Modern Asian Recipes - fast, fresh and simple enough for tonight’s supper.
I could start off by telling a story of how I learned cooking from my mother when I was a young girl…
but I didn’t.
In fact, quite opposite. My Mom’s a fantastic cook, it’s her passion, it’s her life. And when I was little, I wasn’t interested in cooking - I just wanted to eat! Plus, if I was anywhere near the kitchen when Mom was cooking, it never fails…
I’d always end up with the shit jobs!
Pinching the itty bitty tails off the mountain of beansprouts, shelling pounds and pounds of shrimp, washing the trapped dirt in bok choy. Of course, Mom would constantly spew out kitchen wisdom, but hey, I was young and didn’t care about cooking- I WANTED TO EAT!
So I really didn’t learn how to cook Asian well until I moved away from California (where my family lives) to a little town called Bradenton, Florida to start a family of my own with my husband, Scott. Suddenly, without easy access to good Asian markets, cheap Asian midnight eats and of course, my Mom’s kitchen, I was forced to learn via telephone calls while at the supermarket.
What a fine education it was. $448.63 in cell phone minutes later (which, by the way, is way cheaper than 3 years at a fancy culinary institute), I discovered that I was good. Real good at cooking and teaching others about Asian cooking.
SteamyKitchen.com is my playground - featuring recipes, beautiful food photography and my adventures in the kitchen. Most of the recipes are Modern Asian, however a sprinkling of non-Asian dishes can be found on the blog, as this also serves as my diary of what I cook at home for Scott, Andrew, my 5yr old and Nathan, my 3 year old.
Steamy Kitchen Cookbook
I’m currently writing my first cookbook, called Steamy Kitchen’s Modern Asian to be released Fall ‘09, published by Periplus/Tuttle. Call me crazy, but I’m doing all the writing and photographing for the book myself - 100+ recipes and 150+ color photographs. I blog frequently about my book progress.
Cooking Classes
My hands-on cooking classes are held at The Rolling Pin in Brandon, Florida and at the Epicurean Culinary Academy in Los Angeles, California. Here’s the schedule for upcoming classes.
Media
I have a weekly newspaper food column in The Tampa Tribune, a monthly food column in the East County Observer newspaper and I’m a frequent guest writer on Simply Recipes. I also cook live on ABC News during morning news segments.
Follow me on Twitter, email me at jaden@steamykitchen.com. Spammers will be dunked in a vat of fermented fish muck. Twice.
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Television & Steamy Kitchen Newspaper Columns
photo by John Revisky, Sarasota Magazine. I’m totally draping seductively over my Balinese Love Lounge (heehee!)
Television
PBS - “Jack Perkins Gulf Coast Journal” (An Emmy Award winning show did a nice feature on me that aired on PBS)
Click on the “featured video” link)
ABC 7 - September 25, 2008 Vegetable Chow Mein
ABC 7 - August 28, 2008 My Son, Andrew (5yrs) Makes Chocolate Fondue
CBS - August 4, 2008 Wonton Noodle Soup
ABC 7 - July 31, 2008 Wonton Noodle Soup
ABC 7 - June 27, 2008 Mussels with Lemongrass Curry Broth
Newspaper
Wok This Way, 10/10/08 Tampa Tribune
Grilling, It’s Even More of A Breeze In Fall, 10/5/08 Tampa Tribune
Currying Flavor with Rock Star Chef, 9/30/08 Tampa Tribune
Asian Pesto, 9/23/08, Tampa Tribune
Olive Oil Enhances Shrimp, 9/17/08 Tampa Tribune
Coffee And Cardamom Add Zest To Zucchini Bread, 9/3/08 Tampa Tribune
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Shameless Self-Promotion
because even egos need to be fed…
Martha Stewart: Grilled Thai Curry Beef Skewers
Epicurious: Little Chef Andrew and No Knead Bread Revisited , Inquiring Food Bloggers
Slashfood: No Knead Bead Revisited, Food Porn, Fried Rice, Ginger Tips, Espresso, Jap Chae
ABC News: 8/23/07, 10/9/07, 11/27/07, 12/18/07, 1/22/08,
