Eileen Stow with a tray of freshly baked Lord Stow’s tarts. Picture: Christine McCabe
Source: Supplied

Chinese Cuisine – When feast meets West

HUGO Robarts Bandeira is a man on a mission, quixotic at times, to collect and record the recipes of old Macau.

A curious blend of East meets West and slow cooking meets needs must, Macanese cuisine evolved following the arrival of the Portuguese in the Pearl River Delta, downstream from Canton (Guangzhou), in the mid-16th century. “It’s one of the earliest forms of fusion cuisine,” says Bandeira, lecturer at Macau’s Institute for Tourism Studies and former president of the Macanese Gastronomy Association.

“The Portuguese brought with them spices collected in Malaysia, Malacca and India, and began

re-creating traditional recipes using these exotic ingredients . . . Some dishes are very Portuguese, others more Asian, but the Chinese influence is not as strong as you would imagine,” he tells me.

Macanese food is ostensibly a “family-based cuisine and not always restaurant friendly”, Bandeira says. Many recipes take days to cook and rely on old-fashioned methods and declasse ingredients, including lard.

Bandeira created the gastronomy association five years ago to preserve a food culture increasingly at risk but he’s had tremendous trouble wresting secret recipes from the hands of family matriarchs.

Not, however, the indomitable Aida Jesus, 95, who cooks her mother’s recipes in the tiny Riquexo (Rickshaw) restaurant she’s run for more than four decades on the Avenida Sidonio Pais in the Hoi Fu neighbourhood.

Her basement restaurant is starkly lit and diners perch at formica tables after helping themselves from the small daily-changing buffet.

Today there’s feijoada (pork, cabbage, kidney beans and chorizo), curry chicken (more Malay than Indian), and pork with bitter melon and shrimp paste.

Aida is busy breaking in a new chef (something at which she excels). As a young bride she had three cooks in her home kitchen to manage, and since opening Riquexo she has travelled widely, teaching the finer points of Macanese food to chefs in China and Hong Kong, including the team at The Peninsula Hotel.

She says young people don’t know how to cook Macanese food. Bandeira agrees that most are not interested.

But that doesn’t mean visitors to a gaming destination now busier than Las Vegas and dominated by slick casino restaurants can’t still discover some great home-style cooking.

If you look hard enough, Old Macau and its food traditions survive in small, sequestered enclaves. Next door to Aida’s Riquexo is another unpretentious Macanese bolthole, Cantina da Apomac, offering well-priced meals for retired public servants, but just as popular with younger diners, who come here for the Portuguese chicken and suckling pig.

African chicken is one of Macau’s most famous dishes but it’s a recent addition to the culinary mix, having been introduced in the 1970s, says Bandeira.

His inference is that it’s not terribly Macanese; but it is terribly popular. You’ll find it everywhere: spicy chicken smothered in a sauce that might include (there are many variations) chilli, coconut milk, garlic, paprika, peanut butter and Chinese five-spice powder.

Bandeira’s favourite Macanese dishes include tacho, an adaptation of the Portuguese cozido (a sort of hotpot), and minchi (minced pork or beef with potatoes). Often the meat is marinated in soy, sometimes in Chinese rice wine.

The best in Macau is to be found at Carlos near MGM, according to Bandeira.

Another favourite is bolo menino (boys’ cake), a flourless concoction crammed with nuts (usually pine nuts and almonds, sometimes walnuts).

To get a handle on Macanese food, start with a visit to the excellent Museu de Macau, built into the old Mount Fortress above the World Heritage-listed Historic Centre, where there’s a rather good still-life display of a Macanese feast.

And if you’re here on a Friday night, check out the Macanese and Portuguese buffet at Bandeira’s Institute for Tourism Studies, where students also turn out a very good afternoon tea (Monday-Friday, 2.30pm-7pm), featuring excellent Portuguese tarts.

Restaurante Litoral is perhaps the city’s most famous Macanese eatery (“owned by a lady of a traditional family”, as Bandeira puts it). Have the pork with shrimp paste and tamarind, washed down with a jug of white sangria.

This restaurant also does a mean line in desserts. I loved the serradura (Macau sawdust pudding), a real make-do treat made with condensed milk, cream and crushed Marie biscuits, the sort once distributed by the Red Cross, according to my food-savvy guide, Joao Sales.

