know the flavor profiles,” he explains, “it’s much easier to work
on things. You eventually get it right.”
The chicken gets tossed with olive oil, salt, rice wine,
cornstarch, soy sauce, white pepper, preserved black beans,
ginger, garlic, and scallions. Then it’s placed in one of Phan’s
favorite cooking vessels, a dish that not only can withstand the
heat of a steamer or the stove, but that’s beautiful enough for
presentation: a deep clay bowl.
“I love cooking in clay bowls,” he says, showing me a collection
of various shallow clay bowls, some from Chinatown, some from
Spain. “The transfer of heat is really slow, and by the time you
take it to the table, it’s so hot that whatever you’re serving
continues to bubble. It keeps the heat.”
Phan adds the chicken mixture to one of these clay bowls and
places it in a bamboo steamer sitting in a wok filled with
simmering water. “You want to make sure you can see the water,”
he advises, “because if it all evaporates, your steamer will burn.”
While the chicken cooks, he places another clay bowl directly
on the stove and adds canola oil and sugar. This is the start of his
caramel shrimp dish, and it’s surprising how resilient that clay
bowl is, sitting right on the flame.
The sugar turns dark brown and Phan adds a shallot, ginger, and
the shrimp heads. Soon the chicken dish is done and Phan finishes
up the shrimp dish with lemongrass, chili, and fish sauce. Finally,
in a large wok, I stir-fry bok choy with shiitakes and garlic. And
just as the food’s all done, the door bursts open and Phan’s wife