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Why Jewish People Like Chinese Food…Chinese-American Chow Mein

I am not releasing any ancient buried secret here.  Jews and Chinese food have a history. 

Many of my Jewish cookbooks have Chinese recipes in them.  I’ve always been entertained and amused by that.

In New York City, back in the day, it has been said you could tell how Jewish a neighborhood was by the number of available Chinese restaurants.  They were often on every corner.

There are even old jokes that circulated about Jews, Chinese people and food…they always crack me up…

If, according to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5764, and, according to the Chinese calendar, the year is 5724, what did the Jews eat for forty years?  Ha!  I love that.

and another

Two Chinese men are walking out of Katz’s Delicatessen.  One says to the other, “The problem with Jewish food is that two weeks later you’re hungry again.”  Bwahahahahahahaha!

Anyway, in Brooklyn, there were even many kosher Chinese restaurants (I’m not sure if there are any left).  For many Jewish families it was a Sunday ritual to patronize these often upscale Chinese eateries.  In Los Angeles, on Fairfax, I know of a New York style Chinese restaurant named, Genghis Cohen, an obvious play on words.

There are many reasons the Jews love Chinese cuisine, most of them religious, some forbidden and the fact the Chinese did not combine dairy and meat in the same dish was also a draw for Jewish people following strict dietary laws.

Overall, it works for them.

Personally, I love Chinese food, especially this Chinese-American Chow Mein.  Whether you are Jewish or not, you will love this dish.

Let’s make it together…

Here’s what you will need:  Onions, celery, mushrooms, chicken stock, dry sherry, soy sauce, cornstarch, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, cooked chicken and fried chow mein noodles.  Ingredients not shown:  Peanut oil and garlic.

In a small pouring vessel, combine 2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons dry sherry, 1/4 cup chicken stock and 4 teaspoons cornstarch.  Set aside.

In a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 Tablespoons peanut oil until the oil is very hot but not smoking.  Add onions and celery and stir fry for about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cloves crushed garlic and 1-1/2 cups sliced white mushrooms; stir-fry for one minute.  Add 1 cup of remaining chicken stock, cover the pot and simmer for four minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Uncover the pot and stir in 1 cup fresh bean sprouts and 1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts.

Add cornstarch mixture to the pot and stir it until the liquid in the pot has thickened.  Taste for seasoning.  You may want to add salt or more soy sauce.

Serve immediately on a bed of fried Chinese chow mein noodles.  Top with 2 cups of sliced, cooked chicken you have prepared any way you choose. 

It’s soooooooooooo yummy!  You must try it.

Even my kids love this and they can be VERY picky.  It must be the crunchy noodles.

Chinese-American Chow Mein
Adapted from Jewish Home Cooking

2 Tablespoons peanut, canola or corn oil
2 medium-large onions, peeled, cut in half through the root end, and thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
5 ribs celery, thinly cut on a sharp diagonal (about 2 cups)
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1-1/2 cups sliced white mushrooms
1-1/4 cups chicken stock (or broth), divided
2 Tablespoons dry sherry, dry madeira or in a pinch dry red wine
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
2 cups white meat chicken, cooked any way you choose, sliced into strips
Fried Chinese chow mein noodles

In a small pouring vessel, combine soy sauce, dry sherry, 1/4 cup chicken stock and cornstarch.  Set aside.

In a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil until the oil is very hot but not smoking.  Add onions and celery and stir fry for about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and mushrooms; stir-fry for one minute.  Add 1 cup of remaining chicken stock, cover the pot and simmer for four minutes, until vegetables are tender.  Uncover the pot and stir in bean sprouts and water chestnuts.  Add cornstarch mixture to the pot and stir it until the liquid in the pot has thickened.  Taste for seasoning.  You may want to add salt or more soy sauce.

Serve immediately on a bed of fried Chinese chow mein noodles.  Top with chicken you have prepared any way you choose. 

What I Was Blogging About One Year Ago Today:  A Rainy Day, Lost Luggage and Tangled Christmas Tree Lights

Comments

  1. Cathy, you’ve made my day. The only thing I can add is the comment from an Israeli gentleman we met while in China who swore ‘these people don’t know how to make Chinese food.’ Have a great day.

    Reply

  3. O.K. Now you’re talking! Chinese food, I can eat it for breakfast , lunch, dinner, and dessert….and start all over again. I just made stir fry for dinner ( pork) and will eat the leftovers for breakfast. So if I substitute chicken for beef I can serve it to any Jewish friends….cool!Recipe will be tried out soon, very soon. Thank-you.

    Reply

  6. I never knew there was a connections between Jewish people and Chinese food. I feel like I’ve been living under a rock! Those crunchy noodles – I buy them every Christmas to may haystacks and end up eating them straight from the can. 🙂

    Reply

  8. My theory as to why Jews love Chinese: They’re the only restaurants with restaurants open on Christmas Day! In Boston, my favorite Chinese restaurant is typically packed with mostly Chinese. On Christmas, only Jews.

