One of my favorites. Can't get it up here. Worked at a restaurant in Boise years ago that has the best mandarin chicken ever. Have to stop and order it whenever we get down there. Can't help with a recipe though. The cooks didn't even speak english, much less share recipes. LOL

angelaid, I'm delighted that you recognized my description of "Mandarin Chicken" and that you say it's one of your favorites. As you had it in Boise (Idaho?), it must be much more widespread than commonly thought. I've actually had people tell me that no such dish exists! I know it does, of course, but finding it on the Internet has been much more difficult than I ever imagined.

Years and years ago a friend that owned another chinese restaurant tried to give me his recipe for the sauce, but it was just something he threw together and everything was estimated. I never could get the flavor just right. The only thing I remember was that it had maraschino (sp) cherry juice in it.

PLEASE let me know if you ever find this information. I lived in New Orleans (Metaire), LA from '84 - '88 and loved this dish. I have looked high and low for a restaurant that carries this without luck. I would love the recipe since I cannot find it in Texas.

This isn't the recipe but check the sauce & see if that's similar. Sounds like if you can find the sauce you can pretty much reconstruct the rest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mandarin

Or this sauce might be closer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese Brown Sauce

I also used to live in Boise and have been searching and searching for this recipe!!! I am beginning to think I will never have good Spicy Mandarin Chicken again!! I try it at every Asian resaurant I visit - and I am always disappointed. I am going to try the few that were suggested, but if anyone knows of another - please help:)

I found this on the internet.

Surprisingly, this one doesn't even have mandarin oranges in the recipe but looks good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mandarin Chicken

I'm originally from NOLA but live in Europe and Mandarin Chicken with the brown gravy is my favorite and I have desperately searched for recipes without success. I asked my family to inquire at a local rest in Slidell and my mother in law told me she had a clipping from the Times Picayune with the recipe from Fong's in Kenner that was posted after Katrina. If you would like it I can scan it and email to you. mermax70@hotmail.com

khandi - that's the closest I've seen so far. I'll be trying that one real soon.

Bootimax, I emailed you.

I've also been looking for a recipe for the gravy they used for the almond chicken down there. Up here, the color and consistency are very different than what I'm used to.
I've searched the internet and nothing I've come across yet seems "just right"

Here's part of a review I found describing the mandarin chicken at the restaurant I worked at down there:

The rest of dinner arrived en masse, the Mandarin chicken's edible bling catching my eye. Canned pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries lay across a pile of breaded chicken glazed with fragrant orange sauce. While colorful, the topping was like a gaudy necklace on a beautiful woman. The chicken was pleasingly moist, crunchy and balanced by the sweet sauce-no decoration required.

Dang it. Now I'm obsessed with finding this sauce again. LOL

2 tablespoons fat
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
2 egg yolks
1 green pepper, minced
1 cup quartered mushrooms
1 pimiento cut in narrow strips
2 cups cooked diced chicken
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Make a white sauce using meat drippings, flour, milk, cream, salt and pepper. Add mushrooms, green pepper, pimiento and chicken. Cook until the meat is done. Just before serving stir in the egg yolks, slightly beaten, and cook for a about a minute or two, stirring constantly. Serve at once on hot toast.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.recipezworld.com/chicken-recipes/chicken-a-la-king-2/

A friend of mine & I agree that this sauce recipe must be one created around the New Orleans area, as that is the only place I have tasted it...boneless fried chicken breast served on a bed of shredded lettuce, topped with a brown sauce with a taste of Five Spice powder.

We have been trying to locate this recipe for some time, and were unable to find anything like it. So, we have attempted to recreate this sauce several times.

Between my friend and myself, I think we have the proper ingredients and method of cooking:

I started with 2 14 oz. cans of low sodium Chicken broth, reserving about 1/4 cup to mix with cornstarch at the end (to thicken).
I boiled this down to about 1/2 the original amount of broth, added one tablespoon of dark brown sugar, several dashes of soy sauce, appx. 1/4 teaspoon of Five Spice powder. I cooked this down for a bit, but it was rather salty, so I added back about 3/4 can of water and cooked a little more. I mixed the remainder of broth with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and added to the sauce, cooking down until it came to the consistency I wanted. I let it cool a bit, and again tasted for accuracy. I thought it needed a tad more Five Spice power and a dash of ginger powder. I also added a dash or two of Teriyaki sauce, for more sweetness. I guess I COULD have added more brown sugar, but this seemed to do the trick!!

I hope this recipe will help you all when preparing your sauce!

I have tried the recipe which "Catfree" shared with us. It is really amazningly similar to what we used to get at the Chinese Restaruants in the Greater N.O. area during the 1980's. In fact, there are two restaruants in Bogalusa, which is 60 miles north of N.O. across the Lake Ponchatrain Causeway, which still serve "Mandarin Chicken" with this amazing sauce. I do believe "Catfree" has pretty well "Pegged" it, though. Thank you for sharing with us. I now live in Baton Rouge, and have tried every Asian restaurant here for this dish to no avail. But, thanks to "Catfree", I will order the Boneless Chicken and add my own sauce and lettuce. Thanks again.

This is a great recipe from Recipe Zaar. Taste just like you are at a Chinese Restaurant. Also gets good reviews.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Mandarin-Chicken-63802

I know what you are talking about. There is a chinese resturant in Mathews, LA (on Highway 1) named Chinese Chefs. The Mandarin sauce is oustanding! I asked the waitress to try to get the recipe for me. she told me the cook, who is from Hong Kong, uses brown gravy mix, and adds some spices to it, but she couldn't tell me what spices he used. No cherries, no pinapples. Just brown gravy mix and some seasonings. I don't care what he puts in it, it is excellent!

