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Mabel Lui

On his left upper arm, Cantonese-American chef Calvin Eng has a tattoo that pays tribute to his upbringing and his identity as a chef.
It is a heart with a banner bearing the letters MSG – the abbreviation of flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate – and it shows just how dedicated he is to the ingredient that has drawn controversy for decades.
Now, Eng has gone one step further in declaring his love for MSG by including it in the name of his debut cookbook, Salt Sugar MSG: Recipes and Stories from a Cantonese American Home, which he wrote with his fiancée Phoebe Melnick.
The book’s title is a nod to what Eng considers to be the trinity of seasonings in Cantonese food ingredients, which are part of what he believes makes the cuisine special.

While the book, published in March, can be regarded as an extension of his restaurant Bonnie’s – a Cantonese-American establishment in New York’s Brooklyn borough – it stands on its own as a collection of recipes meant to be made easily at home. It also reflects how the couple wrote it while raising their young son, Levi.
The idea for the book dates back to December 2021, when Bonnie’s had just opened. While the restaurant was able to feed up to around 200 people a night, Eng wanted to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food further, to people outside New York. Writing a book was his way of doing this.
He dedicates a section at the beginning of the cookbook to what he calls the building blocks of Cantonese-American cooking: must-have ingredients and condiments in a Cantonese-American pantry.
In the MSG subsection, Eng and Melnick write about how the flavour enhancer was first stigmatised and how health experts have now declared it safe for consumption.
MSG is listed as an ingredient in recipes for XO sauce and green chilli ginger scallion sauce, as well as his lemon cola chicken wings, Cantonese minestrone, and sweet potato curry pot pie.
Even in recipes where MSG is not specifically called for, the flavour enhancer – as well as salt and sugar – typically features through other ingredients.
“Salt could be soy sauce. Sugar could be maltose, honey or maple syrup. MSG could come from dried seafood, or Parmesan or mushrooms and things like that,” he says. “It’s just the balance of all three.”

True to its title, the book is also a practical guide to home cooking. Much of the material was actually written at odd hours in the evening while the couple tended to their son, and the recipes reflect how their daily lives have changed.
“At first, when we were writing the book, we were thinking it would be fun to have a section on long-project recipes,” Melnick says, such as Eng’s stuffed deboned fish that he serves at the restaurant.
But as the couple began writing, they found themselves straying away from the flashier dishes and gravitating towards humble ones instead.
“Suddenly, we weren’t just cooking for ourselves. It was like, how can you get a really fast dish out, also to feed a tiny child? It just evolved with our lives,” Melnick says.
“We try to get something on the table as fast as possible at a certain time, to stick to [Levi’s] schedule and to also all eat together as a family,” Eng adds. “Our lives have shifted. Our style of cooking has shifted. What we eat has shifted.”

The result is a cookbook that celebrates Cantonese flavours and techniques – much like Eng’s restaurant – but the recipes are more accessible than the ones used at Bonnie’s and are well suited for weeknight meals.
Though Eng had full access to a restaurant kitchen, he made it a point to test every recipe at home.
“We used to live above the restaurant, in a 600 sq ft [56 square metre] flat. We made it a point to not cheat and do it downstairs when we could have,” he says.
“We had an induction burner, and we had about a foot-and-a-half of counter space.” Melnick adds. “That was our kitchen.”
If a recipe could be made successfully there, they knew others would be able to do the same.

