XO Soused

Andrew is taking his restaurant in a new direction in 2022. Gone is his à la carte menu and in its place will be a a dining experience akin to some of the historical Chinese banquets written into court records and novels, and painted on to silk. In this special festive episode Andrew and Mukta discuss why Andrew has taken this direction, what historical recipes are inspiring, and what underlying rules and rituals shape flavours combinations, the dishes that are served and to who, and even where dishes are placed on the table.

Download Dr Isaac Yue’s excellent chapter on the Qing-era Han-Manchu banquet to access the translated dishes that Andrew reads from during the episode.

This episode of XO Soused is a festive special. XO Soused will return for season 2 in January 2022.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

As we come to the end of the first season of XO Soused, we share a rough cut of a recording by Andrew and Mukta as they look back on almost 8 years of working together —from the very first research Mukta did for Andrew for the launch of his basement bar the Forbidden City to almost ending it all over their presentation at SXSW - a presentation they didn’t even deliver as a result of COVID travel restrictions.

Andrew and Mukta pick out key moments and summarise the lessons they have learned. They end with some advice for chefs and anthropologists/academics looking to do similar kinds of cultural-historical research together.

XO Soused has been a fortnightly audio newsletter. Andrew and Mukta will be back in mid-December 2021 for a festive special before returning in Jan 2022 for season 2.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

What is Beggar’s Chicken? What are the myths that surround it and why are they important? How has Andrew attempted to bring Beggar’s Chicken - chicken stuffed and wrapped in leaves and clay - into his professional kitchen, and what iterations of the dish is he trying next?

Why is the technique such a fundamental part of its origin story and how has that technique and the recipe changed over time?

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

What are the differences between family cooking and restaurant cooking? How has lockdown and chef-prepared cook-at-home meal kits blurred the boundaries of home and restaurant? Is there a difference in the way Chinese chefs approached this compared to chefs of other cuisines?

How did the divide between family food and restaurant food get created in China, and how has the divide been muddied in Chinese food history? And as family meals increasingly take place in restaurants - in family-style eateries and Michelin-starred places - how do chefs cater for a new generation of - perhaps - more clued-in child diners?

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

Why are there so many ingredients in Chinese cuisine that are dried? What is the cultural and culinary importance of these foods?

Weaving their way through key dried items such as abalone, bird’s nest and even controversial ingredients such as shark’s fin, Andrew and Mukta discuss why Chinese chefs have chosen certain seafood, livestock and plant matter for drying and rehydrating, and what flavours, textures and cultural value this adds to dishes.

And how are these foods dried? What marinades and stocks are used to soak the foods before drying? How many times ingredients are dehydrated and rehydrated in these same or different stocks and sauces? And how should we rehydrate foods before finally cooking these in a dish?

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

Raw fish and vegetables appear in some regional cuisines in China, with a variety of dipping sauces. Were the Chinese the first to champion raw meats and fish in East Asia? With such a rich culture of preparing raw meats and fish to present to diners in Confucian and Han times and on-and-off up until 14th Century China, what knife and saucing techniques, and skilful finishes with hot oils and fats did Chinese chefs have to master?

Why have raw preparations of vegetables and salads narrowed in recent centuries in Chinese food history? And what about the histories and cultures of raw meat and fish dishes in Western Europe? What’s the future for raw meat and fish preparations inside and outside of China?

Read Alec Story’s translation of Ni Zan’s [倪瓚] 14th Century recipes: https://sundries.alecstory.org/2018/01/ni-zans-dietary-system-of-cloud-forest.html

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

Why should dessert go at the end? Why have western and westernised restaurants embraced this structure of cooking and eating, while in some Asian cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes are served together? More importantly, why do western professional kitchens barely use sugars in their savoury dishes? Meanwhile chefs cooking some Asian foods use sugars - cane sugar, beet sugar, honey, and maltose - in equal quantities as savoury ingredients for taste, colour, viscosity, and depth and balance of flavour.

So where does that leave Chinese desserts? What are their levels of sweetness and creaminess? How does Andrew create desserts for A.Wong that navigate these Chinese norms and the expectations of his Chinese and non-Chinese diners?

A video and accompanying recipe for Dragon’s beard candy: https://www.tastemade.com/videos/dragons-beard/

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

Who are the iconic female chefs in Chinese food history? What influence did they have on Chinese cuisine? And why are they not more prominent in the histories?

What are the gender dynamics that Andrew encounters in professional kitchens in China and in the UK? And does he think about gender when he recruits or supports his kitchen team?

And take a look at the book that Andrew has a hankering for: Johnson, Ian, 2021, Forbidden City: The Palace at the Heart of Chinese Culture. New York: Assouline

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

How does creativity work for a professional chef cooking Chinese food?

What was creative culinary life like in the palace kitchens in China? What was the role of tradition and how did other rules and boundaries either restrict or even elevate innovative thinking? When there’s too much choice - a defining characteristic of working from vast and well stocked palace stores - how does a chef find a culinary direction or a theme, and find a space for his specialism?

And what rules and boundaries allow Andrew to innovate in his kitchen? How does his experience mirror the creative lives of imperial chefs in the past or of the Michelin-starred chefs around him?

If you’d like to read more about chefs in the Qing Court: Rawski, E, 1998. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. University of California Press. Pages on food and the court (pp 46-49) can be viewed for free on Google Books

XO Soused is a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com

Chinese restaurants in the UK (and in other places) often offer a hundred or more dishes on their menu. What is the reason for this? Why does Andrew’s restaurant, A. Wong, offer 70 items every day and what has he had to negotiate to get to this number?How is the professional Chinese kitchen and its arrangements of stations, and the construction of meals in the dining space, geared to offering this variety compared to a western restaurant of similar size?

How has Chinese banquet culture defined the length of composition of Chinese restaurant menu? What is the legacy and impact on restaurant menus of the ingenuity and open-mindedness of past dim sum chefs and their ability to create hundreds of different dim sum? And how do Chinese chefs negotiate this and find space to create signature dishes?

XO Soused is now a fortnightly audio newsletter.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewwongandmuktadas.substack.com