic, and yet finer pleasures. As this is TeamLiquid I expect many people here probably just shovel food into their mouths in front of a monitor everyday.
![[image loading]](http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8484/27543109642365726949876.jpg)
Pictured: you?
Where was I going with this? Anyways, I often find that food is the single greatest pleasure in life. Now, I've experienced a lot of things in my life - a great many of those things I'm ready and willing to drink some bleach to make go away forever - but simple eating, something I've done since I was a helpless, stupid infant, is just on too many an occasion the greatest pleasure I've known. Of course it largely depends on the food. I'm not a picky eater by any means, but I am a traveler and somewhat of a connoisseur, if I may say so myself.
So I'm going to post about ethnic food that I enjoy. A lot of these are going to be mostly ramblings, but don't worry I'll add lots of pictures and if there's one thing everyone enjoys, it's food porn.
![[image loading]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bQsHGxoDVPg/SgmBS1vN34I/AAAAAAAABmE/2Ob0R78PajQ/s400/dessert_hk_milktea.JPG)
Hong Kong style milk tea.
So the first food I'm going to be blabbering talking about is Hong Kong style milk tea. Now, it's important to note that this is different from Taiwanese style milk tea, or more accurately, the Western version of Taiwanese style milk tea that you can find at any Chinese restaurant nowadays. That's the kind that's served cold and has those boba balls in it. There are so many varieties of that nonsense that they're basically smoothies at this point and most of them have nothing to do with what people actually drink in Taiwan. It is, however, the same kind of tea Indians and people in Singapore enjoy, so you guys might know what I'm talking about.
![[image loading]](http://www.foodstreet.com.my/userImg/prom/Canton-i/20893460901.jpg)
More milk tea.
This is something that I basically drink everyday and really enjoy (although I'm not sure - that might be the addiction talking) so it seemed like a logical first choice. Now what is it you ask? Well, it's basically Chinese black tea mixed with evaporated milk and served hot. Kind of like the Chinese version of coffee. Traditionally it's an afternoon tea, but most people have it with breakfast. It's quite a popular item in any Chinatown. But like any Chinese food item, there are crucial distinctions. There's the crap that Chinese people will sell to Westerners (ie you) that has nothing to do with the real thing, and then there's the real stuff that you have to know how to speak Cantonese to order. That's what I'm talking about, baby.
![[image loading]](http://cdn.wn.com/pd/35/12/84ba9cb6dadee33adb339758316d_grande.jpg)
Good god, get that in my mouth right now.
Like any tea and blended drink item there's quite some intricacies involved in making this tea. That can make all the difference between some bland, bitter-tasting hot milk, and the smooth deliciousness of real milk tea. Typically the black tea itself that makes up the primary flavor in this item must be authentic and brewed with a trained hand. First a specific amount of tea is added to each drinker's liking - I personally prefer my tea darker and more bitter than hell itself, as a certain white-haired attorney would say - then the tea is carefully boiled to intensify the flavor. Then the tea is mixed in with the milk, and the quality of the milk matters too. You want sweet, condensed milk with no water that will eliminate the need for further sweeteners. Now there's a debate over adding whether the milk or the tea first, but I personally prefer milk first to better allow you to control the appearance and color of the finished product.
![[image loading]](http://static2.openrice.com.hk/UserPhoto/photo/0/JW/003XGSEE0FEEFC8641E5F3m.jpg)
What the final tea should look like.
The final thing should be smooth and full-bodied. It should look creamy and delicious and ideally even have some white froth going at the edges. It shouldn't look brown and unappetizing or yellow and diseased. More importantly, the flavor. It should go down smooth and easy and taste sweet at first (depending on the quality of the milk used, no sweeteners remember), but also have a strong bitter taste and aftertaste (depending on the quality of the tea used). The two flavors should work in parallel to complement each other and the sweetness of the milk should get rid of the worst of the bitterness, resulting in a delicious full flavor.