Tampa Tribune : Big-ass feature, New Orleans Charity Event, Podcast with Jeff Houck
Wall Street Journal
Chowhound: How to pick a fresh fish
SeriousEats: German Oven Pancakes, Furikake Fries , Killer Crawfish
Lifehacker: Gucci Steak
Tastespotting
Bon Appetit (related links section)
The Washington Post: Cooling off with hot food writers
Parents Magazine Blog
Chicagoist
Tampa Bay Times
Herald Tribune - Dining Magazine (page 13)
Creative Loafing: Best Blog
Well Fed Network
Blogs of the Day: Top Blogs: 5/2/07
SlashFood Food Porn: Baby Eggplant
Yum Sugar: Coconut Rice Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup Lobster Mac ‘n Cheese Ginger Tips
Apartment Therapy: Chicken Faux Gras, Rolo Turtle Pretzels
South Carolina Morning News
Sacramento Bee December 11, 2007, May 14, 2008
Eating Tampa: Best Blog
St. Petersburg Times
Tampa Bay’s CBS Channel 10
First place, tied: Food Photography DMBLGIT May 2007
Creative Loafing: Write Global, Eat Local
Blogher:How to Make the Perfect Rice
Blogher: Roll Your Own Sushi
Your Observer
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, Minority Business of the Year 2007
Delight.com - see my photo? that bite of vegetable fried rice!
Growing Blogs of the Day: 4/8/07
Blogs of the Day: Top Blog: 7/4/07
Blogs of the Day: Top Posts: 4/21/07, 5/22/07, 6/23/07, 6/29/07, 7/3/07, 7/4/07, 7/8/07, okokokok I’m going to stop counting now…..
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About the Photography
I take all the photos on the site. My camera is a Canon 40D with a 60mm macro lens for the food porn shots. If I’m shooting with very little natural light, I use an inexpensive but amazing set of lights called Lowel EGO.
My style of food photography is clean, simple, and showcases the beauty of food without a lot of fancy props. All of the food created is real. Meaning, I don’t use food photography tricks like using Elmer’s glue to mimic milk, spray food with glycerin to make it look shiny, and I certainly don’t fluff and position each grain of rice.
93% of the dishes and recipes featured are created in my home kitchen and are eaten for dinner that night after a quick 2 minute photo-shoot. The other 7% of the food is still created in my home kitchen….but late at night when my kids are asleep and I don’t have to share any of it!
If you’re interested in food photography, I post often about food photography tips.
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Random Stuff
Confucius say:
1. One who has harmony in seasonings need no recipe. Know basic combinations of seasonings in types of cuisines Chinese: soy, sugar, wine, sesame oil Japanese: mirin, soy, sake
2. She who marinates meats – even a quick 10 minutes – will be rewarded with flavorful dish
3. Hot Wokky = No Stikky
4. Cooking not only taste. Use all 5 senses.
5. It is honorable to share your food with friends. Cook more than enough and bring to hungry neighbor.
Ok, ok, Confucious really didn’t say that. I made that shit up.
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Legal Blah-Blah
The contents of this website is protected under a Creative Commons License. You are welcome to share and republish my recipes or photos, as long as you give me credit, don’t draw a fake mustache on my face or alter any of my content. Please don’t pretend the content is yours, be nice and link back to me. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Violate this and forever be cursed by the food gods - your souffles will never rise and eggs will always be rotten.
About Gluten-Free: The great thing about Asian foods is that many of the dishes are gluten free. I don’t eat GF, however I know many of you do, so I’ve created a category “GF” calling out dishes that are GF or that can be easily adaptable to be GF. Please look at the ingredient list carefully and make your own substitutions if I haven’t suggested in the recipe!
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Contact me
jaden@steamykitchen.com
