My Stir-fried Life

by Ken Hom

  The day was also memorable for me, as I got to hear Don’s story over good food and a glass, or two, of wine. Don had watched my programmes in the ’80s, growing up in a suburb of Glasgow. His father was an academic, often playing host to intellectual visitors from around the world. ‘The house was filled with noise, music and food,’ Don recalled. ‘And it was very normal to be mixing with people from different parts of the world, which was unusual in a suburb of Glasgow in the 1970s.’

  Food to young Don was nothing more than an amateur interest, but when he failed to get into the University of St Andrews to read philosophy, he thought he’d have to do something else. So he went instead to Strathclyde University, where he learnt about food and hospitality. Others thought he was mad to take such a course, such was the negative view of the industry in those days. But Don said to me, ‘It was the best decision I ever made because it has brought so many opportunities.’ Our lunch was one of those opportunities.

  After university, Don took a job at an events company. ‘I did four days and then realised I had made a terrible mistake. I said to my boss that I was popping out for lunch. I went to the pub, got drunk and never went back.’

  He worked at a restaurant in Chiswick, south London, which he enjoyed. Then he took an interesting job, working on a large, funded project that was documenting the market potential for local and seasonal products. That was in 1992, when it was odd to boast that products were British or local. ‘My job was to speak to large-scale retailers, to try to find out if there might be a market for seasonal Scottish products. And there wasn’t. They were saying, “What are you talking about? We’ve built up a huge infrastructure. There’s no space for berries from Perthshire.”’ Supermarkets and food manufacturers were not fussed about local and seasonal. Don’s work contributed to a report launched by the agricultural minister of the day.

  This job exposed him to the role that food played in society and, after a teaching post in Scotland, he went to Oxford Brookes. He arrived there about twenty years ago, telling himself, ‘I’ll stay a year or two.’ Thank God he stayed longer.

  As our grand lunch drew to a close, I was delighted to tell my new friend Don that I would donate my books to Brookes. Jane Grigson had given her collection of books to the university. Pru Leith was about to do the same. I was happy to join the club.

  My books, much-cherished over the years (and, in some cases, centuries), would be going to a good home. Donald sent a team to collect the books and when they arrived on my doorstep in Catus, I said to them, ‘You’ve had a long drive. Before you start packing, sit down and I’ll cook you a nice lunch.’

  The books – for so long my research material – have since been catalogued and fill a large part of the library at Oxford Brookes. Importantly, they are available to the public, and that was the mission.

  Often, I go to Oxford to meet and chat with the students. My relationship with Brookes has blossomed. Shortly after handing over my books, the university launched an annual event, the Ken Hom Lecture, at which interesting people come and speak to the students.

  Chris Patten gave the inaugural lecture, and Cherie Blair did another one. Jancis Robinson, the famous wine critic, and her husband Nick Lander, the respected restaurant critic, did a duo act one year. Sir David Tang, friend of Ms Moss and me, was as popular as he was controversial. Sheila Dillon, presenter of The Food Programme on Radio 4, was also a speaker, and she arrived dressed flamboyantly in a ballgown. Part of her speech was about Fanny Cradock; hence the ostentatious attire. However, the reference to Fanny did not come until way into Sheila’s speech, by which time many members of the audience were confused, thinking, Perhaps she reckons it’s a special occasion.

  So I have divested myself of many possessions and can focus, not on material things, but on the pleasures of cooking and eating and travelling. We all come into this world with nothing – and guess what! – we shall all leave with nothing.

  LUNCH, in the meantime, can still be enjoyed every day. Which reminds me: I have been back to Nobu with Don. A couple of times, it just so happens. On one of those occasions, as we sat and chopsticked our way through most of the dishes on the menu, another guest in the restaurant – an exquisitely dressed, middle-aged woman – came up to our table. She said, ‘Excuse me, I do hope I’m not interrupting.’

  ‘Not at all,’ I told her, as she was not.

  ‘I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to meet you,’ she said. I was deeply moved, and thanked her. We chatted for a minute or so. Then she bowed her head slightly, put her hands together in praying mode, with palms touching, and added, ‘It has been an honour to be in your company. Thank you.’ How unbelievably sweet! We shook hands before she turned and went back to her table. Don and I raised our glasses to toast the happy encounter.