    Reply

  11. I didn’t know there was a link between Chinese and Jews. Missed that one. I do love Chinese food too and in our Italian family it is traditional to have Chinese on New Years Eve. Love it!

    Reply

  14. Chinese food….hmmmmm. The first Chinese food I ate was chow mein, (from the can) on a bed of those fried noodles. Nothing added, nothing at all. It was absolutely horrible and it took me years before I ever ate Chinese food again. Later in life I discovered the really good Chinese restaurants, and we do like to eat good Chinese food. But I don’t think I will ever cook my own. Your recipe looks like it would be one of the best, though, and probably as I am walking the aisles of the grocery store, when I see that can of fried noodles, I will think of this recipe and who knows, I might just pick up that can of water chestnuts and the fresh bean sprouts and do my own. I do keep Chinese condiments in the pantry. You never cease to amaze me with your ideas and tried and true recipes. I visit your site first thing in the morning to start my day, and I also visit the Davis Magazine site periodically just to see what it has to offer, especially your column. If I live long enough I will also take a trip in the motorhome and visit your winery! I will probably be a wine expert by then, given all the information you have given us in your blog. lol

    Reply

  16. That is SO TRUE about Jews and Chinese food. My mother is a Brooklyn Jew, and every Christian holiday they went out for a huge Chinese feast 🙂 There are still some kosher Chinese places in Brooklyn, definitely!

    Reply

  20. Back here in Massachusetts, New Year’s Eve is the biggest night of the year for Chinese restaurants. They are always jam packed with people eating there or getting takeout. It always cracks me up.

    Reply

  23. Wow… I haven’t had chow mein in years. This looks great.

    I read a novel that incorporated Jewish culture into Chinese history. The book noted that the chinese referred to them as “sinew pluckers” as they always removed the tendons from their chicken before eating. I never knew if it was true, but you post made me recall the passage…

    Reply

  24. I adore Chinese, Thai, Japanese, you name it! I never knew about the connection but it does make sense. I learn more new things from you that I think my head may eventually explode.

    These pictures are so amazing and they are killing me! It’s 8 AM & now I want Chow Mein. Argh! I guess I’ll have to make this for dinner because I can’t stand it. I must have some of that! We do actually have a very good Chinese Market here and I go there at least once every other month to stock up. Love it!

    Reply

  32. Lots of my Jewish friends go to Chinese on Christmas and then a movie. It’s a great tradition for them as everything else is closed.

    Your photography is beautiful…I mean WOW!

    Reply

  34. Yes, this does look very kid friendly. On my end, it would be hard to keep my fingers out of those crunchy noodles while cooking … they are sooo addicting!

    In San Francisco, Christmas is virtually a Jewish holiday in Chinatown with many events planned just for that day. Hey, whatever works!

    Reply

  35. You crack me up, and the title of this post is classic. How could anyone NOT click through the mire of their RSS subscriptions to get to a post/title like this. You’re too much (and clever indeed)!

    Reply

  41. Ha….ha….ha…
    I love that Genghis Cohen name, I’ll ask my father in law, I doubt that he’s been there. He’s far too religious and suspicious!
    Too bad that my husband and my son don’t like chinese food. Very rare isn’t it? I though everybody like chinese food. I love chinese food!
    Cheers,
    elra

    Reply

  46. I love your jokes. We have friends who are Chinese, yes, off the boat, so I won’t even pretend to be able to cook chinese. I tell you what, Dolly and Betty can put out some fine food!

    Reply

  53. I have such good memories of chow mein. And this version looks… so very familiar 🙂 Comfort food, Cathy. Comfort food. Love it.

    I’m with Duo Dishes on the fistfuls of chow mein noodles… although I’d add that they’re great sprinkled over a bowl of watermelon sherbet. Think I’m crazy… you NEED to try it!!

    Reply

  59. This looks so good! I also love Chinese food.

    Growing up, there was only one Chinese restaurant in my town. Eating there was a big deal. Now I can swing by any number of strip mall establishments to satisfy my craving.

    Even weirder to me than Jewish people loving Chinese food…Amish people that love Chinese food. I always laugh a little when I stumble across chow mein and chop suey recipes in my Amish cookbook.

    Reply

  60. Chow Mein and Lo Mein are my favorites. I look forward to this recipe.
    Also, you hit on something I always wondered about, why the Chinese food never, ever has dairy in it.

    Reply

  68. As much as I love Chinese food, and I am not even Jewish, I always, always overcook it.
    Also, I did say ‘a pool boy named Julio’ don’t forget. I also want a crew of 25 year olds for my yacht.
    Double also, I love how you handled the lady over your cabinets. I, like you, am not out to screw anyone over, but responsibility and honor is vital.
    How is the property and fence going by the way? And did he wash his truck yet?

