Why Are Asian Desserts So Bad?

what? that’s like saying all cantonese meals are bad because they’re not served alongside crusty bread, use butter, or are focused on the four classical sauces. red bean soup, or sweet rice balls, or sweet tofu blossoms, have a warm, unique, mild, fresh taste, and they’re the best ending to a cantonese meal. i also think the flavors are sometimes stronger and more interesting, and definitely lighter (compare a one-dimensional flourless chocolate cake, or a buttery orange pound cake, with lightly sweetened red beans, or chewy rice balls with sesame stuffing.)

please don’t call cantonese desserts “gross” because it doesn’t conform to a french ideal of what a dessert should be: fruit, butter, white sugar, white flour. obviously in these respects chinese (cantonese) cuisine fails since they didn’t cook with butter, white sugar, or white flour until recently.

you can put me on the stand and I will defend you! A not guilty verdict will follow! 🙂

Overgeneralization of asian food, fo’ sho. Red bean soup and red bean cake are freaking delicious. I actually detest a lot of european/american desserts…berry pies are gross, as are layered cakes with way too much sugar and doughnuts and napoleons and eclairs — how are these things as good as a Sun Cake or Moon Cake? Have you ever tried mochi or taro ice cream? A lot of asian desserts are less sweet, yet with so much flavor!

Oh and I dont know where you’re getting the leftover crap from, that’s a lie and it makes me extremely offended and angry as an Asian who’s never heard of that or tasted anything like that.

What a wooden headed blog post.
Jeff excuse your ignorance as it’s often the way of someone who encounters something foreign or strange to dismiss it out of hand rather than take the time gather more informati0on and re-assess.

The reference to “Asian” deserts whilst invoking the image of liquefied leftovers might be amusing. Is probably less accurate than refereces to American cuisine as “Heart attack with extra cheese”. Each region in Asia has a variety of deserts and sweets and they vary hugely. I doubt that sweet tasting foods are treated as deserts in the way that they would be in western (read French derived) cuisine.

I’m from the UK and even I know that Indian sweets in particular are quite tasty, interesting (they make milk based sweets you know), sugary and will appeal to the majority of western palettes.

In short you need to ask some of your Asian friends to take you to the kind of places they dine at.

Many Chinese desserts are dull indeed. But the small custard pies are excellent, especially if the crust is multilayered and light. And the Vietnamese 3-color iced dessert drinks (sweetened green beans, jellied stuff, and sweetened red beans) are great on a hot summer day.

Some Indian desserts are excellent, although I can only partake lightly, since they tend to be extremely sweet. A small Indian milk and sugar dessert is good with a cup of Vietnamese coffee to clear the palate. I am surprised that most Indians are not diabetic, given their love affair with sugar. They must have better self-control than I and eat sweets only moderately.

Now, if you’d wish to talk about cuisine impoverishment, then Mexican pastries are a subject truly worthy of discussion. Other than tres leche and bread pudding, there’s no comparison with French pastries.

After reading all the comments and the post, I suggest Jeff to taste a real red bean soup in HK, China or Taiwan before judging whether it is leftovers from the kitchen.

Tasty red bean soup is very difficult to make. Cooking the beans until just tender is an art. Moreover, most people know that there are rarely any “real” Chinese dishes in U.S. Perhaps the title should be change to “Why are U.S.- Asian red bean soups so bad?” This’ll probably offend less people.

Saying red bean soup is leftover is literally saying fry rice are leftovers and made from scratch. FYI, fry rice is the hardest dish in the whole Chinese cuisine. It is the first test that a real Chinese cuisine chief has to pass.

Finally, there is no gelatin in red bean soup. It is the starch from the bean.

Never have dessert in an Asian or African restaurant if you haven’t been raised on the stuff. It will be a sour note on an otherwise great meal. Europeans got dessert right; that’s about all I can say.

Yo have to be out of your mind. Indian desserts are very much part of after meal enjoyments and are FANTASTIC. Next time, please check your facts before penning your opinion or view.

Wat a troll. Obvious troll is obvious.

if anyone likes Asian desserts they have NO taste buds. My sons an executive chef and agrees that Asian cooking is far too high in salt and sugar and they are fucken crap at dessert making!!