No Recipes – Techniques, inspiration and cooking tips from my Japanese kitchen

Ebi Chili

Ebi Chili (エビチリ) is a Chinese-style Japanese dish created by Chen Kenmin in the 1950′s. Chen, originally from the Sichuan province in China emigrated to Japan, opening Shisen Hanten (Sichuan Restaurant) in 1958. He later went on to introduce Chinese dishes to households all over Japan through TV appearances on NHK. While there were many [...]

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Chicken Piccata

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I realize I’m dating myself a little here (and giving you a glimpse into my maturity level), but whenever I hear the word Piccata, I can’t help but lift my shirt over my head, raise my hands in the air and quote the great philosopher Beavis: “I am Cornholio, I need Piccata for my bung-hole!”. [...]

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How to Poach an Egg

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Last week I demystified the process of making scrambled eggs using a bit of science. This week over at PBS, I’ve outlined the process for making the perfect poached egg. Whether you like your yolks runny or firm, this process should get you the exactly what you want with most if not all of the [...]

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Spring Roll

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Like their thicker skinned cousin the egg roll, spring rolls are a popular staple at Chinese-American restaurants. As a kid, I never much cared for either variety because there was often more wrapper than filling and what meager filling they held tasted more like tired fryer oil than anything else. All that changed while I [...]

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The House in Hong Kong

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Walking through the doors of The Upper House, life slows down a beat or two. The minuscule lobby is more like a decompression chamber to shed a little energy before taking a serene ride up an escalator designed to mimic a row of torrii gates. There is no front desk in the traditional sense because [...]

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Dueling Wontons

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When I mentioned on Twitter that I’d be heading to Hong Kong for a few days, the food recommendations came pouring in. Everyone had a favorite, but the one place I consistently heard as a must-go spot was Mak’s Noodle for their Wonton Noodles. It’s a third generation Hong Kong institution and while the one [...]

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