Lifestyle How a Chef Digs Up Undiscovered Flavors Chef Edward Lee loves hole-in-the-wall restaurants serving overlooked Asian cuisines. Here are three of his favorites, with his versions of their specialties. By Edward Lee Edward Lee F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Restaurants: 610 Magnolia, MilkWood (Louisville, KY) Experience: Chez es Saada (New York City) What’s a dish that defines you as a chef? My fried chicken and waffles. It’s a Southern dish, but we cook it in a very Asian way. The chicken is poached first in a vinegar and soy sauce blend. Then it’s cooled, dredged in buttermilk and flour and deep-fried. Who taught you how to cook? My grandmother taught me how to appreciate food and that food was more than just sustenance. She made very old-school Korean dishes, fermented chile paste and kimchi from scratch, pickles and marinated vegetables. Even as a toddler, I always wanted to spend time in the kitchen watching her. What was the first dish you ever cooked by yourself? Both my parents worked and were rarely home for dinner, so my grandmother cooked, but only Korean food. I was craving American food, so I’d steal food magazines from the Laundromat and save my lunch money to go food shopping. The first magazine recipe I really remember making was a steak dinner with roasted potatoes and a rosemary rub. I was probably 11 or 12. What’s your favorite cookbook of all time? Marco Pierre White’s White Heat. It was the first cookbook to show the life of a chef outside of the food, and outside of what the public persona of a chef was back then, which was a classic French image of being very precise and a student of the arts. For my book (Smoke and Pickles), I really wanted to show who I am and what I do. I wanted to show everything, the flaws and the perfection. Is there a type of cooking that you wish you were better at? For me there’s a mystery around Jewish cooking. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’d love to make an incredible knish one day. What’s your favorite value ingredient? A bag of pork rinds. I like to grind them up and use them anywhere you’d use bread crumbs: mac and cheese, shepherd’s pie, inside sandwiches or burgers. What’s your current food obsession? I am working with bhut jolokia peppers, the spiciest in the world. They’re grown in a little town in India, but people in America have started to grow them here. Where did you go on your last trip? I just got back from Vietnam. The street food is so cheap but also so diverse and so incredibly flavorful. I had a fish I’d never seen before, kind of like a lightly pickled herring in thin rice paper, with Thai basil, lettuce, very thin slices of pineapple and freshly grated coconut. The pineapple there is so different, incredibly musky, and the coconut is so fresh and has this sweetness to it. You can’t re-create that here, and that’s one of the reasons you travel. What’s your favorite store-bought ingredient? Red Boat fish sauce, which is really starting to take off. It takes just a few drops and it adds an entire new level of flavor. It’s as simple as adding a few drops to boiled ramen. What’s your dream restaurant project? I want to open a karaoke bar that only serves fried chicken. I have no talent for karaoke, but I do have an affinity for it. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on May 23, 2017 Share Tweet Pin Email Chef Edward Lee loves hole-in-the-wall restaurants serving overlooked Asian cuisines. Here are three of his favorites, with his versions of their specialties. My food has always been informed by the flavors of Asia. Unfortunately, I don't get to visit there as often as I would like, but I've discovered that I can get a secondhand yet valuable education in Asian cuisine by eating at small and largely unheralded restaurants around the US. Often run by immigrants and simply (sometimes inexplicably) decorated, these places offer great value, and I always leave sated—happy, even—with a lingering spice burn on my tongue. I usually go alone, take notes and gobble down a full meal before heading to a much fancier restaurant for yet another full meal (research!). These Asian spots give me a different kind of inspiration, the kind that almost always leads to ideas for the menu at my restaurant. The recipes here reflect three cuisines most Americans have yet to discover: Indonesian, Filipino and Cambodian. Indonesian I was driving to meet friends at a trendy L.A. restaurant when I passed Ramayani, which sits on a lonely block in Westwood. I was curious, so I stopped in, and a quick bite turned into five full dishes. Indonesian cuisine is challenging to describe: It combines Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese influences. I fell in love with the tangy, peanutty dressing that came with a blanched-vegetable salad called gado gado. I wanted to take this dressing and pour it over something with more flavor and texture—chicken skewers, beef satay, even a warm bowl of noodles. This is often how I reimagine a traditional dish: I pilfer one element and combine it with new ones that I know will taste delicious together. 1777 Westwood Blvd.; ramayani.com; 310-477-3315. Filipino Some of the best Filipino food I've ever had—a unique blend of Southeast Asian flavors with Spanish, Chinese and Indian influences—is served at Kusina Filipina, a small, family-run place on Beacon Hill in Seattle. Kusina prepares excellent versions of traditional dishes like longganisa (a sausage similar to chorizo), and because of Seattle's proximity to the ocean, they sometimes offer a dish called kinilaw, a Filipino version of ceviche. They use vinegar and lime juice to "cook" the fish—usually tuna—and then add lots of fresh garlic and ginger. I've adapted the recipe for shrimp because I prefer its texture. 3201 Beacon Ave. S.; kusinafilipina.net; 206-322-9433. Cambodian When I heard about a cluster of Cambodian restaurants popping up around Lowell, Massachusetts, I made a special trip to check out one of the most acclaimed spots, Senmonorom. It serves traditional Khmer cuisine, which is similar to that of neighboring countries Vietnam and Thailand, but with roots in China and India. Here, I've simplified their traditional red curry—generally milder than the Thai version—and used it as a sauce for a Cambodian version of buffalo chicken wings. 1671 Middlesex St.; senmonoromrestaurant.com; 978-275-0024. Indonesian-Spiced Peanut Sauce Poached Shrimp with Coconut Water and Lime Cambodian Red Curry Chicken Wings Southeast Asian Recipes F&W Star Chef Ed Lee Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! 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