#ChineseFoodiesofIG: Made With Lau

Made With Lau

This is part of an ongoing series of interviews I’m doing with my favourite Chinese foodies that I follow on Instagram. Come and follow the #ChineseFoodiesofIG hashtag on Instagram and leave a comment showing your support for these talented folk!

Where are you from? Where are you really from?

Dad: My name is Chung Sun Lau, and I am from Taishan County, Guangdong Province, China.

Randy: Born and raised in San Francisco, Bay Area!

What’s a Chinese recipe everyone should learn?

Dad: There are many Chinese recipes, in addition to 8 cuisines (Cantonese, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong, Hui), there are 56 ethnic local specialties. Therefore, it is difficult to assess which recipe should be learned. I am a Cantonese, mainly Cantonese cuisine, I usually cook at home, and I also use Cantonese cuisine as the main recipe for my family to enjoy. Such as: steamed fish, fried fish, fish slide, white sliced chicken, steamed chicken, fried chicken steak, fried pork chop, steamed pork ribs, steamed meat cake, barbecued pork, fried Chinese beef tenderloin, fried beef steak, vegetarian food, fried various vegetables, tomatoes Scrambled eggs, fried prawns, steamed dumplings, tofu boiled chicken or shrimp, carrot cake, taro cake, red bean cake. All of the above are easy to learn. 

Randy: I’d go with congee/juk - it’s the dish that brings up the most nostalgia for me. It also has a very low barrier to entry: essentially just rice, water, and whatever flair you want to go with it. 

What does home taste like?

Dad: The taste of hometown is endless, and eating in Guangzhou is a must! Even just the dry fried beef noodle is endlessly memorable. The Toisan style salty tang yuan (rice balls) and yellow eel clay pot rice are also very special

Randy: Home tastes like plopping down at the dinner table and my dad serving a warm, savory bowl of carbs like wonton noodles with char siu and bok choy, or my all-time favorite: savory tang yuan (sticky rice ball soup) loaded with veggies, mushrooms, lap cheung, dried shrimp, and meat. SO GOOD!

How did you learn to cook?

Dad: When I was 13 years old, my mother and sister moved to Hong Kong (father has always been in Hong Kong). At that time, I was over the age limit and could not accompany them. I stayed at a boarding school and I had to learn to cook by myself when I came home on the weekend, otherwise I would starve. From learning how to cook, I fell in love with cooking.

Randy: I think it’s arguable that I haven’t REALLY learned how to cook yet (at least like my dad), but I’m definitely learning a lot more now after taking it upon myself to document my dad’s recipes!

Share a food memory:

Dad: There are too many delicacies in my memory. The only time that I will remember in my life is: I made a "white cut chicken" for Chinese New Year. That was when I was 13 years old, first time cutting a chicken by myself with a knife in my hand. (Chinese New Year you must have chicken). Imagine the process of a 13-year-old kid using a knife to cut a whole chicken: cutting the neck and bleeding, removing the hair, removing the internal organs, then soaking the chicken in boiling water, and then cutting the chicken into pieces with a knife. These are all learned from my mother.

Randy: Well, my dad’s answer escalated quickly! Written like a true OG.

This isn’t exactly a food memory, but my parents used to run a restaurant together down the street from where we lived. When I was around 7 years old, I woke up to our neighbors banging on our door at 3AM and flashes of red dancing across our window. Our family walked down the street to watch our restaurant burn down (apparently, a neighboring business was trying to commit insurance fraud). I’ll always remember sitting on my dad’s shoulders, processing what was going on, and just noticing how calm my parents were watching their livelihood turn to smoke. 

I learned what resilience was that day. 

Who's your Chinese food legend?

Dad: No one is my Chinese culinary legend. I learned from a cooking school in Guangzhou, and after a long period of work, I became who I am today. It must be emphasized that I am not a celebrity chef, I am just an ordinary cook.

Randy: My dad! He’s a master of his craft and loves what he does. I am extremely blessed to be his son and spoiled by his ‘simple’ five course dinners.

The secret Chinese ingredient is:

Dad: The answer is very simple. Make sure the ingredients are fresh and made with care, so the dish will be colorful, aromatic and tasty. Of course, we must keep everything clean.

Randy: I don’t think this is applicable to every dish, but dried shrimp does wonders to the flavor profile of any dish you add it to. Small but mighty.

Ultimate comfort food: 

Dad: It’s hard to say. Sometimes a plate of dry fried beef noodle, a bowl of seafood congee, a few small dishes, a few bottles of beer, and the quality time with some close friends will do. Sometimes when our family gathers, a pot of soup, a few home-cooked dishes, and a bottle of red wine are the ultimate comfort for the whole family. It doesn’t have to be the delicacy of fancy dishes to be the ultimate comfort. Different people have different opinions.

Randy: Congee! Even as an adult, whenever I get sick, I still crave and hope that a bowl of my dad’s juk magically appears in front of me.

What does Chinese food mean to you?

Dad: Chinese food affects my life a lot. Before my retirement, my wife, who worked in the medical field and my cooking skill of Chinese food and my wife took care of all the expenses of a family of four living in the States. After retiring, I will spend the rest of my life making more and better food for my family for them to enjoy (before I retired, I was too busy at work and did not spend any good quality time with my family. Now I will make it up). In addition, I will share my Chinese recipes to my son and fulfill his wish of making a Youtube channel, leaving my cooking experience to future generations and my friends who like Chinese cuisine, sharing my cooking experience and knowledge. I am here feeling grateful to all the friends who support and like us! I sincerely wish you all a happy new year! Good health! Successful! Happy! Once again, on behalf of my family, thank you 🙏 everyone! Thank you 🙏!

Randy: Love! Connection to my Chinese heritage. Growing up, I’ve always had a language barrier with my dad (I don’t speak Chinese fluently), but I always felt his love through his cooking. And now that I’ve recently become a dad, I feel like it’s something to be celebrated, preserved, and passed down.