(joyful music) (chopping) (clapping) - Welcome to Yan Can Cook.

Entertaining is becoming more and more popular, particularly entertaining at home.

I entertain here every day.

You have all seen my kitchen 'cause I cook here every day, you watch me every day, every week, here is where I do all my cooking for my honored guests like my mother, Prince Charles, and Princess Di.

(laughing) Here, today, I want to show you how to create a party for four.

Which everybody can go home and practice because you can do party for four then you'll be able to do party for six, party for eight, party 16, or party for 25,000 if you have big enough kitchen, like this.

First thing I was to show you is I'm creating a new dish.

Everybody has seen hot and sour soup or sizzling rice soup, I'm going to do a sizzling hot and sour rice soup.

I just combine the two dish together and do it once so it save a lot more time.

Now, here, I want to show you a couple of things first.

All I need is four black mushrooms, which is already soaked and julienne, and about, I'm gonna do some julienne.

This is (speaking foreign language) You see?

I want to show you how easy it is t.. You see, you cut them all up here.

You stack them all up, stack them all up, stack them all up, this how you do julienne.

You do it all together.

(chopping) (laughing) (clapping) You see this?

(clapping) Are you impressed?

(laughing) Me, too.

(laughing) Now, aside from that, I also want to show you, we gonna need about one piece of chicken breast, half a piece.

Okay, I want to show you, also, how easy it is to cut chicken breast.

Julienne.

Start from this, look at this.

See this?

Look at this.

One more time.

Now, when are you gonna stop?

I really don't have any idea.

You stop when you get to a point that you're somewhat nervous.

(laughing) Look at this.

You see that?

(clapping) And then, you put them all together, then you julienne.

Look at this, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

And you julienne.

I want to show you a piece of julienne, pieces.

(clapping) I am totally impressed.

One, two, three.

Of course, practice makes perfect.

I've been doing this for 74 years.

(laughing) Set aside and put it right here, okay?

Of course, if you have time, you can actually marinate it.

So, all you need is one half of chicken breast, if you have a lot of people, you can use one whole chicken breast, okay?

And then, also, I want to show you something you probably have never seen before.

This is very interesting, you see this?

This all bamboo shoot.

You see this?

This is the... grand daddy.

This is the daddy.

This is the grandchildren of bamboo shoot.

Of course, you here have never seen this before, this is very interesting because, when you go out to the store, you can buy different ones and sometimes, if you go to the far east, you can even buy them fresh.

Then you can do it yourself.

Now, in order to make this dish, I'm gonna get ready four cups of broth, okay?

We're gonna put four cup of broth, heat it up, okay?

Four cup of broth and then also heat up some oil.

Because you got to deep fry the rice.

While I am doing that, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make the rice crust for hot and sour sizzling rice.

That name is so large, it kind of confused me.

Now, here's very easy.

You cook up some medium grain or mixture of medium grain and short grain rice and then you put it over here.

Look at this.

Put it over here, put it over here.

Put about a cup of this over here and then you use , put your hand, with a tiny bit of water, you pat the darn thing up like this.

Can you see this?

It's great exercise.

(laughing) Get rid of a lot of frustration.

Look at this, okay?

And then, after that, you use a little thing to cut it up like this and then you put it in the oven, okay?

Put it in the oven and dry it up and bake it until they're totally dry and they will form into little crusts like this, look at this.

Isn't that easy to do?

Look at this.

And then you can actually break th.. See this?

I make this every two months because they last for a while.

We set this aside.

This would last for, about, anywhere from eight months to 14 months up to 15 and a half months.

(laughing) Now, I am going to show you-- The heat is a little bit too high so I'm gonna turn it down.

I'm gonna put the mushroom.

What make hot and sour soup hot and sour?

What makes it hot is white pepper, okay?

Here is about half a teaspoon to three quarter teaspoon of white pepper.

Adjust the hotness by putting a different amount, okay?

And this is salt.

Put it over here.

Also, to make it more interesting, I also put some chopped cilantro, okay?

Also, chicken, julienne chicken.

Not only that, we're going to put some bamboo shoot, mix them all up.

What makes it sour?

It's vinegar.

We're gonna use about exactly almost one third of a cup of vinegar.

And then, if you want to make it really nice and hot, you can also add some chili sauce.

