(Joyful music) (knife chopping) (audience clapping) - Hi!

Welcome to Yan Can Cook.

I am Martin Yan and you are not.

(audience laughing) I am so busy now a day that I have to remind myself who I am from time to time.

I can see all you busy people faces in the audience, you are probably thinking about what to make for dinner tonight.

But if you have cook ahead, then you'll be smiling by now.

Like the lady over there smiling.

See, everybody smiling.

That means probably everybody have to experience cook dishes ahead of time that you can serve it later.

There are many, many dishes that you can do.

The exciting thing is the dish and the theme of the show today is cook now and eat later.

There are many dishes I will show you but the first thing I want to show you is a dish I have learned when I was a little child.

Red cook lamb.

You can red cook lamb or you can red cook chicken.

Here is all the ingredient I need.

I need approximately one to one and a half a pound of lamb.

Okay, this a lamb stew or you can just use lamb stew or you can use lamb chop, any lamb.

Okay, because this a stew, doesn't really have to worry about it.

And then also, one piece of this, approximately one piece which is about eight ounces of this pressed bean curd.

You cut it up into chunks like this.

Look at this.

Cut it up, cut it up.

Why I do this?

The reason why I use this as this way not for part, if you use regular bean curd or you can use firm bean curd, use soft bean curd a medium curd, are for a part.

You're gonna have red cook lamb stew with mushy tofu.

(audience laughing) That is not good.

Now just to show you about how this work.

Look at this, this is just like a little ping pong ball.

(audience laughing) It entered, it bounce.

Okay, we'll cut this up.

Since we have so many people in the studio, so we will cut this into smaller pieces.

If you have more of this and only about four people then you don't have to worry about it.

If you have more people, you cut more pieces.

Okay, it's very simple.

All you have to do is cut them, this way you can feed eight people.

Okay, now to cook this, the first thing I'm going to do is I want to heat up this wok.

Okay, put a tiny bit of oil.

Make sure the wok is nice and piping hot.

We're gonna call this red cook.

Here, we have to first brown the lamb.

Make sure the wok is very, very hot, okay.

Listen to this.

(sizzling) Wow, can you see how hot this wok is?

Brown this.

Why do you brown this?

You brown this to sear in the juice so when you cook it not only it nice and golden brown it also is nice and juicy, okay, it sears the meat, sealing the juice.

Now lamb is not very popular in southern part of China but in northern part of China, very popular.

You have Mongolian lamb, you have Mongolian beef, all kind of things.

In China, in southern part of China, people call lamb the sacred cow.

(audience laughing) Make sure they're nicely brown.

Okay, while I'm browning this, I'm gonna also show you how easy it is to do some garlic.

I'm gonna use about, how easy it is to peel garlic.

You see this?

One.

Two.

See this?

Three.

If you have more time, you can do more but this is all I have time.

(audience laughing) (rhythmically tapping cleaver) Now while you're browning this, it takes a little while to brown because you got to brown them for about three to four minutes, until they're nice and golden brown.

And then, while I'm browning that, I'm going to show you something wonderful.

This is what I call hoisin roast beef.

Very, very easy to do.

All you have to do is marinate this, this is sirloin tip roast.

You like?

Whole thing, you can use any beef roast.

You can even use a pot roast.

Marinate it in approximately quarter of a cup of soy sauce, turn them around and about a quarter of a cup of dry cherry and also about three or four pieces.

Three pieces of star anise.

This is definitely a three star dish in my little black book.

(audience laughing) Stir them around.

Also use approximately half a teaspoon of five spice powder and also use a tiny bit of salt and cook in wine.

Let it marinate over night and you have to sleep on it because you want to allow the flavor to really seep into it.

And of course, if you, this is getting a little bit too brown, you can always shut it off.

You see?

No big deal, nice and brown, otherwise you are not going to have red cooking, you're gonna have charcoal cooking.

(audience laughing) Okay, marinate this and then we're gonna .. Marinate it over night, make sure you do that, okay.

Put the whole thing, and save the marinate to occasionally braise this, it's gonna marinate, you can braise this.

