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Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn,

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the place to be, to be. I'm

1:23

Francis Lamb and this is the

1:25

Splendid table from APM. When you

1:28

hear the words New Year's celebration,

1:30

what do you think of? My

1:32

first dog actually always goes back

1:35

to Anthony Bordane because there's a

1:37

scene in his book Kitchen Confidential

1:40

where as a chef he's, you

1:42

know, cooking in New Year's Eve

1:44

menu where they're pulling out all

1:47

the stops and it's champagne and

1:49

caviar. Of course the night he's

1:52

running about turns into a total

1:54

catastrophe, but that's the image I

1:56

imagine, right? A night of excess

1:59

and indulging. and New Year's Day is

2:01

really just for nursing to hangover.

2:03

Which is all to say that the idea

2:05

that pops up in my head is

2:07

kind of the exact opposite of what

2:09

New Year has actually meant to me

2:11

and my family when I was growing

2:13

up. And by that, I mean the

2:16

Lunar New Year, which we called Chinese

2:18

New Year when I was a kid.

2:20

And that celebration was always the

2:22

opposite of reckless partying. It was

2:24

always about family, community, and symbolism.

2:26

We had rituals and traditions, like

2:29

we got dressed up in outfits

2:31

and there was always red clothing,

2:33

like a new nice piece of

2:35

red clothing. And when we were

2:37

kids, we would get money from

2:39

our relatives for good luck. And

2:41

for me, that was basically my

2:43

allowance for the year. So I

2:45

was very sure to find every

2:47

single adji to make sure I

2:50

said hello and happy new year

2:52

to them. And of course, you

2:54

really can't have a Chinese or

2:56

Asian celebration celebration of any time.

2:58

without a whole menu of symbolic

3:00

foods. And I'm bringing all this up

3:03

because the Lunar New Year is upon

3:05

us and because of course it's celebrated

3:07

by a quarter of the world's people.

3:09

We're going to hear about the Korean

3:12

Lunar New Year celebrations in

3:14

Chef Kooni Kim's home, about

3:16

the Vietnamese celebrations of our

3:18

dear friend Andrea Wynn, and

3:20

first about the Chinese traditions

3:22

that went on in Sarah and

3:24

Caitlin Looon's house. Sarah and Caitlin,

3:26

along with their parents, Judy and Bill,

3:29

are the family behind the walks of

3:31

life. It's a blog that started 10

3:33

years ago, when the daughters found themselves

3:35

writing to their parents, saying, hey, like,

3:38

how did you make this again? Man, I

3:40

miss eating that. How did you make

3:42

that? And now, that blog has grown

3:44

to have probably the most devoted following

3:46

of any Chinese cooking blog in America.

3:48

I finally got to meet them at

3:50

a launch event for the cookbook, published

3:52

by the company I work for. And I'm

3:54

not going to lie. I got a little jealous

3:56

when I saw how much fun they have cooking

3:59

with each other. So I really want

4:01

to know what it's like for

4:03

them on the day when food

4:05

means everything. Hey Sarah, hey Caitlin.

4:07

Hey Francis, hey Francis, it's great

4:09

to be here. Yeah, it's great

4:11

to see you. Thank you so

4:13

much for coming. And you know,

4:15

it's time to celebrate. And famously,

4:17

the Chinese New Year table is

4:19

full of foods that have symbolic

4:21

meaning, right? Like every dish either

4:24

looks like or, you know, the

4:26

name of which sounds like some

4:28

kind of blessing you want in

4:30

the new year. Famously, dumplings look

4:32

like old silver ingots, so they

4:34

symbolize money, all that kind of

4:36

stuff. What does your New Year

4:38

menu look like? So, I'll start,

4:40

this is Sarah. Yes, every item

4:42

on the Chinese New Year table,

4:44

particularly for Chinese New Year Eve

4:46

dinner, so Nyenye fun, which is

4:48

the evening before New Year's Day,

4:50

has to have, every dish has

4:53

to have some kind of symbolic

4:55

meaning. At our Chinese New Year

4:57

dinner, I think that a few

4:59

things... show up every year. So

5:01

we always have spring rolls, which

5:03

are kind of in the same

5:05

vein as the dumplings. They resemble

5:07

like gold bars. And then also

5:09

like silver. Yeah, gold is a

5:11

lot better than silver. And then

5:13

there's always a whole poached chicken

5:15

which represents like wholeness or family

5:17

unity. We always have two fish.

