I ponder this on a regular basis. Doesn't something become modern the moment you prepare it because you can't exactly replicate the experience of the past? Also, modern approaches for me mean using cooking implements like food processors and maybe reducing the amount of fat, salt, or sugar in dishes. However, it doesn't mean letting go of or forgetting the past.
Simon Bao sent me his observations from watching recent episodes of Top Chef. As usual, Simon's acerbic wit makes for a terrific read. Take a look and let us all know your thoughts:
What is Modern Asian Cuisine? Well... I'm confident that there are a
few chefs out there who do actually have a meaningful definition of
that. As there once were meaningful definitions of Fusion and
Pan-Asian and Pacific-Rim.But... you KNOW what happens with these phrases.
Let
me give you a fast run-down on the most alarming Modern Asian Cuisine
that the American public will have seen all year. Read this when you
have a few free moments, you'll really want to catch what happened.Three
chefs were on one team, and all three have backgrounds in "Asian
Cuisine." One, Dale Talde, is a sous chef at Buddakan. Another, Spike
Mendelsohn, was chef de cuisine at Mai House and claims to have studied
Viet cuisine for 2 years. (He's the guy who made the Apples & Fish
Goi Cuon.) Another, Lisa Fernandes, has worked in NYC at Asia de Cuba,
Rain, and Public.So
for the Restaurant Wars challenge, those 3 decided to name their
(one-night-only) restaurant Mai Buddha, and to feature their best takes
on "Modern Asian Cuisine."For appetizer, Dale Talde came up with Butterscotch Miso Scallops.
Some seared scallops sauced with something made from caramelized sugar,
scotch whisky, butter, and buckets of blond miso paste. With lots more
miso paste right on the plate. People thought it was disgusting, and
was a major reason he was eliminated. The scallops were plated with
some pickled long beans.Lisa's starter course was a Spicy Coconut Laksa with Grilled Prawns & Vermicelli.
It almost looks like a usual Laksa except... she made the broth from
the carcasses of smoked chickens. Just sniffing the aroma of the soup
was compared to sticking one's face over a camp fire. I've asked
around, whether there are any forms of Laksa that are ever made with a
smoked chicken broth, or broth from any kind of smoked animal, so far
no one has said they've heard of that. The smokiness almost got Lisa
eliminated.There were bitter disputes over the entree, Braised Short Ribs with Pickled Red Cabbage & Apple Basil Thai Salad.
Spike took credit for it, Dale disputed that, Spike said well it was
his recipe, Dale said he did all the work. In any case, it was short
ribs braised in a not very Asian liquid, served with almost none at all
of the non-Asian pickled red cabbage, and a salad that turned out to be
just julienned Granny Smith apples and chopped Thai basil. That's it.Lisa's dessert offering was Thai Mango Sticky Rice with Toasted Coconut,
and it almost got her sent off in disgrace. They didn't use Sticky
Rice for it, Dale found something on a supermarket shelf and handed it
to Lisa, telling her "Here, they use this for dessert." No one knows
what kind of rice it was, but it wasn't Sticky Rice. The liquids used
in cooking and plating the rice, garnished with toasted coconut, caused
one diner to say it was like "Baby vomit with wood chips."Dale Talde's dessert was a Filipino green avocado Halo Halo with Cantelope. There were no great complaints about that, except that he'd put in avocados with extensive brown, spoiled areas on them.
So,
that's what Modern Asian Cuisine is. People surrendering to the
temptation to always make the proteins the centerpiece and overwhelming
majority of what's eaten. General neglect of the vegetables, neglect
of the salad plate or fresh herbs. A missed opportunity to present
diners with even just a little black rice or red rice as the bed for
that braised beef. No notion of plating the beef with a fast stir-fry
of (pre-blanched) "Vegetable Medley" to at least represent the cuisines
they're drawing from.So, the Mai Buddha team lost, there were recriminations and accusations all over the place.
And I despair of what viewers are going to think of "Asian
Cuisine."🙂
Oh,
and it may or may not be connected, but after his incredibly dismal
performance on Top Chef, Spike Mendelsohn is no longer chef de cuisine
at Mai House. Rumors fly of harsh and ugly words on the sidewalk, high
drama, anger and bitterness vented in public, between Nieporent and
"Chef Spike."Oddly enough, Lisa Fernandes of the smoky Laksa and baby vomit sticky rice is now chef de cuisine at Mai House.
Troi oi. [OMIGOD in Vietnamese] 🙂
Nate says
You're right. Modern doesn't necessarily mean fusion. It has something to do with the use of modern cooking implements, true. But I think it also has something to do with using the ingredients available to you at the time you make it, because not everyone has the exact ingredient that the "old country" recipe calls for on hand.
It's the best interpretation of an old favorite using modern techniques and ingredients.
Robyn says
What I take from Simon's description of the show is that you had several chefs who have little to no understanding of the fundamentals of ANY Asian cuisine. And that was to root of the problem. To do 'modern' Asian cuisine (however you want to define it) well I would think you'd need to know what 'traditional' Asian cuisine is.
As an aside, I hate that term: 'Asian Cuisine'. To me it sounds just about as useful as 'European Cuisine'. I'd no more want to eat at a restaurant offering 'Asian Cuisin
Anonymous says
Robyn, I'll have your back on that point, and it's the same analogy I use when discouraging people from saying "Asian Cuisine." "European Cuisine" is a silly phrase, but "Asian Cuisine" is even sillier.
