Viet World Kitchen

May Flowers: Happy Cooks, Glowing Reviews

Not long ago my mother remarked, “You do noble work.” I interpreted it as a mixture of maternal pride and understanding about my financial outlook. My career in food writing has at times stunned and miffed my parents. They did not  know how things would develop after I wrote Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It was clear that I was capable of feeding myself, but could I afford to pay for my ingredients?

My four siblings have lucrative, conventional careers in medicine and law. Everyone thought I was destined for international business or banking, but I didn’t exactly end up among the 1%. “That’s okay,” Mom continued. “What’s important is that you are happy.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about her comments because one of the popular topics these days among food writers is how can we maintain viable careers. Amanda Hesser recently offered a reality check to future food writers. Monica Bhide revealed her personal frustrations and discussed tips for crafting a realistic food writing career. Dianne Jacob’s blog is a rich source of sensible advice for aspiring writers.

I didn’t start writing about food expecting to buy a vacation home in the Bahamas. I wanted to write about food traditions and techniques that I felt had not been presented well enough in print. That said, there are late nights when I’m cleaning my kitchen or looking up words in my Vietnamese and Chinese dictionaries that I wonder, “Why am I doing this?” 

In the last couple of weeks, a number of interesting people and great things have passed through my life to remind of why I enjoy my work:

How to Make Asian Dumplings without Eggs or Pork

I haven’t had the chance to make a new dumpling to share with you, but I have been fielding email queries from cooks interested in making Asian dumplings. Over the weekend, I received a question that you may either ponder about or have solutions to. This came from Meghan in Indiana:

I was wondering if it is possible to make dumplings, or pot stickers, without egg yolks? I am allergic to egg yolks...and pork actually. That's not a big deal though because I could always add beef or chicken, etc.. but I do need to know about the egg. I'm not allergic to egg whites and it does actually work in most recipes that I've tried. I would really appreciate it if you could let me know. Thanks!

Eggs and pork play marvelous roles in Asian cooking but can you do without them in dumplings? Yes, indeed!

After I wrote back to Meghan, I figured that I’d organize and expand my tips to her in a post. If you have the same allergy or want to avoid eggs for some reasons, these suggestions may help your adventures in dumpling making: (page number references are for the Asian Dumplings cookbook)

The general lowdown & DIY dumpling wrappers
Most Asian dumpling wrappers don’t contain egg. I’ve seen recipes online and elsewhere that incorporate egg into the dough and that’s not necessary for all dumplings, especially popular pot stickers. Just check packaged wrappers sold at a market and read the ingredient label.

Real Men Make Tofu, Pho and More

One of the bestsellers in the early 1980s was a book called Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche. The 1982 work gave rise to the term quiche-eater, which connoted a man who had elite tastes in food and clothing, brought flowers to his date, knew how to make, pronounce, and/or enjoy quiche. (Hey, that sounds like the man I married!)

The concept of the metrosexual male wasn’t around yet. What a difference [gulp] thirty years make. If you look at who’s into fashion, food, and Whole Foods these days, you’ll see a lot of men. According to an Adweek article last September, there’s a growing number of men cooking and watching food television. While women still comprise a large number of food blog readers and cooks, men are weighing in online at food sites and taking on a larger portion of the home cooking duties.

In my corner of the food world, I’ve noticed a bit of this shift. It has been wonderfully surprising.

Soon after Asian Tofu came out, I got a message from James Glucksman of the Pen-y-bryn Lodge in New Zealand. He’d listened to my radio interview on NPR’s Splendid Table, immediately downloaded the tofu ebook, and started making tofu from scratch. James used to live in Beijing and was without good fresh tofu in the area where he currently resided. We emailed about sourcing coagulants, and he kept me abreast of his progress via email and Facebook. 

James was so enthralled that he initiated a great eGullet discussion on making tofu and using the book. One of the eGullet contributors was a blogger named The Tin Cook, who was also among the first responders to the tofu book. 

Stir-Fried Green Garlic and Chinese Sweet Sausage Recipe

This is one of those dishes that has haunted and taunted my palate for a few years. It’s dead simple, just a handful of ingredients are involved. Unfortunately the main ingredient is a fleeting seasonal vegetable --  garlic scapes that are not often sold in the United States. Slender with a mild sweet garlic flavor, the garlic flower stalks are thinly sliced and then stir-fried with bits of Chinese bacon.

I first had the preparation in October 2009 at the Din Tai Fung at the World Square Shopping Center in Sydney, Australia. It was a great sidekick to an order of xiao long bao Shanghai soup dumplings. The restaurant used the jade colored scapes, which are typically trimmed by farmers to foster bulb growth, per food writer Molly Watson. It was spring in Australia and I took that taste memory back to California, where six months later in 2010, I got to enjoy another spring.

I started looking for garlic scapes at Chinese markets and over the years, have found them a couple of times, once at Ranch 99 in Milpitas, California. The stalks were sold as long thin bundles of 1/4 to 1/3-inch thick green cords. However, I was disappointed by their lackluster flavor. Maybe not enough people buy them or know about them. The ones I’ve found tended to be borderline over the hill. The little stir-fry eluded me.