Balsamic vinegar from general stores is just white wine vinegar with added caramel and colouring. The real balsamic vinegar is totally different and I doubt it’s what you’ve used anyway. The chinkiang vinegar sold in Chinese stores are generally the lowest grade stuff and to be honest is very similar to the cheap “balsamic”. Shaoxing wine sold in Chinese stores are again not always the best grade and I even had one that had a funny sour after taste. A good, very dry (must be the very dry variety) sherry is very similar to a top grade Shaoxing wine therefore is a much better alternative. Another thing: Gong Bao chicken was originally from Guizhou/Sichuan whereas chinkiang vinegar is from south Jiangsu and shaoxing wine from north Zhejiang. You’re talking about southwest vs east coast of China! I doubt the original dish would use ingredients that far away anyway. They were more likely to use a local variety of rice wine and rice vinegar. It’s funny how nowadays people think chinkiang vinegar and shaoxing wine are store cupboard essentials whereas in China, people would use local varieties. In the North, people would use vinegar from Shanxi. As for wine, lots of people from other region would use a generic low grade “cooking rice wine”, not necessarily shaoxing wine.

What makes a dish taste good is the heat and timing which is difficult to describe in a recipe. If you cook it right the substitution of vinegar or wine is unlikely to make big difference. I doubt takeaways would use sherry anyway as sherry is more expensive! So is the “cheap” balsamic vinegar! The problem with gloopy takeaway is not the ingredients but how they cooked it!

The only substitution you shouldn’t have made is the ginger. Powdered ginger does not belong to a Chinese kitchen. There is no alternative!

As for soy sauce, Fuchsia suggests tamari soy sauce but it’s not made in the same way as Chinese soy sauce (believe me, Japanese and Chinese soy sauce are different). I would choose a good, naturally brewed Taiwanese brand. Dark soy sauce is mainly for colouring so should only be needed occasionally if you normally use light soy sauce for flavouring. If you use the naturally brewed Taiwanese soy sauce, you won’t need dark soy sauce at all.

This book is really authentic (not seems to be). It’s the best one on the market for real Chinese food. I haven’t yet found another one (not written by Fuchsia) that’s as close to what Chinese people actually eat daily.