  Then we heard her say to the others at her table, ‘Can you believe that? I’ve just met the Dalai Lama.’

  Acknowledgements

  THIS BOOK WOULD have never happened if it was not for the perseverance of my good friend and collaborator James Steen. He thought it was a good story about food and wine that was worth telling. We had a wonderful time working on the book together and we drank lots of Chablis. I am eternally grateful for his work on the book and his friendship.

  I am, of course, thankful to everyone who appears in the book but there is also a long list of people whose names have not appeared but to whom I owe a great debt as well: Daniel Taurines, Roberto Ceriani, Carol Pogash, Gordon Wing, Heather Holden-Brown, Viv Bowler, Jacques Pépin, Gerry Cavanaugh, Florence Fabricant, Annette Grant, Kendall Oei and Grace Fung, Sian Griffiths, Carole Klein, Lynn Grebstad, my family in Chicago: Joyce, Paul and Betty; Jake Oliver, Claude and Dany Taillardas, Babé Pébeyre, Jacques et Monique Pébeyre, Juliet Pickering, Julian Friedmann and Carole Blake, Jancis Robinson and Nick Lander, Puvadol Saengvichien, Alain-Dominque Perrin, Alain Ducasse, Ann Bramson, Martha Casselman, Barbara Fairchild, Kurt and Penny Wachtveitl, Denise and Jean-Pierre Moullé, Pierre Hermé and Claude Troisgros.

  A huge thank you as well to Jeremy Robson, who decided to publish the book, and to Olivia Beattie, our editor, and to Namkwan Cho and Adrian McLaughlin, who designed the book. I am also extremely grateful to Victoria Gilder, the Robson Press’s publicity director.

  And how would I have lived without the lovely Luisa Welch, who connects me to everyone and the world! She does it so efficiently and with such class.

  I am also indebted to the team in the library and archive at Oxford Brookes University: Daniel Croft, Eleanor Possart, Lisa Hill and Jodi Wilkinson.

  There are literally many hundreds of others whose support I am most grateful for over more than four decades of my career. I apologise if I have neglected them on this list but they have my sincere gratitude.

  Ken Hom, OBE

  Paris, France

  Index

  Anderson, Terry 1

  Aragon 1

  Attlee, Clement 1

  Auberge du Pont 1

  Bacall, Lauren 1

  Barrie, J. M. 1

  La Bastide 1

  Batori, Ron 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

  Baumanière 1

  Beard, James 1, 2, 3

  Beck, Jean 1

  Beck, Simone ‘Simca’ 1

  Beckham, David 1

  Bertholle, Louisette 1

  Bibendum 1

  Blair, Cherie 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Blair, Leo 1

  Blair, Tony 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Blanc, Georges 1

  Boathouse Hotel 1

  Bocuse, Paul 1, 2

  Boht, Jean 1

  Bony, Jean 1, 2, 3

  Booth, Gale 1, 2

  Booth, Lyndsey 1, 2

  Booth, Tony 1

  Bramson, Ann 1

  Brand, Eric 1

  Broomes 1

  Brown, James 1

  Brown, Sarah 1, 2

  Bugialli, Giuliano 1

  Burke, Sue 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
>
  Burros, Marian 1

  Cadogan, Mary 1, 2

  California Culinary Academy 1, 2

  Campbell, Alastair 1, 2

  Cantona, Eric 1

  Carlisle, Danielle 1

  Chao, Buwei Yen 1

  Chao, Rulan (Iris) 1

  Chao, Yuen Ren 1

  Château des Fougères 1

  Château Lagrézette 1

  Château Raymond-Lafon 1

  Château d’Yquem 1

  Cheetah 1, 2

  Chez L’Ami Louis 1

  Chez Denis 1

  Chez Panisse 1, 2, 3

  Child, Julia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Child, Paul 1, 2

