...except that this was a planned trip and I had been dreaming about this afternoon of cooking demos and tasting for the past few weeks prior. But how awesome would it be if I really did just accidentally wander into random food events?
Anyways, so I really was greeted by the Korean food truck parked outside Astor Center. The truck was sponsored by the Taste of Korea mobile kitchen, a truck roaming the streets of NYC for 2 weeks offering up free and fresh authentic Korean delicacies to, as the name suggests, provide a taste of Korea! With my first taste of Asian food for the afternoon comfortably resting in my stomach, I then wandered into the event to kick off an afternoon of food, feasting, and fun!
Upon entering the room, we were greeted by a spread of adorable decorated sugar cookies. From that point on, I knew I would emerge looking exactly like those cookies - especially since Bombay Sapphire and Singha Beer were present at the event (haha, just kidding...).
The room was set up with booths along the walls representing the likes of Kyocera, Singha Beer, Fiji Water, Bombay Sapphire, IFT Macau, etc. I took a quick peak at the sign in front of the IFT Macau booth and saw the dish they would be serving for the afternoon - Minchi - and instantly feared that the afternoon's event would just be a repeat of a handful of dishes from the Grand Feast. While panicking though, thankfully I saw a group of people wandering in and out of a set of double doors towards the back of the room. Curious, I followed them through the doors...and wandered into the test kitchen. Whew!
The test kitchen was rather small, with enough seating for maybe 30 people - thank you random people for leading me into this room early! With my beer and camera in hand, I plopped down into one of the seats and prepared for an afternoon of culinary delight.
We kicked off the event with demonstrations from Ching-He Huang, representing the Cooking Channel. Ching prepared two dishes for the afternoon: steamed chicken with Chinese mushrooms, goji berries and dried lily bulbs followed by vegetarian crispy beancurd rolls. I realized I had made the silly mistake of leaving my pen and notebook behind (and forgot to pick up the recipes on my way out), so forgive me for not being able to include their recipes.
As I watched her prepare the dishes, I realized that no beginner chef would be able to watch and reproduce the exact dish from the demonstration alone, but at least Ching explained and discussed each of the ingredients and gave a quick overview of the actual steps involved in mixing together these dishes. The first dish was quick and simple - she mixed together the marinade of mushrooms, goji berries, dried lily bulbs, spring onion, and Chinese rice wine and then pulled a finished dish out of the steamer.
The steamed chicken was delicious: tender and light, yet still packing a flavorful essence of rice wine and goji berries. The flavor of the chicken was familiar and reminded me of home; a very satisfying dish overall.
The vegetarian crispy bean curd rolls were light and flavorful and very similar to the steamed bean curd rolls commonly served at dim sum. The ingredients and the preparation were very basic and easy to replicate. However, because the rolls were deep fried (and I'm not sure when I'm ever going to venture out to buy frozen bean curd), I doubt this dish is ever going to appear in my house.
Next up was Angelo Sosa from the restaurant Social Eatz (and also Top Chef!) preparing a Malaysian dish: shrimp belacan over rice. Angelo was an entertaining character and gave us a recap of his travels through Malaysia and his fascination with Asian cooking. He also introduced most of the room to the joys of cooking with shrimp paste, namely the terribly strong smell that the paste emits as it first cooks; thankfully, the shrimp paste eventually becomes light yet rich, chock full of delicious shrimp flavors.
This dish was actually the most flavorful (and complex) dish of the evening, but despite the fact that I did not really learn enough to ever be able to prepare this dish, boy was it GOOD!
The afternoon continued with a preparation of bibimbap by Jennifer Maeng. The dish was simple enough - peeling, slicing, and quickly sauteing all of the ingredients then decoratively piling the vegetables on top of the rice. Jennifer introduced us to many new ingredients that afternoon, but there were just too many steps involved in the dish for me to ever actually want to recreate it at home, especially knowing that I can get an even better bowl of bibimbap for a mere $12 in K-Town.
The dish was colorful and light tasting, but again, I'd probably prefer to go out and just place a simple order of dolsot bibimbap (served in a hot stone bowl) - plus it would come with all of those extra side dishes!
Last but not least, Ming Tsai graced us with his demonstration of black bean orecchiette with spicy pork & broccoli. Not to play favorites, but Ming was probably the most engaging and entertaining of all our presenters that afternoon. He was honest, hilarious, and was just a great way to end an afternoon of fabulous food and fun.
The dish was simple and definitely easy to cook at home. However, and it pains me to say this, the flavors were too simple and basically reminded me of a slightly Chinese version of Hamburger Helper. If the black bean flavor had been stronger and carried through better, this dish could have been much more appealing (the pasta was also overcooked...which was ironic because Ming told us orecchiette was hard to overcook). But alas, perhaps the pan of pasta Ming had produced himself really was as delicious as he made it sound...we will never know!
At the end of the day, the LUCKYRICE Talk + Taste was really a great and relaxing way to spend an afternoon. If you're a beginner cook, I would not walk in with the mindset that you will emerge with a whole handbook of new cooking techniques, but if you're just there to be entertained, to taste, and to learn a few new things about food and cooking, then this is the event for you!
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