Mott St.’s Mentaiko Kimchi Udon

It’s been a while, again. But at least it’s been months, not years this time. Momentum is a powerful thing, and once you’ve lost it, or let it go slack, it can be hard to get rolling again. It wasn’t out of pure laziness, though. Since my last post, I’ve accepted a new job, left […]

Blended Noodle Congee

Here’s what to make when you’re recovering from food poisoning and the only thing you can stomach is congee, except you don’t have rice because: a) You live in Hong Kong and your apartment is too small to store a sack of rice. b) You live in Hong Kong and your countertop is too small […]

Komorebi Highball

“Komorebi is an untranslatable word, which refers to the effect of sunlight streaming through the leaves of the trees, creating a dance between the light and the leaves.” Komorebi. A state of mind. An invitation to slow down, to look deeper, to be fully in the moment. Forget your destination. It is the path that […]

Fish Drippings v.2– Red Grouper

She shimmered like a ruby among sapphires beneath the halo of a red-rimmed incandescent lamp. In her mirror eyes, my reflection stared back at me, wide-eyed at this radiant creature with its gills taut, scales glistening, vibrant in all her hues. Has there ever been a more beautiful fish? One so positively bursting with freshness, […]

“Ma-Gong” Silver Pin Noodles (麻公銀針粉)

Someday, I’m gonna be an old man. Say 92. Hopefully not pock-marked. But likely sun-spotted, crow-footed, maybe permanently bent over. But I’ll have a lifetime of honed cooking chops and at least one surefire recipe the kids ’round my block will be begging for:

“OLD GRANNY MAN’S SILVER PIN NOODLES.”

(“麻公銀針粉”)

(“Ma Gong Ngan Tsum Fun”)

And you can be damn sure that I’ll feed them all.

Biang Biang Mian: China’s Proof of Cool

“This is not a dish from my childhood. This is not won ton mein, window meats, or dim sum. This is not fried rice, sizzling beef, or char siu bao. Those were the Chinese of my childhood. This is the Chinese of my rebirth.” DEAR READER, What do you think about Chinese food? Tasty? Sometimes. Nostalgic? Sure. Cool? […]

Steamed Egg Custard, Two Ways

Here’s a quick followup to my crab recipe. Traditionally, Crab with Shaoxing wine is steamed with egg whites as a kind of filler. With the addition of noodles, egg whites aren’t necessary; also, I wanted the broth to be completely clear because hey, consommé is a beautiful thing. As a nod to the traditional recipe, […]

RECIPE: Flower Crab with Aged Shaoxing Wine and Chicken Oil

Let’s talk about Cantonese cuisine for a moment.

Among China’s eight major culinary traditions, it’s often described as the most refined. But what do people mean when they say that? And is it true?

Invariably, the claim always traces back to the maxim that rules over all Cantonese food:

“Always preserve the food’s natural flavor.”

Crack Slurp, v.1

I’m inspired once again by the brilliant Lady and Pups, who coined the term Crack Slurp and divulged its secrets to readers across the world. But for me, the DNA of Crack Slurp had already long been familiar. From Snack Planet’s cold noodles with black vinegar and wood-ear mushrooms in Chicago; to White Bear’s wontons in chili oil in Flushing, […]

Salted Duck Egg Carbonara

Carbonara. A dish that lives or dies by the egg. When done properly, its one of the most sublime examples of minimalist, technique-driven cooking in the world. Thankfully, it’s easy to master. Here’s how it works: Fresh Egg Yolk: Creamy fat. Guanciale: Smoky fat. Pecorino Romano: Salty fat. Fat + pasta water = an […]

Falling Noodles 2.0

Hey! It’s been a while. Until I checked the date last week, I was quite certain that it had been just a few months since I last wrote. Has it really been over a year? Was Tokyo really 2016? It seems like yesterday; the Haneda breeze still feels silken on my skin. Then I remember: […]

On Precision

ASK ME MY FAVORITE COCKTAIL, AND I’LL SAY THE OLD FASHIONED. My consummate food, nigiri. Without simplicity, there cannot be complexity. The simplest things are often the most difficult to master. If you have not trained your palate, all the world’s techniques and recipes are just more to hide behind. When, as with a three-ingredient cocktail, there is […]

From Haneda

(Written on August 6th, 2016– my last day in Japan) Tokyo. What can I say but that at the end of my fifth trip here, I am even more in love with you than ever. You are the city of my dreams and kin to my soul. I cannot comprehend how such a culture, with all […]

Rice, Noodle, Fish

Hi friends. Been a while! I wanted to stop by to recommend Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan’s Food Culture. Here’s what I wrote to my brothers: “Hey, Just started reading Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan’s Food Culture, a new book written by Matt Goulding and published by Anthony Bourdain. I wanted to recommend it. Japan’s […]

The State of Tacos

Featuring Andrea of Best Damn Food Blog fame:

Letters To My Students: “Love Is Like A Red Wine Reduction”

Dear English 269 members: Love is like a red wine reduction. In cooking, a reduction means to simmer a liquid until only the flavorful compounds remain. A red wine reduction, for example—the French workhorse sauce— is to boil a bottle of wine until there remains just one precious cup, thick as nectar, filled with fruit […]

Letters To My Students: “Salt”

Dear English 269 members: If there was no such thing as salt, what would we lose? What if there were no songs to be sung, no poems to be read, no stories to be told, No lions on the plains, no fish in the sea, no flowers in the fields? Is sex only for making […]

Sushi Sawada (Tokyo)

I’ve wanted to write about Sawada since my meal there in December 2012, but couldn’t find the words. How does one describe the sublime? What can be said? Even now, months later, I haven’t found a way to communicate just how different Sawada was, on every level, from all my previous experiences with sushi, fish, rice, […]

Teakha

During my search for the best Niu Rou Mein recipe a couple of years ago, I came across this video by the lovely Nana Chan (a.k.a. Nanamoose, or “Beef Noodle Soup Lady”). The recipe turned out to be so delicious that when my Taiwanese friend tasted a spoonful, she burst into tears and exclaimed, “it tastes like home, but better!” It’s […]

Lagavulin 16 (Scotch)

Tasting notes: September evening. A warm breeze hits my face, along with a saltwater spray. Sea air fills my lungs as I inhale deeply, then back out as I exhale. Smoke drifts in from a crackling wood-burning fire, mingling with the heady musk of sea urchins roasting on top. Sheets of white fog hang like […]

Highland Park 18 (Scotch)

My two brothers and I developed a taste for single-malt scotch over a shared bottle of Highland Park– the stunning 1977 Bicentenary– so HP has a special place in our hearts. I think of that moment every time I drink this. Tasting notes: Clear Autumn morning. It’s just cool enough for my favorite girl to […]

Watari Bune Junmai Daiginjo (Sake)

Once upon a time, there grew a strain of rice whose grains were particularly dense with pure, white starch. It was this starch that yeast would consume and convert into sugar, and then– as one of nature’s great gifts– into alcohol, or as the Japanese call it, sake. The purer the starch, the purer the […]

Artisanal Bloody Mary

The traditional Bloody Mary has always been a confused creature– a misappropriated soup at best, a gag-inducing goulash at worst, but certainly never a cocktail. Often a thick, swampy, sour combination of cooked tomato juice from a can, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire, and vodka, it fills the appetite instead of stimulating it and burdens the spirit […]

Oh Hai!

Well friends, I’ve started a food blog– and it’s really because of you. See, I’ve resisted this for years. I never wanted anyone to think that food is my greatest passion. There are things more worthy of meditation. All by itself, food is just something that eventually comes out the other end. But food is […]