Post your comments belowJeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid travel the world and bring home its flavors, its food. And they do it like explorers.
For the taste of Southeast Asia, they followed the Mekong River from near its source on the Tibetan plateau, down through China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. And that’s just for one cookbook.
They’ve been called culinary anthropologists. But these are anthropologists whose work you want to eat. Sizzling. Steamed. Stir-fried. Fragrant.
This hour, On Point: On the road and in the kitchen with the well-fed explorers, Alford and Duguid.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:
Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, award-winning cookbook authors, join us from Toronto. They’re the authors of “Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia” and, most recently, “Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China.” Their latest web venture is immersethrough.com.
Here are two of Alford and Duguid’s recipes:
DAI CARROT SALAD
1 pound large carrots
About 2 tablespoons Pickled Red Chiles or storebought pickled chiles, cut into ½-inch slices
3 scallions, smashed and sliced into ½-inch lengths
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 or 3 tablespoons coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
Peel the carrots. Using a cleaver or a chef’s knife, slice them very thin (1/8 inch thick if possible) on a 45-degree angle. You should have 3 cups.
In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Toss in the carrot slices and stir to separate them. Cook just until slightly softened and no longer raw, about 3 minutes. Drain.
Transfer the carrots to a bowl and let cool slightly, then add the chiles and scallion ribbons and toss to mix.
Whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Pour over the salad while the carrots are still warm. Stir or toss gently to distribute the dressing, then turn the salad out onto a serving plate or into a wide shallow bowl.
Serve the salad warm or at room temperature. Just before serving, sprinkle on the salt and toss gently, then sprinkle on the coriander and toss again.
Serves 4 as a salad or appetizer.
* * * *
MIAO PORK WITH CORN AND CHILES
1/3 pound pork loin
3 or 4 large ears corn (to yield 3 cups kernels)
1 tablespoon lard or peanut oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground Sichuan pepper
2 red cayenne chiles, thinly sliced, or 3 tablespoons thinly sliced Pickled Red Chiles (page 34)
1 teaspoon salt
Thinly slice the pork, then cut into small slices, about ½ inch by 1 inch. Set aside. Cut the kernels from the corncobs on a cutting board and use a cleaver or chef’s knife to slice the kernels off the cob; set aside.
Place a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the lard or oil, and when it is hot, toss in the garlic. Stir-fry for a moment, then add the pork and Sichuan pepper. Stir-fry for several minutes, then add the chiles and ½ teaspoon of the salt and stir-fry until the pork has changed color all over, another minute or so. Add the corn and stir-fry for about a minute, then add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Stir0fry until the corn is cooked through and tender, another 3 to 4 minutes.
Turn out and serve hot or at room temperature, with rice.
Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as one of several dishes with rice.
I just read the wonderful New Yorker article on your globetrotting guests, and would like to know how they managed to eat, research, and write with two young sons in tow?!
Posted by Mariah Khanna, on December 18th, 2008 at 8:55 am ESTI’ve been a fan and follower of your travels since Flatbreads and Flavors. Fascinating to hear your voices. I was sorry to read that you didn’t find enough Celtic cooking to keep your interest. Will you get back there, or to Europe at all? Or stay in Asia?
Posted by Martha Foley, on December 18th, 2008 at 11:31 am ESTWhat a tale of love, adventure, experiments, breaking the mold, hospitality, world travel, culture and the amazing tastes and smells that come from cooking for friends and family and learning from each other.
I need another cookbook like I need a hole in the head, but I have the feeling that Nom and Jeff’s book on baking is soon going to join the many volumes on my groaning shelves.
A perfect show for the holiday season!
Posted by Thomas Marzahl, on December 18th, 2008 at 11:32 am ESTI love travel and I am always seeking new cuisines to try…gosh, I’d love to do what they have done, but how do you go about this research while paying the bills?
One of my favorite discoveries occured during a stay in Iceland. They have a fantastic yogurt-cheese called skyr which they serve with cream and brown sugar at breakfast.
Posted by Bill Brinkert, on December 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am ESTThe caller who reminisced about hot Egyptian eggplant can easily find recipes on line. Rice and ground meat are often stufffed into a long purple or white eggplant. Add tomato paste and water to bake in oven. Just add hot pepper and cumin for that hot, spicey taste.
Posted by Isernia, on December 18th, 2008 at 11:42 am ESTA few years ago I went to a fabulous Burmese restaurant in New York City. Unfortunately it’s no longer there. They had a dessert called something like 1000 layer pancake that was flavored with coconut. It was one of the best and most memorable foods I’ve eaten.
Do the authors know of it and do they know how to make it?
Thank you!
Erika
Posted by Erika Bourne, on December 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am ESTThank you for the interesting show!
I lived in Durban, South Africa, where there is a large Indian population. While there, one of my favorite things to eat was the rice dish, breyani. When I came back to the U.S., I went to an Indian restaurant and ordered “biryani”. While still delicious, I was disappointed to find out that it was not at all the same dish.
Posted by Jennifer, on December 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm ESTDear Tom:
As an artist working in mostly solitary conditions, I value hearing your program daily, and for its breadth and thoughtfulness. If I could have posed a question to Jeff and Naomi,I would have asked about the issue of using local ingredients versus the more exotic. After reqding about them in the New Yorker, I went immediately to a bookstore to purchase one of their cookbooks. How beautiful they are–and how global in their scope!
Thank you,
Posted by Molly Roland, on December 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm ESTMolly Roland
How do the indigenous people feel about being photographed? Some peoples have cultral concerns about this.
Posted by Tracy, on December 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pm ESTI have been a fan of Alford and Duguid’s since Flatbreads and Flavors. I have 4 of their cookbooks. I am a photographer (have had a gallery for 8 years), and a serious cook. I specialize in photographing still-lifes of vegetables and fruit in black and white and sometimes hand-painting the photographs.
Posted by Gail Giarusso, on December 19th, 2008 at 8:34 am ESTI love their photography, have made many of the recipies (the home baking book is wonderful), but also think the writing is great. I read thier travel and eating logs with relish. Who does most of the writing? I remember one recounting of a breakfast in Israel, the morning just breaking, eating hot flatbread from a vender, dipped in herbed salt, and strong coffee, watching the sun rise.
I always enjoy the show. Thanks! I heard a piece of music on this show, I believe Tom said it was called “The Streets of Tibet”, and I couldn’t quite catch the name of the group. Can you fill in the blanks for me? I’d like to try to find the CD if I could.
Posted by David Alling, on December 19th, 2008 at 1:01 pm EST“Flatbreads and Flavors” is a staple in our kitchen, and I just bought “Beyond the Great Wall” as a present for a friend studying Uighur culture. I’m so glad I caught this show-I love Jeffrey and Naomi’s work!!
Posted by Dee McKinney, on December 20th, 2008 at 8:42 am EST