On Taipa, linked to the mainland by no less than three bridges and a focus for the latest rash of casino development along its Cotai Strip, there’s a compact old village where narrow lanes are lined with Chinese shophouses, tiny temples and quaint Portuguese government buildings.

The pocket-sized Antonio’s, on Rua dos Negociantes, serves some of the best Portuguese cuisine in Macau.

The establishment’s walls are lined with traditional blue tiles and guests sit on high-backed carved chairs, tucking into seafood rice, cod fish cakes, goat’s cheese drizzled with acacia honey and Portuguese olive oil, and a particularly good octopus salad.

Host Antonio Coelho (a master chef of the Chaine des Rotisseurs) is usually on hand, hair slicked back rakishly, whipping up a very soused crepe suzette or opening champagne bottles with his sword.

Across the way he runs a smart little cafe. Might I recommend a soupcon of ginginha, a rather potent home-made cherry liqueur that will put hairs on you chest, if not your head.

Also in old Taipa village is Manuel Cozinha, a very popular little Portuguese eatery where stuccoed walls are lined with football posters and the mandatory leg of pata negra (the Iberian or black-hoofed pig) sits under a cloth.

Manuel’s homespun fare goes well with a bottle or six of the vinho verde (green wine). And be sure to have the clams with lemon sauce.

Somewhat more posh is the Clube Militar de Macau located in the city’s handsome old military headquarters back on the mainland. It’s all potted palms, twirling ceiling fans and black-and-white photos of the balls of empire.

Shuttered windows look on to a leafy square almost within the shadow of the rather unattractive Grand Lisboa casino, shaped like a mutant lotus.

The Clube Militar’s menu is modern Portuguese and the very good lunch buffet costs less than $20. I settle instead for a generous plate of wild boar ham, aged 36 months, washed down with a flint-dry rose.

Bandeira promised the whole Portuguese community of Macau would be here and it looks like he’s right.

It certainly makes a nice change of pace from the bustling casinos. Be sure to give it a whirl.

Christine McCabe was a guest of the Macau Government Tourist Office, Cathay Pacific and Banyan Tree Macau.

Checklist
The Macau Government Tourist Office is hosting the inaugural Macau Festival at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, Sydney, this weekend. It coincides with Macau Food Week (October 14-21) at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney. More: fourseasons.com/sydney.

• banyantree.com
• macautourism.gov.mo
• cathaypacific.com

* * *

LORD OF THE EGG TARTS
THERE are Portuguese tarts and there are egg tarts. And then there are Lord Stow’s tarts. With flaky pastry and a wobbly custard texture, they are baked at a very high temperature so “the sugar rises to the top and naturally brulees”, says Eileen Stow, sister of the late Andrew, an industrial pharmacist who came up with the recipe and was so well-liked that the locals dubbed him Lord.

Try these tarts straight from the oven at the original bakery on Coloane Town Square. More: lordstow.com.
Christine McCabe

* * *

ON THE BENCH
Ricoh PX series camera, $299
IF you are one of the interesting new breed of restaurant diner who’s more concerned with photographing your food than eating it, this camera will be right up your street. Aimed at the food-blogger or cooking enthusiast, the PX has a 5x wide-angle zoom lens with image stabilisation, SR zoom with super-resolution technology equivalent to 10x optical zoom; a high-performance 16 megapixel CCD sensor and user-friendly interface. There are more than 20 creative shooting modes, including “cooking”, which offers close-up detail and greater depth of field, and “sweets”, which creates a circular or square white border around the subject.

The camera, in lime green, silver or black, is waterproof, impermeable to dust, dirt and sand, and shockproof — perfect for those instances when the chef, frustrated at watching his creations go cold on the plate while that award-winning still life is being styled, decides to turf it into the water jug. More: 02 9938 3244; ricohcameras.com.au.
Michelle Rowe

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Quick and easy meals with a twist

Looking for a unique meal but not confident enough in your
cooking ability to try new dishes? Here are three easy and fun
recipes to try.