5:19

So you eat one fish at

5:22

the dinner and then you leave

5:24

one for the next day as

5:26

leftovers and that kind of represents

5:28

surplus for the new year. And

5:30

then, you know, sometimes we'll see

5:32

things like stir fried lettuce, for

5:34

example, which sounds like kind of

5:36

like, it doesn't sound all that

5:38

exciting, but in Chinese lettuce is

5:40

called Chung Thai, which kind of

5:42

is like a hominem for like

5:44

to make money, basically. So a

5:46

lot of the symbolism. in these

5:49

dishes has to do with you

5:51

know not just the visual appearance

5:53

of the food, but in a

5:55

lot of cases, like the name

5:57

of the dish that's like a

5:59

hominine for something having to do

6:01

with prosperity or wealth or something

6:03

like that. Yeah. Yeah. And one

6:05

quick note on the Cantonese poach

6:07

chicken is, you know, just like

6:09

kind of building on the symbolic

6:11

aspect of everything, like it's truly

6:13

a whole chicken. That's a head

6:15

on with feet chicken, because sort

6:18

of if you cut away any

6:20

part of it, you're kind of...

6:22

cutting into that unity and togetherness

6:24

and that sense of wholeness. So

6:26

yeah, just there's strong commitment to

6:28

the symbolic meaning. I mean, this

6:30

is really special because you've described

6:32

a full menu and like when

6:34

I think about the Chinese Year

6:36

celebrations, my family had like, I

6:38

don't really remember. all those individual

6:40

dishes. I remember more this like

6:42

theory, this concept of, oh, the

6:44

dishes are supposed to sound like

6:47

this or they're supposed to look

6:49

like that. And let's face it,

6:51

as you mentioned, most of the

6:53

time they have to do with

6:55

money. We want dumplings for more

6:57

silver, we want springing rolls for

6:59

more gold, we want lettuce for

7:01

more cash. It's like, okay, what's

7:03

like the crypto dish? I guess

7:05

we don't have those anymore. But

7:07

like for me, the one I

7:09

really remember, the one I really

7:11

remember. universal in all the different

7:13

regions of China, but at least

7:16

in Guangdao, where we speak Cantonese,

7:18

where my family is from, the

7:20

word for shrimp is ha. And

7:22

so if you have ha, ha,

7:24

ha, ha, ha, and a dish,

7:26

that means you'll laugh all through

7:28

the year, and that always finds

7:30

that really lovely. But does your

7:32

table change year to year, Caitlin?

7:34

Honestly, I feel like, We really

7:36

as a family I think enjoy

7:38

the the different traditional aspects of

7:40

it so there are some there

7:42

are some dishes that are just

7:45

so comforting that we always want

7:47

to have those around so like

7:49

the whole poach chicken with ginger

7:51

and scallion oil is just like

7:53

that's just like a non-negot. like

7:55

we have to have that. Same

7:57

goes for fish. It's usually a

7:59

Cantonese steamed fish. And then I

8:01

feel like the rest of it

8:03

honestly kind of can, okay, so

8:05

maybe I go back a little

8:07

bit on what I said. The

8:09

rest is a little bit open

8:11

for interpretation because I feel like

8:14

as me and Sarah have deepened

8:16

our knowledge on Chinese cooking, these

8:18

days we have much more of

8:20

like an opinion and a say

8:22

on what we want to cook

8:24

and what we want to eat

8:26

for the. for the big celebration.

8:28

So it's kind of like, honestly,

8:30

a little bit like Thanksgiving in

8:32

the way that you kind of

8:34

like think about and plan the

8:36

menu and you, you know, each

8:38

family member has the things that

8:40

are their favorite so you try

8:43

to work all those in. Yeah,

8:45

I don't know. I'm, I need

8:47

to pause because I'm losing my

8:49

train of thought, but this is

8:51

where the editor would cut. But

8:53

Sarah, yeah, maybe you could go.

8:55

Yeah. I think that what's great

8:57

about having worked on the blog

8:59

for the last 10 years is

9:01

that I think my sister and

9:03

I have become a lot more

9:05

invested in the Chinese New Year

9:07

meal because you know when we

9:09

were kids it was kind of

9:12

we felt like we were maybe

9:14

a little bit detached from it

9:16

like it was a meal that

9:18

our parents repaired and you know

9:20

my sister and I didn't necessarily

9:22

have like the knowledge or the

9:24

know-how to like contribute as much.

9:26

You know we made dumplings with

9:28

our grandmother and like we were

9:30

part of it that way but

9:32

we were part of it that

9:34

way but we definitely didn't have

9:36

the knowledge of like what should

9:39

be on the table and what

9:41

do these dishes actually mean symbolically

9:43

and now that we've we've been

9:45

working on the blog for you

9:47

know almost 10 years now and

9:49

we've even developed some of these

9:51

recipes ourselves so at this point

9:53

I feel like it's almost like

9:55

we're just like a lot more

9:57

invested in the menu so like

9:59

my sister brought up Thanksgiving right

10:01

like Thanksgiving used to be like

10:03

our only domain to like contribute

10:05

to put dishes on a holiday

10:08

table, so to speak, right? Because,

10:10

like, Chinese holidays, like, my sister

10:12

and I were basically useless growing

10:14

up. So, so I think, like,

10:16

now I feel really proud that,

10:18

you know, if we have to

10:20

make a Cantonese post chicken, like,

10:22

it's not just my parents, like,

10:24

making that anymore. Like, I could

10:26

make the poach chicken, or, like,

10:28

I could make my mom's spring

10:30

rolls, you know, and also, like,

10:32

like, what's been great about the

10:34

blog, dishes from other regions that

10:37

aren't necessarily like our families background

10:39

to see like, okay, what are

10:41

other families in other parts of

10:43

China cooking for the new year?