Fans of Bonnie’s will see simplified versions of their restaurant favourites in Salt Sugar MSG, including tinned dace dip, and fuyu cacio e pepe mein (a Cantonese riff on the Italian pasta dish featuring fermented bean curd).
There are also homestyle dishes that Eng used to eat growing up, such as sizzling steamed fish with seasoned soy sauce and ham yue yook beng (steamed pork patty with salted fish).
The book also contains creative Cantonese spins on American and European dishes. In the vegetables section, for example, there is a recipe for yauh ja gwai (Chinese cruller) panzanella and another for a crispy ham and cheese lo bak go (turnip cake).
Flip over a few pages and you will find the buttery oyster sauce noodles, an amalgamation of a classic kids’ favourite and a dish that Eng’s family used to cook.
“When I was a kid, my mom and grandma would just boil whatever dried pasta we had lying around, and then mix in every fridge condiment – oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame oil. That was the most delicious thing to me, and I still crave it to this day,” Eng says.
“All my American friends would eat buttered pasta and buttered noodles. I was like, what is that? That sounds disgusting, there’s no flavour.
“But when it’s emulsified really well, it’s cooked well, it’s tossed together well and actually seasoned, it’s delicious. So I combined that idea with the noodles I had as a kid and made it a very tasty dish that comes together quick.”

Some of the couple’s other favourite recipes in the book include the one for sweetened egg custard with ginger honey syrup – which was inspired by both the classic Hong Kong egg tart and tofu pudding – and one for steamed garlic prawns over mung bean vermicelli.
“It’s beautiful, it’s tasty, it’s quick, and it’s a crowd pleaser,” Eng says of the latter. “I feel like a lot of Western people associate steaming with healthy cooking and diet cooking, but it doesn’t have to be [that] at all. We’re putting [out] seasoned dishes.”
The cookbook is a labour of love that celebrates not just Cantonese-American culture, but also family.
Though Eng’s mum – whom Bonnie’s is named after – did not have a direct say in the recipes that ended up in the book, “there’s just so much of her peppered throughout”, Melnick says.

Many of the plates, cutlery items and pans used as props for the book were from her kitchen. The images, taken by Alex Lau, provide a glimpse into Eng’s childhood.
Just before Salt Sugar MSG’s table of contents Eng and Melnick have dedicated the book to their son. Though the couple were raised in different cultures, they share a deep affection for family meals and hope to pass this on to him.
“Our families really show love through sitting at the table together, and now we do that with our son, even if he doesn’t really love the food that we’re putting in front of him,” Melnick says with a laugh.
“We’re trying to continue that path of being at the dinner table together every night.”


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How a Cantonese-American chef in New York uses MSG to celebrate his culture

Eng and Melnick say that one of their favourite recipes in the book is for steamed garlic prawns over mung bean vermicelli, given how quick it is to make. Photo: Alex Lau

Cantonese-American chef Calvin Eng of Bonnie’s in New York has released his debut cookbook Salt Sugar MSG: Recipes and Stories from a Cantonese American Home, written with his fiancée, which uses MSG in recipes that celebrate his roots and family. Photo: Alex Lau

Roasted mushroom lo mai fan (sticky rice) is one of the recipes in Salt Sugar MSG. Photo: Alex Lau

Eng and Melnick with their son, Levi. Photo: Alex Lau

The cover of Eng and Melnick’s cookbook. Photo: Alex Lau

The FFLT (fried fish, lettuce and tomato) sandwich from Salt Sugar MSG. Photo: Alex Lau

Steamed garlic prawns over mung bean vermicelli, which Eng and Melnick say is one of their favourite recipes in the book. Photo: Alex Lau

Sweetened egg custard with ginger honey syrup. The dish was inspired by Hong Kong egg tarts and tofu pudding. Photo: Alex Lau

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Fermented bean paste at Yuet Wo. Photo: Yuet Wo

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Family & Relationships

In his new cookbook Salt Sugar MSG, chef Calvin Eng uses the once-vilified flavour enhancer to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food


In his new cookbook Salt Sugar MSG, chef Calvin Eng uses the once-vilified flavour enhancer to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food.


Asian diaspora

Chinese overseas

How a Cantonese-American chef in New York uses MSG to celebrate his culture

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In his new cookbook Salt Sugar MSG, chef Calvin Eng uses the once-vilified flavour enhancer to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food

In his new cookbook Salt Sugar MSG, chef Calvin Eng uses the once-vilified flavour enhancer to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food