We Joined the Circus! | The Alt-Weekly, No. 18. (Patreon)

Notes, News, and Nerdiness from JKLA World HQ

This week I was joined by chefs Lee Kindell of Moto Pizza and Kelly Van Arsdale of Spinnaker Chocolate live onstage with the musicians of Cirque du Soleil’s new show Echo for a special edition of my ongoing stage show, Tasting Notes. The show is one that I started as an experiment a few years back with the musicians of the Seattle Chamber Music Society to explore my two greatest passions in life: music and food.

The idea behind the show is a live, multi-sensory exploration of the parallels between music and food, and their ability to express culture, history, and identity in both broad and personal ways. It’s not a subject matter that obviously translates to the stage, and it’s been a fascinating process to develop each iteration of the show and fine-tune the performance to really be able to tell the stories of the artists and guest chefs in a way that brings the audience in and allows them to experience food and music in a new, exciting, synergistic way.

This particular version of the show was much shorter than the full production and was premiered to only a small audience of invited guests, but working with the team at Cirque du Soleil was a dream! The musicians are top tier professionals who participated with joy and passion, and as always, Lee and Kelly were powerful and engaging on-stage.

As of now, we have four Tasting Notes-related events coming up this summer which you’ll be getting details on (stay tuned to the events page on my website, especially if you’re in Seattle or New York.)

The first one is already on sale. I’ll be joined by my old colleague and mentor Ed Levine (founder of Serious Ears and host of the Special Sauce podcast) and my partner and grammy award-nominated classical and bluegrass violinist Tessa Lark live on stage at Town Hall where we will be exploring the creative process and what it means to really create something new.

You can expect lots of interactive demonstrations that show the connections between our senses and our perceptions of sound and taste, live cooking demos, and of course lots of music, new and old. It’s gonna be a blast and afterwards all of us will be hanging out for a meet and greet and book signing. All profits from the show will be going towards organizations addressing issues of immigration and human rights in the Seattle area.

You can expect a deeper look into the evolution, inspiration, and future of Tasting Notes in the coming week or two. I’m really excited about the way it’s taking shape this season!

Tickets for Town Hall are available here.

What We're Eating

At the event, the opening and closing numbers both utilized my new super-nitrided wok from Our Place. We began with a smashed cucumber salad, complete with fresh, piping hot chili oil made right then on the stage. I'm a big proponent of smashing cucumbers—doing so disrupts its internal structure in a haphazard way, leaving some areas completely intact and crisp, while reducing other areas to tender rubble, perfect for absorbing good flavors.

We then closed out the night with a familiar favorite: Mapo tofu. This traditional Sichuan dish is made with simmered tofu flavored with fermented bean paste, beef, a handful of Sichuan peppercorns, and more of that aforementioned chili oil. Trust me, that circus tent smelled delicious.

Both of those recipes are included in my book, The Wok (signed and personalized copies are available from The Book Larder, shipped anywhere in the world.)

Happy National Flapjack Day!

Today is the day to celebrate those light, airy griddle cakes smothered in butter and syrup: American pancakes (also known as Flapjacks in this part of the world)!

A few years ago, over on Serious Eats, I shared an updated pancake recipe from my book, "The Food Lab." My North Star for this one was to make pancakes that are thick and fluffy while maintaining their tender, pillowy crumb and—most importantly—are just as easy and quick to make as any other pancakes. Today, treat yourself to a scientifically-proven fluffy stack.

Want to hear me and Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen talk pancakes? We devoted an entire episode of our podcast The Recipe to it. (P.S. for folks asking: the show is on hiatus while Deb and I work on our respective books, but we plan a comeback some day!)

Want to take your pancakes a different route?

The secret to my oatmeal pancakes is to toast the oats in brown butter.

As someone who prefers a savory breakfast to a sweet one, I love my bacon-cheddar pancakes with corn and jalapeño almost as much as the version with chorizo and halloumi.

You can also make a meal out of it:

Those that stick to a vegan diet can join the party too with these pancakes made with aquafaba.

And what are pancakes without fried eggs on the side? Here, I dive into four different ways to fry an egg. (That's right, pancakes aren't the only thing that get better with butter!)

If you're more of the scrambled egg type, I shared my tips for achieving the best scramble with NYT Cooking on their YouTube channel. And if you've been feeling inspired by all the wok talk as of late, these Whampoa-style scrambled eggs are one of my favorite approaches.

There's a science to achieving good bacon. Regardless of what "good" bacon means to you—along the crispy-to-chewy spectrum—I wrote about how to achieve it here.

This breakfast plan is getting straight-up indulgent now, so let's top it off with some potatoes. Here, I walk you through how to make the best potato hash. Or you can follow this recipe for crispy home fries with red onions and roasted poblano peppers.

Thanks for a great AKA, Super Frienjis!

Thanks again to all the Super Frienjis who attended Monday's AKA (Ask Kenji Anything) all about woks. You showed up with some great questions fit for an audience of food nerds like myself. If you missed the livestream, the full video will be shared next week on my YouTube channel.

Until then, let us know if you have any more burning wok questions in the comments below!