10:45

Because Chinese New Year dishes, while

10:47

they all sort of have that

10:49

like commonality of being symbolic, they

10:51

can vary quite a bit from

10:53

region to region. So it's been

10:55

fun to kind of explore different

10:57

dishes and learn more about them.

10:59

over the years, because every year,

11:01

right, every Chinese New Year, we

11:03

have to come up with like

11:06

a new handful of Chinese New

11:08

Year recipes. And after 10 years,

11:10

you're like, okay, we've kind of

11:12

gone through all the, like, the

11:14

ones we make. So now it's

11:16

time to, to look at, you

11:18

know, what other families are doing

11:20

and experiment with those recipes. Great.

11:22

What are some of those regional

11:24

dishes that you didn't know, you

11:26

know, you know, from your own

11:28

experience that you learned through looking

11:30

into it, through research? So one

11:32

of them, it's this dish, like

11:35

we didn't really grow up eating

11:37

this, but it is a very

11:39

famous dish. Lions had meatballs, and

11:41

it is actually from, it is

11:43

sort of from like the region

11:45

where my mom grew up, but

11:47

like for whatever reason in our

11:49

family, we didn't really ever make

11:51

them, but it is a large

11:53

braised meatball. And I guess like

11:55

the name comes from like I

11:57

guess like the resemblance to a

11:59

lion's head. But that you know

12:01

my mom did a lot of

12:04

research on that recipe and it

12:06

was fun to develop that one.

12:08

She also did this recipe for

12:10

another one that we just like

12:12

never had growing up, which is

12:14

a stuffed gluten. I know like

12:16

now, today gluten is like the

12:18

enemy, but in China, right, like

12:20

you'll see like essentially like Satan

12:22

or gluten in various forms like

12:24

a tofu. And there are these

12:26

fried gluten. balls for like a

12:28

better term, but they're like fried

12:30

like puffs almost. And they're very

12:33

like, yeah, when they're cooked, they're

12:35

chewy, but when they're fried, they're

12:37

like kind of light as air.

12:39

And you can stuff them, so

12:41

my mom stuffs them with like

12:43

this meat filling and then brazes

12:45

them. And that was like a

12:47

totally, I did not know that

12:49

that was a thing. That was

12:51

like a totally new thing for

12:53

me to see. My mom also

12:55

made these little dumplings that looked

12:57

like money bags, which I don't

13:00

know if that's like a traditional

13:02

regional thing, but it's definitely like

13:04

a just like an interesting idea

13:06

that she got from basically like

13:08

surfing the Chinese internet for ideas.

13:10

So like it's just really kind

13:12

of fun to just like look

13:14

back back. at what's going on

13:16

in China around the holiday, like

13:18

what people are making, and to

13:20

share that with an American audience.

13:22

Yeah, I love that. I love

13:24

the idea of like, oh, generation.

13:26

So now you'll be like, you

13:29

know, you'll be telling your descendants,

13:31

like, what was the meaning of

13:33

this dish? Why do we celebrate

13:35

with this? Like, well, your great

13:37

grandmother was surfing the internet one

13:39

day. We'll be back with more

13:41

with Caitlin and Sarah Lund, authors

13:43

of The Walks of Life, and

13:45

then we're on Dette, the Vietnamese

13:47

New Year, with Andrea Wynn. I'm

13:49

Francis Lamb, and this is the

13:51

Splendid Table from APM. Support for

13:53

the Splendid Table comes from

13:56

wonderful seedless lemons. Wonderful seedless...

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14:07

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14:09

your baked salmon, or a

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14:13

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14:15

it with wonderful seedless lemons.

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Built for business by American Express. I'm

15:04

Francis Lamb and this is the

15:06

show for curious cooks and eaters.

15:08

We're celebrating the Lunar New Year

15:10

today with Chef Cooney Kim, author

15:13

Andrea Wynn, and right now, continuing

15:15

our conversation with Sarah and Caitlin

15:17

Lone, authors of The Walks of

15:19

Life. Let's go back to it

15:21

with that. So Sarah, before the

15:23

break, you mention the stuffed gluten.