  China Tang 1

  Ching He Huang 1

  Churchill, Winston 1

  Claiborne, Craig 1, 2, 3

  Cleese, John 1

  Conran, Terence 1

  Copacabana Palace 1, 2

  Corti, Darrell 1, 2, 3, 4

  Cousins, Dorothy 1

  Cousins, Ivan 1

  Cradock, Fanny 1, 2

  Cradock, Johnnie 1

  Culinary Institute of America 1

  Dalai Lama 1, 2

  David, Elizabeth 1

  David, Narsai 1

  Davis, Carl 1

  Deayton, Angus 1

  Deligne, Claude 1

  Delon, Alain 1

  Diana, Princess 1

  Dillon, Sheila 1

  Din Tai Fung 1

  Divine 1

  Ducasse, Alain 1

  Ecole Hôtelière de la Société Suisse des Hôteliers 1

  L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes 1

  L’Espérance 1

  d’Estaing, Giscard 1

  Farmer, Fannie Merritt 1

  Ferguson, Alex 1, 2

  Ferguson, Cathy 1

  Finnigan, Judy 1

  Fisher, M. F. K. 1

  Fong, Shirley 1

  Four Walls Wine Club 1

  Franey, Pierre 1, 2, 3

  Friedan, Betty 1

  Fu Pei Mei 1

  Fung, Grace 1

  Galthié Fabien 1

  Giggs, Ryan 1

  Golden, Robert 1

  Goodwin-Allen, Lisa 1

  Grigson, Jane 1

  Guérard, Michel 1, 2

  Hansen, Barbara 1

  Hazan, Marcella 1

  Holden-Brown, Heather 1

  Ho, Hong Jung ‘Tommy’ 1

  Hom, Ying Fong 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

  Howarth, Nigel 1

  Irvine, Derry 1, 2

  Jaffrey, Madhur 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  James Beard Cooking School 1

  Jamin 1

  Jean, Aunt 1

  Jung 1

  Kaye, Danny 1

  Kaye, Sylvia 1

  Kelly, Mrs 1, 2, 3

  Kennedy, John F. 1, 2, 3

  Kerr, Graham 1

  King, Ashya 1

  King Wah 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Kinninmont, Kate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Kinninmont, Tom 1, 2, 3, 4

  Lahana, Denis 1

  Lander, Nick 1

  Leith, Pru 1

  Leong Ka Tai 1, 2

  Levene, Jean 1, 2

  Levene, Michael 1, 2

  Levy, Paul 1, 2

  Linton, George 1

  Lo, Jenny 1, 2, 3, 4

  Lo, Ken 1

  Luckett, Miss 1

  Lyman, Ted 1

  McGinnis, Terri 1

  Madeley, Richard 1

  Maison Chin 1

  Manilow, Barry 1

  Mao Tse-tung 1

  Mark, Willie 1

  Martig, Denis 1

  Mason, Carol 1

  Maupin, Armistead 1

  Maurer, Erika 1

  Maurer, Susie 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  May, Aunt 1

  MEE 1

  Meneau, Marc 1

  Meslier, Pierre 1

  Momkey Island Hotel 1

  Montesquieu, Madame de 1

  Mosimann, Anton 1

  Moss, Kate 1

  Moy, Jeffrey 1

  Namioka, Lensey 1

  Nassikas. Jim 1

  Natal, Andréa 1

  National Cooking Institute 1

  Newhouse, Nancy 1

  Noon 1

  Odney Club 1

  Oei, Kendall 1

  Okuno, Dr 1

  Olney, Richard 1

  Oxford Brookes University 1

  Pan, Lynn 1

  Patten, Chris 1

  Paul, Uncle 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

  Pébeyre, Alain 1, 2, 3

  Pébeyre, Catou 1

  Pébeyre, Jacques 1, 2, 3, 4

  Pébeyre, Monique 1, 2

  Pébeyre, Pierre 1

  Pébeyre, Pierre-Jean 1, 2, 3

  Pelissou, Alexis 1, 2, 3

  Pelissou, Martine 1

  Peninsula Hotel 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Perrin, Alain Dominique 1