Jian Bing (Beijing Crepe)

Known as the Beijing pancake, the Jian Bing is the Chinese
equivalent of an American breakfast sandwich. This fried and sweet
meal is usually cooked by street vendors and costs less that one
America dollar.

ingredients:

2 T. millet flour

2 T. milk

½ t. vegetable oil

1 t. water

1 T. Chinese black bean sauce

½ t. Asian Chile pepper sauce, or to taste

1 egg, beaten

2 whole crackers

½ green onion, sliced

Tablespoon of torn fresh cilantro leaves

PREPARATION:

1. Whisk together millet flour, soymilk, and vegetable oil in a
bowl to make a batter the consistency of heavy cream. Add a
teaspoon of water to thin the batter, if necessary.

2. Mash the black bean sauce in a small bowl with 1 t. of water
to make it easy to spread. In a separate small bowl, mix the hot
chili sauce with 1 t. of water. Set the sauces aside.

3. Spray a large skillet generously with cooking spray, and heat
over medium-low heat. Pour the batter into the skillet, and spread
evenly to make a thin crepe. Cook the crepe for 1 to 2 minutes,
until firm. Pour the egg evenly over the crepe. Cook an additional
one to two minutes, until the egg is set. Sprinkle the crepe with
green onion slices and cilantro leaves, pressing them firmly into
the cooked egg.

4. Flip the crepe and spread with bean sauce and chili sauce.
Place the crackers in the center of the crepe, leaving about 1/4
inch of space between the two crackers. Flip the top third of the
crepe down over the crackers, flip the bottom third up, and then
fold the crepe in half so the crackers are stacked on top of each
other in a tidy package. Serve hot.

Hummus

A Middle Eastern staple that has became popular in the United
States; hummus is a spread that is usually served with a flatbread
such as pita. The dish can be served hot or cold, depending on
preference. Note: Tahini is stored in a jar and can be found at
grocery stores. To make your own, simply bake sesame seeds for 10
minutes and then blend them in a food processor with olive oil or
vegetable oil.

ingredients:

16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans

¼ c. liquid from can of chickpeas

1 ½ T. Tahini

2 cloves garlic, crushed

½ t. salt

2 T. Olive oil

PREPARATION:

1. Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine
remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add ¼ c. of the
liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until
thoroughly mixed and smooth.

2. Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the
center of the hummus.

3. Add a small amount (1-2 T.) olive oil in the well. Garnish
with parsley (optional).

4. Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or
cover and refrigerate.

 

Grilled apple and cheese sandwich

Cheese and apples may be the last two items you would expect to
be in a sandwich. But don’t let that stop you from trying it. Using
a variety of apples and cheeses can lead to a different culinary
experience every time you make this sandwich.

ingredients:

2 slices whole wheat bread

1½ t. olive oil

½ apple peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1/3 c. shredded cheese

PREPARATION:

Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Lightly brush one side of
each slice of bread with the olive oil. Place 1 slice of bread,
olive oil side down into the skillet, and arrange the apple slices
evenly over the top. Sprinkle the cheese over the apple, and then
top with the remaining slice of bread, olive oil-side up. Cook
until the bread is golden brown, then flip the sandwich over, and
cook until the other side is golden brown and the cheese has
melted, 1 to 2 more minutes.

 

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J.

"Easy Chinese: San Francisco" Behind the Scenes

NewtonChing-He Huang with the Josh Jones Jazz Band at The Palace of Fine Arts?This summer I had the unique opportunity to work as the kitchen manager for the Cooking Channel’s “Easy Chinese: San Francisco.” Working behind-the-scenes on a cooking show is not as glamorous as you might think. Hard work and long hours are commonplace on any culinary production. However, there is something extremely satisfying about being able to see the results in the finished product. I’ve seen a few clips of the show, but I’m looking forward to watching the series when it airs.

J. NewtonMaking congee at the Manilla market?My duties as kitchen manager included shopping for and sourcing ingredients, testing recipes, food styling (making dishes look pretty) and preparing “swap-outs” (dishes in different states of preparation) of host Ching-He Huang’s recipes.

A large part of my time at the beginning of the production was spent researching and setting up an inventory of ingredients. I made daily trips to Clement Street’s New May Wah Supermarket to stock our RV with staples like Shaoxing rice wine, Sichuan peppercorns, fermented black beans and Guilin chili sauce.

Shopping for the show became so tedious that by the end of the production we had a full-time shopper whose sole responsibility was to buy groceries. Yet sometimes we still ran into difficulty finding the right ingredients.

