What do the Chinese takeaways put in their egg fried rice to make it so gorgeous?

[PeachesMcLean]

It's just not the same when I do it at home.
What's the magic ingredient?

Lard

MSG

sorry - not very helpful, I know

what do you put in yours? I find a touch of hoi-sin sauce or a little bit of sweet chilli sauce is good.

sometimes I even use a chinese oxo although I know that oxo cubes are the work of the devil, really!

Peas

gin

You need to wait until the rice is cold before you fry it. Rice that is just boiled doens't fry properly. Also the oil you use is important , groundnut oil is good.

heroin, thats why its soooooo addictive and you know its bad for you but you still end up having it the following week

MSG, as Carmenere says

msg, you can actually buy it in chinese food stores.

my parents owned a peking restaurant which i managed for 11 years and i have to say it is very likely the MSG that make sit soooo tasty!
ledodgy is correct in that cold rice frys up better but we used to fry up freshly cooked rice also.....if you are leaving your rice to go cold,be carefull to use it right away as bacteria breeds very quick in cooked rice.

We bought msg once from the chinese supermarket. Wasn't sure what it was meant to do so put loads in. Kept putting more and more in as we couldn't taste it.

Message withdrawn

So is MSG desperately unhealthy? (got to be, to be so tasty). My mum always said of nice things "It's illegal, it's immoral or it makes you fat"

not desperatly unhealthy no!
MSG

Thanks smee, it's got a bad reputation hasn't it but I remember reading in the Observer a few years ago which talks about that and the evidence in favour of it. I've also just found another site which says you can use it in place of salt and reduce the sodium content of your meal(if you're generally adding salt that is)

Can you buy it in Tesco or will I need to go to Wing Yip or similar?

peaches,we used to get a few people asking for their food with no MSG in the restaurant as they were allergic to it and some as it was considered "bad" for you. but the food certainly tasted better with it!
will ahve a look to see where you can buy it.......

here you go peaches!!

Aaah, you're great you are. Now I'll know what to look for!

gee thanks peaches

Sorry this answer is years late, but I've only just joined. I have THEE best answer yet....I promise! I too had been trying to master homemade Chinese fried rice and also Chow Mein. I tried this, I tried that, I also tried the other, but nothing captured that take away flavour, that was until I FINALLY found the secret magic ingredient. Funnily enough its rarely mentioned in any online recipes but I managed to find a chinese mother and son cooking video and that's when the penny dropped. The thing that makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE (and took me years to discover) is the oil you fry the meat, veg, rice, noodles in. It MUST be toasted sesame oil. Once I used this, I kid you not, it was finally as good as, if not better (using own freshly bought ingredients), than any Chinese takeaways. I don't use any other seasoning than dark soy sauce either. No MSG at all. Oh, one last trick. If making fried rice it's also super important that the rice (either white or Basmati) has been previously cooked and chilled ALL THE WAY. I believe its best to cook it the day before you want it. A quick cheat if you haven't got time for that is to buy the precooked rice sachets. You can cook fried rice with them straight out of the package. I hope someone enjoys cooking much nicer and takeaway worthy fried rice or noodles after reading my tips as I remember how happy I was myself to finally find out the magic ingredient.

Yup, toasted sesame oil is great on lots of things: steamed veg, ramen, in meat marinades, in dressings. I love it!

Carrying on this very old thread, what do take always put in besides egg, onions and peas if anything? Really want to make it as authentic as possible.

It doesn't get more authentic than Fuschia Dunlop's very well researched recipes: steamykitchen.com/42839-yangzhou-fried-rice-recipe.html

I personally like to add pancetta cubes, peas, salad onions, scrambled egg and shrimp. Season with rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil.

I use sesame oil which is a game changer.

There's a recipe on feed your family for £20 which is pretty bang on and mentions using either msg or dark soy (I use the latter).

Yup +1 for sesame oil also a bit of Chinese five spice powder and soy. Bloody yum.