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| Moo goo gai pan | |||||||||||
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| 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 theAmericanized version of aCantonese 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 simplestir-fried dish with thinly slicedchicken, whitebutton mushrooms, and other vegetables. The wordpan片 means thin slices, referring to the way that the chicken is cut. Popular vegetable additions includebok choy,snow peas,bamboo shoots,shiitake mushrooms,water chestnuts, carrots, and/orChinese cabbage (napa cabbage).[1]
The name comes from the Cantonese names of the ingredients (note that tone marks here do not match Mandarin tones):[2][3]
In the 1975 Thanksgiving episode ofThe 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 ofThe Simpsons, "Goo Goo Gai Pan", in whichSelma Bouvier travels to China to adopt a child.[5]