For episode 11, Ching requested fresh Chinese rice noodles for her black bean ho fun recipe. Our shopper scoured all of Chinatown and Clement Street, but they weren’t in stock anywhere. One store promised they would have a delivery by 10 a.m. the following day, so we moved some things around and waited. At noon, they still didn’t have the noodles. In the end we got our hands on some fresh noodles. To be honest, I don’t think the noodles were really Chinese ho fun. I think they came from a Thai market. At that point we had been waiting for so long, no one seemed to notice or care.

My days were split between a prep space we rented at Mission Creek Kitchen and various makeshift kitchens on the moving set. The backstage setup consisted of plastic folding tables, portable butane stoves, multiple coolers and several large containers of cooking utensils, props etc.

J. NewtonLa TaqueriaThe production changed locations almost every day, sometimes multiple times in one day. We filmed in restaurants, outdoor spaces, stores and private homes. Some of my favorite culinary locations included the Wok Shop, Manila Market, the Chairman Bao truck and Avedano’s butcher shop.

On one trying day, we were shooting outside the Palace of Fine Arts. Ching was grilling and serving lobster with fennel salad to a local jazz band. This was our second location of the day and everyone was exhausted. It was a rare sunny summer afternoon in San Francisco and the park was packed.

The coolers were stocked with several pounds of par-cooked lobsters, multiple batches of coconut marinade, cucumber ginger juice and the ingredients for the fennel salad. I made everything in our prep kitchen in advance.

The culinary team worked in pop-up tents in an attempt to keep the lobster fresh and the salad from wilting. We rigged grills by placing flat Le Creuset grill pans over two propane burners. The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn’t keep our burners lit or tools from flying off the table.

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"Easy Chinese: San Francisco" Uses Our Town Like a Blank Screen

Cooking ChannelChing-He Huang in the studio kitchen?The Cooking Channel’s “Easy Chinese: San Francisco” was an exciting concept to me: an entire 14-episode series, premiering tomorrow, based on the great Chinese food we have here.

Wouldn’t you like to know how to make Golden Gate Bakery’s custard tart at home, or San Tung’s dry-fried chicken wings?

I only got one 30-minute episode in advance (a “screener”): the series pilot, “Fast Food and Street Food.” Because of how extensively SFoodie covers street food, I was pretty psyched to see it.

If this is an indication on how the rest of the series is going to go, there’s not much San Francisco in there other than the title and a few location shoots.

I know that they really shot the entire series here; the show’s kitchen manager, Marla Simon, is one of our writers, and produced an excellent behind-the-scenes account of what it’s like to try to film in public. (I particularly love her story of trying to shoo passersby away from delicious-smelling lobsters.)

Cooking ChannelChing He-Huang walks the streets of San Francisco. But it could be Vancouver.?But this episode at least could have been shot in Miami or Vancouver with no real difference save the occasional background.

The host, Ching-He Huang, a Taiwanese native who now lives in London, makes her recipes in a studio setting; there’s nothing local about them.

Then she goes to Chairman Bao, a corporate-created food truck (albeit with a local franchisee, Curtis Lam). Chairman Bao’s food is pretty popular and we’d like to see how it’s made. But we don’t; instead we get Ching showing us a food she makes to put inside of Lam’s buns.

For the final scene, Ching invites some of her “friends” to a picnic in Crissy Field on a sunny but chilly day and serves them a recipe she invented: Golden Gate Chili Ribs. They may be tasty — Ching is sure that they are, she says “they’re spicy and delicious” — but that’s Chinese-British food. I can’t turn shrimp louie into Baltimore food by renaming it “Oriole Park Shrimp Louie.”

About Ching’s confidence: I found her annoying, not on the phone when I interviewed her, but on screen. Her British accent is off-putting, and I spent the entire show questioning myself as to why, as I have English friends (hi Sandy) and am not a member of the Tea Party. Ultimately I decided it’s not so much the accent, but her overall manner. She’s bossy and self-satisfied. She tells her friends, “Pass the food around. Put it on your plates.” She also tells them of her jasmine iced tea, “This iced tea is really refreshing and delicious.” There’s no room in the show for anyone else’s judgment.

My wife, a huge Food Network fan who watched eagerly with me hoping for cooking tips, was so angry at Ching’s refusal to go into detail on the food she served Lam in Chairman Bao’s truck that she yelled at the screen: “I wanted the recipe. That’s what I want. What are the key points? If you don’t tell me the key technique, I don’t have to see this show.”

