Kitchen Chick

Wok Hay: The Breath of a Wok

Chiu Chow-Style Pork Spring Moon from The Breath of a Wok

I've been seeing Grace Young's The Breath of a Wok around for several years now, but had always skipped over it. Though I do love a good Hong Kong style meal, when I'm cooking Asian dinners at home my preferences lean toward Sichuan and Hunan (and, of course, the spicy cuisines of Thailand and Korea). I picked it up at a bookstore and was quickly captivated by Grace Young's tale of her quest for "wok culture" and wok hay, that elusive seared taste that can only be achieved in a well-seasoned wok.

Young guides her reader on a trip across China, touring a factory where skilled craftsmen fashion  increasingly hard to find hand-hammered woks, seeking out street vendors with their woks set over portable stoves, visiting a village where an immense communal wok set over a stone hearth is use for everything from boiling soybeans for tofu to water for washing for clothes, and venturing into restaurant kitchens with their high powered wok stoves. (I want one!) All of this is fascinating reading in itself — a mix of cooking tips and culinary travelogue. The home chef will appreciate the detailed descriptions of types of woks, how to season and clean them, and cooking tips for achieving wok hay. Before reading this, I hadn't realized that there was a reason some woks have a single long handle and others have two "ear"-like handles (it's a Northern vs. Southern thing relating to cooking technique), or that there was even such a thing as a cast iron wok (but don't drop them on a hard surface because they'll crack!).

The recipes include both traditional and contemporary ones, including a few influenced by American ingredients. They're adapted from a large group of chefs including Ming Tsai, Martin Yan, Florence Lin, Ken Hom, and a host of other highly skilled professionals, as well as her own family and friends and author Amy Tan. If you're wanting a detailed, authentic exploration of Sichuan or Hunan regional cuisines, I recommend Fuchsia Dunlop. If you want to see a pleasing range of dishes from Northern China down to Hong Kong, with a focus on the more subtly flavored side of Chinese cuisine, and you want to understand the techniques of wok use, The Breath of a Wok is a good place to start. And if you're serious about Chinese cooking, you should have both.

All her recipes call for flat-bottomed woks — probably out of the assumption that most American kitchens are not equipped with a gas stove that can supply the heat needed for a round-bottomed wok. If you're lucky enough — as we are — to have a powerful gas stove with a good wok grate that holds the wok close over the flames, a flat-bottomed wok isn't necessary. (Wok rings that sit on top of your regular grate don't get the wok close enough to the flames.) If you aren't, you can still do this stuff, but you probably will need a flat-bottomed wok. And don't bother with electric woks; they aren't powerful enough and are mostly non-stick, which believe it or not messes up the flavor by preventing the food from caramelizing properly. (Though a brief search suggests that this 1500 Watt one might prove me wrong on the power issue...)

Recipe in the extended post...

Lidia Bastianich & Borders @ everyday cook

Lidia Bastianich and Nicole Sims enjoying Ziti with Tomatoes, Eggplant, and Salted Ricotta in a break between filming segments

A week ago I mentioned that I had the good fortune to attend the live taping of a pilot cooking webcast show — at everyday cook — for Borders Books that featured Lidia Bastianich doing recipes from her forthcoming book Lidia's Italy.  It was a blast, and I can't wait to see the show!

We attendees gradually gathered outside of everyday cook with great anticipation. When we filed into the everyday cook kitchen, we found it transformed into a studio. Cables and equipment everywhere, camera men catching pre-show stills and checking their gear, black cloth over the windows, and temporary lighting hung everywhere to light up the kitchen. The audience area was a series of high cocktail tables dressed with tablecloths, bottled water, and wine glasses. A camera man overheard me as I mused aloud about the best place to sit and he directed us to an unclaimed table right in front of the stovetop. Perhaps it had gone unclaimed because it was tucked tightly between two camera stations and a post. Joe and I squeezed in to the table, and I have to say we enjoyed some of the best seats in the house.

Show producer Rich Fahle of Borders welcomed us all and explained how the taping would go. There were be several segments with breaks between each one. We were to be as quiet as possible during the taping and to not leave our seats if at all possible. (But if we absolutely had to get up, please don't waltz in front of the cameras!) Lidia's two co-hosts were Nicole Sims who runs Skip to My Roux and Mark, a Border's executive. Food TV fans might remember Nic from All Star Kitchen Makeover when she won a kitchen make-over designed by Alton Brown. She was the main host, and did such a professional job that Joe (who didn't know who she was) was convinced she was a moonlighting news anchor.