15:25

And, you know, I mean, that

15:27

is not the most appealing word,

15:29

especially, like, because of how we

15:31

associate gluten now. mainly you hear

15:33

because of people of gluten intolerance

15:35

but that is like a traditional

15:37

food where it was a great

15:39

way of getting protein like a

15:41

plant-based protein if you didn't have

15:43

meat available yeah you would take

15:45

flour and you make a dough

15:47

and you keep washing the dough

15:49

until all the flour starch comes

15:51

out and you just have this

15:53

gluten which is this beautiful stretchy

15:55

sort of protein-y meat replacement but

15:57

I love the idea of fying

15:59

it and puffing it up and

16:01

that sounds awesome yeah I mean

16:03

there's a really rich tradition and

16:05

obviously like Hannah Che, vegan Chinese

16:07

kitchen, like she gets into this

16:09

extensively, but like there is a

16:11

really rich tradition of Buddhist style,

16:13

vegetarian, or vegan cooking in China

16:15

and like with the gluten the

16:17

when you wash the flour and

16:19

make this gluten, you're also getting

16:21

another byproduct, which is the starch,

16:23

the wheat starch from the flour.

16:25

And with that, you can make

16:27

noodles or you can just isolate

16:29

the wheat starch and use it

16:31

to make like dumpling wrappers and

16:33

things like that. So it's just,

16:35

you know, when you explore these

16:37

recipes, you're just, there's so much

16:39

to learn about. the culture behind

16:41

it, and where these dishes came

16:43

from, and where they originated. Yeah,

16:45

totally. Caitlin, you'd mentioned that when

16:47

you were younger, and yeah, I

16:49

had a similar experience too, you

16:51

would just kind of show up,

16:53

right? And everything was on the

16:55

table, and you weren't really that,

16:57

you know, whatever, we're kids. So

16:59

you weren't like really trying to

17:01

learn, oh, why are we eating

17:03

this tonight, and why is this

17:05

a thing that we're seeing here?

17:07

gotten older you've gotten not just

17:10

learned more about it as you're

17:12

talking about working on the blog

17:14

so it's you know it's your

17:16

work but you also felt like

17:18

you're more invested in these traditions

17:20

talk about that why do you

17:22

feel that way? Yeah I mean

17:24

when I think about you know

17:26

it's funny like reflecting on Chinese

17:28

New Year now as like adults

17:30

I think about the way that

17:32

it used to be when we

17:34

were kids and yeah we were

17:36

very much passive participants, you know,

17:38

it was very much like, oh,

17:40

off to grandma's house and flushing,

17:42

we go. And we would sort

17:44

of show up and there would

17:46

be all these dishes like laid

17:48

out on the table and my

17:50

grandmother would prepare all the, you

17:52

know, all the symbolic things and

17:54

a lot of that, you know,

17:56

you would kind of just pick

17:58

up by house. like you weren't

18:00

really like actively knowing exactly what

18:02

should be on the table or

18:04

you were just kind of reacting

18:06

to it. So I actually have

18:08

like a funny memory of like

18:10

sitting down to the table like

18:12

suspiciously surveying all the things as

18:14

a little kid and you know

18:16

my mom would say like oh

18:18

you know all of these dishes

18:20

have symbolic meanings and you know

18:22

if you eat them then it'll

18:24

help you have a better new

18:26

year and I would like. go

18:28

around and be like, oh, what

18:30

does that mean? And what does

18:33

that mean? And she'd say, you

18:35

know, whatever. And I'd be like,

18:37

oh, well, I don't really like

18:39

that food. So maybe I'll just

18:41

do without that this year. But

18:44

yeah, you know, a lot of

18:46

that stuff, even though, you know,

18:48

I joke about it, but I

18:50

think over the years, like. As

18:52

I got older I realized how much

18:54

of that stuff I did really internalize

18:57

and pick up on and when I

18:59

went to college for example like I

19:01

really missed that you know like I

19:04

really wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year

19:06

when that time of year rolled around

19:08

and even though when I was like

19:10

a little kid sometimes I really like

19:13

wasn't all that clued into like exactly

19:15

what was going on it was like

19:17

all about like the raining down of

19:20

the red envelopes with money inside. You

19:22

know I really just had this

19:24

appreciation that I didn't even realize

19:26

even that I had for these

19:29

traditions and these dishes too. Yeah

19:31

I think I think you're you both

19:33

kind of spoke on this like oh

19:35

when you were younger or when we

19:37

were younger like It was sort of passive,

19:39

right? It was like, okay, the days here

19:41

and like, okay, I'm supposed to do this.

19:44

I'm supposed to make sure I say hi

19:46

to that auntie and, you know, whatever. And

19:48

really, I'm just, yeah, yeah, I'm just focused

19:50

on like, oh, like, how much pocket money

19:52

I'm going to get from the Red Envelopes

19:54

that, like, you know, all the gross hand

19:57

me. And not really thinking about the actual

19:59

traditions, but now. I don't know.