![[image loading]](http://static3.openrice.com.hk/UserPhoto/photo/2/1PA/00C3XWDCD77FC9C06CCEB0m.jpg)
Whoever made this used a little too much milk. I can tell from the pixels and from having seen quite a few milk teas in my lifetime.
Now due to the difficulty of how to make this stuff, this may or may not be one of those things you can just whip up at home on a whim and enjoy it at a moment's notice. At the very least it takes some time to brew the tea, but if you're an experienced cook or have an Asian girlfriend with a good hand at cooking (and whatever else... if you know what I mean) you too can enjoy this delicious treat at home. You'll need authentic black tea and a good tea filter though. But for the most part it's a breakfast item that you'll have to find at a Chinese bakery. And make sure it's a quality bakery and they're not just giving you stale tea mixed with generic milk from Walgreens. And if it's iced they're definitely ripping you off. A cup of it should be pretty cheap, and definitely cheaper than whatever you're getting from Starbucks, it'll probably be like $1.50 or $2 a cup. For those of you who understand the bizarre pseudolanguage of the IPA, it is called "Gǎng shì nǎi chá".
![[image loading]](http://obesebaby.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/img_0347.jpg)
Pictured: not Hong Kong style milk tea. Delicious, but inauthentic.
So I hope you enjoyed my brain droppings on this delicious drink. Those of you who live in a place with a Chinatown should definitely try this stuff out if you have not already. I find it a comfortable midway meeting between American coffee and European tea with a distinct Asian twist and it's great for anyone who enjoys morning drinks but can't stand the bitter taste of most of them. It's good with breakfast or just on its own or whatever! Well, I'm going to go get some right now. I hope you liked this blog, and thanks for reading.
 
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O_O Now I want itt.
But I also want Buffalo Wings.... Potato Skins... Nachos... all that good stuff :D
And ramen.
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For some reason I find this blog mildly condescending. And if you were going to follow up your claim to be a connoisseur shouldn't it be with something actually cooked? In the spectrum of cooking complexity, milk tea does not rate that high...Although presenting it that way is kind of hilarious.
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Wut? I thought it was obvious I was being facetious. This is just a simple blog on foods, it's supposed to sound that way for entertainment purposes. I'm not going to pick highly complex foods for obvious reasons (for one, I want to talk about foods people would actually realistically have access to that they have never tried), I'm just going to be talking about common items while spamming tons of pictures to make it look delicious.
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On December 22 2010 04:28 Krigwin wrote:
Wut? I thought it was obvious I was being facetious. This is just a simple blog on foods, it's supposed to sound that way for entertainment purposes. I'm not going to pick highly complex foods for obvious reasons (for one, I want to talk about foods people would actually realistically have access to that they have never tried), I'm just going to be talking about common items while spamming tons of pictures to make it look delicious.
OK my second instinct was right then ^^. It was hard to tell if it was a satire or totally earnest. It is written in a funny way if it's meant to be hyperbole.
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I have never drank milk tea in my life... D:
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I'll have to try this, looks good.
I think you should include more information on how to make the stuff you talk about in this blog.
That way, we have a chance of filling our watery mouths with deliciousness something we whipped up with ingredients we found in our kitchens in a pathetic attempt of recreating one of the pictures.
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I do beg to differ, but of course our tastes may vary. Unless the tea is ordered by bellowing at a guy who shouts it all the way to the kitchen, the tea (bought in bulk, of course) of a questionable grade and mixed with a cocktail of chemicals, and the beverage hand-stirred by an illegal immigrant, it's not authentic milk tea.
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You might not believe this, but going to chinatown and ordering in fucking cantonese is not the only way to get decent tea in america. And the boba milk tea available in norcal and taiwan are quite similar. You know, making tea is actually a fairly straightforward process. You can keep thinking it's a secret ethnic art passed down from generation to generation if you'd like though.
