The Impatient Chef Can’t Sit Still at China Gorge, Hood River, Oregon

The Impatient Chef Goes Vegan (for a meal)

The Impatient Chef stopped in at China Gorge in Hood River, Oregon for the first time in a few years.  He and the Spousal Unit used to live in that pithy, happening burg astride the Mighty Columbia River, but unfortunately had to move away in 2019.  It was nice to be back in town.  

China Gorge has a good reputation locally.  The Impatient Chef has often seen its parking lots swelled to capacity, and stopped in when the line was less daunting.  

The order: 

The Impatient Chef ordered the Hot and sour soup, and the Kung Pao Tempeh.  

The Spousal Unit ordered the Hot and Sour Soup, Imperial Chicken.

The soup:  Spicy and teeming with umami, with Tofu, peppers, pork strips, egg drop, mushrooms, and a thick broth.  The flavors work together, and do not crowd each other out.  This is a stand-out soup.  

Kung Pao Tempeh

Kung Pao Tempeh:  Featuring peanuts, tempeh, zucchini, celery, and fried rice.  It looks like rice tempeh. The Impatient Chef sometimes gets tempeh or tofu when he’s feeling mortal, and needs to line his aorta with a little less fatty deposits.  Tempeh is a cultured cake, usually of soy, but sometimes of rice, that has vitamins like B12 that you can't find in other vegan foods.  

Tempeh is difficult to flavor.  It normally sits like a dull thud on the taste buds without extreme measures.  It would seem a travesty to visit a restaurant with a loyal, local following, and review a tempeh dish instead of chicken or shrimp, but The Impatient Chef can report that they made a valiant effort.  The sauce was spicy and stuck to the ingredients nicely.  A little soy sauce was all it needed.  

The Spousal Unit said that her chicken was uninspired.  The Impatient Chef has apparently spoiled her, but isn’t that what Impatient Chefs are all about?  

All in all, it was a good meal.  China Gorge is solid, American style Chinese food.  It is not adventurous, or even inspired, except for the soup.  Go elsewhere for that.  However, we got a meal for two with food to take home for under $40.00 including tip.

“Can’t Sit Still” is a series of road food reviews based on a single visit.

Thanks for reading!

—The Impatient Chef

The Impatient Chef Recipe: Impatient Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup Amid Seasonal Squash

The Impatient Chef has dabbled in Asian cuisine over the past few decades, most recently in the milieu of soups.  A few years ago, Chef David Chang mentioned on a Netflix show about him that he prefers asian-style soups for breakfast.  Thus began a dashi-soaked foray into healthier options for the morning meal.  Through this exploration, The Impatient Chef learned to muster Big Taste from scratch, and still make it to work on time.

Soups have an enormous advantage over most any other type of meal when it comes to flavor vs. fat.  Most delicious dishes, at least in western cuisine, drip with the lipidinous, yet luscious substance.  Soup broths can pull off the same trick with very little of it.  Which leads us to the soup at hand.

The Impatient Chef has been largely disappointed with restaurant Hot and Soup soup in recent years, with one exception.  There was a restaurant in Southeast Portland, Oregon called Happy Garden.  It is sadly gone, now, and displaced by a marijuana dispensary, but the Hot and Sour soup there was mushroomy sublime, bathed in hazy umami, and awash in a sea of soy-licious aroma.  Could it possibly be replicated?  

Sure, the internet has recipes.  The Impatient Chef has tried a few of these, begging the question, "Why do we need dried day lillies?"  I mean, really, why?  Being extremely impatient, the imperative was to interpolate the available flavors, and isolate the key ingredients that would invigorate the taste buds.  Part of the process was leaving out hard-to-find ingredients.  

Error and trial ensued, but a victor emerged.  It serves 4.  Elapse time: 45 minutes.  

Ingredients: 

• 8 oz pork shoulder, cut into strips. 
• 3 scallions, sliced, with the greenest parts reserved for garnish 
• 3 cloves garlic 
• 4 heaping tsp chicken Better than Bouillon 
• 1 heaping tsp vegetable Better than Bouillon 
• 2 cups water 
• 8 oz. firm Silken tofu, cut into strips 
• 6 oz. crimini mushroom, cut thickly 
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce 
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 1 teaspoon dried pepper flakes 
• 5 dried Tien Tsan peppers 
• 3 tablespoons corn starch + 1/4 cup water 
• 1 extra heaping tbsp of corn starch for the pork 
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar 
• Sesame oil or grapeseed oil

Directions:

1. Toss the pork strips in the heaping tbsp of corn starch, plus 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. set aside. 
2. Prep the scallions, mushrooms, garlic and tofu. 
3. In an iron skillet, heat up about 1 tbsp of oil (I used bacon fat once, and OMG!) on medium high heat, and add the pork. Separate the pieces so that they fry evenly. Toss them occasionally, allowing them to brown, but not turn black. Do not overcook. When they are done place them into a bowl. 
4. Add half of the vinegar to the pan, and deglaze. Pour the liquid through a fine strainer into the bowl containing the pork. 
5. Lower heat to medium. 
6. Carefully wipe out the iron skillet with a paper towel. 
7. Start the water heating in a separate sauce pan. 
8. Add 2 tbsp oil to the iron skillet, and add the scallions. Sauté them for about 2 minutes, and add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are tender, adding more oil if the pan dries up. These mushrooms will soak up the oil. Add the garlic, and sauté for a minute, stirring constantly.
9. Add the vegetable mixture to the sauce pan. With the remaining vinegar, deglaze the iron skillet again. Add deglazing liquid to the sauce pan. Add the tofu, and the pork. 
10. Combine the corn starch, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and balsamic vinegar in a small dish. Stir well. Set aside. 
11. Beat the egg with a fork in a small bowl. 
12. Add the chicken and vegetable bouillon (I prefer Better Than Bouillon), white pepper, dried peppers, and pepper flakes, to the sauce pan, stir, and bring to a boil.  Cook for 4 minutes. 
13. Add the corn starch and soy sauce mixture. Stir continuously to thicken the soup. Taste. Add more bouillon, or soy sauce as necessary, but don’t let it sit without stirring form more than a few seconds. Remove from the heat.  Add the retained scallion greens.
14. Add the beaten eggs into the soup, wait a few seconds, and stir very briefly with a fork.
15. Serve. 

Notes:

This soup is not “traditional”, but it is a umami bomb. Use some hot chili oil if you want more heat, but this has a decent spice without it.

I prefer Better Than Bouillon over other brands.  I think that this soup would suffer if you use other brands.  Just be careful not to use too much.  Also, use less salt, as they contain a fair amount of it.