20:01

Maybe it's nostalgia, but maybe it's

20:03

also like, oh, at some point

20:05

you start to think about like,

20:07

oh, this is who am I,

20:10

right? This is kind of who

20:12

I am. Totally. And I feel

20:14

like something that me and Sarah

20:16

have been like, funnily, thinking about

20:18

more and more as we get

20:20

older is like more of the

20:23

superstitions around Chinese New Year and,

20:25

you know, the... Yes, like you

20:27

wear red on the day and

20:29

in the week leading up to

20:31

it, like you're supposed to clean

20:34

the house before Chinese New Year

20:36

so you don't like accidentally sweep

20:38

away your luck and you get

20:40

a haircut, you buy a new

20:42

outfit and all these things that

20:44

like when you're a kid, you're

20:47

kind of like, yeah, is that

20:49

really like, is there really anything

20:51

to that? But you know, the

20:53

uncertainty of adulthood kind of like

20:55

takes hold. And then suddenly you're

20:58

like, yeah. I can use all

21:00

the luck I can get. Yeah,

21:02

exactly. Like every year I'm like,

21:04

am I gonna really do a

21:06

deep clean of my apartment? I

21:09

don't know. I don't know. Like

21:11

I hem and I ha and

21:13

then like three days before I'm

21:15

like, I have to do it.

21:17

And then I do like a

21:19

top to bottom clean of the

21:22

apartment and like, and then I

21:24

feel like my luck has been

21:26

scared. This was a blast. Thank

21:28

you guys so much for coming

21:30

here to you. Yeah, happy to

21:33

hear, Francis. Gung heifat-joy. Gung heifat-joy.

21:35

Laced and doloy. Still said with

21:37

the slight sheepishness of kids, I

21:39

feel like, when you make the

21:41

rounds and it's like, Gung heifat-toi,

21:43

that it's like, can I have

21:46

my money now? Sarah and Cookbook,

21:48

The Walks of Life. You can

21:50

find a recipe for poached white

21:52

cut chicken at splendidtable.org. Okay, so

21:54

if you start in the very

21:57

middle of China and head due

21:59

south, you'll come to Vietnam. Home

22:01

to one. of the world's absolutely

22:03

greatest cuisines. It's really one of

22:05

my favorites. It's so full of

22:07

fresh flavors and incredible savoriness. And

22:10

yet, it also has a surprisingly

22:12

simple comforting Lunar New Year culinary

22:14

tradition. According to our friend, Andrea

22:16

will win. Andrea is an award-winning

22:18

cookbook author and one of the

22:21

O.G. food bloggers at Viet World

22:23

Kitchen. She's here now. Hey Andrea!

22:25

It's great to see you! Hey

22:27

fans, it's always good to talk

22:29

to you. Yeah, this is going

22:32

to be a pleasure. And hey,

22:34

actually, let me start with this.

22:36

The name of the Vietnamese New

22:38

Year celebration. Tet. Yes. Can you

22:40

tell me what that means? You

22:42

know, Tet? Like, it means so

22:45

many things to Vietnamese people. And

22:47

when we celebrate Tet, we say

22:49

an antet, which is ang means

22:51

to eat. So we literally eat.

22:53

Eat. the new year up. Like

22:56

we just absorb it and food,

22:58

you know, plays a huge role.

23:00

So we absorb it through our

23:02

souls, our minds, you know, through

23:04

taking a look at the longevity

23:06

of our family histories, and then

23:09

we also celebrate Tet at the

23:11

table and in the kitchen. And

23:13

the first day of Tet is

23:15

called Tet, Win Don, and it

23:17

is like the most important day

23:20

of the year. And is there

23:22

a meaning of the name? Is

23:24

there a translation or transliteration? No,

23:26

not that I know of. We've

23:28

never talked about, like, you know,

23:30

there's so much influence from Chinese

23:33

culture in Vietnam, and I've like

23:35

tried to trace, you know, just

23:37

trying to figure out, like, is

23:39

there a meaning to the word

23:41

dead? And I've yet to come

23:44

across it, and if you do,

23:46

let me know. You know, when

23:48

I was growing up, it was

23:50

always just translated as like, oh,

23:52

Chinese New Year. And well, I

23:54

think more properly now, we say

23:57

lunar new year, because it's not

23:59

just the Chinese who celebrated, right?

24:01

Like multiple Asian, Southeast Asian cultures

24:03

celebrate the lunar new year. So

24:05

we call it the lunar new

24:08

year now. But I've never known

24:10

like a name for the holiday,

24:12

the festival, the celebration in Cantonese,

24:14

which is what I speak. Like

24:16

we've always just called it, Sun

24:19

Meme, which literally just means new

24:21

year. So I was intrigued to

24:23

know that there was a specific

24:25

name for the holiday in Vietnamese.