    Reply

  70. Hi Cathy – interesting to know about the connection between Jewish & Chinese food history .. & I to like the Genghis Cohen restaurant name ..

    The chinese America Chow Mein .. looks delicious too ..

    Reply

  71. Genghis Cohen, I love it! Now for my .02

    I’m Jewish and although have a weak spot for certain traditionally Chinese dishes, I much prefer Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean food!

    Reply

  73. This looks fabulous! I love those crunchy noodles, but I haven’t had them in ages.

    I was wishing I was you when my laptop crashed this week. My husband did NOT have a backup laptop in the closet. He won’t even let me buy a new one because it’s much cheaper to replace the hard drive. ***sigh***

    Reply

  75. Why do the truly religious Jews have five sets of dishes?

    Two for Passover, one each meat and dairy.

    Two for everyday life, again one each.

    One for Chinese.

    The last time I looked there were still Kosher Chinese restaurants in NYC.

    My best friend is Jewish and introduced me to Sczechwan over 30 years ago, back when it was still so hot most couldn’t eat it. Wonderful stuff.

    A couple of years ago I did a scratch Chinese meal every Friday night. Two woks and a cleaver not a knife. A Food Friend sent me a good Chinese cookbook, my wife looked at it and produced her copy. This went on until I was comfortable with the techniques

    Reply

  77. I think my family would love this and really enjoy the crunchy noodles to boot! That is so interesting about the chineese restaurants and why Jews like them. I learned something today, thank you.

    Reply

  80. BTW I would KILL for a container of resealable Kingsford cornstarch, as is pictured in your shot of ingredients!

    We have boxes…boxes which get messy and yucky, of cornstarch here in Maine. Seriously, if I thought I could find that stuff, the resealable kind within a 200 mile radius, I’d go and get it.

    I need to go get my “Google” on and see if I can’t find it online.

    Reply

  81. You totally cracked me up on this one – and that one about the “you get hungry after 2 weeks”…omg – hilarious. I remember my brother moving to Toronto and his first job was with Ginsberg & Wong – how’s that for a restaurant name. Christmas isn’t Christmas without good Chinese Food and if you keep kosher at home, you eat Chinese outside. I think this has the makings of a great handbook. And if you haven’t read “You Don’t Have to be Jewish” – it’s a must read.

    Reply

  83. While I get the bit about Chinese not combining meat with dairy, the one thing I don’t get about the Chinese-Jewish connection is that the Chinese love pork and shrimp – big Jewish no-nos!

    A great read on this topic if Jennifer 8 Lee’s book “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles”. Lee explores the many reasons why Jews seem to eat so much Chinese food. Of course the meat/dairy thing is explored. So is the fact that Chinese don’t celebrate Christian holidays so that Chinese restaurants were always conveniently open on Christmas. Then there was the Jewish Chinese woman who declared it’s because “Chinese food tastes good!”

    My favorite explanation comes from Christopher Moore’s book “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Friend.” A young Jesus was feasted by the 7 Chinese concubines of one of the Wise Men on his birthday. It became a birthday tradition for the young Jesus to eat a Chinese feast in that home. His buddy Biff noticed that it became a tradition among Jews to eat Chinese food on Josh’s (Jesus’s) birthday. 😀

    Reply

  85. why jewish like Chinese? They don’t celebrate Christmas. So Christmas day, Chinese restaurants will be flooded with jewish diners. That’s actually the fact in MA…

    As for your chowmein recipe, looking great. You may wanna try the authentic pan fried noodle if you have a chance to go to any non americanized chinese place. Similar to chowmein but better

    Reply

  88. It’s flattering that Jewish people like eating Chinese food.. BUT…

    1. Authentic Chow mein is NOT the crispy fried ones show in pictures/certain restaurants which is the American-version instead!
    2. In this MODERN age, who the heck orders something like “egg fu young” or “chop suey”?

    Many articles and experiences I (and my Chinese friends/family) had seems that there are “RACIST” overtones (or it seems like it)!!

    MANY of the Chinese foods that Americans eat are OBVIOUSLY NOT authentic and “geared towards” NON-Chinese. This is typical for Chinese restaurants to survive so the foods is “adopted” to the locals!

    Problem is.. this is SO typical of “westerners” to view that the Chinese food they eat is “typical Chinese” which, in fact, IS NOT!

    Many good Chinese dishes are NOT even on the menu or written in Chinese and posted on the wall (in some Chinese restaurants)!!

    Do you REALLY know how difficult it is finding a Chinese restaurant that serves “AUTHENTIC” Chinese food that’s NOT the “American-Chinese” version?

