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Family chefs cook up dining delights
If you fancy yourself as a bit of a gulping gourmet and are rather partial to a bit of chopping and mixing, stirring and frying, you might be interested to see how your creations on the kitchen stove are served up alongside those of other home cooks. This is what is being laid on tables at the family cook show in Beijing, where 90 budding chefs have been chopped down to just three finalists who are heating up their woks for the last course on Saturday at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. The three emerged from 18 in the last round, who spent two hours cooking up their favourite dishes early this month at the Zhoupopo restaurant. "All 18 contestants showed high levels of cooking skills and some of them were nothing short of professionals," said Wang Haidong, one of the judges. Yang Yuchun, one of the finalists, finished her gastronomic delight the first, which she calls "mermaid." The main ingredients were grass carp, mushrooms, Chinese prickly ash, agaric (another kind of mushroom), carrot and potato. "It shouldn't take too long to cook a family meal, so the dish I made was easy," said Yang, in her 30s. She first deep-fries the fish. All other ingredients are then stir-fried together in soy bean sauce, cooking wine and white pepper powder. Finally, it all gets poured over the fish. The three judges, all well-known master chefs, were immediately impressed with the presentation of the "mermaid." "This dish is brightly coloured and really does have the sense of a beautiful mermaid," said Qu Hao, one of the three judges. Yang had placed the fish diagonally across a square plate and filled both empty corners with small steamed buns. Yang has cooked as a hobby since she was a little girl. But as a grown-up, busy saleswoman she cannot afford the time to devote to her favourite pastime, especially during the week. She tries to make up for it in the holidays and at weekends, always keen to try new flavours. "Today's dish was in fact an accident," says Yang. "Once I wanted to cook my favourite fish dish but there was no time to go shopping so I had to use up what was in the refrigerator. "I think I found a green pepper, an old carrot and a few other things. "This dish is great because you can use anything with it - cucumber, cabbage, tomatoes - whatever you have." She says cooking should not have any fixed rules - each dish should simply be cooked with whichever ingredients there are and whatever cooking method is chosen. "Whenever I think of a new way of cooking, I will try it. Winning the praise of my family is always the best reward," she said. "The dish is not just pleasing to the eye, but also very substantial," said Qu. "One dish will be enough for a family meal." But what about the most important thing - taste? "It is well flavoured and tastes sweet, sour, salty and spicy," said Qu. "The fish is tender, which shows that Yang has controlled the oil temperature and frying time well," said the second judge, Wang Haiwei. "Honestly, this dish could easily be placed on the table at a good restaurant." Oblivious to the comments of the judges, Yang could only sit and watch her rivals' cooking capabilities. Like Yang, most family cooks stray from convention. There were many dishes judges had never heard of, let alone tasted. Some used traditional recipes but changed them for health reasons. "Kung-pao tofu" was a creation of Chang Li's. Kung-pao chicken is a well-known spicy Sichuan dish made with diced chicken, peanuts and chili peppers. But during the recent outbreak of bird flu in China, people became wary of eating chicken - so Chang replaced the meat with tofu. "Tofu is easy to prepare. And more importantly, there's no need to worry about bird flu," she said. First, she deep fried the diced tofu in oil for about five minutes, until golden. Then she stir fried it with dried red chili peppers, skinless roasted peanuts, ginger, garlic and soy sauce. Possibly the simplest recipe of all competing chefs, Chang still felt confident about her dish. "It's a family cooking competition, so there shouldn't be too many ingredients involved," she said. "I only know that my family likes this dish very much." The age span of the 18 contestants joining last weekend's competition was huge. There were young people, fashionable yuppies and house wives. There were also men in their sixties and seventies. With his hair dyed blond, arms tattooed and trendy MP3 hanging round his neck, 20-year-old Cheng Qiang looked more like a rock star than a family cook. The dishes he brought to the competition were also very different from the norm. "Mine is Western food, called 'chicken Caesar salad,'" Cheng said. This is a very simple cold dish, of skinned, boned chicken fillets chopped up with crispy greens, cherry tomatoes and finely sliced carrots - tossed with a special dressing. A DJ at a Western food restaurant, Cheng is familiar with Western food. He says he likes cooking - not what you might expect from someone of his generation. "Sometimes when my parents come home late, I make dinner for them," he said. "I often invite my friends over and cook for them. "For my peers and friends, Western fast food places like KFC and McDonald's don't satisfy tastes any more." Cheng says his creations have always gone down well with friends, even though he does not stick rigidly to cookery books, instead using what he and his friends are in the mood for at the time. Others are determined to stick to traditional cooking methods. In his 70s, veteran cook Zhu Hongyou still cooks as his family has always done. For the contest, he cooked "egg dumpling," a complex cooking procedure which would try the patience of the most experienced chef. Holding a small iron ladle over the fire, Zhu carefully spreads a little mixed-up egg on it, layer after layer. They will be used as dumpling wrappers. Zhu says he doesn't mind the rather complicated procedure and managed to keep a smile on his face as he cooked. "It's no trouble at all. On the contrary, we have a nice time at home as I prepare the dish," said Zhu. He pointed out the nutritional value of the dumpling filling. "It contains all kinds of protein the body needs - such as plant protein in the green soya bean, animal protein in the meat, and fibrin protein in the carrot," he said. Today's restaurant scene boasts a plethora of flavours to suit all tastes - but there never seems to be enough. "In my kitchen, I can create flavours you would never taste outside," says Yang Yuchun. And it would seem she is only one of many experimenting cooks who feel the same.
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