The PBS Chef Martin Yan Teaches Chinese Cooking to a New Audience - The New York Times

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The PBS Chef Martin Yan Teaches Chinese Cooking to a New Audience - The New York Times

The PBS Chef Martin Yan Teaches Chinese Cooking to a New Audience - The New York Times

Posted: 15 Jun 2021 02:00 AM PDT

HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. — Live from his home kitchen in the Bay Area, Martin Yan flashed a smile, raised his cleaver and chanted the catchphrase that the 150 or so people watching him online were clamoring to hear: "If Yan can cook, so can you!"

For Mr. Yan — who over a four-decade career has played the roles of television personality, cookbook author, restaurateur and now YouTube host — this longtime slogan is more than just a shtick. It's a summary of all he believes in. If a soft-spoken boy from Guangzhou, China, can make it big in America cooking stir-fries and dumplings, he figures, anyone can do just about anything.

Mr. Yan doesn't have an enormous social media following or a list of viral recipes to his name. But his impact on the culinary sphere is immeasurable. In 1982, at age 33, Mr. Yan became one of the first people of Asian descent to host a cooking show in the United States. "Yan Can Cook," on PBS, was a contemporary of programs like "Julia Child & More Company" and later on, "Today's Gourmet," starring Jacques Pépin. His show is still syndicated around the world, making it one of the longest-running American cooking programs.

Mr. Yan, now 72, introduced legions of people to Chinese flavors, and eventually to other Asian cuisines. In the 1980s and '90s, he achieved what many nonwhite cooks still struggle to do today — to get Americans to view the cooking of other countries as something they can replicate at home.

Today, Mr. Yan has re-energized his existing fans and found new ones — both on Instagram, where he has been posting more frequently, and on YouTube, where he livestreams himself cooking from home. KQED, the San Francisco PBS affiliate, has been releasing old episodes of "Yan Can Cook" to YouTube weekly since January 2020.

His cooking repertoire is more wide-ranging, his style a little more relaxed — and he remains as kinetic as ever.

"Look at this physical specimen," he exclaimed to an iPhone on a camera rig, standing in a power pose before tossing a piece of ginger into a wok to make adobo. "I haven't gained weight in 35 years."

Yet Mr. Yan now inhabits a landscape that is vastly different from the one in which he came up. Food media has been rocked by calls for racial justice and equity, and continuing criticism of how frequently non-Western cuisines and ingredients are appropriated or whitewashed in recipes. And throughout the United States, Asian Americans have become the targets of widespread violence.

Mr. Yan, in his perennially cheery way, focuses on the progress that's been made — pointing to, say, the ubiquity of Chinese restaurants in America, or the availability of ingredients like soy sauce in grocery stores. Asked about his experience with discrimination, he insisted he had been "fortunate."

But the next day, after thinking about it, he told a story: Forty years ago, he was taking out the trash at his San Francisco apartment, near a lake with ducks. A young white couple, seeing him with a bin, accused him of trying to kill and eat the ducks, saying that Asians like him were destroying the environment.

Mr. Yan assured the couple he had no plan to kill anything, and invited them to come over that evening for Peking duck.

He believes many conflicts can be resolved with a smile, a conversation and a sense of humor. "I cannot change my accent, I cannot change my background, I cannot change the color of my face, I can't change," he said. "I truly believe, as long as we are doing things to project a positive image," that's enough.

The couple accepted his explanation. They did not come over for duck.

Food television is now big business, but when "Yan Can Cook" premiered, Mr. Yan became one of only a few chefs teaching cooking to a national audience.

"It was very weird to see someone like" Mr. Yan onscreen, recalled Hua Hsu, 43, a staff writer for The New Yorker who watched the show with his mother as a child. "You are used to seeing an Asian face in detective stories, as the Dragon Lady, or as a delivery worker or as a scientist," but not as a home cook.

Mr. Yan said that when "Yan Can Cook" first appeared, few people foresaw that cooking shows would become a cultural touchstone. He felt simply lucky to be on TV considering where he started, as the child of working-class parents in Guangzhou.

At 13, he moved to Hong Kong alone, at his mother's urging, to work at a family friend's restaurant. He worked long hours filleting fish and chopping chicken, sleeping on the kitchen floor. Once he finished high school, a church elder helped him secure a visa so he could attend college in Calgary, Alberta.

