Newspaper Article

BEST IN THE WEST A PHILADELPHIA CHEF GIVES CHINESE FOOD AN OCCIDENTAL ACCENT

By Corby Kummer, {C} 1992, Eating Well magazine Distributed by United Feature Syndicate Inc

1992

Overview

When [Susanna Foo] was a girl in Mongolia, where her father was a lieutenant general in the Kuomintang (the family immigrated to Taiwan in 1949 and her parents still live there), she remembers loving the dumplings that vendors sold on the street, always with an ample supply of hot red pepper sauce. The dried red peppers Foo found in Chinatown were thin and scrabbly and didn't give her the flavor she was after, let alone the brick-red color she remembered. This dissatisfaction nagged at her for years. Happy as Foo is with the ancho-red pepper sauce, and as frequently as she uses it, it would be too strong for the fish. So she cuts the pepper sauce with her version of kung pao sauce, a Chinese-restaurant warhorse usually made by opening a few cans. She makes it from scratch, with a base of sauteed garlic, hot peppers, onions, peppercorns, and star anise. Then she adds chicken and pork bones that have been well-browned in an oven (a technique borrowed from the French), adds water, and cooks the sauce for three to four hours. Pinch white pepper 1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and minced 1/4 pound lump crabmeat, minced 1/2 cup minced, peeled, fresh, or canned water chestnuts (3 ounces) 1/2 pound thin won-ton wrappers (about 30) 1/4 cup minced red bell pepper 1/4 cup minced cilantro leaves

• Publisher: Gannett Media Corp
• Subject: Foo, Susanna