"If you have white meats like chicken or pork you need to use lighter woods for smoking. White meats have a more subtle flavor than red meats such as beef or lamb. Choosing lighter woods, therefore, means you're not overpowering the qualities of the meat itself, but complementing it with an appropriately delicate wood-flavor."
Though they were only serving in town for one night, the chefs and staff behind the Mexico City supernova Masala y Maíz managed to cause what felt like a temporary ripple in L.A. dining during their pop-up last week. It reminded this diner that despite the era's current dedication to culinary and cultural boundaries - you should only cook what you know, write what you know - a spirit of mixture and melding can actually lead to something extraordinary, and not cringey, in practice.
It is a side dish that has main-character energy. Think about it. You put bacon in ice-cream and it is the bacon that sings. You use candied bacon as a cocktail garnish, and suddenly that is all anyone's talking about. But, while all bacon is great, some bacon is just greater than others. If you disagree, try some Chinese-style bacon called Lap Yuk or La Rou.
Characterized by bold and balanced notes of heat and sourness, southwestern Chinese cooking has been influenced by the many ethnic groups that call the region home, including the Miao, Dong, and Buyi peoples. Hengry's dishes come straight from Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, where Au's family owned a restaurant in the early '90s.
If you've followed David Chang over the years, you know he really loves fried chicken - and to many people's surprise, he thinks fried chicken doesn't get much better than at McDonald's in China. This may be a mind-blowing pick, but Chang has never been shy about his appreciation for chain fried chicken. He's a documented fan of Popeye's, and heaped massive praise on China's local KFCs during an episode of his show "Ugly Delicious" dedicated entirely to fried chicken.
Ready in just over 30 minutes, these meatballs are easily assembled by hand using a combination of aromatic ingredients such as turmeric, coconut, ginger, lemongrass, and cilantro. The inclusion of fresh bread, egg, and shredded coconut ensures that the ground chicken stays wonderfully succulent as the meatballs are broiled to perfection, offering a little smokiness and char action. The chicken meatballs are served alongside a quick-to-assemble peanut dipping sauce, adding a rich, creamy counter that perfectly complements the other flavors in the dish.
The most flavorful part of a pig has got to be bacon, which typically comes from the pork belly. Nothing activates those salivary glands quite like that perfect ratio of fat and lean meat, especially when it's sizzling in a skillet. It can enhance the flavor of everything from burgers and baked potatoes to soups and salads, but you might wonder how this meaty morsel itself could be made even tastier. The answer - give it a Korean twist.
By using the whole chicken, my aunt maximizes the flavor of the broth while also cooking the meat that serves as the dish's protein, rather than the sliced beef, tripe, and meatballs found in aromatic beef phở recipes. Her homemade phở broth is truly a labor of love. It's rich and aromatic, full of flavor, and umami rendered from the whole chicken as it cooks. The bones give the broth depth of flavor, while the fats, cartilage, and meat bring richness.
Flushing doesn't need another restaurant to prove it's a food destination-but it just got one anyway. Nong Geng Ji, a Hunan cuisine group that built its name in China, will open its first New York City location in Queens on January 18, bringing unique countryside-rooted flavors to 37th Avenue. Founded in 2017, the brand has quickly expanded to more than 100 directly operated restaurants across China, Southeast Asia and Canada.
Pull on the biang biang noodles at Xi'an Gourmet House, and you'll find they extend as long as you are tall. This all-day restaurant tucked in Midtown serves hot bowls of soup, dumplings, and noodles with a core focus on the Xi'an region in China. It's the place to hide out for a cozy lunch with a friend or a warm dinner well into the evening. With most dishes under $15, this no-fuss spot delivers on precise regional flavors and chill vibes.
Stir-frying is all about wok hei, or wok's air' in English, which you can think of as the height of fire', or the level of heat. It's said that Chinese cooks have good wok hei if they have a true understanding of the heat of their wok and how to handle it in all situations, and a stir-fry's success is based on the quality of the cook's wok hei.
This spicy wonton soup recipe, developed with Michelle McGlinn, uses just five ingredients you likely have lying around already, especially if you frequently make Asian-inspired cuisines. Inspired by the spicy, silky wontons at Chinese dim sum restaurants, this soup is the perfect combination of fiery heat and meaty savoriness, complete with crunchy green scallions. A warming soup that is even better (and cheaper) than takeout, this wonton soup makes even the busiest weeknights feel like a breeze.
Christmas is lovely, but my kids think Chinese new year is by far the best holiday. I might be biased, but, unusually, I am inclined to agree with them. As my eldest puts it, New clothes, cash, booze and food what's not to love? There's the added bonus that cash is absolutely more than acceptable in fact, it's de rigueur, so there's no shopping for mundane socks and smelly candles. Chinese new year is full of rituals and, just as at Christmas, every family has its own, but they are all variations on a theme. Symbolism looms large in Chinese culture, and at new year it centres around messages of prosperity, luck and family.
Each month, our staff shares unfussy recipe ideas that you can call upon any day of the week. Because yes, our editors love to cook, but sometimes we need to get dinner on the table 12 minutes ago. That's when we look to kitchen helpers, humble ingredients that can quickly turn into delicious meals. This month, it's all about store-bought dumplings.