Mr. Yan filled in at the last minute for a cooking segment on the Calgary station CFAC-TV in 1978, then was asked to keep coming in. Those demonstrations became "Yan Can Cook," which aired daily on CFAC-TV for four years before shifting in 1982 to KQED in San Francisco, which broadcast it weekly.

June Mesina Ouellette, the associate producer of "Yan Can Cook," remembers that Mr. Yan "had this energy that could have filled the space."

Before she met him, she didn't know how to cook. As she worked on his show, "I got over my fear," she said. "He made it fun."

Mr. Yan also highlighted local Chinese businesses on his show — he took viewers inside an egg roll factory and the kitchen of a dim sum restaurant. Because he spoke several Chinese dialects and understood the culture, "he had access" that a white host wouldn't, said Bernie Schimbke, the art director for "Yan Can Cook."

Still, Mr. Yan was well aware of the xenophobia directed at Chinese people in America, starting with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned immigration by laborers from that country.

"Chinese food and Chinese culture were not as well received" when his show debuted, he said. He was hesitant to introduce any dish that people might consider too different or difficult. "I do either steamed, deep-fried or stir-fried."

The show carefully avoided ingredients like chicken feet, said Gayle Yamada, a former executive producer. "You self-censor," she said.

Ms. Mesina Ouellette wondered how exhausting it must have been for Mr. Yan to be constantly fighting people's biases.

But he didn't see it that way. There weren't many Chinese cooking classes in America at the time, he said. He started with straightforward dishes so he could draw people in and, over time, introduced more complicated ones.

He tried to keep to traditional ingredients, but always suggested substitutions, said Tina Salter, the former culinary producer at KQED. "He would rather see them cooking and stir-frying than skipping and staying with a hamburger."

Mr. Yan retained a good deal of control over his show. In fact, he recruited sponsors himself, and set his own compensation — $3,500 to $4,000 per episode, on average, he said. "I made myself indispensable. I said, 'OK, go find another Martin Yan.'"

From "Yan Can Cook," he built a lucrative career doing television specials, cooking and speaking at schools, companies and festivals around the world, writing cookbooks and running restaurants in China and California.

But the pandemic forced him to slow down. Last year, he had planned to travel to Vietnam and Malaysia to film a television special titled "Martin Yan's Mobile Kitchen," in which he would drive around a food truck and cook with locals. That project has been postponed indefinitely.

In November, he closed his last restaurant, M.Y. China in the Westfield San Francisco Centre, because it didn't have the space for outdoor dining.

Before the pandemic, he was never a fan of social media — it takes up too much time, he said. But he has been posting more of late. In March, he published a photo to Instagram of himself on a communal walk to stand against Asian hate, with the gentle caption, "How's that for perfect exercise?" It was one of the first times he used his account for activism.

"The disadvantage of us Asians," he said, is that "we don't like to make noise."

Despite his on-camera bravado, Mr. Yan considers himself a quiet person. It's easier to give in to the model-minority myth and put one's head down, he said; but more Asian Americans, himself included, should be speaking out.

He followed the upheavals in the food media last summer, most notably the resignation of Adam Rapoport as editor in chief of Bon Appétit, after a photo surfaced of him dressed in an offensive costume.

"I think you and I, all of us in the media, would like to see change faster," Mr. Yan said. "But the problem is that will never happen." So, he reasons, it's best to be happy with whatever shifts do occur.

He pointed to the success of other Asian American chefs like Brandon Jew and Ming Tsai as proof that there has been plenty of advancement.

"They are bringing Asian food to another level," in a way he was not able to, Mr. Yan said. When, in 2003, Mr. Tsai started hosting "Simply Ming" on PBS, Mr. Yan helped him find sponsors. When Mr. Jew's San Francisco Chinatown restaurant, Mister Jiu's, opened in 2016, Mr. Yan showed up with cleavers for the cooks.

"He is like the Jackie Robinson of Asians," said Mr. Jew, 41.

But these days Mr. Yan is not a household name in the same way as Jackie Robinson or Julia Child, who has inspired an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, a movie starring Meryl Streep and several biographies.

Both Child and Mr. Yan wrote best-selling cookbooks. Both have led fascinating lives. So where is Mr. Yan's movie?

A few of his former colleagues pointed to systemic racism as the reason. Mr. Yan disagreed, saying that Child, who lived on the East Coast, benefited from her proximity to the mainstream media.