I'd probably live with the phrase "Modern Asian Cuisine," IF it could be defined, IF the definition is meaningful and useful and distinguished whatever one is plating here from the stuff other folks are plating over there. IF the definition doesn't pretend there's some single, monolithic (and n
SimonBao says
Apologies, that above message got posted without me identifying myself or signing... -simon
SimonBao says
Andrea, you did hit the nail with a few of the "modifications" that probably belong in anyone's Modern Asian Cuisines.
* Taking full advantage of all the kitchen equipment and tools
* Modifying fats and sodium and sugar, to account for some very "Modern" health issue of some very "Modern" diners. If anyone knows some adult VietnAmericans, over the age of 45, you already know The People of The Pills. Vietnamese with pill bottles all over the dining room and kitchen. Folks with very high inci
Andrea Nguyen says
Heh, heh. I was in Vietnam recently and the people I was visiting used a blender to make a fresh tomato sauce. Then they opened up a number of bottled sauces to add to that sauce. I was somewhat surprised/aghast but the results were tasty.
Then they sat on the floor -- atop some really really really low stools that are about 4 inches off the ground -- to clean fresh herbs. I figured I'd been doing enough yoga to join them. My friends -- I BARELY was able to get down low enough to squat like that
Al says
We may actually have too many options.
Classics are born of restraint.
If you combine everything into one, what DO you call it.
steamy kitchen says
To me, Modern Asian is very meaningful. I'm Chinese, born in HK but grew up in North Platte Nebraska, where Asian food was chop suey. My kids are half Chinese and half Caucasian. We eat all kinds of Asian foods, Malaysian, Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc. Sometimes we mix things up b/c of what I can find at the local markets or just what I have in the house.
Sure, there are purists - and that is wonderful. But we live in a world where things change. People's tastes evolve. The world is getting
Simon Bao says
Al asked, "If you combine everything into one, what DO you call it."
Al, I'm going to be very *uncharacteristically* Confucian for a moment, and suggest that there really can be great value in The Rectification of Names.
“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success."
IF a person is going to label something - and most of the time, that may not be a useful thing
Al says
Simon -
Truly! A few well-defined words can bring order from chaos.
"Modern" and "Traditional" can be defined, albeit with lots of wiggle room.
"Asian" and "Authentic" are hopelessly vague in the context of food.
My definition of "Fusion" is anything sprinkled with roe and served with a raspberry coulis and a mango glaze.
It is much easier to eat food than to talk about it.
Talking and eating are both fun.
The thing that makes discussing food so difficult is that it lacks "orthogonality." There
Andrea Nguyen says
I often times think that restaurateurs and chefs use the term "modern" to imply that they're not sticking to old-fashioned approaches. In the Viet restaurant world, it liberates people to invent new dishes, and it also shields them from hardliners who may critique. However, there are few modern Viet restaurants where the modern cuisine is good tasting. I'm left to ponder if modern Vietnamese is a way to say that I don't know nor care about the classic approaches?
Last week, I went to P*Ong in NY
Joel says
Neil Perry in his "Simply Asian" cookbook stated that he would spend time absorbing traditional Asian countries' cuisines in order to prepare Asian dishes. He does mention senseless mixing of "pan-Asian" cooking does not make proper dishes because the mixing of flavours only make things confusing.
In fact, in much of Asia people would talk "Western cuisine" (eg Sai chaan in Cantonese) by lumping "all cuisines that are eaten using fork and knife). A HK-based cultural pundit Leung Man-tao lament
Al says
After reading Jen Lin-Liu's "Serve the People" I have been looking at Jereme Leung's "New Shanghai Cuisine."
He uses lots of modern tricks for textures and presentations, but, as far as I can tell, does not veer far from traditional Chinese/Shanghainese ingredients and techniques. This is very modern, but not fusion, unless you consider the variations in presentation to be "foreign."
I always enjoy Edmond Ho's photos.
Coach Outlet Sales says
which last week chose his younger Chorus Line co-star Nick Adams over him as the face of their new campaign, People Magazine has named former Saved by the Bell star the hasddddottest bachelor of them all.
aaa
tiptliaxign says
For First Vintage Chanel Purses Chanel is style manufacturer which has been lengthy linked with luxurious andmany others, there now lies a simple alternative to the website, and that's, the official Chanel online retail outlet thatwidespread, there ought to be lots of dealers, sellers, purchasers etcetera.Only factors which you have to be mindful chanel outlet browsing practical experience, sitting at your home way too! And in reality, a lot of women favor this choice mainly because it's ahas
burefruinge says
entrance flyer to keep this bird from gaining overtiredAnother reason for the V-formation is usually that this enables spyder ski jackets regarded as awe-inspiring to these assembledThe birder needed for being assured that all birds are goodIt's the
obestetsDet says
estimated that about one Million geese migrate to Illinois through winterPonds and lakes can also be called residencethe birth of Jesus Christ and spending time with liked ones Christmas is now one of several most anticipatedknock-off coat Montgomery showed how the supposedly goose-down-filled jacket contained feathers of somethe day go by faster1246s are safe sufficient for construction electrical operate and operating with oil gas oran additional mateThey are extremely dedicated to one another
marlon says
It has something to do with the use of modern cooking implements, true. But I think it also has something to do with using the ingredients available to you at the time you make it.