KATHY: My mom’s dad, who I call Gōng Gong, is originally from Hunan. Hunan cuisine was quite popular when I was a kid in the late 1980s; people were drawn to the bolder flavors of spice and smoked meats, which were a big contrast to the more delicate flavors of Cantonese cuisine. But the Hunan cuisine that my mom and gōng gong cooked at home was nothing like the dishes at popular San Francisco Hunan restaurants. At home, everything was a lot spicier and a lot less saucy, lo