24:27

new year. Yeah, no, I mean,

24:29

we, you know, before my family

24:32

came to America, we just knew

24:34

it as fit. And then we

24:36

come here and everyone's like, Chinese

24:38

New Year. And I was like,

24:40

I'm not Chinese. And so... I

24:43

would always try to correct people

24:45

lunar new year and it's only

24:47

been in the last couple of

24:49

years, right? That people have like

24:51

switched from Chinese New Year to

24:53

lunar new year. Interesting. That people

24:56

are really seeing this as a

24:58

celebration that's rooted in the lunar

25:00

calendar versus a solar calendar and

25:02

that it's celebrated by people who

25:04

are of East Asian descent. Yeah,

25:07

totally. And obviously, you know, China

25:09

and Vietnam are neighbors and there

25:11

are... commonalities across the cultures. Like

25:13

you and I were talking about

25:15

this yesterday, how the tradition, which

25:17

for me was the most important

25:20

part when I was a kid,

25:22

of getting lucky money in red

25:24

envelopes or something that is common

25:26

both in Vietnam and China, you

25:28

wear new clothes, you clean the

25:31

house, all that stuff. But the

25:33

food traditions are quite different, right?

25:35

Right. They are. And when I've

25:37

taken a look at... Cantonese menus,

25:39

they're always like full of, you

25:42

know, these really charming and playful

25:44

homonyms. You know, like, you know,

25:46

things that are supposed to bring

25:48

you luck or the gold bars

25:50

that are shaped like, like fried

25:52

egg rolls or spring rolls. In

25:55

Vietnamese tradition, we like focus on

25:57

very simple things. Rice, meat, beans.

25:59

and vegetables and I know that

26:01

sounds so boring but when they're

26:03

assembled... I'm never bored by those

26:06

things. Okay thank you that's why

26:08

you and I are friends. And

26:11

so, like, there is this Vietnamese

26:13

Thet sticky rice cake that is

26:15

called Benjing when it's wrapped by

26:17

Northern Vietnamese folks, and it is

26:19

a square-shaped tamales, so to speak,

26:21

that looks like a cake, and

26:24

it's about, you know, one or

26:26

two inches high, and it could

26:28

be as small as three inches

26:30

or as big as ten inches,

26:32

and it's still with sticky rice,

26:34

and that's been wrapped up in...

26:36

banana leaf or in Vietnam you

26:38

would use a particular leaf that

26:41

either way the leaf would stain

26:43

the exterior of the cake a

26:45

pale jay green which I think

26:47

symbolizes sort of like the the

26:49

renewal aspect of the year because

26:51

it's considered you know like a

26:53

springtime renewal thing even though that

26:56

we're still in winter but anyway

26:58

inside there are mung beans that

27:00

are kind of buttery and then

27:02

fatty pork and lean pork it's

27:04

all seasoned by like pepper and

27:06

fish sauce. And that's it. It's

27:08

really good. It comes together and

27:10

it's either wrapped as a square

27:13

or as a cylinder called bent

27:15

that, not bent that, but it's

27:17

bent that, spelled T-E-T, but people

27:19

are always like confused. Anyway. Like

27:21

you make you start prepping for

27:23

it like a few days before

27:25

the actual first day of the

27:28

year and and the first day

27:30

of the year you open up

27:32

these cakes and they're warm they're

27:34

soft and they're fragrant and they

27:36

just say to me Vietnam because

27:38

it's a very humble kind of

27:40

tradition and it's absolutely delicious. That's

27:43

interesting actually because I think of

27:45

you know my my impression of

27:47

Vietnamese food is that it is

27:49

There's a huge emphasis on contrast

27:51

and freshness, right? A lot of

27:53

fresh herbs, crunchy raw vegetables to

27:55

go with your... or noodlesles or

27:57

to go with something stewed or

28:00

something grilled. So it's interesting that

28:02

like this celebratory food is a

28:04

cake that's steamed. So it's kind

28:06

of all melded together rather than

28:08

sort of contrasting. Is there, do

28:10

you know if there's, like, what

28:12

do you think about that? Yeah,

28:15

most definitely. So, so this package

28:17

of, Sticky rice and beans and

28:19

pork, you know, it's it's boiled

28:21

for like hours in a giant

28:23

lot And it's a communal thing

28:25

like you literally you have to

28:27

boil it for you know if

28:30

you've got like medium-sized ones about

28:32

five inches square it boils for

28:34

five to six hours And yeah,

28:36

yeah, so it's like this long

28:38

long-term investment of time and a

28:40

lot of communal cooking but the

28:42

crunchy contrast comes in the forms

28:44

of like pickled vegetables and preserved

28:47

vegetables. This time of the year,

28:49

you know, if you are in

28:51

like Northern Vietnam, you really don't

28:53

get a lot of the fresh

28:55

herbs. There are some, but it's

28:57

not that kind of... plethora of,

28:59

you know, hedgerow greenery that people

29:02

expect from Vietnamese food. And, and

29:04

so the crunch and the contrast

29:06

are there, but it's not the

29:08

usual suspects that people would associate

29:10

with Vietnamese food. Okay, that's interesting.