Hot chili or hot pepper sauce, this is going to, truly, not only hot and spicy, it's truly enough to smoke your hair one more time.

(laughing) And then put it over here.

Of course, a lot of Chinese restaurant also add kind of a corn starch to thicken it up.

And also, this is one portion of corn starch, mix it up with one portion of water and then, to give that nice, brown color, use soy sauce.

You use this all purpose soy sauce, okay?

And then get ready, the final touch.

Let me remove this, remove all this, Final touch, I just want to show you how to deep fry the rice, how to put the whole deal together.

It's very, very easy to do.

Get ready a bowl, okay?

Get ready a ladle.

This is nice and done and the oil is hot, then you deep fry this.

Look at this.

Make sure the oil is very, very hot.

Otherwise, the darn thing won't puff up.

And then you're not gonna have sizzling hot and sour rice soup, you're gonna have hot and sour rice soup with down sizzles.

(laughing) This is great because this particular soup give that sizzling start to your party.

It's just like the first act of a good play.

It wets your appetite.

Get everybody excited, okay?

When it's nice and ready, set it aside.

Put the soup right here.

Now, if you want to make it more interesting, you can beat up some egg white and stir it in like this, look at this.

You see this?

Egg white to give them a little egg flour, okay?

When this is done, you shut this off and put this soup right here.

Look at this.

This is hot and sour.

Look at how beautiful this is.

This is absolutely wonderful.

Then we'll set this aside, set all of these aside and then listen to this.

We are going to listen.

(clapping) Wow!

Music to your ear.

(clapping) Now, hot and sour flavor are originally from The six one province of China.

Let's take a look at the many faces and many flavor of China.

- [Narrator] China is a remarkable country.

So much of the past is still with us.

We build these canals thousands of years ago and they still work.

I used to jog here every morning.

And this is Tianamen Square, huge huh?

There's so much tradition here and many treasures and the one we share the most with the rest of the world is the richness and the diversity of the Chinese cuisine.

(happy music plays) (clapping) I just came back from China visiting my mother last month.

There's so many different styles of cooking in China that probably takes me three months to just mention them, but when I was in China, I brought this back.

You see, this is something that I got from a restaurant in China.

When they have to feed hundreds and thousand people in a restaurant, this is how much rice crust they have to make.

Look at this, this is gonna feed six mil.. (laughing) Now, the next dish I want to show ..

It's for those who love duck hunting.

I'm gonna show you how to make braised duck with plum sauce.

This is the Chinese Donald Duck.

(laughing) Sit still.

Look at this, dun dun dun dun dun.

Now I wanna show you how easy it is when you go out to a Chinese store to buy duck, you can buy the ducks with this, the duck web, and also, you can actually talk to the duck.

(laughing) First, I want to do it like this.

Please don't look.

Please don't look.

I'll just sit it aside.

(laughing) Piece of cake.

And then, when you go to the Chinese restaurant, you know that when you go to a Chinese restaurant, you can actually have braised duck web in a Dim Sum restaurant.

It is my favorite.

Also, my mother's favorite, but I never understand what you have to eat, it's nothing, it takes about two hours to chew on one of the darn thing.

Particularly when you are starving, that is very, very terrible experience.

Now, this very easy to do.

I cut one cut right on one side of the breast bone and other cut along one side of the breast bone.

Look at this.

And then I am gonna hold on to this and feel where the joint is, you see this, just like doing the chicken, okay?

And then I have one cut along the very back.

Look at this.

And then I hold on to this, I'm going to cut this into quarters because I want to make enough for party for four, you see?

Push this and the whole thing comes out like this.

Look at this.

This is the whole chicken breast.

Look at this, okay?

And then the other piece I have is this.

Okay, hold on to this, cut this up.

Everybody can see where, right?

And other piece.

And then, once again, I feel where the joint is, the joint is right here, one cut where the joint is, okay?

Immediately hold on to this, push this.

You see this?

And the whole piece of duck breast come out.

You see this?

And then, this is the last piece, we're gonna hold on to this and we push this and then cut this out, you notice that I use this tiny chef knife to do everything.

And then you save these for your most beloved neighbor.

(laughing) Duck bone carcass is not too good for duck soup.

Now, here I have four pieces.

One piece, I quartered them.

It doesn't mean that you have to put the darn thing in the room, you quarter them.

I cut this up, I also would put this into a soup, but as I said, duck bone is not very good.

