Food & Wine USA - (02)February 2021

FEBRUARY 2021 65

lemons, and kumquats are the stars of her large-format shochu punch;

dumplings signal longevity and wealth by virtue of their shape, which

resembles yuanbao, gold and silver ingots that were once used as currency

in China. For dessert, there’s a gorgeous dish of eight-treasure rice, called

ba bao fan, which includes an assortment of eight candied fruits because

the Chinese word for the number eight, ba, is pronounced similarly to the

word fa, meaning prosperity.

But the most significant dish is served at the start of the meal, when guests

typically reach for their chopsticks and mix the ingredients in Chang’s

prosperity salad. A sweet, salty, and tart medley of red onion, taro root,

daikon, vermicelli noodles, and Ruby Red grapefruit commingles beneath a

sharp plum dressing in the hopes of inviting togetherness into the new year.

According to superstition, the higher they toss the salad, the better their

luck will be. This year—just to be safe—everyone tosses the salad extra high.

“This piano is a beautiful instru-
ment that sparks so many mem-
ories, from when [my] girls were
learning to play their ABCs to the
complicated compositions they
now play,” Chang says. “To their
embarrassment, I always ask
them to perform when we have
company over, and Lunar New
Year is certainly no exception.”

COOKBOOK,

COOKBOOK

ON THE WALL

Danielle Chang’s most

treasured cookbooks

line her dining room.

MARTIN YAN’S

CHINATOWN

COOKING: 200

TRADITIONAL

RECIPES FROM 11

CHINATOWNS

AROUND THE

WORLD

by Martin Yan

“Martin Yan, who really

set the path for me

to be able to be a

Chinese-American

TV host, is someone I

admire for translating

Chinese food to his

newfound American

citizens early on.”

THE FOOD OF

TAIWAN: RECIPES

FROM THE

BEAUTIFUL ISLAND

by Cathy Erway

“I’m a huge fan of

Cathy Erway. I was

born in Taiwan, and I

still have family there,

so I go back a lot. A

lot of those memories

bring up nostalgia

for me.”

STIR-FRYING TO

THE SKY’S EDGE:

THE ULTIMATE

GUIDE TO MASTERY,

WITH AUTHENTIC

RECIPES AND

STORIES

by Grace Young

“This is the cookbook

that really taught

me how to properly

use a wok.”