29:12

And do you have like a

29:14

family recipe for your bunch of

29:17

them? Like, is it like, it's

29:19

got to taste like moms or

29:21

doesn't count? You know, moms tastes

29:23

like. something she brought over from,

29:25

in 1975, and her recipe goes

29:27

back to a friend of the

29:29

families who actually wrote an article

29:31

in Saigon about how to make

29:34

Benjamin, and when he came to

29:36

America, he was like, I'm going

29:38

to bring some of my most

29:40

valuable things. I'm going to bring

29:42

like a photocopy or a mammographical,

29:44

whatever it was of that particular

29:46

article. And he sent it to

29:49

her. And that's how she was

29:51

able to replicate the intro. of

29:53

wrapping the cake because it's not

29:55

really made of like many ingredients

29:57

but in order to take those

29:59

ingredients and assemble it into basically

30:01

like a gift box of food

30:03

that's wrapped in banana leaf is

30:06

pretty difficult and and so she

30:08

does that she taught me how

30:10

to do it. How do you

30:12

do that? How do you make

30:14

like you know soft food appear

30:16

in like right hands? Right, right.

30:18

So there is a mold, a

30:21

wooden mold, in a square shape

30:23

frame, and then I line it

30:25

with leaves, banana leaves and bamboo

30:27

leaves in a particular pattern, and

30:29

then I put my ingredients in,

30:31

and I fold the leaves down,

30:33

but then there's a certain point

30:36

where I have to remove it

30:38

from the mold, and that's the

30:40

tricky part. And I literally will

30:42

somehow slide that mold onto my

30:44

forearm, and then do like a

30:46

little circ desolate trick. to remove

30:48

the mold and then wrap it

30:50

all up. But aluminum foil helps

30:53

a lot. You know, the ingenuity

30:55

of humankind is using tools. So

30:57

there you go. Exactly, and we

30:59

didn't have aluminum foil in Vietnam

31:01

in the 1970s. And so people

31:03

would just kind of freestyle it

31:05

with a particular kind of leaf.

31:08

They wouldn't use banana leaf. And,

31:10

um, but, but everyone would just

31:12

say, well, how beautiful can you

31:14

Ben Jung be? But in America,

31:16

you can make it beautiful with

31:18

like the wooden mold as help

31:20

as well as the foil. Who's

31:23

in charge of making it in

31:25

your family? Typically, well, I split

31:27

duties with my mom, but, um,

31:29

she... you know, it depends on

31:31

her mood. And last year, right

31:33

before it did, my father had

31:35

passed away. And so I didn't

31:37

want my mom to be lonely

31:40

on Ted. So I drove down

31:42

to Southern California from my home,

31:44

which is about an eight-hour drive.

31:46

And I said, mom, I said,

31:48

ma, you know, let's make Ben-jung.

31:50

And she was like, I don't

31:52

know. I'm kind of out of

31:55

practice. I don't know, I don't

31:57

feel so good. And then all

31:59

of a sudden she calls me

32:01

a week before and she says,

32:03

I told your sister to get

32:05

me all the ingredients and the

32:07

leaves. And I was like, all

32:10

right, she's still got her game

32:12

on. And so I go down

32:14

there and she's just like, you

32:16

know, we're gonna make it. And

32:18

two days before, she goes into

32:20

high gear to like soak the

32:22

rice, to cook her among beans,

32:24

to prep the leaves. And then

32:27

the day before she and I

32:29

wrap them. She made about 20.

32:31

And she had three pots going.

32:33

And she like a climb, she's

32:35

88. She climbs up into her

32:37

garage and like pulls down these

32:39

gigantic stock pots that she and

32:42

my dad used to use to

32:44

make mn't Jung. And I'm just

32:46

like, you're going to fall women.

32:48

She's like, no, I'm not. And

32:50

I'm like trying to help her.

32:52

It was, you know, and it

32:54

was a great. wonderful distraction and

32:57

a wonderful way for us to

32:59

celebrate the new year, something new

33:01

without my father. And I think

33:03

that's the other aspect of TED

33:05

is that it's very family oriented

33:07

and there's a lot of nostalgia

33:09

and there's a lot of this

33:11

notion of gratitude. And that's what

33:14

I always want to tell people

33:16

about TED is that it's for

33:18

us, for Vietnamese people, it's a

33:20

very humble kind of time of

33:22

time of the year. We'll

33:26

be back with more with Andrea

33:28

Wynn, author of Vietnamese food any

33:30

day. I'm Francis Lamb and this

33:33

is the Splendid Table from APM.

