The Hong Kong chefs bringing traditional Chinese preserved and dried ingredients to the modern era
Young chefs in Hong Kong are breathing new life into traditional ingredients, from preserved plum to dried tangerine peel
In the floor above his family’s dried-goods business, Viego Szeto waves his hand over rows of ceramic jars packed with tangerine peels and plums that have been ageing together for the past 45 days, a time-honoured ritual that allows the fruit’s natural sourness to mellow and sweetness to develop, flavours impossible to achieve with modern short cuts.
“This isn’t ‘waiting’,” he says, “but rather a precise control of time and environment.”
Yiu Fung’s philosophy is a gateway to a world built on the traditional Chinese principle of yao shi tong yuan (藥食同源), the homology of food and medicine. While Cantonese cuisine is more widely known for cooking techniques that emphasise the natural flavours of fresh produce, ageing has played an important role in adding depth of flavour in ways that are otherwise impossible.
His chilled pork knuckle with preserved plum epitomises this balance, with the plum, traditionally used in aiding digestion and as a foil to the meat, used to marinate the pork knuckle. Then it’s repurposed using modern spherification techniques into delicate jelly cubes to further spotlight the plum as an unsung hero of the dish.