Kylie Kwong: Simply Magic, Discovery Home Channel

[canucklehead]

Your observations really highlight Kylie's weaknesses with cooking Chinese food - that is she cannot leave things well enough alone. She garnishes EVERYTHING with sliced red chili peppers - no rhyme or reason to it. Sichuan Pepper/Salt mixture is used for dipping anything into - not a good idea for 'wet' foods as the pepper/salt mixture would quickly turn into a sticky mess.

There is certainly alot of room for innovation in Chinese food - incorporate local ingredients, lighten up on the oil or certain seasoning - but what she does is almost an 'illiterate' form of Chinese food. Alot of style over substance - chili peppers, sugar, vinegar, fish sauce are added to everything. Short cuts to real cooking and coaxing out of true food flavors.

I know I sound harsh - but I don't mean to. She is entertainting to a certain degree - its just her food has just about zero appeal to me.

Ah Leung - have you gotten further along in your video project? Something that I hope eG makes available.

[hzrt8w]

There is certainly alot of room for innovation in Chinese food - incorporate local ingredients, lighten up on the oil or certain seasoning - but what she does is almost an 'illiterate' form of Chinese food.  Alot of style over substance - chili peppers, sugar, vinegar, fish sauce are added to everything.  Short cuts to real cooking and coaxing out of true food flavors.

[...]

Ah Leung - have you gotten further along in your video project?  Something that I hope eG makes available.

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Style over substance. That captured exactly what I thought! I have seen half of the collections now and Sichuan peppercorn/salt are used in every one. I love Sichuan peppercorn as used in Sichuan chili chicken and such. For Sichuan peppercorn and salt mix, there are only a few traditional dishes in Cantonese cuisine that provides it: Cantonese Fried Chicken for example.

It's good to evolve and create new recipes. But the emphasis should be on the taste first. But perhaps Kylie took the old Chinese food wisdom literally. It said "Color, Fragrance, Taste" where Color (the appearance) goes first. Hmmm...

P.S. I need a studio!

Edited November 4, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[hzrt8w]

I watched another episode of Kylie's show last night:

Simply Magic: Episode 6: Hong Kong Island Hideaway

(The schedule on Discovery Home channel is on Saturday 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm PDT.)

This episode featured 3 recipes:

Steamed Snapper Filets

Fish Soup

Deep-fried Prawns with Chilli Dipping Sauce

(Recipes can be found here)

My thoughts:

It is interesting the Kylie had visited 2 places (might have been even 3) but the editing made it looked as if it was one place. I believe they showed her picking the live seafood from tanks while she was in Cheung Chau. But she actually ate at Lamma Island. The restaurant looked exactly like the one Kent Wang visited!

She ordered some manis shrimp. My father would never touch it, saying that they are too "fishy" - pointing to the yellow color in the under belly of the shrimp. But you know what "fishy" means! In Cantonese, Manis Shrimp are called "Lai Liu Ha". But don't ask me to translate it! The best way to cook fresh, succulent shrimp Cantonese style is to White Boil, and dip in diluted light soy sauce with slices of fresh hot chilies. Most restaurants use the second/third grade shrimp to make Salt And Pepper style because the non-freshness taste of the shrimp can be hidden by the strong salt and pepper flavor. Can't do that with white boiled.

That inspired Kylie to make deep-fried prawns with beer batter (yes, beer). The dip is sweet and sour, mixed in with shredded carrots. It looks like Japanese tempura with western batter making meeting Vietnamese Nam Ngoc. Interesting.

I really like the recipe on steamed snapper filets. Chinese don't usually bother with fileting the fish for steaming. We steam fish whole. Some actually insists on steaming fish whole as a belief of "whole" being "beautiful". But Kylie's version is more consumer friendly - without scare of the fish bones.

The third recipe of making fish soup... I like it for the most part. However, adding light soy sauce to the soup, I think, would degrade the clearness of the soup. I would skip it. The saltiness can be derived from salt.

[Ben Hong]

Wow, I just read through this thread for the first time. I am shocked to learn that not one of the posters on this thread is an international star like Kylie is.

[hzrt8w]

I watched another episode of Kylie's show last night:

Simply Magic: Episode 7: Wok School - Hong Kong's Chef Academy

(The schedule on Discovery Home channel is on Saturday 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm PDT.)

This episode featured 3 recipes:

Noodle and Vegetable Soup

Prawn Wontons

Stir-fried Chicken Filets

(I think they had a mix-up here. Prawn Wontons was actually shown in a different episode.)

(Recipes can be found here)

My thoughts:

This is a very funny episode. Kylie visited a cooking training school in Hong Kong. Seeing so many young people who are "big wok" wannabe.

The hand-pulled noodle segment is very impressive - from kneading the dough to slapping the dough on the table to twisting the dough and pulling it into progressively thinner threads. Chinese don't need no pasta making machines!

There is also a small segment on how the students wrap steamed dumpling.

They also showed how to wrap a spring roll. They used some round (not square) spring roll wrappers. The wrappers look like tortilla but much thinner. They are translucent: if you place your hand behind the wrapper, you can see the outline of your hand. One tip for making spring rolls: the filling must be dry. Or else the rolls will not be crispy when deep-fried.

The first recipe in making vegetable soup: I think making stocks strictly from vegetable may not be as flavorful.

I really like the second recipe "Stir-fried Chicken Filets". Chicken dark meat pieces are marinated overnight and stir-fried with hot dried peppers. It's very similar to the Sichuan Hot Pepper Chicken.

Edited November 15, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[Shiewie]

I've eaten at Kylie's restaurant, Billy Kwong, quite a fewl years back (think it was in 2001), way before she started on her TV cooking series.