And remember, when you cook, no base, no taste, so you have to base.

Oh, come over here.

In, stuck this out, cook at 325 degree for about two hours or so.

And then you have something so gorgeous.

Now make sure you do not use very high heat.

If you use high heat too high, then it will be burn, it will not be tender and juicy.

When this is done, you take it out.

Make sure to allow this to sit for about 15 to 20 minutes before you take it out.

Woah, hot!

Magical television.

And then, you slice this up, look at this.

One.

Look at how beautiful.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

If you have time, you cut the whole thing up and then when it's done, you can line them all up like this, look at how beautiful.

(audience applauding) We're gonna come back to our red cook lamb.

Now, why do you call red cook?

It sounds so sophisticated.

What you have to do is get hold of somebody call Red and cook the damn thing.

Red cook.

(audience laughing) Just kidding.

Red cook is actually very popular cooking .. in Shanghai, many part of China, basically you cook in a nice, rich sauce.

Here, I have broth, let it simmer.

Let this simmer.

For about 30 minutes, simmer over low heat.

And then when it's done, you can also put some shallot and garlic, let this also simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

To get the flavor into it and then you put, when it's almost done, you put the tofu and you put the green onion and then also you put the shaoxing wine and also hoisin sauce.

You can use Chinese fermented bean curd or you can use hoisin sauce.

Hoisin sauce is also called a seafood sauce.

Hoisin is a sea food.

When it's done, all you have to do is to thicken this up.

Look at this, why, red cook is so wonderful because when it's red cook, all the flavor seep into the meat and it not only seep into the meat, it also give that nice, rich, brownish color.

That's why they call red cook.

When it's done, you can serve it in a platter or in a bowl or anything you want.

Let me remove all of this because we don't need any of this.

We shut this off and then we are gonna serve my first cook ahead eat later dish.

I'm gonna show you how beautiful this actually look.

(audience clapping) Besides the wok, a Chinese cooks best friend in the kitchen is his imagination and of course his sense of humor.

Not only that is his cleaver.

Now I'm gonna show you and introduce you to the whole family of cleavers or knives.

This in the Chinese restaurant is called number one knife.

Very big and very heavy.

They can use this to cut, chop bones, very heavy duty.

This is number two knives.

A little smaller, still quite heavy.

And this is the most functional knife in every day use, also in domestic use, the number three knife.

This is number four knives.

For heavy, heavy duty chopping, cutting, you need a cleaver this thick, look at the difference.

This is how it looks in terms of thickness.

This one is about four times as heavy as this one.

We use this for gigantic bones, bi..

If you don't have any of these, don't get panic because you can use the regular French chef knife, the French cousin.

If you get nervous, you can always use a little baby knife.

(audience laughing) Now, talking about baby knife, when I was growing up and learning how to cook, this is what I'm gonna use.

This is my baby cutting board and my baby knife.

Look at this is my thumb.

This is unbelievable.

And, of course, with this little baby knife, you need a little baby sharper.

One, two, three, four.

Isn't that nice?

Now, of course, if you really want to do a big job, you need a big knife.

Look at this, this is unbelievable, this weighs about two and a half tons.

This is actually a nudo knife, I've never seen this before.

Now how do you take care of the knife if the knife get dull?

Normally very, very simple, all you have to do is use a little sharpening rod and just go like this, just like any knife but use the smaller angle.

One, two.

About 15 to 16 degree angle like this, then will be sharp.

If the knife get really, really dull, all you have to do is use a stone.

You go, very small angle, go one, two, three.

Don't go back and forth because it might change the angle so one, two, three, do about fifteen times.

Turn it to the other side, one, two, three fifteen times, okay?

Of course, if it's a wet stone, you use water.

If it's oil stone, you use oil.

So very easy to take care of knife.

If I were you, I would buy the high carbon stainless steel knife.

This way you don't have to worry about rusting, you don't have to worry about staining and it's also very easy to sharpen.

Now, the next dish which is cook ahead and eat later is called steam chicken with garlic sauce.

