Sam Low - Modern Chinese

20 Dec

Written By Antony

*Follow Sam on* *Insta*. *Photography Vanessa Wu*

Is there anything Sam Low can’t do? He’s a champion barista, Master Chef winner, restaurant judge, a much-loved Insta-star plus a Chinese food expert. He’s also the author of one of our current fave books, Modern Chinese and an all-round nice guy too. And– yay! – he’s shared some of his a-mazing recipes and culinary wisdom with us.

1. Who would your dream dinner guest be and what would you cook for them?

I have so many dream dinner guests!

I guess a person I would love to chat with right now and pick their brains more would be Soleil Ho, the ex-food critic of The Chronicle in San Francisco, now critic at large. I had the privilege to meet them in SF earlier this year and just always in awe of what they think is relevant and newsworthy in media and the food industry. I’ve been a fan of their work since they did the podcasts ‘The Racist Sandwich’ and ‘Extra Spicy’ largely focused on food politics with attention on race, class and gender.

I would make something that would make me feel good as a complete meal, a Cantonese dinner consisting of rice, broth, some greens and a couple of protein choices in the middle of the table, one most likely being steamed blue cod with exploding oil and the other maybe charsiu (red bbq) pork belly.

2. What’s your most treasured food memory?

I have a few memorable moments with food but one I talk about in my cookbook Modern Chinese and something I keep going back to, is my first visit to China when I was a child. I got to experience the food of Zhongshan (southern China) where my parents are from, more particularly in a large mega restaurant seating up to 600 people, owned and operated by distant relatives. The organised chaos of this mammoth operation and the food being so different to any type of Chinese food I was familiar with, think worms in steamed eggs, fried water bugs and fish head stews. I just remembered only eating the tomato egg that evening.

3. What are the ingredients or flavours you could not live without?

I mean the obvious Chinese holy trinity of aromatics – garlic, ginger and spring onion in combination is always so heavenly when fried in oil. I always think people are missing out when they don’t utilise white pepper as a key seasoning in savoury dishes and often the combination of kewpie mayonnaise and good chilli oil can fix a bad meal most of the time…

4. What is (or what are) your most essential cooking tools?

I have an entire list of my ideal kitchen equipment in my cookbook Modern Chinese but here are some that I think are super wise investments…

A good knife, one that will stay sharp and feel comfortable in your hand, makes cutting vegetables way more enjoyable. I love a garlic press/crushers, makes your garlic go way further because the squeezing of the pores will release more of its flavour molecules into your food and no stinky garlic flavoured chopping boards! And a microwave, I love the microwave… like a lot.

5. Who are your food heroes/ greatest influences?

So many over the years and so grateful I got to meet some of them recently.
Early in my food journey, David Chang had changed the way people thought about the value of east Asian cuisine in the west. Gordon Ramsay believe it or not is how I learned how to cook so many classic French and British recipes during my teen years from his cookbooks. Fuchsia Dunlop is so incredibly inspirational and a wealth of knowledge on Chinese gastronomy. Brandon Jew, owner of the Michelin star modern Chinese restaurant ‘Mister Jiu’s’ in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Harold McGee and Michael Pollan both food academics that taught me how to look at food differently from a scientific lens using and training our human senses to define what we truly enjoy as flavour especially in the study of smell and aroma.

6. What are the food trends you most dislike?

The idea of fake meat to replace real meat that also ‘bleed’ and, even worse, lab grown meats. I think it’s going too far, and the worst part is that it’s not accessible and costs so much money! Trends like butter boards and whipped coffees are fine because they disappear fast but the fake meat trend has a large impact on its production footprint with immense amounts resources being used for its development.

7. What do you cook when you just can’t be bothered or when time is short?

I am a huge fan of the supermarket roasted hot chicken sitting in the heaters. Often I will buy those and have it as my main protein 2-3 times a week from the fridge, microwaved hot, with a quick vegetable stir fry. Otherwise, I will dig into my freezer for homemade wontons and dumplings to boil or pan fry, always a good time with a quick garlicy, soy, black vinegar and chilli oil dressing.

8. Name your current favourite cookbooks?

Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown by Brandon Jew
Land of Fish and Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop
Chinese-ish by Rosheen Kaul & Joanna Hu
First Generation by Frankie Gaw
Black Food by Bryant Terry

9. What are your best tips, tricks or hacks for entertaining at home?

Always have a drink on hand when people arrive! Pre-batch cocktails/mocktails and assemble when guests come in!

Give simple tasks for guests when they offer to help such as chopping the salad, garnishing desserts or dishing out portions of soup. This will make them feel like they are contributing to the meal.

Prepare way in advance. Cold dishes or dressings/sauces often can be made 2-3 days beforehand this will give you less things to prep on the day.

It's not rude to ask people to bring a small side to go with the main dishes. This will free you up to focus on the main part of the dinner, and allows guests to feel creative, useful and often people will bring a story with the dish.

10. Are there any foods you don’t like or don’t eat?

Durian and stinky fermented tofu. I have given these many attempts and I just can’t seem to enjoy them. I can’t seem to handle the smell.

11. Name a favourite destination for food/dining

I often go back to Melbourne purely for its food culture. Always fresh, innovative and executed very well with passionate hospitality professionals that make you fall in love with the hospitality industry all over again.

12. What’s your ultimate food treat?

Peking duck is always going to be one of the tops for me.
I guess in no particular order these are the foods that bring me a lot of joy: chicken nuggets, cocktails sausages with cheese, fried chicken (almost every form), aged hard cheeses, spam and egg sandwiches, and pork belly (in all forms).