Moo goo gai pan
| Moo goo gai pan | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 蘑菇雞片 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 蘑菇鸡片 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Mushroom chicken slices" | ||||||||||
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Moo goo gai pan (Chinese: 蘑菇雞片; Cantonese: móh-gū gāi-pin) is the Americanized version of a Cantonese dish – chicken with mushroom in oyster sauce (香菇雞片), which can be a stir-fry dish or a dish made in a clay pot. The Chinese-American version is a simple stir-fried dish with thinly sliced chicken, white button mushrooms, and other vegetables. The word pan 片 means thin slices, referring to the way that the chicken is cut. Popular vegetable additions include bok choy, snow peas, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, carrots, and/or Chinese cabbage (napa cabbage).[1]
Etymology
The name comes from the Cantonese names of the ingredients (note that tone marks here do not match Mandarin tones):[2][3]
- moo goo (蘑菇; mòhgū): 'button mushrooms'
- gai (雞; gāi): 'chicken'
- pan (片; pín): 'slices'
In popular culture
In the 1975 Thanksgiving episode of The Bob Newhart Show, titled "Over the River and Through the Woods", the characters repeatedly attempt to order moo goo gai pan while intoxicated.[4]
The dish's name is parodied in the title of an episode of The Simpsons, "Goo Goo Gai Pan", in which Selma Bouvier travels to China to adopt a child.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Randhawa, Jessica (April 18, 2019). "Moo Goo Gai Pan Recipe". theforkedspoon.com. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
- ^ "Moo goo gai pan". Cooks.com. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
- ^ "The American Heritage Dictionary: moo goo gai pan". Archived from the original on March 19, 2006. Retrieved December 21, 2005..
- ^ "Over the River and Through the Woods". The Bob Newhart Show. Season 4. Episode 11. November 22, 1975. CBS.
- ^ "Goo Goo Gai Pan". The Simpsons. Season 16. Episode 12. March 13, 2005. Fox.