    Anyway… it’s funny when reading Various books on this “why Jewish people like Chinese food” phenomenon and, yet, it’s also “insulting” as you look at its history esp. the times when the Chinese and Jews “co-existed” in NY in the early 20th century!

    Many Jews took the racist attitudes of other ethnic groups against the Chinese and went aware of it (i.e. let’s eat at the “chink” restaurant or the Chinese are perceived as a “lower” class ethnic group compared to Jews).

    How many Westerners actually have Chinese “friends”?

    Anyway… decent articles if not funny.
    BTW… many Chinese people (and other Asians) would rarely ever order Chow mein or Egg rolls or Egg fu young. That’s for the non-Asians!

    Reply

  89. It’s flattering that Jewish people like eating Chinese food.. BUT…

    1. Authentic Chow mein is NOT the crispy fried ones show in pictures/certain restaurants which is the American-version instead!
    2. In this MODERN age, who the heck orders something like “egg fu young” or “chop suey”?

    Many articles and experiences I (and my Chinese friends/family) had seems that there are “RACIST” overtones (or it seems like it)!!

    MANY of the Chinese foods that Americans eat are OBVIOUSLY NOT authentic and “geared towards” NON-Chinese. This is typical for Chinese restaurants to survive so the foods is “adopted” to the locals!

    Problem is.. this is SO typical of “westerners” to view that the Chinese food they eat is “typical Chinese” which, in fact, IS NOT!

    Many good Chinese dishes are NOT even on the menu or written in Chinese and posted on the wall (in some Chinese restaurants)!!

    Do you REALLY know how difficult it is finding a Chinese restaurant that serves “AUTHENTIC” Chinese food that’s NOT the “American-Chinese” version?

    Anyway… it’s funny when reading Various books on this “why Jewish people like Chinese food” phenomenon and, yet, it’s also “insulting” as you look at its history esp. the times when the Chinese and Jews “co-existed” in NY in the early 20th century!

    Many Jews took the racist attitudes of other ethnic groups against the Chinese and went aware of it (i.e. let’s eat at the “chink” restaurant or the Chinese are perceived as a “lower” class ethnic group compared to Jews).

    How many Westerners actually have Chinese “friends”?

    Anyway… decent articles if not funny.
    BTW… many Chinese people (and other Asians) would rarely ever order Chow mein or Egg rolls or Egg fu young.

    Reply

  90. It’s flattering that Jewish people like eating Chinese food.. BUT…

    1. Authentic Chow mein is NOT the crispy fried ones show in pictures/certain restaurants which is the American-version instead!
    2. In this MODERN age, who the heck orders something like “egg fu young” or “chop suey”?

    Many articles and experiences I (and my Chinese friends/family) had seems that there are “RACIST” overtones (or it seems like it)!!

    MANY of the Chinese foods that Americans eat are OBVIOUSLY NOT authentic and “geared towards” NON-Chinese. This is typical for Chinese restaurants to survive so the foods is “adopted” to the locals!

    Problem is.. this is SO typical of “westerners” to view that the Chinese food they eat is “typical Chinese” which, in fact, IS NOT!

    Many good Chinese dishes are NOT even on the menu or written in Chinese and posted on the wall (in some Chinese restaurants)!!

    Do you REALLY know how difficult it is finding a Chinese restaurant that serves “AUTHENTIC” Chinese food that’s NOT the “American-Chinese” version?

    Anyway… it’s funny when reading Various books on this “why Jewish people like Chinese food” phenomenon and, yet, it’s also “insulting” as you look at its history esp. the times when the Chinese and Jews “co-existed” in NY in the early 20th century!

    Many Jews took the racist attitudes of other ethnic groups against the Chinese and went aware of it (i.e. let’s eat at the “chink” restaurant or the Chinese are perceived as a “lower” class ethnic group compared to Jews).

    BTW… many Chinese people (and other Asians) rarely ever order Chow mein or Egg rolls or Egg fu young or Chop suey.

    Reply

  92. I’m Chinese and Jewish (thanks Mom!)and live in a city with one of the largest Asian population in America with very authentic chinese restaurants. I’ve ordered chow mein/chow fun and egg rolls many times. So do my Taiwanese born grandparents. Because my Nai Nai makes egg rolls, she’s either not Chinese or a racist?

    Reply

  94. my mo0m rip used to make something called jewish chow mein it had the chinese crispy noodles cooked in it and rice in it to i think what a taste also there has never been a chinese resturant in ny as good as the old manderian inn 14 mott closed 1990 after 30 years i live in flushing area i i havnt had anything as great since cherry blosom pork chief special shimp in rice wine sauce i could eat 3 dishes of and they would charge me for 2 of them !!!! also there dumplings and dragon soup joy la chicken it was just outrageous glenn leslie

    Reply

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