But he also found the question to be flawed.

"If the public says, 'Oh, Martin, you are not as famous,' I really don't care,'" he said. After all, "how many people in our business can last as long as Martin Yan?"

What to Cook Right Now - The New York Times

Posted: 14 Jun 2021 07:30 AM PDT

Good morning. How are you holding up? It's wondrously strange, this feeling of reopening across the United States — crowded restaurant dining rooms, full flights, tight hugs with people we haven't seen in more than a year. We're excited and happy, nervous and maybe mournful, too. It was nice sometimes at home, in our pods. None of us missed social anxiety! Some of us have forgotten social cues.

But then: a home-cooked meal served in someone else's home or served to someone else, a maskless smile, the joy of communion with friends. It gets better. It's getting better. And good food helps.

We've got a lot of it, and timely to the season too. Nicole Taylor has a beautifully curated collection of recipes for the celebration of Juneteenth on Saturday. Take a spin through that this morning and see what you think. I know I want to make her strawberry slab pie (above), myself. (Nicole's cookbook for Juneteenth, "Watermelon and Red Birds," will be released by Simon & Schuster in 2022.)

Hetty McKinnon's new recipe for tzatziki potato salad is also worth a look, a fresh take on potato salad with its garlicky yogurt dressing, plus cucumbers and olives for surprising textures and tastes.

So is Naz Deravian's joojeh kabab ba holu, saffron chicken kababs with peaches, a twist on a classic Iranian dish with a simple saffron marinade, sliced onions, grilled cherry tomatoes and peaches served over lavash.

And I think you'll love Alexa Weibel's new recipe for hindbaersnitter, or raspberry slices, a beautiful Scandinavian butter cookie wrapped around raspberry jam.

Maybe you could make this Tuscan farro soup sometime soon and serve it to friends. Or this roasted chicken with caramelized carrots, a weeknight confit that yields enough oil to save for roasting vegetables later. And absolutely this spicy clam pasta with bacon, peas and basil, which to me tastes of summer at the shore.

Amid all this evening deliciousness, don't forget breakfast and lunch! A weekday French toast amandine is a beautiful thing. So, too, a midday sandwich of sliced radishes, butter and salt.

There are thousands of recipes that may work for you right now on New York Times Cooking. Subscribe today in order to access them all, and to use all the features on our site and apps, including our valuable guides to basic cooking skills (here's how to stock a modern pantry and how to make ice cream). Your subscriptions support our work. They allow it to continue.

We're here for you if anything goes wrong in your kitchen or on your screen. Just write the team at cookingcare@nytimes.com and someone will get back to you. Or write to me directly: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.

Now, it's nothing to do with tea cakes or salmon fillets, but it does have a lot to do with the reopening, and it's breathtaking in its beauty: "N.Y.C. Wakes Up," a collection of work made by 15 photographers under the age of 25, in The New York Times Magazine.

Here's Lucie Elven in The London Review of Books, on "I Used to Be Charming," a collection of the writer Eve Babitz's work from 1975 to 1997, in outlets ranging from The Times to "Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing." Good fun.

Laura Spinney is in The Guardian with a fascinating story about how a circus family made an elephant disappear.

Finally, here's some new music to play us off: José González, "Head On." Play that while you're cooking, and I'll be back on Wednesday.

The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Wild Game with Alcohol - Outdoor Life Magazine

Posted: 14 Jun 2021 11:16 AM PDT

My first career was working as a line cook at a restaurant. Back then, I didn't know much about cooking with alcohol, even though I was really accomplished at drinking it. Fact is, you can use all sorts of booze in different ways to cook a variety of wild game. It's not overly complicated and will enhance the taste of your meat. Here's how to cook your next wild game meal with alcohol.

Does Alcohol Burn Off During Cooking?

Cook with alcohol and it will bolster your wild game meat flavor profiles.
Cooking with alcohol will enhance the flavors of wild game. Jack Hennessey

Alcohol evaporates at 178°F, meaning once you start simmering a dish, alcohol starts burning off. However, a study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data lab found food baked or simmered in alcohol for 15 minutes still retains 40% of the alcohol. After an hour of cooking, 25% of the alcohol remains, and even after 2.5 hours there's still 5% of it.