Of course, if you don't like garlic sauce you're gonna have mustard sauce, you're gonna have plum sauce, you're gonna have hoisin sauce, it makes no difference whatsoever.

I just want to use garlic because I have a lot of garlic.

(audience laughing) Now, here in this particular dish, what I'm gonna do is I want to chop up some garlic and ginger and use some wine to marinate my chicken.

This is already mince, okay, ginger, garlic, mince this up, and then set them all together and then we'll put that over here.

What I'm gonna do is, also I want to use a tiny green onion, also want to chop it up.

Look at this, very easy.

(audience applauding) Also put them all together.

All I'm doing is to rub the whole thing.

Look at this, I mix all this together, rub inside and out.

Also, use a tiny bit of salt, okay.

Rub this, rub this over here, rub this over here.

Everybody can see me right?

Look at this, inside and out.

Also, put a tiny bit of shaoxing wine.

Wow, this is wonderful.

This is kind of fun.

Turn this around.

Let it marinate for approximately two hour or so and then after that, you are going to put it in a heatproof Pyrex or any heatproof glass, pie pan, and then you gonna steam it.

Okay, I'm gonna steam it right here and you see that?

And I'm gonna show you when the steam, when it's done, you lift it up.

(breathing heavily) it takes courage.

(audience laughing) Now, also, after this, you're gonna cut this up and before you cut it up, you gotta make a sauce.

Turn on your heat.

Make the sauce with two tablespoon of oil, two tablespoon of oil.

Get a little spatula wooden spoon, garlic, because you want to make a garlic sauce, lot of garlic.

This is approximately 4 to 5 to 6 garlic chopped mince.

Also, more green onion because you gonna make a sauce.

For those who love hot and spicy food, of course, wow this is gonna be wonderful, you gonna use approximately one tablespoon of hot chile paste and then about a quart of a cup of soy sauce.

Look at this.

For the whole chicken.

Isn't that beautiful.

This is so unique.

It doesn't take too long to cook.

The last minute, put some sesame seed oil, about teaspoon, and that is done.

When it's all nice and done, get ready a tiny, tiny bit off.

Sesame seed oil and also cilantro, then you can cut up the chicken.

Then you can pour the sauce right on top.

Let me show you how beautiful this can be.

(audience applauding) (sizzling) Look at how beautiful.

Warm it up later or you can serve it cold.

Today, we have chicken here, chicken there, we're gonna be chicken out pretty soon.

The next one I'm gonna show you it is someone everybody if you love curry, you will love this dish.

High naan curry chicken.

How do you cut up this whole chicken?

All you need is a little help from your friend, the cleaver, is very, very easy.

Besides being a Chinese cook, I am also a certified massage therapist and also acupuncturist.

(audience laughing) Now just relax, you won't feel a thing.

This is gonna hurt me a lot more than hurting you.

Relax, you see, it's painless.

Didn't I tell you?

(audience laughing) Unbelievable, this is wonderful.

You feel better now?

Now it's time for surgery.

I am gonna cut this up into pieces.

In this particular dish, you can use either six chicken thigh or use a whole chicken.

First, you cut this up here, you see this?

Very, very easy.

Cut this up, hold on to this, see?

One piece.

From this, you can cut into two pieces and then this is another piece from here, one, two... hold on to this, how easy this is, you see, another piece and then you turn it to the other side, hold on to this, nice, this is where the joint is, you cut the joint right here, this way you can pull this over here then you have another piece right here and then you put this back.

All you're doing is cut this into eight pieces.

Look at this, nice.

Put this in your stock pot, don't throw them away.

Then you have one piece, one gigantic piece.

Two pieces, okay.

And then three pieces.

Cut the extra fat out and then cut the wing tip and then you cut this into four pieces.

See this, one, two.

One, two, see, make sure you know exactly where the joint is.

You're not quite sure why you're acupuncturing the damn thing, make sure you know where the joint is.

In the meantime, we're gonna sprinkle a tiny bit of salt and pepper, let it sit for a few second.

Why I'm doing this, why I'm letting it sit I'm gonna quickly show you.