I grew up in NOLA, am now in Utah, and have not been able to find anything close to the Mandarin Chicken there. Every time I go back, I make a list of things to do and things to eat in the city, and Mandarin Chicken is always one of the must dos. I can't wait to try the recipe from cat free and hopefully bootymax still has the recipe availabe to send me. Finally!!!

I lived in the New Orleans area for about ten years. It too was my favorite dish. For those of you that still live around the area they had a restaurant in Harvey Louisiana on Manhattan Blvd. called China House. If it is still there they also prepare this dish. It is delicious. I haven't been there for three years so I am unable to tell you if they are still open. To no avail you can not find this Mandarin Chicken dish anywhere. I am an avid traveler and have been to many restaurants throughout the United States and Louisiana is the only state I have found this dish!!! I am going to search the on line newspaper archives for this recipe since I know it was definitely published in the Times Picayune.

Still searching for that danged recipe! LOL

I had a recipe for chicken mandarin that the chicken was coated in seasoned flour and fried in small batches, then put into a casserole dish with the sauce, which has worestershire sauce & I think soy sauce with sugar and mandarin juice but my recipe books are packed in storage and I can't get to them, I am not sure of the quantities for the sauce or even if they are the right ingredients, it was then baked in the oven & served with boiled rice & or vegetables, if any one has this recipe, I would really appreciate a copy lexie@steved-lexie.net thanks

There is a restaurant in Gautier, Mississippi that makes the best brown gravy Mandarin Chicken and it's been the same for 16 years! The restaurant is called Shanghai on Hwy 90. He will not give me the recipe, just giggles when I ask!

Fongs Mandarin Chicken is it ! I searched for 15 years to find this recipe, it is perfect.

it is not it,,,,, like i posted above,,,

yes, close may it be,, but it is not "IT" ,,, Since you who sek si

,,,never worked a wok station in real life,, know about it more than myself. Myself a real person who actually worked wok stations and prepped veggies, chicken, beef and duck and gravies and brown sauces and white sauces in Chinese restaurants in that area. Myself, the one who actually trained other cooks to make these products.. You can simply KMA if you fail to read the above post. I posted it. Oh! I am so sorry. You cannot comprehend what you read.. I knew posting that tidbit would be a waste of time. Now I will simply delete it if there is a ways to do so.,, yes,, it is now deleted.. shay shay,,, Oh,, let me translate tangsoo,, it is chinese hand..

Tangsooman... Sorry.

I'm glad to know it's not just me who can't find Mandarin Chicken (the way I want it) outside NOLA. My husband and I were born and raised there, and now live in Phoenix....where people at Chinese restaurants look at you like you are crazy when you ask about Mandarin Chicken. Fong's was the best and I'm glad I found their recipe on NOLA.com...I used to order extra sauce on the side because I loved it so much!

I have the recipe for this dish, which I got when I worked at Chinese Kitchen in New Orleans a while back. Still make it today.

Thank you David. I am sharing this with some cooking friends.

it is still missing one final ingredient. The one that makes that unique flavor of Mandarin Chicken pop.

What's the final ingredient? 5 spice powder? Star anise?

it has a unique nutty flavor when done right,, the nutty flavor is not from a spice.

What's it from?

The crushed cashews on top might give it the "nutty" flavor

sorry,, but that is not how the flavor gets into the sauce

The nutty flavor comes from the roux, instead of vegetable oil use Crisco/Lard (equal parts lard to flour) and cook it until it turns the color of peanut butter.

The longer you cook your roux the more nutty the flavor will be. But, also the longer you cook your roux the less it will thicken your gravy.

A deep peanut butter color is perfect for (mandarin chicken)

No,, it is not from the roux.. Chinese cooking is not french cooking..
And one does not add pepper at the start of cooking.

Not sure where the pepper comment comes in. But as far as French cooking, Mandarin Chicken with brown gravy - New Orleans style (The dish this thread is talking about) borrows elements of both Chinese and French cooking. That’s why it’s an Louisiana original recipe.

I made the stuff for three years in high school when I worked at yee chinese restaurant in slidell, la. The nutty flavor comes from the roux.

brown flour gravy is not made with a roux..

Beside the Couillon who know’s it all.

if anyone wants a great recipe for New Orleans style mandarin chicken with brown gravy try this one.

http://www.nola.com/food/index.ssf/2014/02/fongs_mandarin_chicken_recipe.html

They only changes I would make is to use Crisco/Lard for the gravy.

Also fry the chicken in peanut oil.

i have the recipe for Mandarin Chicken

Cut chicken into thick 1" slices

you have to steam the chicken and then dip it into a tempura batter and fry it

the sauce is:

1 cup of tomatoes with juice- I use whole can

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup chopped onion

salt to taste

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

a cup sugar

1 slice fresh ginger

1 Tbsp soy sauce

Green pepper

combine all ingredients except pepper and bring to a rolling boil

let simmer 20 minutes and thicken to desired consistency with the cornstarch and water paste

serve on a bed of shredded lettuce

spoon sauce over the chicken

i'm from Idaho and we used to love going to the Mandarin Palace and House of Louie and we always ordered this dish.

this recipe is from the East Side Restaurant which was in Ontario Oregon - where we would drive from Boise for Chinese Food.

@tangsooman, these people don't listen too well. Could the missing ingredient be ginger?

Check out this article on Chinese brown sauce: https://thetakeout.com/what-s-that-brown-sauce-in-chinese-takeout-1798252300

Thank you Eddie. Grew up in Slidell, eating at Happy House by the movie theater. That recipe is what I was looking for!

That recipe from Fong's--isn't that a lot of oil to flour ratio?

Yes that is too much oil for the gravy. I just use a 1 to 1 flour to oil ratio. Lard or Peanut oil is best imo.