So, I have four pieces.

Two piece breasts and two piece of the drumstick.

Because that's a lot of fat underneath the duck so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna score this a little bit.

You see this?

Score this a little bit so I will brown it.

When I brown it, the fat would come out, okay?

This is one whole duck, one, two, three, four, five, six.

And I am going to slightly sprinkle a tiny bit of salt and pepper if you have the time.

If you don't have time, well get it.

(laughing) And then, we are going to brown this .. with approximately two teaspoon of oil and I brown the skin side like this.

Look at this.

Hold on to this, brown it like this, brown it like this, it takes about two and a half to three minutes to brown over medium high heat.

The idea of doing that is-- let me get rid of these because I don't need this anymore, I want to show you.

After you brown this, I want to show you how quick you can do it.

It's already quickly brown, can you see this?

Everybody see that?

It's already brown.

But it takes about two and a half to three minutes.

Once it's brown, you're gonna have to, kind of, braise it in broth so we're gonna put some broth.

Have a cup of broth and braise the broth, okay?

Braise the broth, braise the broth.

Can you see how wonderful this piece already is?

Look at this.

Isn't it beautiful?

Now, while you do that, after you braise it for approximately two to three minutes, you're gonna put some plum sauce, three tablespoon of plum sauce, about two to three tablespoon of plum wine, this is gonna be wonderful, and also.

Wow, this is a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar.

And also, we're gonna put a tiny bit of red chili pepper and also ginger crystallized, ginger.

Put 'em all over here.

If you want to make it more exotic, you can use a tiny bit of dry tangerine peel.

Very easy to do.

Can you see the dried tangerine peel?

Everybody should take a look, you see this?

And you put it over here, let it braise.

Let me check.

It looks marvelous!

Look at this.

The idea of doing it as you brown it, and not only you brown it, you get rid of the fat right underneath the skin.

When it's ready, I want to show you how wonderful you can garnish this.

Here, I have some garnishing, okay?

When this is done, you'll remove this, put it into this wonderful, nice, good and easy.

Now, if you have the courage, you just simply pick it up - [Woman] Whoa!

(laughing) It takes courage.

And then we're going to garnish this like this, here is this Chinese Donald Duck.

And here is the breast part.

You see this?

And here is the drum, in the wrong direction.

Wrong direction.

And then, of course, you have the put the darn thing back.

And then you garnish this like this.

And then, also, put a tiny bit of mandarin orange because this looks wonderful with mandarin orange.

Can you see how beautiful it looks?

Mandarin orange.

Look at this, you create a whole duck.

And, of course, can you see how beautiful?

When it's nice and done, all you have to do is put the sauce in right over here.

And you can even thicken the sauce up and this is how beautiful this dish can be.

(clapping) Chinese food is a sharing experience, a special dinner party is, of course, a sharing experience.

The Chinese have been having a unique way to enjoy, to enjoy, to share with their friends and relatives in a party.

This is wonderful.

I call this Mongolian hot pot or Cantonese fire pot.

This is a traditional style of Mongolian hot pot.

What you do is you put charcoal underneath here, the smoke come out from the chimney.

Then heat up the broth or water.

And then you put whatever you cook.

See, everybody will sit down at the dinner table.

You have napa cabbage, mushroom, spinach, tofu or Chinese soybean curd, chicken already marinated, beef already thinly sliced, a little baby Shanghai bok choy, and also, you can have watercress and fish ball.

See this?

And, of course, you have to have sh.. and have a tiny, tiny bit of green onion and you can also have cellophane noodle.

Now, when you cook it, you can put everything into little basket like this.

Everybody cook their own thing.

This is for me.

And then this is, I'll put it over here, and this is for you, you see.

After you finish, you can also put some vegetable over here.

As you go along and cook, if you need more, if you need more broth, you just kinda add to it.

It's very, very simple.

And then you serve with different kind of sauce.

You serve with a bowl of rice or noodle and you serve with chili sauce, hot mustard, chili oil, vinegar, and of course, soy sauce.

So, everybody have different choice.

And you, towards the very end, all you have to do is use a little ladle to scoop out the broth and you can drink the broth like soup.

It's a wonderful dining experience.

It's a sharing experience and do it, you'll like it.

Wow, next one, I'm gonna show you something you can also share.

