Sitting over a bowl of steaming noodles and reading Saveur magazine, I was drawn into an article about Grace Young and her new book, The Breath of a Wok - Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes & Lore.
I was intrigued by the title and concept that wok cooking imparts breath, life & spirit into food – called wok hay.
As a child Grace remembers family dinners in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Her father knew all the best chefs, and it was his nature to stroll into the restaurant’s kitchen and ask the chef what was good that day. “A reserved man, he rarely displayed his emotions, but those visits to the kitchen always charged him with an infectious excitement. ‘I asked the chef to give us extra wok hay tonight,’ he would tell us.” They always sat at the table near the kitchen, usually the least desired section, because her father always wanted the least amount of time to pass for the food to get from the wok to his mouth – afterall, wok hay only lingers for a few minutes.
My next day off I purchased the book and quickly made my way to the car, clutching it close, as if the book’s "wok hay" might start to fade. Within days I received an email about the next Slow Food event featuring Grace Young. Ah, it was fate, I tell you – and that’s how I found Grace.
Slow Food Event
Grace is one of those trailblazing women that inspire the culinary world. Her presentation emulated her book – she brought to life the Chinese people, their culinary traditions and history. The Breath of a Wok is important, timely, and a great read - the smells literally leap off the page with each recipe.
The Interview
Grace graciously lingered with me after the Slow Food Event to talk about her career, the new book, and what inspires her.
Our impromptu interview without a tape recorder lead to what can only be described as my “hen scratchings in the dark” – I ask the reader to forgive any discrepancies in my paraphrasing.
KM: When did you start writing cookbooks?
GY: “I got this great job in New York City at Time Life Books. I worked for seventeen years as the Test Kitchen Director & the Director of Food Photography in New York. I wrote over 40 cookbooks, but it wasn’t until 1996 when I began writing my first book, The Wisdom of a Chinese Kitchen – Classic Family Recipes for Celebration and Healing, that I wanted to record Chinese recipes and traditions as a gift for my family. My first book [is filled with] great stories of how the Chinese approach cooking.
KM: How did the idea for this book came about?
GY: “I wanted to educate Americans on stir-fries.” In the book she explains, “For the Chinese, a stir-fry is a revered dish – the quintessential balance of flavor, texture, and unique seared aroma.” She added that so many Chinese-Americans don’t know how to use a wok; the traditions, recipes and techniques are not being passed down to them. So much of the time it is assumed that the new generations somehow just know. We have been using the wok for 2000 years, and we now run the risk of the tradition not being carried on. “[In the beginning] I didn’t understand how to use a wok – if you don’t have someone to show you, it can be intimidating, you feel a lack of confidence. I wrote this book to answer all the questions I had – basically an ‘everything you need to know about wok cooking but are afraid to ask.’”
KM: Which is your favorite story or experience from the book?
GY: “The story about the 150 pounds of rice.” (Note: As a student in China in 1955, Dr. Kam Toa Miu cooked rice in a wok for 140 people twice a day. He describes the experience of needing the help of another strong, young man to fill the enormous wok with water until it looked like a swimming pool.) After that interview while writing about the experience, Grace realized that 150 pounds of rice twice a day to feed 140 people just didn’t seem correct. She contacted Dr. Miu for clarification. He explained, “In those days we ate about a pound of rice at each meal, with very little else to eat. In later years, with constant food shortages, we were lucky to have four ounces of rice each day.” Grace continued, “It was a powerful understanding that I didn’t have before about the Chinese experience.” The wok is all-inclusive. It “is not just a vessel to stir-fry in – it’s used for everything. It’s used to make rice – it’s so basic. As a Chinese-American I had one foot in China and the other in America.” This project “fused both sides of my life together.”
KM: Who influenced you in your early culinary life?
GY: “Julia Child. When I was 12 or 13 I saw her on tv and was mesmerized. Every week I sent a self-addressed stamped envelope to WGBH in Boston for the weekly recipe.” As a child Grace had only eaten Chinese food, so she wanted to latch onto anything other than that. At a local book signing for Julia, Grace showed up with a group of well-suited ladies carrying hard-covered Mastering the Art of French Cooking books. “Here I was with my old paperback The French Chef book.” Both Julia and her husband signed her copy. They were both so gracious and wonderful.
At the age of thirteen “I studied French cuisine with Josephine Araldo. I studied food styling with Stevie Bass – I loved food styling – I couldn’t believe you could make a living at it.”
KM: Whom do you read?
GY: The Best Food Writing essays are interesting to see. (Note: Every year Best Food Writing assembles the most exceptional writing from all types of culinary publications.)
EB White Essays. (Note: The classic collection by one of the greatest essayists of our time. Washington Post says, “Some of the finest examples of contemporary, genuinely American prose… White’s creative, humane, and graceful perceptions are an education for the sensibilities.”)
Colson Whitehead’s Colossus of New York (Note: “A dazzlingly original work of nonfiction… Here is a literary love song that will entrance anyone who has lived in – or spent time – in the greatest of American cities.”)
KM: What is your favorite Chinese food and wine pairing?
GY: “In New York there is this restaurant called Danny Ing. They make this fabulous dish called Cheesy Lobster – It’s fabulous – you wouldn’t know there is any cheese in it – it’s so over the top. It’s great with Pinot Grigio.”
Exhibition
Wok Hay: The Breath of a Wok Exhibition chronicles Grace & Alan’s journey through the kitchens of China “at a time when traditional Chinese culinary culture is endangered in America, and increasingly compromised in China.” The exhibition includes wonderful photographs by Alan Richardson, text by Grace Young, and unique displays of different styles of woks and traditional Chinese stoves, films and lectures. The exhibit is currently in the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Gallery at New York University, and shows through December. The exhibit arrives at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden in Oregon in February 2005.
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