The general consensus is it takes 3 hours of cooking between 180 to 325 degrees to fully evaporate alcohol, though the size of the cooking vessel plays a part. The larger the cookware, meaning larger surface area, the quicker alcohol will evaporate. And, of course, the hotter that surface area is, the faster evaporation occurs.

For example, a chardonnay cream sauce that is simmered for 1 hour will retain 25% of alcohol. Typically speaking, chardonnays don't go above 15%, so what remains is 3.75% alcohol. If you used two cups, that is basically like having a very-low-alcohol-content pint of beer present in your dish.

You should know some alcohol, in most cases, will remain after cooking. This may affect your decision as to what to serve and to whom. For me personally, remaining alcohol content is not something I worry about. My wife is pregnant and I have a 4-year-old daughter and I will use alcohol for cooking, but it's never a lot and if the spirit has a higher ABV (alcohol by volume), I am using very high heat initially and likely simmering for a half hour afterward.

Your Dish Should Never Taste Boozy

Use alcohol sparingly in your wild game dishes.
Used correctly, alcohol will enhance the flavor of your wild game meat.

Think of cooking with alcohol like you would an MLB umpire or NBA referee. Yes, we know they're there, but we should never have an adverse reaction to their presence. Same goes with alcohol—you know it's there, but it shouldn't overpower the main attraction, which is the delicious meal you're plating. In baking, it's a slightly different story. I've enjoy some boozy rum cakes in my time (but that isn't wild game, so it's not applicable here).

Deglaze Your Wild Game

In my kitchen, this is likely the most-often-used technique when it comes to cooking with alcohol. What is deglazing? It's using alcohol to sweep a skillet or pan of brown bits, fats, and sugars. The alcohol breaks loose fats and seared bits. It's like cleaning your pan or skillet but with delicious results. For example, searing strips of venison in a hot skillet will create brown textures on the bottom of the skillet. A quick douse of bourbon will loosen up those bits and bind them to the venison strips in an amazing glaze.

Deglazing is also the start of great sauces, gravy, soups, and stews. Every Thanksgiving I like to roast my turkey in a large pan and when the turkey is done roasting, I remove it and use a white wine—perhaps a cup—to pour in the roasting pan to pick up those delicious brown bits. That is the start of my gravy.

The alcohol you choose depends on your desired flavor profile. A general rule of thumb is darker alcohols go better with darker meat (e.g., bourbon with venison versus white wine with turkey). You only need a couple tablespoons worth to collect the brown bits. Yes, you can use more, depending on the recipe, but it doesn't take much alcohol to pull up those brown bits.

If you're using high-alcohol-content spirits, like bourbon, know that an open-flame burner can create bigger flames when you add alcohol that is flammable. The higher the proof, over 80, the easier it is to light on fire. You can turn off your burner and still deglaze your pan (the pan will be hot enough). Also, consider just pouring in a shot or two and using that to deglaze, versus pouring in the high-proof alcohol from the bottle—any bit of splashing may cause flames to soar. Once done deglazing, turn the burner back on.

Choice Matters When You're Cooking with Wine

How do you decide what wine to use? First, you need to know if you're requiring a dry red or fruity red; or a white, perhaps dry or fruity. If you're making a marinara sauce, what are you going for? Earthy tones to match earthy game? A dry red will work. But what bottle? My recommendation is always if you're going to enjoy drinking it, you're going to enjoy it in your dish. After all, chances are only 2 cups worth is going in the sauce (if that), while the rest is going in your glass.

There is a cream sauce I make for seared salmon, which my wife says is her favorite dish, but if I change the chardonnay to something she doesn't like—say a fruity, sweet pinot—she can tell I swapped in a different wine, and she doesn't hesitate to let me know about it. My point is, the flavor profiles will change with different types of wine, so use one that you (and more importantly your significant other) enjoy drinking.

The Versatility of Beer

Great for simmering brats or adding to barbecue sauce for an after-smoke venison ribs braise, beer can be used in a myriad of ways for cooking. For beer-battered fish, it's essential. Just like wine, choice does matter. An IPA is going to taste different in your cooking compared to a stout or pilsner. A light beer may compliment a dish while a darker, more flavorful beer, like an IPA, may vie for some of the spotlight. It's all a matter of what flavor profile you are going for and, just like wine, what you enjoy drinking.