Now, the duck I just had prepared looks so gorgeous, I'm gonna save it for you and me.

I'm gonna put it on the back here.

I'm gonna show you how to do something very, very easy.

Very, very simple.

I call this eggplant salad and it's very easy.

Most people toss the salad, it's a normal way of doing it, but today, we're gonna steam our salad.

Here, I cut up some oriental eggplant, this is oriental eggplant.

I cut it up in one, two, three, four.

And it cut into little strips like this.

Look at this.

One, two, three little strips.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

I do this because I have so much time, I don't know what to do with myself, but if I ran out of time, I'd do it all together.

Like this, you see that?

This how you make time.

Then put them all together.

If you want to make it fancy, you can even do it like this.

Look at this.

Slice it up, and, just like a little cucumber f.. you can slice it.

This is another way to do it, okay.

Now, you put them all in a little heat proof, and then you can steam the darn thing, of course.

After you steam, you have to steam it for about 20 to 25 minutes.

After you steam it, you can lift it up.

(laughing) I cannot believe in myself, it's kind of tough to make a living as a cook.

(laughing) And then, when this is all nice an.. you can put this over here.

Let me show you how easy it is.

Transfer all this, put it over here, transfer all this.

Nice and soft.

The idea of doing this is this Is already steamed, you sprinkle a tiny bit of salt, it's cooked yet you don't lose any vitamin or mineral because you're steaming it.

And then you heat up this then you can make a sauce.

But, when you do it at home, you don't have to even heat up the sauce.

You can mix the sauce here, look.

I have some vinegar, this is red wine vinegar.

Three tablespoon.

Use a tiny bit of two tablespoon of soy sauce, all purpose soy sauce, two tablespoon, and a tiny bit of sugar, about one and a half teaspoon of sugar, okay?

Mix them all up and, also, use a tiny bit of chili sauce.

Put it up, you love hot and spicy food.

More chili oil.

This is wonderful.

I love it.

And also use a tiny, tiny bit of ses..

This is sesame seed oil.

Two teaspoon, mix them all up.

Now the great thing about eggplant is eggplant is like sponge, they will absorb all the sauces.

Whatever you put in, they absorb the whole thing.

And you let it chill for a little while.

Look at this.

Nothing superficial.

Everything is absorbed like a sponge.

Of course, if you have things like this, it would like, actually, a lot nicer.

Can you see that?

So, all depends on your imagination.

You can do whatever you want, please stay.

Now, let me remove these and then I also want to show you another dish is my favorite.

I'm gonna do flambe gold coin orange.

Or you can go gold coin orange flambe, it doesn't make any difference.

Here, all you have to do is slice some orange.

Look at this.

Slice it up, both end, and then you go .. One, you see this?

I use my big knife to do all of this.

Okay?

In the meantime, you heat up your flambe t.. Now, the great thing about this is you can serve this cold.

You don't have to serve it chilled.

Or you can serve it hot, either way.

It depends on your party mood.

Now, in my recipe, I sometimes serve this chilled.

But I want to do it a little bit more exotic, more wonderful, we are going to flambe it.

You cut this up, you see this?

You have different slices, you see this?

Different slices.

The center one is the big, large gold coin.

And the little baby one is just, like a little spare change.

(laughing) Now, I'm gonna put it over here and we are gonna serve in this little gorgeous thing like this.

Look at this.

This is how you do it, okay.

You have the orange here, okay?

Which, you soak it in orange liqueur for about two to four hours.

So it's... Unbelievable.

(laughing) And then you are going to make a sy.. with approximately half a cup of water, quarter cup of sugar, and one or two slices of star ennis.

Put it right over here, okay?

And also use ginger.

And then you put this already soaked, put it right over here.

Okay?

And then when you are ready to cook, let me show you how beautiful it can be.

Then you can flambe this.

Wow!

Look at this, This what you call flambe.

Of course, when you do this, you should turn off the light.

And you do it wonderful.

Look at this.

You put all of this together, all of thi.. and then when you serve this, sprinkle a tiny, tiny bit of chopped, loose ginger and a little piece of mint.

What you have is another two dishes for dinner for four.

You have seen what amazing dishes you can create for a party of four so get ready your invitation.

By the way, I am free on Wednesday and Friday.

We'll see if Yan can cook, so can you.

“Goodbye!” (##!)

(clapping) (Joyful music)