The old family recipes that let Shang Palace’s chef take fine Chinese cuisine into the future
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The sometime family recipes that let Shang Palace's chef take fine Chinese cuisine into the future
Chef Mok Kit Keung's 40-year career is equally storied as the 20-year-old orange peel preserved past his late mother.
(Photograph: Aik Chen)
17 Jun 2022 06:15AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 03:00AM)
2-Michelin-starred Chef Mok Kit Keung'south signature dishes are many – deep-fried whole boneless chicken filled with fried viscous rice, for case; or coddled sliced Presently Hock fillet and young coconut in fish broth – but at the finish of a resplendent meal at Shang Palace, it'south the deceptively simple dessert of xx-yr tangerine skin in red edible bean soup that lingers bittersweetly in your heart.
Non only are the subtle flavours perfectly balanced, the chef'south emotions also come through cleanly: The dish is a tribute of sorts to his late female parent, who would preserve batches of her own orange peel each twelvemonth.
"When my mother passed away in January, I establish that she had left me boxes and boxes of orangish peel. She hadn't labelled the jars with their years, but when we opened one, it was incredibly fragrant, so it must have been 20 or xxx years quondam," he said.
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Information technology's a dish that has much emotional resonance, and it also tells you that the father of three is a family man through and through. "Many famous chefs are gamblers," he said, "simply I told myself not to be like that. It'south important to be an instance to your children. I don't gamble or smoke. There's enough fume in the kitchen – why would you want to inhale more? It doesn't fill up your belly."
Now, with 40 years of experience and numerous accolades under his belt, this champion of fine Cantonese cuisine has a clear mission: To honour the idea of family by preserving culinary traditions, resurrecting forgotten dishes and recording recipes for posterity.
A twoscore-YEAR JOURNEY ACROSS COUNTRIES
"My mother passed downward many family dishes – my grandad'due south dishes; her own dishes – merely there were no recipes," he said. And, "When I was a trainee, chefs didn't have recipes to requite the states. How many spoonfuls of what went into each dish was all muscle retentiveness. I had to recreate their dishes based on my memories of how they tasted.
"When I became a chef, I didn't want to practise it that way. I told myself I had to record all the recipes down to the gram. That'southward how I'yard able to train my cooks."
The game has changed a lot since his parents packed him off to beginning out as a 13-yr-one-time amateur in his uncle's kitchen in Hong Kong. "I recollect dragging my suitcase into the kitchen and everybody turning and staring, wondering who this country male child was," he chuckled. For half a year, his task was to clean kitchen equipment. He had imagined he could spend his evenings learning English, but before long learnt that life in the kitchen was far from nine-to-five. He graduated to killing chickens and ducks; then to learning knife skills. He was a fast learner and by sixteen, he had cooks working under him.
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"I was willing to do everything and annihilation, and to learn, so my chefs trusted me. Attitude is most important," he said. "At the finish of a day, after the chefs had gone home, I'd notwithstanding exist in the kitchen, practising my technique."
At 26, Mok was able to purchase a house in Hong Kong, and at 28, came to Singapore to work at the now-airtight Noble House, under the Tung Lok Grouping. Over the next ii decades, he subsequently held positions at Raffles Hotel's Royal Cathay; Pearl River Palace at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Eye; and Marina Bay Sands, where he headed the kitchens of four Chinese restaurants.
Singapore was where his industriousness in the kitchen morphed into a true passion for nutrient. "I came into contact with lots of different people. And the markets hither were besides and then different. I started to recollect about many different dishes and cuisines. And I started winning awards," he said.
Shang Palace'southward Soon Hock and immature coconut broth, for example, is a dish inspired past fresh produce he establish here.
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Singapore is likewise where he met his China-born married woman and raised his children, now aged 24, fifteen and 10.
Recently, he cooked for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for the third fourth dimension. "I said to him, 'I have served you 3 times in total. The start time, I was on a piece of work permit. The 2d time, I was a Permanent Resident. And now, this fourth dimension, I am a Singaporean'," Mok recounted. "He clapped his hands in applause."
GUIDING TRADITION INTO THE FUTURE
PM Lee isn't the only dignitary or celebrity Mok has personally cooked for. He tin likewise regale you with tales of the King of Kingdom of morocco, Vladimir Putin and Jackie Chan – and those are just the ones he'southward immune to name, nosotros imagine.
It's no wonder, considering the touch of a chief is evident in his cooking. For a dish of boneless quail filled with bird's nest in supreme broth, Mok takes but three minutes to debone the bird while keeping its delicate, translucent skin intact, a task that would take one of his cooks 10 minutes.
And for a dish of traditional deep-fried crab meat, coriander and pork dumplings, where the pork rolls are wrapped with pork fatty mitt-sliced paper-thin, his skill in slicing the fat is unparalleled.
This, afterwards all, is the human who led Shang Palace Kowloon to a second Michelin star in 2012, retaining it for six years. Last yr, he took up the executive Chinese chef position at Shang Palace in Singapore, which also happens to be the start of 38 Shang Palaces in the world – the restaurant opened along with the hotel in 1971.
He'due south declared that he'due south gunning for a star for the restaurant, but there isn't whatever pressure; nor is at that place any secret formula. "You but have to smoothen in all aspects," he said. "Getting plenty exposure is very of import. Customer feedback is very important. Information technology depends a lot on teamwork – how the kitchen runs when I'm non around; how knowledgeable the service squad is."
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To the discerning diner, though, what'south actually important isn't the accolades a restaurant wins or even how much of a crowd-pleaser the food is. Instead, it's the piece of work that is existence done hither to perpetuate Chinese cooking traditions, many of which are slowly beingness lost to history.
"Information technology is very important to preserve traditions. For example, a lot of Chinese cooking is family-style big plates, and it'due south all nearly temper. Now, many Chinese chefs are serving food in individual portions. Non everything is suited to being served that way. Don't pursue individual servings for the sake of it – that volition but accept a detrimental effect," he said.
And in essence, "I believe we have to preserve flavours. The all-time matter to do would exist to exit it lonely and not rattle its cage – if you're doing traditional cuisine, do information technology properly. Don't add salt, vinegar or fancy decorations."
That said, Mok does put his own innovative dishes on the menu, such equally the stewed coral trout with foie gras and black garlic, inspired by trips to Paris. Creativity is a pregnant motivating factor in his work.
Just his cherished dishes are "kung fu" dishes that require long hours of preparation and careful technique. That'due south part of respecting tradition while too leading it into the future, he says.
"Many customers have never heard of these traditional dishes, particularly younger customers. These days, it's more than of import that the photographic camera eats showtime," he chuckled. "Information technology's vital for us chefs to have a conversation with diners; to explain the years of tradition behind each dish, and how we've tried to preserve the original flavours.
"It'due south about education. And if I don't make these dishes, my cooks won't have the opportunity to acquire them."
In the past, "The chefs wouldn't teach y'all everything. They might teach y'all 80 per cent of what they knew, and and then they would leave. Not me," he said. "The challenge of my task at present is to pass techniques down to younger cooks, and to assist them acquire to be adept and quick."
Shang Palace is at 22 Orangish Grove Road, Shangri-La Hotel.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/shang-palace-chef-fine-chine-cuisine-kitchen-stories-227106
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