When she calmed down, she said afterward: “I’m watching these shows because I want to learn the technique. I didn’t learn anything.”

Sorry, Cooking Channel, but this isn’t the show that’s going to make me pay Comcast another $25 a month. Nice try, but the next time you go local, really go local.

Chinese with Bill & Sheila

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What’s for dinner? Check out weeknight recipes that will put a meal on the table in no time at all

Use the same wok for the rice — the pan juices from the meat will flavor it. Fried rice is great made with leftover rice.

You can use skirt or flank steak instead of strip.

You’ll need chopped onion for both recipes, so prepare it all at once and divide accordingly.

Your wok or skillet should be very hot when you add the vegetables and meat.

CHINESE PEPPER STEAK

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 medium onion, sliced (1 cup)

2 medium green bell peppers, sliced (about 3 cups)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon ground ginger

3 medium cloves garlic, crushed

3/4 pound strip steak, skirt or flank steak, cut into 2-by-1/2 inch strips

2 tablespoon lite soy sauce

Heat sesame oil in wok over high heat. When wok is smoking, add onion, green bell pepper, ginger and garlic. Stir-fry 3 minutes. Add meat and stir-fry 1 minute. Add soy sauce and stir-fry 3 minutes. Remove to a plate.

Do not wash wok. Use it to stir-fry cooked rice.

Makes 2 servings, each with 305 calories, 7 grams total fat, 96 mg cholesterol, 707 mg sodium, 19 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams fiber; 8 grams sugars, 43.1 g protein. Exchanges/choices: 3 vegetable, 3 lean meat.

QUICK STIR-FRIED RICE

1/2 cup long-grain white rice

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1/4 cup sliced onion

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Bring a large pot with 2 to 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add rice and boil, uncovered, about 10 minutes. Test a grain, rice should be cooked through, but not soft. Drain into a colander in the sink. Add oil to wok and heat to smoking. Add onion and stir fry 1 minute. Add rice and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 2 servings, each with 215 calories, 5 grams total fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 mg sodium; 38 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugar; 4 g protein. Exchanges/choices: 2 1/2 starch, 1/2 fat.

– From “Mix’n'Match Meals in Minutes for People with Diabetes” by Linda Gassenheimer, published by the American Diabetes Association.

You can make three varieties of sliders or make them all the same. Adjust the topping amounts to taste. The amounts for each topping below are for 4 sliders.

GUACAMOLE slider

1/2 cup prepared guacamole

4 tablespoons salsa

4 tablespoons shredded Mexican cheese blend

On the bottoms of four slider buns, spread some guacamole. Place a slider on top and top with some salsa and shredded Mexican cheese blend.

MUSHROOM slider

4 baby bella mushrooms, about 2 inches in diameter

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and black pepper to taste

2 slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese

Small torn pieces of lettuce

Place some lettuce on the bottom bun and top with a slider. Add a quarter piece of Swiss cheese and top with a grilled mushroom.

HORSERADISH MAYO slider

1 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

Olive oil

Salt and black pepper

1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

2 teaspoons prepared horseradish or to taste

Small torn pieces of lettuce

Place some lettuce leaves on a bottom bun. Top with the grilled red onion and a slider. Place a dollop of the horseradish mayonnaise on the slider.

MEXICAN PORK AND BEAN CHILI

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 cup)

1 cup frozen diced/chopped onion

1 1/2 cups frozen diced/chopped green bell pepper

1 cup rinsed and drained canned low-sodium red kidney beans

2 cups canned low-sodium chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup frozen or drained canned corn

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high-heat. Saute the pork, onion and bell pepper 5 minutes, tossing to brown meat on all sides. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and ground cumin. Lower heat to medium, cover with a lid and simmer 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chili in large bowls with brown rice, with sour cream and cilantro on the side.

Makes 2 servings, each with 466 calories, 14 grams fat, 76 mg cholesterol, 37 grams protein, 55 grams carbohydrates, 16 grams fiber, 1197 mg sodium.

DRUNKEN CHICKEN AND RICE

1/2 cup rice

1 pound skinless, chicken thighs or breasts, on the bone

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 cup sliced red onion

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (or 3 garlic cloves, crushed)

1 cup fat-free, low-salt chicken broth

1 cup tomato sauce

1 cup any beer

1/8 teaspoon saffron threads or tumeric

1/2 cup drained, sliced sweet pimento

1 cup frozen petite peas

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prepare rice. Let stand covered while preparing remaining ingredients.

