Tea-Smoked Quail with Ginger-Scallion Lo Mein

Find my recipe for this delectable quail dish at Nicky USA.

Crab Paste

♬ These are a few of my favorite things ♬ View this post on Instagram This stuff. Use it to add a little low-key seafood flavor (and a ton of umami) to your fried rice and stir-fries, use it in your curries and stews, and 

Homemade Wonton Soup

View this post on Instagram Last Sunday I went to an incredible bier-game dinner collab with my two favorite sets of folks: @stammtischpdx and @nicky.usa. Chef @grahamchaney is a hedonist and a sadist so his “salad” course was basically a Lyonnaise with a giant confit 

Eating in Richmond, B.C.

We had a lovely long weekend trip to Richmond, British Columbia, and stuffed ourselves on dumplings and noodles. View this post on Instagram This fading, Mall 205-esque shopping centre has a food court spot with better dumplings than any B&M in Portland. Aunties stand here 

Tea-Smoked Duck

Totally doable indoors without setting off your alarms! View this post on Instagram This holiday season, why not try something different? Turkey and ham are always nice, but this @maryschicken duck is really something else, and smoking it Zhangcha-style —with tea— is an easy kitchen 

Pickled Bracken Fern

This was a wacky experiment that went exactly as I’d hoped. I soaked, boiled, and soaked again a bag of dried bracken fern (aka fernbrake, gosari, etc.) and then fermented it in a 2% brine with Sichuan peppercorn, garlic, facing heaven chiles (from Chengdu), and 

Pumpkin Congee with Water Buffalo Sausage

View this post on Instagram #WildAboutGame pregaming at home with my spin on the ever-popular butternut squash risotto: pumpkin congee cooked in chicken-corn cob stock, with five spice water buffalo sausage from @nicky.usa (get it? instead of lap cheong), woodear mushroom, pepitas, fried elephant garlic 

Congee, Fully Loaded

Further adventures in “rice is totally breakfast:” ginger-scallion congee cooked in good homemade chicken broth with Vietnamese ham, poached backyard egg and bok choy, topped with shaved salt-cured duck egg, fried shallots, chile oil and cilantro. It’s somehow both calming and stimulating, and so satisfying. 

Quick Jook Can Happen

I made this by simmering leftover rice in chicken broth until the rice really softened up and topped it with whatever I had lying around. I personally like having the grains intact, but you could always go a bit longer if you prefer it more 

Dandan Chili Dog

Look, I know this looks ridiculous, but if Cincinnati can put chili on spaghetti then I can put dandan topping on a hot dog.   I totally did the thing: dandan chili dog using Nicky Farms ground wild boar and lots of garlic and Lao