A Day Of Food And Sharing

Redolent of star anise, cinnamon, clove, fennel and Schezuan peppercorn, Chef Skip's Master Sauce simmered in its dark orange cast iron pot. The liquid is opaque brown, thick with flavor, skimmed with a sheen of oil, intended to please the palate and nose and satisfy the soul.  Master Sauce is the basis of "red cooking" in Chinese cuisine: the technique of braising meats in this complex sauce for many hours to imbue the meat with seasoning while lending some of the flavor of the meat to the sauce. After cooking, the sauce is cooled, strained then stored (up to five days in the refrigerator or frozen in the freezer) to be used again and again. As the sauce ages, it becomes more complex from the ingredients it has cooked. Master Sauces can be decades in the making--Chef Skip's is around 30 years old! He used the sauce as a base for barbecue basting of chicken and pork for Friday's cocktail hour nibbles. He slow-cooked tri-tip in it until the meat was flaking apart, then stuffed it into Chinese-style burritos along with a vinegary red cabbage slaw and simple pinquinto beans (an heirloom pinto bean from Santa Maria, CA) and sliced grilled vegetables for our lunch on Saturday.  He marinated beef skewers in Master Sauce, sesame oil and cilantro for one of the many dishes in our Saturday night feast.

The occasion was "Kitchen, Notebook, Memory: A Writing Retreat Inspired by the Five Senses" that Chef Skip hosted with Chris deLorenzo our writing coach trained in the Amherst writer's method. Held at Chef Skip's lovely home with an awesome chef's kitchen, the workshop was built around the interface between writing and food. Not only did we have the chance to pitch in and help in the kitchen with dinner prep under the Chef's tutelage, but Chris had prepared some food experiences to inspire our writing. Since this was my first participation in a writing workshop, I was apprehensive about feeling inadequate or unprepared. But the Amherst method is based on the group and leader providing only affirmative feedback. All references to the writer and writings are framed as comments on the "narrator's voice" and "the work" rather than judging the individual. Chris is a nurturing and supportive guide and the participants were congenial, so there was nothing intimidating about the situation. With numerous published authors, fiction writers, cookbook writers and editors attending, it was a treat to listen to the wide range of writing styles in the group. Chris would give us a prompt, then give us 20 minutes or so to write. We'd rejoin the circle to read our creations and share what we liked about particular aspects of "the work".
One prompt was the 5 tastes: bitter, salty, sweet, sour and spicy. We were each given a small cup containing a sample of each taste: bitter--cilantro, salty--salt, sweet--sugar, sour--Chinese black vinegar, spicy--Szechuan black pepper. We were instructed to taste each with utmost concentration on all our 5 senses, then use the experience to inform our writing. Later, at the blissful Shiatsu Rincon, I was describing the retreat to my acupuncturist, John Hickey, one of the founders of the Santa Barbara College of Oriental Medicine (SBCOM), where he taught and served as the academic vice president from 1985 until 2001. He explained the connection between the 5 tastes and the 5 elements in Chinese cosmology:
Fire -- Bitter
Water -- Salty
Earth -- Sweet
Wood  -- Sour
Metal -- Pungent (spicy)

The Saturday night dinner was an explosion of flavors. We had delectable pad thai cooked by two of our cooking experts, including Asian-food chef Joyce Jue who has written numerous cookbooks and leads international culinary tours), a panang-style curry, crispy fusion slaw filled with fresh fruit chunks that serveds as the perfect foil for a hot and spicy jalapeno/garlic/poppyseed dressing, marinated beef skewers (as described above), crunchy almond cookies and to-die-for Cheremoya sorbet from a recipe Chef Skip developed for a friend and client. Chef Skip was a friend of Julia Child's and inherited her cat, who meowed pitifully to be let out, then meowed pitifully to be let back in and delighted us by poking her nose into our gift bags.

There are probably thousands of Master Sauce recipes and each will change over time as different ingredients are used. If you are fortunate enough to take a cooking class with Chef Skip, you will come away replete with delicious food and with a packet of recipes in your hand. I found one recipe published online from TV personality Andrew Zimmern that can get yours started (no bugs or worms in his recipe, thank goodness).

One-Pot Chinese Chicken Wings with Master Sauce:
By Andrew Zimmern on Mon, 02/04/2008 - 17:33 "This is a quick and easy wing recipe. Perfect for any sort of party, but I like it for a Chinese New Year celebration! Try it out with my Black Bean Spareribs with Green Onions [see photo] or Floating Dragon Dumplings recipes."
* 32 very large chicken drummies, or 2-joint segments work well
* 1⁄2 c sake
* 1⁄3 c water
* 6 large thin slices fresh ginger
* 1⁄3 c soy sauce
* 1⁄4 c Chinese yellow rock sugar
* 2 dried hot chiles
* 2 T oyster sauce
* 2 T hoisin sauce
* 2 clv star anise
* 1 cinnamon stick
Place a 14 inch no stick saute pan over high heat. Add the chicken and dry-sear to lightly brown the chicken. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer,
Cook, covered, for about 10 minutes. Uncover, and simmer until pan is almost “dry”, tossing frequently to coat wings. Skim off fat if you like…and serve, garnishing with scallion shavings and sesame seeds.