You remember, when we were steaming the chicken, just in case you do not have one of these steaming rack, you see this steam rack?

Just in case you do not have one of these, it's no problem.

All you have to do is get one of these can, you open on both side, you see this.

Then you can all put it over there, put whatever you want to steam on top, you can put a lid and cover this up like this, you can steam it over boiling water.

If you don't even have one of these, don't worry.

(metal can clinking) (audience laughing) You can use two pair of chopstick.

Tic tac toe, look at this, tic tac toe.

You can still put whatever you want to steam put over boiling water, you can still do it, see, walk softly and carry a chopstick.

(audience laughing) Now when it's done, you heat this up.

We're gonna heat this up.

Now a lot of people say, "Is this, "what kind of wok is this?"

Tell them like this is not a regular season steel wok, this is what they call the hot anodized wok.

This way you can use any spatula, it does not scratch.

Besides, you don't have to worry about seasoning it and therefore rust.

It's nice and easy.

So, when the wok is hot enough, you put the oil in, two teaspoon to be exact.

If it's not enough, you put tiny bit more to make it up to two teaspoon.

See, this is exactly two teaspoon, perfect.

And then we're gonna cut up some onion here.

(knife chopping) When you cut, make sure you pay absolute attention because when you cut you should never, never raise your knife higher than this point and then, aside from that, we are going to cut up some potato.

Cut this potato up and then cut into bite-size chunks.

The easiest way to cut anything is to do it all together.

Put them all together like this and then set aside.

One, two, see?

This way you can do them all at the same time.

It is very, very hot now.

Make sure you do it very, very carefully.

Do not brown anything or put anything meat in until this wok is piping hot, I want to show you.

Brown this first.

Put all these pieces, look at this.

(meat sizzling) Can you hear the sizzling sound?

Absolutely wonderful.

Wow, can you hear that?

(audience agreeing) Can everybody hear that?

- [Man] Yeah!

(audience laughing) - Even the people over there getting very excited, unbelievable, thanks a lot.

Make sure you stir and you stir.

People always say, this is kind of tough to have to do about four, five, six chicken at the same time.

It is tough to make a living.

You have to earn your wing.

(audience laughing) I didn't say this.

Just presume that I didn't say anything.

Stir.

Why I have to keep on moving and dancing around?

The reason is because this way, it would not allow some part is overly brown, another part is not brown enough, uniform cooking, you see this?

For those who are fairly cautious, remove the skin and then we'll put the onion and chile, crushed chile, or use whole chile, put them all right in here, okay.

Make sure to not put the potato until later.

Let it brown, let it brown.

If you like garlic, press the garlic, put it over there.

And then pour some green onion.

Stir.

Look at this.

I am gonna show you you can actually toss the damn thing around.

(audience applauding) Now, in all serious, we're not doing this, make sure when you toss it, make sure you grab everything.

Otherwise, you gonna end up having picnic on the floor.

That is not much fun.

Okay, and then the next thing I want to show you is I'm going to make the curry sauce which I have half a cup of coconut paste or coconut milk.

Oh, look at this, turn it down.

Look at how beautiful.

And then, also, use about quarter of a cup of broth.

Let it simmer a little bit.

Also, you need curry powder.

You need a tiny bit of curry powder, very, very important.

To measure the curry powder very, very carefully because they are quite strong.

This is curry powder, this is about one tablespoon, you can use up to two tablespoon.

Or you can use one teaspoon of five spice powder and tiny bit of salt.

When you use curry, make sure you measure this very, very carefully.

Don't hurry when you curry.

(audience laughing) Put it over here.

And then you stir and then when it's almost done, you can see, the liquid will be reduced and it's nice and colorful.

Look, a beautiful dish.

And then, when it's done, all you have to do is in last minute, put about one tablespoon of sauce which is, you can use either chicken broth or you can use shaoxing wine and put it right over here.

See how many dishes you can cook and create and enjoy when you cook ahead.

So take my advice, cook ahead and cook now and eat later.

We'll see you next week at Yan Can Cook now, you can eat later!..

(audience applauding) (Joyful music)