Lidia kicked the show off with a simple appetizer of frico with apples and cheese and from there she mesmerized the audience with her mix of cooking lore and personal stories as she walked Nic and Mark through each recipe. Her enthusiasm was infectious! We were served small bits of the frico and the pasta during the show, along with enough wine to keep us all happy. At the end of the show, the dishes were put out buffet style and the audience was invited to eat. There was no fear of there not being enough food. Even after everyone went through the line, there was enough for seconds.

As much fun as I was having in the audience, watching both the show and also watching the camera crew move around and give their directions in hand signals, Nic looked like she was having a blast in front of the camera. I asked her what it was like to film this show with Lidia, and she said:

"It was great fun to work with her. Lidia is a consummate professional and also a very kind and warm woman. She also was very generous in her assistance in getting us all ready for primetime, from food prep to blocking out the conversations for the camera. Since I really connect with food and family the way she does, I felt a natural kinship as I really "get" where she's coming from with this book from her heart and it was just like having a friend come over and hang in the kitchen and share meaningful food stories."

I don't have any further information about when this webcast will be available, but I know the plan is to do a series. In the meantime, if you want to get as close as possible to hanging out in the kitchen with Lidia while sharing her cooking and her stories, check out a copy of Lidia's Italy — it's available this Tuesday, April 10. (We got an advance copy, and I've been cooking from it all week...)

Show Menu:

• Frico with Apples and Montasio Cheese, paired with Fantinel Prosecco Extra Dry NV. This crisp "pancake" is a delightful way to enjoy cheese and apples together. (Recipe for Frico with Apples and Montasio Cheese below.)
• Ziti with Tomatoes, Eggplant, and Salted Ricotta, with Borgo Maddalena Tocai Friulano 2005. Simple and fresh!
  
• Sausages with Fennel and Olives with SFIDA Primitivo/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend. We particularly enjoyed the wine with this one.
  
• And for dessert Lidia showed how easy it is (and Nic and Mark showed that it does require a little practice, but practice makes perfect!) to make crepes for Crêpes with Chocolate and Walnuts.

Wines were supplied by everyday wines in Kerrytown:

Fantinel Prosecco Extra Dry NV  — $13.99
Borgo Maddalena Tocai Friulano 2005 — $14.99
SFIDA Primitivo/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend — $10.99

Lidia doing pre-show prep. From left to right are Chewy, Lidia, Brendan (behind Lidia), another chef brought in to help, Rich the Borders producer, a cameraman, and Mary, owner of everyday cook.

Sneak Preview: Lidia's Italy & Sausages with Fennel and Olives

Sausages with Fennel & Olives

Fennel bulbs are one of those foods that I like but, for whatever odd reason, I never really sought out. Oh Fennel, why did I wait so long to discover you?

I had the great pleasure of watching the live taping of a pilot cooking show at "everyday cook" for Borders Books that featured Lidia Bastianich doing recipes from her forthcoming book Lidia's Italy. (Watching the taping and then tasting all the demo dishes was loads of fun. I'll be writing more on that shortly.)

Among the several dishes Lidia demonstrated that night was this sausage and fennel dish. Once the scent of that sizzling sausage filled the air, the whole audience sighed. (Well, maybe not the vegetarians.)  I love sausage, and I love olives, and adding fennel... what a wonderful combination.

We all received copies of Lidia's new book (consider this self-disclosure that I was given the book for free, but I wouldn't write about it if I didn't actually like it). It's intriguing. It isn't a primer on Italian cooking, nor is it a survey of Italian regional cuisine. Instead, Lidia chose ten places in Italy that she loves, and presented a selection of favorite recipes from each area. Her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali, added a mini-self guided tour for each region. Between the recipes, the tours, and Lidia's childhood stories, the book has the feel of sharing a personal culinary journey with Lidia.  It whets the appetite not only for food, but for travel.

Lidia likes her bulb fennel best "in its natural state," but includes several recipes from her Rome section that feature cooked fennel. I present to you this sneak-preview recipe from Lidia's Italy.

Sausages with Fennel and Olives
(Salsicce con finocchi e olive)
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
12 sweet Italian sausages (NOTE:  I halved this recipe when I cooked it, but this is the full version)
1 C dry white wine
6 plump garlic cloves (do pick plump ones), peeled and crushed
1/4 tsp. pepperoncino flakes or to taste (hot chili flakes for us non-Italian speakers)
1 C large green olives, squashed to open them and pitted
3 large fennel bulbs (3.5 - 4 lb total), trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt or kosher salt

Lidia has a half-page of advice regarding trimming and cutting fennel. Here's a short version adapted by me: Trim the stalks and tough bottoms off the fennel bulbs. Peel off the outer layer. Cut in half lengthwise and trim out the bits of stalk that go down into the bulb. Cut into 1-inch chunks. I thought I chosen large bulbs, but it seemed like there would be "nothing left" if I discarded the whole outer layer, so I just cut out brown spots and used the thick layer too. It took longer to cook, but was still delicious.