Your blog and your idea of authenticity generally piss me the fuck off. 1/5 worse than reading yelp reviews
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On December 22 2010 04:45 Disregard wrote:
I have never drank milk tea in my life... D:
Wait, what? I... what? Are you actually in China?
On December 22 2010 06:03 PUPATREE wrote:
You might not believe this, but going to chinatown and ordering in fucking cantonese is not the only way to get decent tea in america. And the boba milk tea available in norcal and taiwan are quite similar. You know, making tea is actually a fairly straightforward process. You can keep thinking it's a secret ethnic art passed down from generation to generation if you'd like though.
Your blog and your idea of authenticity generally piss me the fuck off. 1/5 worse than reading yelp reviews
You know, you seem pretty mad for a guy having read a largely picture post about a simple drink. Also, as someone who has both lived in Taiwan and worked at a Chinese restaurant in America, I beg to differ. The tea you can get from actual Taiwanese joints differ a lot from the tea that I've gotten in Cali (socal at least, typically where most of the asians are, unless there's some chinese haven up north I haven't heard of), which is typically made from a watered-down bagged tea blend, mixed with regular milk, and then watered down with tons and tons of ice to fill the cup so you can get your $3's worth. It depends on the place too, of course. But that's just my opinion.
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On December 22 2010 06:37 Krigwin wrote:Show nested quote +On December 22 2010 04:45 Disregard wrote:
I have never drank milk tea in my life... D: Wait, what? I... what? Are you actually in China? Show nested quote +On December 22 2010 06:03 PUPATREE wrote:
You might not believe this, but going to chinatown and ordering in fucking cantonese is not the only way to get decent tea in america. And the boba milk tea available in norcal and taiwan are quite similar. You know, making tea is actually a fairly straightforward process. You can keep thinking it's a secret ethnic art passed down from generation to generation if you'd like though.
Your blog and your idea of authenticity generally piss me the fuck off. 1/5 worse than reading yelp reviews You know, you seem pretty mad for a guy having read a largely picture post about a simple drink. Also, as someone who has both lived in Taiwan and worked at a Chinese restaurant in America, I beg to differ. The tea you can get from actual Taiwanese joints differ a lot from the tea that I've gotten in Cali (socal at least, typically where most of the asians are, unless there's some chinese haven up north I haven't heard of), which is typically made from a watered-down bagged tea blend, mixed with regular milk, and then watered down with tons and tons of ice to fill the cup so you can get your $3's worth. It depends on the place too, of course. But that's just my opinion.
wtf? ever heard of the fucking BAY AREA? pretty sure theres way more chinese people in northern cali than southern lol.
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Pesians and afghans have a similar type of "milk tea" drink called shir chai. You boil the milk separately and you add the top layer (forgot what it's called) that forms when boiling to the tea. It tastes so good 
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tbh milk tea is not one of my most favorite things ever, but i too cannot really taste the difference between milk tea in america (texas) and taiwan. then again, i have a really low tolerance for sweets and once my sweet taste is saturated everything sweet and iced tastes about the same.
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I've been making this a few times and it's always been pretty simple
Strong english breakfast tea
Brew for a while
Sugar
A lot of evaporated milk
It looks and tastes the same as places I've been to as well
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Theres many styles but probably will be accustomed to the Hong Kong Style, even though I live near a billion bakeries and shops I have never ordered milk tea. -__-
Doesnt seem very appealing to me, same with coffee... which I think I drank once. I love tea though.
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For hk style milk tea they use a panty hose filled with the tea leaves as a teabag
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dude i'm indian, i drink milk tea every morning for breakfast.
you went too far in your trolling/humor, i see a lot of people taking you seriously about how hard this is to make.
fucking boil tea
fucking add milk/sugar
drink.
it tastes pretty much the same no matter how you do this as long as u follow those two steps with decent black tea....
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Dude, all that milk to is making me hungry...I'm gonna go order some ramen delivery
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17018 Posts
I really like Thai iced tea <_<...it's probably my favorite drink haha.
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EPT
