Most chefs will tell you that the making of a good dish is all about balance. Foods should complement each other and never overpower. A well-made dish uses several cooking techniques and flavors that enhance each other. Creations should not be too dry, too ‘saucy’ or too anything, really. Even the colors should be in balance, making sure the plate is not all brown, red, etc. Several great books have been written on the subject. Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid is an exceptional study into the perfect balance found in Southeast Asian cuisine. Gray Kunz, a 4-star chef in New York, teamed up with Peter Kaminsky to explore The Elements of Taste. In this phenomenal cookbook, these two veterans explain that there are fourteen different elements of flavor in western cooking, from ‘platform tastes’ like meaty or oceanic, to tastes that ‘push’ or tastes that ‘pull.’ But, you know what? In the sweltering late-summer heat of Beijing, who can even think about food?
It’s no wonder I lose weight every summer. No, I am not dieting to fit into a new bathing suit, but in the heat of summer I do lose my appetite. During the winter months, the body’s metabolism slows down, reserving carbohydrates as fats to burn slowly and keep us warm in the winter months. Along with the nutrients, toxins are also processed more slowly and end up being stored in fat cells until they can be easily burned off in the warmer weather. As the body is not producing as much of its own energy, we naturally lean towards richer foods like meats, nuts and sugary sweets. However, in the summertime the body does not want to be slowed down having to digest heavy foods while it is busy processing things left over from winter. So what does this all mean to your chef?
Winter and summer alike, I love riding my kua zi. One of my motorcycle-riding buddies is New Zealand native, Royce Derbyshire. As well as being a Chang Jiang enthusiast and blowing blues harp for Black Cat Bone, Royce is also a student of Traditional Chinese Medicine. While trying to figure out some culinary tricks to beat the heat, Royce gave me a few tips from five thousand years of glorious tradition.
“In the summertime the body needs to purge itself of excess heat and toxins. So you need to eat more yin foods. Yin foods help to cool you down as opposed to yang foods which will warm you up. Try to eat lighter foods like cucumbers, watermelon, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, lettuce, seaweed and citrus. For proteins stick to crabs, clams or egg whites. Bananas and apples are good cooling foods as well.”
As a diner, I tend to gravitate towards food that makes me feel good. I tend to eat a lot of vegetables and grains and spicier things. As a chef, I want my guests to experience the same thing: A feeling of being satisfied but not saturated. And keeping in tune with what a guest needs is not always easy. My first day on the job at Canteen in New York, the chef had me help him make a soup to sell as a special that night. It was a rainy November night and he told me, “People like to eat soup when it’s raining.” Here at Louisiana we change the menu every month in hopes of being able to provide exactly the kind of food our guests need as the seasons change.
Whether you are trying to keep cool or stay warm in Beijing, eating western food or local, the key to keeping fit and feeling well is balance. Be it the four food groups or yin and yang, eating the proper foods during the summer months will allow you to enjoy the warm weather, rather than feel burdened by it. The simplest way to do it, however, is just to pay attention to your body. I’ve had to give up my daily ham, cheese and jalapeno omelet, because I was just feeling so heavy in the morning. So for the summer it’s cereal and fruit for my breakfast. And, when it comes to balance, eating properly is just one factor. Try to take into account everything on a daily basis that may make you feel hot and if you still can’t take the heat… get out of the kitchen!
