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CHINESE FOOD | CLAY POT COOKING
Chinese Clay Pot Pork Ribs, Fully Loaded Fried Rice & Sweet n’ Sour Chicken.
A Chinese Take-Out done at home with all the flavor at a tenth the cost
During my time as a professional chef, I worked in a hotel kitchen whose breakfast brigade was run by a tiny Chinese woman named Mrs. Kim, although everyone referred to her as “Mama.” Behind her oversized glasses, she wore turquoise eye shadow and had a small mouth painted in ruby-red lipstick. Whenever I spoke to her, she responded with a brilliant smile and spoke broken English with the sing-song voice of a small bird.
Everyone loved Mama.
Her team consisted of two other, equally as likable Chinese ladies who spoke even less English than Mama and her dishwasher, an elderly Chinese gentleman who spoke no English at all. His name, of course, was Papa.
It always amused me when our executive chef, a platinum-haired Spaniard with a Clark Gable jet-black mustache, approached Mama with a request–never a demand.
Everyone respected Mama.
In late January, excitement began to build amongst Mama and her team; Chinese New Year was fast approaching, and it was a huge deal.