Great Chefs of New Orleans - First Season

I like food with soul

Like shrimp creole and cafe au lait

I like jambalaya and crawfish etoufee

Red beans and rice, they sure are nice

That old New Orleans way

Great chefs of New Orleans

They're comin' your way today

Great chefs of New Orleans

Lousi A-N-A

- Welcome to Great Chefs of New Orleans.

Featuring chef's recipes and cooking hints

from the finest restaurants.

In one of America's premiered dining cities,

this time Trey Yuen and the Wong brothers.

A loose translation of Trey Yuen

is Crystal Jade Green Garden.

Not inappropriate for the sensationally popular setting

in Mandeville, Louisiana

near the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

It is owned and operated by the Wong family.

From front, James, Frank, John, Tom, and Joe.

The kitchen in full swing is a culinary juggernaut.

The built in wok offer powerful gas jets

that generate extremely high cooking temperatures.

This should be taken into consideration while watching

the program.

As with many Chinese restaurants, the menu at Trey Yuen

is classified in terms of provincial influence,

but the Wongs add invented dimension to their dishes

by returning to China for new ideas.

- The menu begins with Hot and Sour soup,

followed by Spring Rolls, Szechuan Spicy Beef,

Kung Ming Shrimp, finishing up with Sweet and Sour Fish.

Cooking and preparation are distinct steps

in Chinese cooking, and preparation is by far the most

time consuming.

John Wong begins by slicing black mushrooms that have

been soaked in warm water.

His brother, James, describes the other ingredients.

- Doing the Hot and Sour Soup.

We got the wood fungus,

the wood ear, that's the fungus,

and we got the bean curd and black mushroom,

the Chinese black mushroom,

and we also use the chicken stock.

That's the basic soup, and we got shredded pork,

and a bamboo shoot.

This soup we cook with little bit of vinegar,

and hot cherry pepper.

This soup is more rich and I think in a lot more flavor.

You got the sour taste.

Give it a sweet taste, and a hot taste.

- This soup is an example of the principles

of contrast and balance that pervade Chinese cookery.

It plays off hot against sour, and textually bamboo shoots

against bean curd.

The pork comingled with pock of marinade consisting

of light soy sauce, cornstarch, and sesame seed oil.

This is standard for most of the meat dishes at Trey Yuen.

Incidentally, MSG is rarely used at the restaurant.

The master stock comprised of chicken and pork

accomplishes taste enhancement.

Chef John is not, as it appears, throwing soup at the wall.

There is a trench at the back of the stove that catches

the waste, which is then carried off by water.

All ingredients but the bean curd go into the soup.

The chopped green onions will garnish at completion.

After adding vinegar, Chef John will go to what is thought

of as a palate of flavors.

You really need a score card to follow this,

but suffice is to say he'll add oyster sauce, sugar, salt,

and light and dark soy sauce.

The light sauce is the typical condiment,

while the dark version contains molasses,

and is used as both the flavoring and coloring agent.

In this menu, soup appears as a first course,

but in traditional Chinese meals, particularly banquets,

it can show up anywhere.

For example, it is sometimes served between courses

as a palate cleanser.

This is a fairly standard hot and sour soup,

but is characterized by the Wong's explosive

homemade pepper oil.

It will be added just before the bean curd billows

to the surface.

The spring roll preparation involves sliced mushrooms,

bamboo shoots, and shredded cabbage.

Also, it is an impressive display of the versatility

of the Chinese cleaver.

It was noted during the shooting of this series

that cleavers are evident in a good many western kitchens.

Particularly, among young sous chefs and assistants.

Again, the shredded pork will be marinated for between

20 and 30 minutes.

Frank Wong explains.

- Chinese cooking stir fry is pretty fast cooking.

If one piece meat is thick and one piece meat is small,

and one piece meat probably done and one piece meat

probably still not cooking.

So, all of vegetable needs to be cut in the same size.

In good preparation one.

All the marinating we got on the shrimp or the beef,

you see we gonna marinating in 'em.

The whole idea is basic behind it.

The coating on the beef or shrimp, on the pork

with the marinade on them

they gotta sealing in that,

and by the time you cook the meat

they seal the juice inside, so when the meat come out

cooking, they lot tender and juicier because they

seal the meat.

Also, you never overcook all the meat.

We don't believe in overcooking on the Chinese cooking.

Except in certain dish like the stewing.

You overcook it.

You make 'em tender.

The firefly stew, firefly, everything gotta be pretty fast,

you don't overcook everything.

- Considering the current high fashion

status of the wok, it is astonishing to realize that it's

basic shape and function hasn't changed in centuries.

The woks at Trey Yuen are 18, 20, and 22 inch sizes,

and only peanut oil is used for stir frying.

As John begins the spring roll filling with the garlic

ginger mixture, Tommy Wong adds some insight

to the stir fry technique.

- We use much higher heat burners

than you would at home 'cause the secret behind...

People ask what's your secret and what's the big difference.

The big difference is the burner, we use a high intense

heat burners to gas range, which brings up lots of heat

to it.

We cook anywhere from 600 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit

on the surface there.

Of course, the heat and the timing makes the dish.

You start with the freshest

and the best ingredient you can,

and utilizing all ingredients at its peak of the season

at the peak of ripeness.

And then, of course, like I said with the heat

and the timing those are the essential in stir fry cooking.

- Chef John will add pork chicken stock and salt

Then we'll begin his magic with the seasoning.

To a visitor, it appears that all of the sauces contain

the same ingredients.

In a sense, this is true, generally, less than a dozen

flavor items are used,

but it has to do with proportion, and is based on a

philosophy that goes to the heart Chinese cooking.

Tommy Wong.

- If you notice in lot of the dishes that we

use the same basic seasonings.

The idea behind our cooking, or Cantonese cooking,

as well as the new nouvelle cuisine,

so called nouvelle cuisine, which is what

I call old Catonese cooking

is to use the freshest ingredients available.

Using vegetables at the peak of season.

Meat that's not frozen, using shrimp that's just been caught

Fish that's just come out of water.

And all these ingredients,

whether it's fresh in its natural state has a very distinct

flavor,

and in turn let the natural flavor of foods come through,

and what you wanna do is just enhance the flavor

a little bit, not to mask it, or cover it up.

- Spring rolls are obviously related to the more

familiar egg rolls.

In fact, in some quarters, what John Wong is preparing

are egg rolls.

His brother James explains the difference.

At least, at Trey Yuen.

- The spring roll is a little bit

even than the egg roll.

The egg roll, we got the

many of this the oh-ah-meh-gahn style.

The spring roll is the more authentic way to make the

spring roll.

It's a different ingredient.

Its taste better.

And the crepe that we use

is a more crispy and light.

- It's not secret that the Chinese

are not big meat eaters.

Certainly not in a western sense, but then who is?

While Americans seem to prefer their protein

in the form of meat, the Chinese use vegetables.

In fact, generally, the ratio of meat to vegetables

is reversed between the national diets.

This is partially the result of economics,

but also reflects the yin yang doctrine of balance

that is so important in Chinese cooking.

In other others, to the Chinese there is something

decidedly unbalanced about a three pound sirloin steak

for one.

Presumably, they likewise view an English mixed grill

as something approaching obscenity,

but the cuisine is if nothing adaptable,

and for this dish America's favorite fruit, beef, is used.

In a full blown acknowledgement to American tastes,