While rice is cooking, if you didn’t buy skinless chicken thighs, remove skin and fat from chicken. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken on all sides, about 2 minutes.

Lower heat to medium and add the onion and garlic. Saute 2 to 3 minutes.

Add chicken broth, tomato sauce, beer, saffron and pimento. Cover and simmer 10 minutes over medium heat. Add the rice and peas to the skillet. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. A meat thermometer should read 180 degrees. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 2 servings, each with 585 calories, 11 grams fat, 115 mg cholesterol, 41 grams protein, 72 grams carbohydrates, 7.5 grams fiber, 516 mg sodium.

LAZY-DAY LASAGNA

8 ounces lasagna noodles (8 noodles)

1 cup cream-style cottage cheese

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 8-ounce package sliced mozzarella cheese

1 (15 1/2-ounce) jar of spaghetti sauce with meat

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook noodles in pot of boiling salted water, following package directions; drain.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add oregano to spaghetti sauce and stir.

In greased 10-by-6-by-1 1/2-inch baking dish, start by lining the pan with half of the cooked noodles. Top with half of the cottage cheese, then half of the mozzarella slices, and lastly half of the spaghetti sauce. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Serves 4 to 6.

– Baltimore Sun

CHICKEN FAJITA SOUP

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken

1 (15 ounces) can diced tomatoes

1 (10 ounces) can enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 ounces) can chopped green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

1 (14.5 ounces) can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10 ounces) package frozen corn

1 can black beans

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Stir in corn, black beans and cilantro. Cover and cook on low setting for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Serve with sour cream, cheddar cheese and crushed tortilla chips. Yield: 8 servings.

Chinese with Bill & Sheila

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The Cooking ChannelChing-He Huang?

"Easy Chinese: San Francisco" Host Loves Mission Pie

On Saturday, the Cooking Channel launches “Easy Chinese: San Francisco,” a full season of 14 30-minute episodes showing Taiwanese-born Ching-He Huang cooking her recipes in our town.

I spoke with Ching on the phone earlier this week from her home in London about what it was like to spend three months (May-July) here shooting, what restaurants she liked, and which foods she misses.

SFoodie: What was it like trying to look warm during a picnic at Crissy Field?

Ching: It was freezing. At least it was sunny, though. We were lucky with the weather.

SFoodie: Where did you live while you were here?

Ching: I stayed in Russian Hill, not too far from that crazy Lombard Street. It’s a great part of town. At first they put me in Van Ness. That was interesting.

SFoodie: What were your favorite local foods?

Ching: I had pies from Mission Pie. I just couldn’t get enough of it. That was my pick-me-up. The crew kept getting me cupcakes from Kara’s Cupcakes. One of my favorites was La Taqueria. I came back about seven kilos heavier. I hit the gym straight away. But I loved every minute of it. When you take on a project like this, it’s quite long in your head. But it whizzed by. We had a ball. You’ve got so many foodies, people who are passionate about food.

SFoodie: How is the Chinese food scene here different from other places?

Ching: You have a lot more interesting things. A lot of the Chinese restaurants in New York are more classic, more traditional, and also a lot more regional. The scene in San Francisco has a lot more fusion stuff, which was very exciting. The guys on the Chairman Bao truck, adding pickled daikon and other Japanese touches. It’s really fantastic to see this fusion food. I thought, oh, I should be more free to experiment and try more fusion things. Everyone’s taste is more global now.

SFoodie: Did you show how any of the local restaurants make their specialties?

Ching: We do go visit the Great Eastern in Chinatown and we see how they make their pork and chive dumplings. We wanted to give you a little taste of how it is in the restaurant and then show you how to make it at home by me. I’m the vehicle. You can do Chinese food easily at home. That’s my message.

SFoodie: Where did you source your ingredients?

Ching: A lot of ingredients we tried to keep as accessible as possible. People have this stigma attached to Chinese cooking that it’s really hard to make at home. I wanted to show that different recipes are available to different cooks at different levels. We went to the local farmers’ market to pick up a lot of fresh ingredients.

SFoodie: What’s your cooking background?

