Plum duck dinner
The first mama Yau dinner occured towards the end of the summer. I ate so much I had to unbuckle my belt. For months Carol kept saying that her mom wanted to make her signature plum duck.
It was revitalizing to be in her kitchen watching her cook with the breath of the Wok. She's fun, down to earth, and she's not afraid to correct you when you're looking to replicate her techniques while assisting her.
As each dish was prepared, you just want to stand there and eat before she even begins assembling the next dish. For myself, time was at a stand still on this Sunday afternoon. I had a mere glimpse into her culture, and her craft of replicating dishes of her heritage.
I hope to have more mama Yau dinners on here, because she definetly deserves the spotlight for this incredible meal.
And thank you to Yauriffic, her daughter for pouring me endless cups of black tea to keep me on my feet during the cooking marathon we both witnessed on this cold Sunday afternoon.
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Choosing your duck
Some might be squeamish to see how the process begins, but this is important because it makes you revere food and not take it for granted.
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Mama Yau walking out with her duck
She's ready to take this home and begin her preparations for this feast.
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Prepping the duck
This involves getting your hands dirty, not being afraid to get down to business. The liver, heart, and gizzards will be salvaged.
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Sewing the duck
She carefully places her stuffing of preserved plums, fermented black bean paste, and palm sugar inside the cavity of the duck, before carefully sewing it to prevent leakage during cooking. After cooking, the stuffing will be released into the same wok, and reduced into a thick syrup sauce. That combined with the natural duck pan juices will be transformed into something so rich and desirable, it's almost unreal.
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Favor vehicles
The duck is seared on all sides to seal and obtain coloring. Then potatoes are nestled around the wok. They soak up all the juices and become so creamy and intense.
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Getting medieval on the duck
She takes out her old cleaver, and begins to hack away. Breaking down the legs, wings, and breasts.
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Demonstrating her stuffing technique
This was our job to stuff the eggplants. She demonstrates here, but it was hard to replicate her style.
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Stuffed eggplants
Her technique for carefully slicing the eggplant on a bias ensures that she is able to stuff them with her ground fish stuffing. She does it so fast and makes it look easy. The minute you try to stuff one after watching her, your hands become all messy and sticky.
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Stuffed and ready to "Wok"
These will be seared off in a hot wok, then finished off with a touch of water to steam and meld together with soy sauce and a touch of sugar give balance.
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Wok n Roll
Her wok is the star of the show, and it's quickly rinsed before each dish.
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Assisting
While I like to consider myself a cooking mercenary, it's times like these where the mama Yau's of the world boss you around in the kitchen. Her skill and technique is the star of the show.
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Tong Ho
Edible Chrysanthemum -- This has a slightly floral flavor to it, accompanied by the texture of spinach. She simply blanches the greens in salted boiling water before serving alongside the duck. It complements duck extremely well.
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Ketchup shrimp
When you have breath of the wok, you can cook as fast as lightening. She has everything prepped and ready to wok. This dish is simple, because it has practically three ingredients. The ketchup turns into this rich umami ladened goodness combined with shrimp which have been wok'd in their shells.
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