Get Started with Bourbon and Whiskey

A fantastic choice for deglazing or as the start to a gravy or a stew, bourbon or whisky will leave behind traces of its innate flavor. This is something to consider when deciding what to pair your meat with. I'm a big proponent of starting a venison stew with a quality bourbon. You can also start your deer steaks with either of these. Don't go overboard though. You don't want the entire dish to taste like a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Gin Is Best For Seafood

Derived from juniper berries, cooking with gin adds distinct aromatic tones to your dish. It's a favorite in baking and best employed in lighter, warmer-weather dishes, something that may contain ample amounts of fresh herbs and vegetables. It's also popular for seafood, as I've seen it used in a few cured salmon recipes.

Tequila: The Versatile Spirit

Made from agave, tequila offers a sweeter tone to dishes. Flavor profiles will vary from lighter blanco variations to darker, smokier reposado offerings—properties that are important to consider when using for cooking. Lighter-colored tequilas may pair better with fish and white-flesh birds, while darker-color tequilas may boost flavor of darker meats, like big game or waterfowl. Still, it's your choice, and this is a fairly versatile spirit worth experimenting with.

Read Next: What's Better for Cooking Wild Game: The Grill or Cast Iron?

The Sweetness of Rum

Even sweeter than tequila since it's usually made with molasses, rum is most often used in baking but can be put to work in other savory and sweet recipes. The same rule of color applies: Aged and dark rums work well with strong flavors such as beef stews or pork, while white rums are often used for seafood or poultry.

Vodka Reveals Flavor Profiles

USe vodka like you would salt.
Vodka is similar to salt when used in cooking. Jack Hennessey

Some vodka lovers may disagree with me here, but the truth is Vodka is flavorless. Perhaps there are some differences when drinking it, but when it comes to cooking, vodka is used as an emulsifier and flavor unlock-er. According to Bart Saracino, co-owner of the Bartolino's Restaurants, "Vodka adds depth to a sauce both by pulling out additional flavor and concentrating others without adding a flavor of its own."

Vodka, through chemistry many of cooks will never understand, unlocks flavor potential in many ingredients, specifically those used in Italian cooking. It's similar to salt in terms of revealing depth of flavor, but in a different way and different form. Vodka is also a binder that prevents cream from separating, so it's perfect for pasta sauces involving both cream and acidic ingredients, like tomatoes (hence "Vodka sauce.")

Any questions or comments, reach out to the author on Instagram @WildGameJack.

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Hillsborough County cooking show teaches seniors how to 'Eat Well, Age Well' - ABC Action News

Posted: 14 Jun 2021 04:27 AM PDT

TAMPA, Fla. — During the pandemic, Hillsborough County Aging Services started their own online cooking show to help seniors eat healthier by learning to cook their own meals.

The program, "Eat Well, Age Well," has slowly built up a loyal fan base, as viewers try things in the kitchen they never thought of before.

Hillsborough County Dietician Brian Taylor isn't trying to compete with the Food Network. In fact, it's the exact opposite.

"If you watch some of these fancy cooking shows they have so many great recipes but these ingredients are very fancy that you might only use once, and more or less expensive," said Taylor, who hosts the show.

Taylor's goal is five or fewer ingredients that are most likely already in your pantry.

"Very simple recipes that everybody can do, try to keep the recipes under $5 when possible, it's an interactive fun way to get our clients involved in cooking," said Taylor.

Eat Well, Age Well airs at 11 a.m. on the third Friday of every month. It's specifically aimed to help seniors, living alone, who may have fallen into some unhealthy habits.

"Being by yourself or as we get older sometimes we tend to eat a little more fast food or processed food which is high in salt, high in sugar, high in fat," said Taylor.

When Taylor isn't telling his dad jokes, he's updating his viewers on what makes the meals taste good, but even more importantly, why they are good for you.

"You're never too old to start eating healthy," said Taylor.

Whether it's the food, the chef hats, or maybe the singing, Taylor is gaining popularity. During any given segment there could be up to 60 people watching, like Carolyn Stafford.

"When his presentation is over, 'we want more, we want more,' we really love him, we love what he does for us," said Stafford.

Taylor also encourages feedback from the viewers, especially when they laugh at his jokes.

"Almost like family, sitting around your kitchen table watching you cook, and just contributing, they tell stories about what they made and it's just a good way to get people involved," said Taylor

Eat Well, Age Well is done over Zoom and is free to watch. For more information on how to get the link go to HCFLGov.net/Aging or call 813-272-5250.


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