Especially if you're not blessed with a really good Chinese-American restaurant close by, having the recipes to make your own sesame chicken or crab rangoons can open up a whole world of fun dinner options to scratch that very specific itch. Here are our DIY takes on 10 staples of Chinese takeout, including General Tso's and kung pao chicken, scallion pancakes, vegetable chow mein, and more.

Water-velveting isn't just for chicken—you can use it to give the same silky texture to pork loin. That's how we start our take on sweet-and-sour pork, adding onion, bell pepper, and canned pineapple to complete the stir-fry. We use pineapple juice in the sauce, but balance it out with acidic rice vinegar and aromatic sesame oil.

Juicy, garlicky broccoli rabe braised in a dry white wine provide moisture and texture; roasted peppers add a bit of fruity tartness and smoky depth; marinated artichoke hearts are herbal and funky; and sun-dried tomatoes have that dried fruit thing going. Stick'em together, and—hey!—you got something that works just as well as the original muffuletta and for all the same reasons, while simultaneously being brand new.

"For Chinese noodle food blog tips|Https://Noodleinsight.com/, acidity in wine is the key! With spicier food like Szechuan cuisine, I love off-dry Riesling. Especially from the Mosel valley in Germany. The sweetness and cold temperature of the wine will cool off your palate and the crisp acidity will cleanse your mouth and get you ready to eat more! For something fatty with a bit of sweetness like Peking duck, I've found that drier styles of Riesling are great or Chenin Blanc from the Loire valley."— Joe Campanale, L'Apicio, Anfora (NYC)

"In the wine world we say, what grows together goes together. When it comes to pairing Chinese food with wine that theory goes out of the window. As the general rule I would pick wines with lower tannins, light to medium body and focus on preparation and cooking technique rather than ingredients. For example, if you serving spicy and complex dishes of Sichuanese cuisine, I would go with wines from Alsace (Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris...etc) or German Riesling. If we are enjoying delicate seafood dishes of Cantonese cuisine my choice would be Chablis, Gruner Veltliner and any lean, crisp white wine. With fried food, the best choice would be any refreshing, palate cleansing sparkling wine(Cava, Prosecco, Sekt,...) or Champagne. Sweeter dishes like mushu pork I would match with softer style Rose wines (Tavel, Muga Rose)."— Oz Podnar, BLT Fish (NYC)

"The one wine in the world that tastes good with most Asian food: German Riesling. If you have spice, there’s no better foil than a little bit of sugar. (I try to match the sugar with the spice—if you like it 4-star, get thee to an Auslese. The rest of us reasonable 2 star people will enjoy our Kabinett and Spatlese.) If you have sweeter dishes, try to get a Riesling that is just a tad sweeter than the dish in question. Even if the preparations are a bit simpler, there is often a salt component enhancing flavors. Generally stated, sweeter wines will cancel out the perception of salt without negating its positive effect on a dish. Consequently, the salt will also diminish the perception of sweetness in the wine, making everything just plain taste better. And if someone at the table says something snarky about sweet Rieslings, just flip it and order a Prosecco or slightly sweet Vouvray or Gewürztraminer—anything on the 'helpful side of dry'."— Chris Horn, Purple Cafe (Bellevue/Seattle)

Although olive oil won't emulsify into a pasta-coating sauce like butter will, by adding a little cornstarch to the base, you create a sauce that clings to the pasta as well as any butter-based sauce, and with all the bright, vibrant, complex flavor of olive oil.

Perhaps the biggest key to making excellent dan dan noodles is to make your own roasted chile oil. When done right, it gets a rich, fruity, smoky flavor that none of the store-bought stuff can touch. It's really quite simple. Toasted Sichuan peppercorns have a sweet, citrus-like aroma with a mouth-numbing quality, while roasted chile oil brings on the heat.

Anyone who's spent a significant amount of time in or around New York City should be intimately familiar with scallion pancakes, the flaky, savory disks studded with chopped scallions and fried. We use a laminated dough here (much as you would if making puff pastry) to create layer upon layer of very thin sheets of flavorful pastry. Frying them in oil is traditional; for a puffier, crispier experience, try cooking them on the grill .

Cooking fresh Chinese wheat noodles in a big pot of water doesn't produce a high enough concentration of starch to be effective, but cooking it in far less water than is recommended (I cook eight ounces of fresh noodles in about a quart of salted water) yields you a pot full of silky, semi-opaque liquid that combines marvelously with the sauce base.

Stir-frying is a very quick cooking technique, so it works well with thin cuts of meat . Skirt steak satisfies that requirement and brings the added benefit of a loose texture that's perfect for soaking up marinades. This stir-fry—which takes only half an hour, including the marinating time—pairs the beef with snap peas, oyster sauce, chicken broth, Shaoxing wine, sugar, sesame oil, and soy sauce for a super-fast and flavorful dinner.