Pour 2 Tbs olive oil into a skillet large enough for your sausages and set over medium-high heat. Lay in the sausages and cook for 5 minutes or more, rolling them over occasionally until nicely browned. Pour in the wine and boil until it is reduced by half. Remove the sausages to a platter and pour the remaining wine sauce over them.

Add the remaining 2 Tbs olive oil to the empty skillet. Toss in the garlic cloves and cook for a minute or so over medium heat until they're sizzling. (Don't let them burn!  Burned garlic BAD!) Drop in the pepperoncino in a hot spot for a few seconds, then scatter the squashed olives in the pan. Toss and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the fennel chunks and stir. Season with 1/2 tsp salt. Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, tossing and stirring now and then unti the fennel softens, shrinks, and begins to color. Add a bit of water to the pan if the fennel remains hard and resistant to the bite.

When the fennel is cooked through, return the sausages and wine to the skillet. Turn the meat and vegetables together, cook uncovered for another 5 minutes or so, until everything is deeply caramelized and glazed. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve hot.

Dry-Fried Green Beans

Joe and I have a problem -- we don't like the same vegetables. Well, that isn't completely true, but it's true enough that it can be difficult to find vegetable dishes that we both like. Fortunately I have learned to like beans, a food I would have absolutely not touched at all some years ago. The breakthrough came with Ethiopian and Indian lentil dishes. Then somewhere I acquired a liking for Mexican refried beans and black beans, and then white beans beans cooked in soups and cassoulet. And now the world of beans has opened wide for me. Recently I even cooked a kidney bean dahl, a bean I never thought I'd willingly eat. Someday maybe I'll even learn to like lima beans.

One kind of bean my mother made me eat as a child was the green string bean. I was a very picky eater. My mother worried constantly about what to feed me, and worried about whether or not I was eating enough healthy foods. I had to eat a minimum amount of the vegetable-du-jour before I was allowed to leave the table. This torture of staring at the despised beans until I summoned the nerve to choke down a few mouthfuls was for my own good, but once in college and living on my own, I felt free to ignore all the foods I didn't like. My mother can now be pleased I am now eating my vegetables of my own free will. But I had to go through years of figuring out just how I like to eat them. It's something I'm still figuring out, but now it's not torture. Rather, it's an adventure.

Sichuan — Land of Plenty Good Food

Dry Fried Beef Slivers

One night a week or so back Joe said to me, "Can we please have Chinese?"

When I started teaching myself how to cook, it was Chinese food I turned to. I cooked Chinese for years and years before branching out to other cuisines. Then I stopped cooking Chinese. I guess I got tired of it. How someone can get tired of a cuisine as vast and every changing as Chinese, I have no idea. More like, I got tired of the recipes I used.

So I turned to what I think is one of the most exciting Chinese cookbooks to be published in the past few years is Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. I've been able to find recipes in this book for Sichuan dishes that I ate in China — dishes I've never seen on the menu at a Sichuan restaurant in the States.

Yan Can Cook and So Can I

Back in college, when faced with the prospect of cooking for myself for the first time (and for my then-boyfriend), I bought my very first cookbook:  A Wok for All Seasons by Martin Yan. Martin Yan proved to me that I could cook something edible, and even better, that it was fun.  With Martin Yan in hand, I ventured into grocery stores seeking out such unfamiliar things as hoisin and oyster sauce.  I bought my first bottle of wine (cooking wine) because of this cookbook.  Martin Yan's book, and the other two cookbooks I acquired that year, survived the electric wok-with-missing-leg and the ancient gas-spewing stove.  They were my trenchmates in the ongoing battle of "What's for dinner?" and "Do you like it?"  They bolstered my confidence, emboldened me to go forth and cook a cuisine that I didn't even like two years before.  (Alright, girl, enough with the poetics.)   My copy, now 14 years old, is splattered with oil, hoisin, and oyster sauce, and the pages are falling out of the binding — the sign of a well-used and loved cookbook.  Though I haven't cook much from this cookbook in years, there is one dish that calls me back time and time again:  "Beef and Bean Curd Delight."  Tonight was one of those nights.  I said to myself in the morning, "You just bought a big tub of tofu yesterday.  Just what are you going to do with it?"  Beef and Tofu.  Of course.  I forgot to take a picture of it, so you'll have to imagine for yourself thinly sliced marinated beef, stir fried with ginger (and dried chilies — my modification), then simmered briefly with cubed medium or firm tofu and a sauce made of chicken broth, shao hsing wine, oyster-flavored sauce, and black pepper.  Stir in some tapioca starch (plus water) to thicken the sauce, sprinkle with thinly horseshoe-sliced green onions, and serve.  Mmmm...