Ching: I was born in Taiwan. I had a lot of cooking inspiration from my grandmothers. Then we moved to London. I haven’t trained as a professional chef. I learned as I’ve gone along, from my mother mostly. I had a catering business I set up when I was 21. I learned a lot from that. I did that for nine years. I’ve done a few books. I always say to people, if I can cook Chinese, then you can. I love Chinese food so much. It’s so easy and so good for you.

SFoodie: What experiences did you have here that were unique to San Francisco?

Ching: There were just so many things, from the Wente winery that I went to, to the abalone farm in Monterey. Seeing abalone being reared in such a sustainable way was great, and being able to cook with one, that was fantastic.

Chinese with Bill & Sheila

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Szechuan celebrates 15 years in Abilene

Tum Dam (left) hands off plates to the wait staff Friday at Szechuan Chinese Restaurant.

Photo by Nellie Doneva

Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News
Cooks at Szechuan Chinese Restaurant prepare meals for the lunch crowd Friday.

Photo by Nellie Doneva

Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News
Byron Huang (right), owner of Szechuan Chinese Restaurant, carries a soup pot Friday. Huang says the kitchen is his office.

As he celebrates 15 years as owner of Szechuan Chinese Restaurant, Byron Huang can’t help but recall everything he’s overcome to pursue his dream of owning a business in the United States.

His sprawling restaurant seats 165 customers, most of them within view of a wall-to-wall glass partition that allows guests to see almost every aspect of the food preparation. The heavily decorated restaurant boasts manicured landscaping outside, complete with a pond and traditional Chinese shrubbery.

It’s a far cry from Huang’s earliest days in the U.S. restaurant business.

Huang, who arrived in the U.S. at age 29, described himself as “poor and inexperienced” even though he had more than seven years of restaurant experience under his belt as a cook in Hong Kong. He was born and raised in China, but maintained a dream of coming to the U.S. and owning a restaurant of his own.

“America is the land of opportunity,” he said. “In China, I could do nothing like this.”

He began to see his dream come true when he went to work in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant in San Jose, Calif., in 1987. However, he didn’t stay long.

“I worked for four months,” he said. “Then the chef embarrassed me in front of everyone, made me cry. I left California.”

From there, he moved to South Dakota, then Georgia and Michigan before landing in Texas.

He said that in “every state I learned more about combining my food with good service.”

With a limited English vocabulary, Huang said he was taught to judge a Chinese restaurant by its ad in the Yellow Pages.

A full-page ad meant it was a big restaurant with a good cook, he said. He traveled the country with that in mind, looking for restaurants with the best cooks from whom he could learn.

Even with his experience in China, he said he still had a lot to learn about food service in the U.S.

“You need to know the regional tastes,” he said. “I spent almost 10 years traveling, making my recipes.”

In early 1995, he went to work for Abilene’s Chinese Kitchen. It was there that he met Kim Dam, another cook from China, who had been in Abilene for about five years.

Less than a year later, Huang and Dam decided to go into business for themselves. Chinese food was a competitive business in Abilene at the time, Huang said, with more than 15 Chinese restaurants.

Still, they managed to open Szechuan, a small restaurant at the corner of South First and Willis streets.

For 10 years in that location, the pair managed to not only be successful among more than a dozen local Chinese restaurants, but to win a variety of awards and recognitions for their food and service.

The were so successful, in fact, that by the end of 2007, they had built and opened a new restaurant about two miles down South First Street, with more than triple the seating of the original restaurant.

“A lot of people said, ‘Byron, you play a very dangerous game,’ when I opened this new restaurant,” he said, smiling. “I always work hard day by day. I have vision.”

The waiting area of his restaurant is littered with the awards the eatery has received in the Chinese restaurant industry — a total of 33 honors, Huang said, from local Reader’s Choice Awards to a small statue of a golden bull he received from the Chinese government for his success in the United States.

He said he’s learned a lot since he got his start in a Hong Kong kitchen, adding that the most important lesson is that the food is the most important part of a successful business.

“The food is key,” he said. “No matter how beautiful the restaurant, the food is key.”

He said he realizes that the menu at Szechuan doesn’t read much differently from that of any other Chinese restaurant.

“We have the General Tso’s chicken, the beef and broccoli,” he said. “But people say to me, ‘Byron, you serve the best.’ The food doesn’t belong to me, but I work hard to make it the best.”

To put the best Chinese cuisine on the tables at Szechuan, he said, he hires only the best Chinese cooks.

