A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

David Chan, Chinese Restaurant Fan, Eats Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

(Photo from Springfield News Leader)

David Chan, the man who was profiled in L.A. went virule for having eaten at over 6,000 Chinese restaurants in his city,  traveled to Springfield Missouri last week as a guest of the Convention & Visitors Bureau to have a taste of the Ozarks.

He ate at Leong's on Saturday with both David Leong, creator of Springfield-style cashew chicken, and David's son, Chef Wing Yee Leong.

 

 

For the complete story, see this article in the Springfield News Leader:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120826/NEWS01/308260032/L-A-man-Chinese-restaurants-Springfield-cashew-chicken?nclick_check=1

For my personal Springfield-style cashew chicken and/or cashew chicken casserole recipes, click here:

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/voice-of-america-embraces-springfieldstyle-cashew-chicken.html

 

American Classics: Julia Child's Deluxe Chicken or Turkey Salad

 

Nobody's perfect. We all have the opportunity to learn and grow our skills in everything in life.  Gene has admitted a couple of times over the years that my chicken salad is, well, a little boring.  He likes the way I make potato salad, devilled eggs, and tuna salad, but says my chicken salad is "just okay".  Not that he's a jerk. He's my most enthusiastic supporter and eater, and over 25 years my cooking has put 20 lbs on his once too-skinny frame, so I take no offense.  He loves my cooking but I took this as an opportunity to improve my skills.

I added a rotisserie chicken to his grocery list this weekend while I was working, just for this purpose, and decided to go back to the basics and re-learn how to make a good, basic, no frills, chicken salad.  Who better than Julia Child to teach me? 

After reading over a dozen recipes that were either similar to my way or added more frills (pineapple, grapes, nuts, pasta, etc) than I wanted for a classic dish, I hit upon Julia Child's "Deluxe Chicken or Turkey Salad from her book The Way to Cook.  The ingredients are basic but the preparation is not.  Julia uses a two-step method with a ten minute recess that does, indeed, produce a classic, no frills, but delicious and flavorful chicken salad perfect for the classic all-American "Iron Kids" sandwich.  With Julia's method, she tosses the chopped meat with olive oil, herbs, and seasonings, and lets those ingredients get comfy with each other before coming back and binding it together with the mayo.  The two step method makes a world of difference in how the final dish's flavor resonates. The chicken and herb flavors take the lead and happen to be bound together with mayo rather than mayo flavor dominating.  Adding the fruit, nuts, etc, would also work well with this recipe but for those like my hubs who like it on the "classic" side, this is the recipe and method we'll be using, and he agrees. (Personally, I love the walnuts in it--I love the crunch!)

In four days, August 15th will be the 100th anniversary of Julia Child's birth. We are all better cooks for her enthusiasm and her career. Thank You, Julia!