There has never been a more simple hóngshāo ròu (红烧肉, red-braised pork belly) known to me until the day I visited Chen Chen’s family in Shanghai. Deliciousness is the result after braising pork belly in soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and star anise. This recipe is for a hóngshāo ròu of a sweeter flavor. For my friend’s [...]
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Cris Alvarez, a California-born native of Mexican heritage, recently visited Jordan and I in Beijing. Cris and Jordan attended culinary school together in San Francisco. In his repertoire are a handful of Mexican home style recipes. He shared a few with me while he was in Beijing (See Mexican [...]
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During hot and humid days, oil and smoke in the kitchen nurture an unwillingness to cook. However, we have to eat something! Steaming food is brilliant for lazy summers. Steaming is healthier than stir-frying, retaining color, aroma, and flavor of the ingredients. Its lightness is also agreeable for summer. String beans are in season!
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Twice-cooked pork is a famous Sichuan dish. It takes its name from the method of cooking the pork… twice. I learned this dish from Jiǎng Yì (蒋毅) in Chengdu. Jiǎng Yì can prepare eight recipes of twice-cooked pork. This recipe is lighter in spice and flavor than the variation usually served in a [...]
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I’m staying in Singapore in the home of my host Faye. She is one quarter Nyonya; one quarter Malaysian Chinese descendant. Her other three quarters are Chinese. Faye loves cooking and I asked her to teach me how to cook a couple of her favorite home-style recipes. Tonight she teaches me how to make [...]
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Faye, my host in Singapore, is one quarter Nyonya (Malaysian Chinese) and loves cooking. Kari ayam is a curry chicken recipe she enjoys cooking for dinner parties. It’s truly easy! As Faye cooks this recipe, she gives little shouts of delight. The dish was coming out perfectly and she was quite pleased with herself. It’s [...]
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Tucked away from the bustle of Dongsi Bei Dajie, down Xiguan Hutong, the blue sign of Xixia Fengqing beacons in the night just up the lane from Private Kitchen No 44. A red door opens into a small and homely dining room, blaring TV included.
On a chilly [...]
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Chengdu, Sichuan, China — I thought I knew what Má Pó Dòufu (麻婆豆腐, Pock-marked Old Mother’s Tofu) was until I had the real thing in Chengdu. Going to the Asian food aisle in a Western supermarket and picking up a packet of Ma Po Tofu instant sauce to help [...]
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“While cooking, we don’t measure ingredients. We cook with our heart.“ ~Yáng Hóngyǐng 杨宏影
Chengdu, Sichuan, China — In 2007, a visit to Chengdu with my nephews barely hinted at the flavors and character I had yet to discover three years later. The difference between traveling guided by a Continue Reading →
I live in Beijing; my neighborhood is a concrete jungle and there are no plots to muse a community garden anywhere in sight. I’m really starting to want my own garden, right about now. I regret how much I took my parents’ garden for granted. What [...]
Continue Reading →When is the largest yearly human migration in the world? Chūnjié (春节, Chinese New Year).
For the year of the Tiger, Adeline traveled by train 13 hours (hard sleeper), then three hours by bus to arrive home where her mother and father waited anxiously [...]
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Who would have thought anything other than rice could be made in my rice cooker?
I traveled to Fóshān (佛山) in Guǎngdōng (广东), China and learned how to cook this dish that titillates the senses. Qiūfán (秋凡), a lovely [...]
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