Wok teacher demonstrates her technique

May 22, 1:48 PMMiami Food and Drink ExaminerRosalie E. Leposky

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Eleanor Hoh holding childhood picture. © 2009 Rosalie E. Leposky

My longtime friend Eleanor Hoh, owner of Wok Star,  makes cooking with a traditional Chinese wok easy, fun, and interactive.

Last weekend I watched Hoh demonstrate her wok cooking philosophy at The Alliance Francaise de Miami as part of Japan culture week.

(Also on the program was the Sushi Master competition 2009, sponsored by the California Rice Commission.  SushiMasters 2009 Miami competition celebrates Japanese culture  )

Hoh is Chinese. She was born in Guangzhou (Canton) and raised in Hong Kong. In 1992, soon after Hurricane Andrew, Hoh moved to Miami. Her mother, Eliza Hoh, who still lives in Hong Kong, taught Eleanor and her three older sisters and brother to cook.

Watching a wok at work

Interested people crowded around Hoh’s table and watched her prepare to cook. The food was pre-chopped and ready to go. “I use a well-seasoned cast-iron wok,” Hoh explains.

“I sell a wok kit  that includes a pre-seasoned cast-iron wok. Pre-seasoning takes time and energy, and many of my students have told me they never got around  to seasoning their woks. With the purchase of my kit, my students can go home and cook that evening.”

Wok care and feeding

For home use, Hoh recommends a 15-inch wok, smaller than those used in restaurants. She explains that, to maintain the seasoning, woks must be cleaned in hot water with no cleaning agents, then hand-dried.

Wok cooking requires a gas stove. “I prefer a 10,000 Btu portable gas stove,” Hoh says. “The 7,000 Btu stoves sold in Chinese markets don’t work as well. I sell the kit and stove so my students can keep it simple and can go home to cook without having to shop around for what they need.”

Hoh teaches three-hour wok classes all over south Florida. Her class schedule is on her Web site.  “I teach in all the beautiful spaces I can find,” she says. “Beautiful spaces set the mood and tone of the event, and inspire people to learn. My class is a little hands-on and a little demonstration. I invite my students to come up and cook with me. I focus on the Asian cooking of vegetables and the stir-fry techniques.

Pineapple stir fried rice preparation. © 2009 Rosalie E. Leposky.

“Foods cook at different rates. I want to make sure the meat is cooked without over-cooking the vegetables, so we cook them separately. Vegetables don’t stick to the sides, so I cook them first and set them aside. Then I cook the meat, put it aside separately on the same dish, and do other ingredients. When everything is cooked, I combine them all in the wok.”

Limit the ingredients

Hoh advises her students to limit the number of ingredients they use – a green vegetable, a protein, and something for color such as red pepper – for her recipe-free cooking technique. Her focus is on the use of fresh ingredients with a few sprinkles of Asian seasoning.

Hoh refers to her Asian seasoning as TSPC: tamari (the Japanese version of soy sauce), medium-priced drinking sherry from any local market, ground white pepper, and corn starch.

Hoh and I agree on the choice of tamari. “Tamari is equivalent to using salt,” she says. “San-J  is the only tamari I use. Good ingredients are essential for a successful stir-fry, and San-J is the best.” If you’re trying to limit your sodium intake, tamari comes in a low-salt version, which I purchase.

On her Web site, Hoh has a recipe for pineapple stir-fried rice  and a video showing how it is made. She believes this video captures her philosophy on simple and creative cooking.
 

Clean up. © Eleanor Hoh.

For people who hate to cook

Hoh surveyed her students and learned six basic reasons they hate to cook:

• They hate to wash up, so they eat out. Hoh’s system uses a minimum of cooking implements – a chopping board, a traditional Chinese knife, a colander, a plate, and a wok. “Cleanup takes less than five minutes,” she says.

• They don’t enjoy cooking. “My handy caddy basket organizer  keeps your Asian ingredients in one place,” she says.

• They don’t like to eat alone. Hoh encourages them to invite friends and neighbors, keep the meal simple with a one-dish meal, or ask the guests to bring a second dish.

• They don’t know what to cook. “Just use readily available ingredients,” she says. “Recipes lock you into using the same ingredients over and over again. Wok cooking allows everyone to be inventive and creative.”

• They don’t like to cook special orders for children or anybody else. “Everyone likes crunchy wok-cooked vegetables,” she says.

• They don’t have time to cook. “My concept is to create delicious weekday dinners in under 30 minutes,” she says.

Chinese markets

Miami is fortunate to have two relatively large Asian markets, as well as many smaller ones.

Hoh and I both like Lucky Oriental Market,  located in central Miami-Dade County at 8356 SW 40th Street, Suite D-I, Miami FL 33155. 305-220-2838. Lucky specializes in foods from China, Japan, The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. “I believe that Lucky may have a new owner,” Hoh says. “I hope they continue to carry the excellent selection of products.”

In the past, Lucky’s product lines have impressed everyone who visited, including a Thai friend who lives in San Francisco and comes to visit me every couple of years with her luggage full of Thai food. Finally I convinced her that Lucky has everything she needs to make her favorite foods in Miami. In addition, we have fresh local mangos (which aren’t always available in San Francisco) to accompany her Thai sticky rice.

The second market Hoh likes is PK Oriental Market, 255 NE 167th St., Miami FL 33162. 305-654-9646. It has no Web site.

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Other Story:

SushiMasters 2009 Miami competition celebrates Japanese culture 

For more info: Wok Star