  Phillips, Barry 1

  Phillips, Dot 1

  Pig-by-the-Tail 1

  Preecha, Dr 1

  Les Prés d’Eugénie 1

  Presley, Elvis 1

  Presley, Priscilla 1

  Restaurant Le Gindreau 1, 2

  Rhodes, Barney 1, 2

  Rhodes, Belle 1, 2

  Rhodes, Gary 1

  Rhodes, Zandra 1

  Robertson, Gwen 1

  Robinson, Jancis 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Robuchon, Joël 1, 2

  Rochas, Hélène 1

  Rollins, Vernon 1

  Salty Dog 1

  Scales, Prunella 1

  Shali, Eric 1

  Short, Stanley 1

  de Silva, Carlos Eduardo Costa 1

  Sloan, Donald 1, 2

  Smith, Delia 1, 2, 3

  Stevens, Jenny 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Stewart, Martha 1

  Stirk, Annie 1, 2

  Sun Ching Lung 1

  Sun Tung Lok 1

  Sussman, Bruce 1

  Taillevent 1

  Tan, Amy 1

  Tang, Sir David 1, 2

  Thatcher, Margaret 1

  Tower, Jeremiah 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Troisgros, Claude 1

  Troisgros, Pierre 1

  Truman, Harry S. 1

  Tsuji, Shizuo 1

  Tudor Rose 1

  Turner, Tina 1, 2, 3

  Vidonne, Yves 1, 2, 3

  Vonnegut, Kurt 1

  Waite, Terry 1, 2, 3

  Water, Alice 1

  Waugh, Harry 1, 2

  West, Barry 1

  West, Timothy 1

  Whitfield, June 1

  Williams, Lee 1

  Winfrey, Oprah 1

  Winston, Uncle 1, 2

  Wise, Victoria 1

  Wogan, Terry 1

  Wolfert, Paula 1

  Worrall Thompson, Antony 1

  Yang, Mr 1

  Yang Sing 1

  Yook Lam 1

  York, Michael 1

  Zemin, Jiang 1

  Zuckerman, Ron 1

  Zemin, Jiang 1

  Zuckerman, Ron 1

  Recipes

  Asian Duck Confit 1

  Braised Pork Belly, Shanghai-Style 1

  Burmese-Style Chicken 1

  Chicken Sun-Dried Tomato Spring Rolls 1

  Chinese Sausage with Fried Eggs 1

  Crispy Shrimp Paste Chicken 1

  Cucumber and Truffle Purée 1

  Duck in Two Courses à la Julia Child 1

  Fresh Chilli Flowers 1

  Peking Duck 1

  Pressed Duck 1

  Roast Beef Fillet 1

  Savoury Beef with Asparagus 1

  Spring Onion Brushes 1

  Squirrel Fish 1

  Steamed Beef Meatballs 1

  Steamed Chicken 1

  Stir-Fried Beef with Tomato and Egg 1

  Sweetcorn Soup with Crabmeat 1

  Tomato Roses 1

  Warm Mango Compote with Basil and Vanilla Ice Cream 1

  Zheng Ji 1

/>   With my mother in Chicago in 1954, when I was six years old.

  San Francisco’s Chinatown, photographed in the late 1800s (courtesy of San Francisco Public Library).

  One day the moustache, head hair and bandana will be gone, but for now… My days as a Maoist hippie (aka student in California) in 1971.

  At my cookery school (in my home) in Berkeley, California, 1979.

  Accompanied by my speciality, Peking duck, in my Berkeley kitchen, 1980. I never grow bored of cooking it.

  In the bustling markets of Hong Kong in the ’80s, shopping with my students.

  At Craig Claiborne’s party in 1982, where I met Madhur Jaffrey. Craig is in striped shirt at the table, Pierre Franey beside him. I’m standing, centre. Also pictured: Marcella Hazan, Roger Vergé, Florence Lin, Marion Cunningham, Diana Kennedy.

  Where would I be without Jenny Stevens, the producer of Chinese Cookery? Here we are in a restaurant in Hong Kong. It was October 1983, and we were taking a break from filming segments for that first BBC series. Leaving the studio to film outdoors is commonplace these days, but back then was novel.

  With my relatives in Hong Kong in 1983.