White Rice, Black Rice, Congee

Chinese cookery can involve some of the most elaborate and sophisticated methods and techniques, and some of the most obscure and rare ingredients, of any cuisine in the world, but what we have always found most compelling about Chinese food are its simplest dishes.

A platter of blanched green vegetables lightly salted, a plate of cucumbers dressed with chiles and sesame oil, or a bowl of spicy simmered tofu—these are the dishes that we remember long after having first tasted them. What is it that can give a simple stir-fry that wonderful flavor of the wok, that taste that somehow seems to carry a little of the flavor of all the dishes that went before it, like a sourdough starter keeping a taste alive? And what is it that makes a dish as straightforward as stir-fried bean sprouts turn out so beautifully? These are the techniques we have tried to learn for ourselves, and ones we’ve tried to pass on here.