We had a good laugh when we first stepped in as the decor was mainly black and white and there were huge white lanterns (kind of like the ones used at Chinese funerals...we could all hear our mums going "Choi! Tai ka lai see" if they had joined us for dinner there ).

It's not a big place, most diners can actually look into the kitchen where she's cooking. While her food is not traditional, the combinations she comes up with do taste good and are cooked beautifully. It was definitely one of my more memorable meals.

[hzrt8w]

I watched another episode of Kylie's show last night:

Simply Magic: Episode 8: A Chinese Family - Mothers & Daughters

(The schedule on Discovery Home channel is on Saturday 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm PDT.)

This episode featured 2 recipes:

Celery Salad

Stir-fried Tofu

(Recipes can be found here)

My thoughts:

Be very honest I was a bit disappointed at this last episode of the series. The clips from the Shanghai Tea House and Shanghai vegetarian restaurant were good (and short), but the thus-inspired recipes are, how should I say it? Un-unforgetable?

Salad made with celery slices and the forever-familiar Sichuan peppercorn and salt (why?), fish sauce (why?), sesame and fresh red chili slices (why? A salad is not "spicy" enough?)

The last 10 minutes were spent on a drama. Kylie's mom and niece were dragged on to the set (okay, okay, invited) and acted out their mom and daugther relationship. Looked really uneasy. It was uneasy for me to watch. And Mom and Daughter competed in the kitchen to make... smashed potato? I am really not sure what story it is trying to tell. That Chinese mothers are usually over-bearing and daughters are rebelious?

Edited November 20, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[hzrt8w]

The Discovery Home Channel is showing Kylie Kwong another series "Cooking with Heart and Soul".

(Check here for schedule)

I saw the episode "Bamboo" last night. It contains some footages of her restaurant "Billy Kwong" and her cooking in the kitchen.

The restaurant's black and white scheme. Interesting. "Choi! Tai ka lai see" LOL!

[Lisa1349]

The Discovery Channel is once again showing the Simply Magic series. Because I'm an Italian American who has cooked French food professionally but love to eat from many Asian countries, I am intrigued. I did buy the companion book to this series and will venture into the fried prawn wontons this evening. A few questions:

How are Sichuan peppercorns used traditionally?

Does anyone know another name for the chilis she always uses? I never see anything like those in markets here in PA, not even the local Asian market.

While recently explaining the function to mirepox and it's derivatives like the southern holy trinity I was thinking of the constant use of garlic, ginger and scallions in her cooking. What would be a good name for her 3 base ingredients?

While I take her cooking with a grain of sea salt, I love to listen to her voice and accent.

[Gruzia]

I watched another episode of Kylie's show last night:

Simply Magic: Episode 8: A Chinese Family - Mothers & Daughters

(The schedule on Discovery Home channel is on Saturday 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm PDT.)

This episode featured 2 recipes:

Celery Salad

Stir-fried Tofu

(Recipes can be found here)

My thoughts:

Be very honest I was a bit disappointed at this last episode of the series.  The clips from the Shanghai Tea House and Shanghai vegetarian restaurant were good (and short), but the thus-inspired recipes are, how should I say it?  Un-unforgetable?

Salad made with celery slices and the forever-familiar Sichuan peppercorn and salt (why?), fish sauce (why?), sesame and fresh red chili slices (why?  A salad is not "spicy" enough?)

The last 10 minutes were spent on a drama. Kylie's mom and niece were dragged on to the set (okay, okay, invited) and acted out their mom and daugther relationship.  Looked really uneasy.  It was uneasy for me to watch.  And Mom and Daughter competed in the kitchen to make...  smashed potato?  I am really not sure what story it is trying to tell.  That Chinese mothers are usually over-bearing and daughters are rebelious?

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That's so funny, I just saw that show yesterday! Yeah, I'm not sure what the deal with the potatoes was - neither recipe was anything inspiring. Also, the whole mother-Daughter thing seemed really contrived - was definately strange to watch it.

This is not the only episode I've seen and i have to say that I am not that crazy about it. She comes off really brash and it seems as though she's trying to ham it up for the cameras too much. The food is OK but her style really grates on me.

[hzrt8w]

How are Sichuan peppercorns used traditionally?

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Sichuan peppercorns are used in many Sichuan style dishes: Ma La beef tendon, Kung Pao chicken, etc. for example. I have seen it toasted and ground (like how Kylie showed in her TV programs), and I have seen it used as-is in Chinese restaurants - which is a bit lack of elegance in table manner having the guests to spit out the thing. The peppercorns bring in a numbing effect that is not experienced using other spices.

Does anyone know another name for the chilis she always uses? I never see anything like those in markets  here in PA, not even the local Asian market.

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Not sure of the name. Just those bright red chili pepper. Can it be "red" jalapeno pepper?

While recently explaining the function to mirepox and it's derivatives like the southern holy trinity I was thinking of the constant use of garlic, ginger and scallions in her cooking. What would be a good name for her 3 base ingredients?

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I don't recall hearing a particular term for these in Chinese. Garlic, scallions (green onions), leek, shallot, onion are all in the same family - and sometimes we substitute one for another. These are in the "aromatic" group in French-influenced cookings, no? Ginger is unique though.

[Lisa1349]

Thanks for the clarifications. I remember when the peppercorns were banned in the US a few years ago. Thanks to the black market, there wasn't a glitch in supply though. The trip to the market took longer than expected, so prawn wontons are postponed until tomorrow.

[XiaoLing]

The peppers that she uses looks like red serrano peppers to me. But I could be wrong.

Edited March 12, 2007 by XiaoLing (log)