Chinese Recipes - Specific quantities

[DavyJonesLocker]

On 9/13/2018 at 12:59 PM, abcdefg said:

Sounds like you have a customized this dish and turned it into a real winner! 

 

Well the recipie only suggests simmering for 20 mins and boil hell our of it. I reckon if you don't have decent tender ribs it may need a lot longer. 

 

On 9/13/2018 at 1:44 AM, Dawei3 said:

However, in regards to cooking, the lack of precision could be positive in that it promotes a level of creativity.  

 

I see point but I have a very logical mindset (probably doesn't help with cooking), and I think that first having a specific base or definitive starting point of which one can adjust  is always better than none at all. Too much of a western mindset?

 

 

On 9/13/2018 at 1:29 PM, XiaoXi said:

Yes you see it literally everywhere. Everything in China is 'half assed' but the benefit is it's fast. 

 

An excellent way to summarise much of China. I teach MBA style courses and focus on Chinese business trying to compete with Europeans. The focus by the Chinese management  is always price, with everything else such as service, legal contacts , after sales , marketing, quality control, quality, contingency plans etc gets dumped into the "half assed" category. Haha

 

[Dawei3]

11 hours ago, XiaoXi said:

kind of the same logic as saying I can't afford to buy a bike so I have to walk which promotes exercise.

I understand your point. 

 

Even though I don't live in China, I visit there  & have lots of on-going interactions with Chinese colleagues.  I push myself to try to see things from a non-US perspective.  This often means trying to see the positive side of things (with the recognition that many issues lack a positive side, i.e.,  the poor quality.  Poor quality can mean the item is cheaper, but not necessarily.  Also, when they wear out quickly or don't work at all, the resulting cost is greater.  Similarly, if an employee is paid to do crappy work for 8 hours rather than 8 hrs of good quality work, the money is just wasted).

[XiaoXi]

12 hours ago, Dawei3 said:

Even though I don't live in China, I visit there  & have lots of on-going interactions with Chinese colleagues.  I push myself to try to see things from a non-US perspective.  This often means trying to see the positive side of things (with the recognition that many issues lack a positive side, i.e.,  the poor quality.  Poor quality can mean the item is cheaper, but not necessarily.  Also, when they wear out quickly or don't work at all, the resulting cost is greater.  Similarly, if an employee is paid to do crappy work for 8 hours rather than 8 hrs of good quality work, the money is just wasted).

Yes unfortunately the cost of products is going up but the quality isn't really. For example I recently bought a tin opener on Taobao for about ￥20 which is the same as it would cost in the west and after a few months the main blade of it developed rust! Using non stainless steel where clearly stainless should be used is quite common in China since it takes a few months at least to develop rust at which point you can't really do anything about it. If a product has a problem noticeable straight away then it's not gonna work out so the rust thing works well.

 

There is a benefit though as you say, the products can be made cheaply and quickly with a good profit. Big companies get bigger and richer while the man on the street suffers. But that's always been the philosophy of China, ever since Chairman Mao - progression for the country as a whole, the government and the big companies at the expense of the average man on the street.

 

Chinese people really don't complain like Westerners do, so it's a perfect match. Bad products, nobody complains, make more money. If you come to live in China I highly recommend going into business, the opportunities are huge with this kind of market.