“In China, you don’t go to school,” he said. “You graduate from the restaurant.”

The restaurant “graduates” are the ones he hires. He said he requires that cooks have 20 years’ experience before they come to his kitchen.

“The wok is heavy and quick,” he said. “It’s only a job for a man. It’s a special skill.”

A cook works in front of two woks — one filled with boiling water for vegetables and another filled with boiling oil for meats.

There are no tools for measurement, but each cook holds a ladle, which, according to Huang, is all they need to ensure accurate measurements.

Next to a collection of spices and sauces, each dip of the ladle brings a new flavor to the dish.

Chinese cooking is unique, he said, because almost all dishes cook in just 45 seconds on the wok.

Because of the open cooking style created by the wok, the kitchen is as hot as it is fast-paced. Guests at the restaurant can experience the controlled chaos of the kitchen via the glass partition.

Huang said he learned early in the business that customers appreciate being able to see the cooking process. The first Szechuan restaurant had a small window, as well, he said.

Even with a full staff of cooks, Huang said he spends a significant amount of time in the kitchen himself.

“I’m not in the office counting money, you see,” he said. “My office is that kitchen.”

However, with all the time he spends in the kitchen at Szechuan, he said he doesn’t cook at home.

It’s his mother and mother-in-law who do the cooking at his house, he said. He and his wife live with their mothers, a common practice in China.

They also share the house with Huang’s two children — an Abilene Christian University graduate who works at Chili’s and a third-grader at Austin Elementary School.

Dam and Huang run the restaurant together, but Huang takes care of most of the day-to-day operations during the week.

This fall marks Dam’s second year as an Abilene Independent School District employee and first year as an advanced placement U.S. history teacher at the Academy of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science.

The two will celebrate 15 years in business with a community reception, ribbon-cutting and cooking demonstration at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Szechuan, located at 3425 South First St.

Chinese with Bill & Sheila

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By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:48 AM on 14th September 2011

A new survey suggests today’s women know a greater range of recipes

Today’s families depend on fast food and ready meals served up by mothers too busy to cook – or so we are led to believe.

But this widely accepted view may merely be a myth, suggests a survey today.

They are actually better cooks than their mums, rustling up more dishes and also trying their hand at exotic foreign meals.

<>I’m better than you! Today’s mothers are better cooks than their own according to a new survey, with a greater range of dishes they can rustle up

Modern cooks typically know 21 recipes off by heart, compared to 17 for their mothers in the 1970s and 1980s.

They still favour British cuisine, such as roast dinners and chicken casserole, but also prepare dishes like Mexican fajitas, Chinese stir fry and chicken tikka masala as well as homemade pasta dishes and
pizzas.

Inspirations for them include TV cookery shows and the Internet.

The study of 1,000 mothers across two generations helped launch next month’s ten-day Birmingham Food Fest. 

Spokesman Emma Gray said: ‘The findings completely dispel the myth that today’s mums aren’t particularly into their food, and have other priorities they consider more important than cooking.

‘But the opposite is true, mums actually love to cook, love to see their families enjoying good hearty meals, and mums are becoming more adventurous with their cooking than ever before.

‘Today’s mums aren’t afraid to try their hands at producing more exotic delights – inspired by eating out, celebrity chefs and foodie events – which originate from places such as India, Thailand and China.

‘Mums of 30 years ago were unlikely to consider something as ‘out there’ as stir fries and curries; it just wasn’t as common place as it is today.’

The poll shows mothers of 30 years ago had a repertoire of 17 dishes which they knew well and cooked on a regular basis for their children.

Jacket potatoes, fishfingers and chips and chicken casserole were all regularly dished out at dinner times.

The survey also found that 70 per cent of modern mums can’t remember eating anything other than British cuisine as a child.

Inspiration: Chefs like Nigella Lawson mean modern mums know 21 recipes off by heart – and although they favour British cuisine, are happy to try their hand at more difficult dishes from around the world

Old fashioned cooking: When this OXO advert was first shown, in 1987, the average mum had a repertoire of 17 dishes which they knew well and cooked on a regular basis for their children

However 61 per cent claim to be more adventurous in the kitchen than their own mums ever were.

And
84 per cent of today’s mums think it is really important to encourage
their own kids to try as many different foods as possible.

The same percentage are happy to serve their family meals which originate from all over the world.

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