33:39

Hey, it's Sally Swift. I

33:41

know you love the Splendid

33:43

table as much as I

33:45

do because you're listening right

33:47

now. But did you know

33:49

that we have a weekly

33:51

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33:53

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to get the Weekend Kitchen

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in your inbox. Again,

34:19

that splendetable.org/newsletter. Have

34:21

a great week

34:24

everyone. We're talking

34:26

today about Lunar New Year

34:28

menus from China, Korea, and

34:30

now Vietnam, with cookbook author

34:32

Andrea Wynn. Let's get back to it

34:34

with her. So we've talked a lot

34:36

about the bunjong as sort of the

34:39

centerpiece of the meal and how

34:41

eating is such an important part of

34:43

celebrating, Ted, as you said. Do

34:45

you feel like you also, do you

34:47

evolve the menu? Do you feel

34:49

like you don't dare evolve the

34:51

menu? Do you do you add things along

34:54

with the... Like what do you

34:56

traditionally do? And I'm just like, well,

34:58

you know, these are the traditions of

35:00

my family. This is like when you

35:02

stray from tradition that something or someone's

35:04

going to strike you down. Like

35:06

some lightning bolt. Right, right. And for

35:08

me, as a writer, people are always

35:11

coming to me and asking, what do

35:13

you traditionally do? And I'm just like,

35:15

well, you know, these are the traditions

35:17

of my family and these are Vietnamese

35:19

food ways, but food ways evolve. And

35:21

so one of the things that really

35:23

kind of Gets me about that

35:25

and my family's celebration is

35:27

that it's very very meaty

35:29

And it's the time of the

35:32

year when you're Swiss to traditionally

35:34

kill a pig and make different

35:36

kinds of charcuturi and also simmer

35:39

parts in caramel sauce. And so

35:41

we always make these pork riblets

35:43

in caramel sauce and fish sauce.

35:46

It's like a bittersweet, savory kind

35:48

of dish. But this year, I'm

35:50

going to do a vegetarian take

35:53

on a southern Vietnamese cow. And

35:55

so the Southerners will cook pork

35:58

belly up with coconut water. caramel

36:00

sauce and eggs. And they serve

36:02

that with their Tet celebration. And

36:05

because my family's like half northern

36:07

and half southern, I'm like, I'm

36:09

gonna go all regions, okay? Just

36:11

gonna go all the way from

36:13

the. top to the bottom of

36:15

the country. But the version that

36:17

I'm making is going to involve

36:19

frying tofu and then simmering it

36:21

with coconut milk and fish sauce

36:24

and having the eggs in there

36:26

with the caramel sauce. And it's

36:28

absolutely delicious. And the tofu gets

36:30

like this richness that is very

36:32

similar to the pork belly, except

36:34

you don't have to eat pork

36:36

yet again. Yeah. Because I mean,

36:38

I love pork, but it gets,

36:41

you know, it gets to be

36:43

very, very heavy duty. Yeah. Well,

36:45

that you also feel the you

36:47

also feel the... You know, obviously

36:49

you have the pull of tradition,

36:51

you have the pull of, you

36:53

know, wrapping and doing this craft

36:55

with your mother, but also that

36:57

you feel the freedom to say,

37:00

hey, I'm going to switch things

37:02

up for my own taste too.

37:04

You know, making that switch as

37:06

a cook is something that when

37:08

I was younger, I wouldn't have

37:10

done because I felt like I

37:12

didn't have the right to. But

37:14

as I've become... you know, a

37:16

more well-practice cook, a person who

37:19

feels, you know, more confident in

37:21

the kitchen and in my culture

37:23

and in terms of who I

37:25

am, I take more liberties with

37:27

it. I mean, and without straying

37:29

too far from what makes Vietnamese

37:31

food, what Vietnamese food is. And

37:33

the recipe that I talked to

37:36

you with the pork and eggs

37:38

in caramel sauce is something that

37:40

I came up with. for my

37:42

upcoming book, Evergreen Vietnamese. And that's

37:44

all rooted in Vietnamese traditions of

37:46

using a lot of ingredients from

37:48

the earth with just a little

37:50

bit from the sea and some

37:52

meat. And I remember like sharing

37:55

this idea with my mom. I

37:57

was like, you know that pork.

37:59

belly, you know, call recipe, well,

38:01

I'm gonna make it with tofu.

38:03

And at first, because she's such

38:05

a traditionalist, she was like, what

38:07

are you doing? That's so, sounds

38:09

so wrong. And I was like,

38:12

lady, you know. It's

38:14

all right. And I served it

38:16

to her and she was like,

38:18

oh, this is like really good.

38:21

So even for someone of her

38:23

generation, born in like the 1930s,

38:25

you know, she's willing to be

38:27

flexible. And it's just a matter

38:30

of opening yourself up to new

38:32

ideas. But in a way, also

38:34

tracing those back to really where

38:37

your food traditions come from. And

38:39

I think that that is a

38:41

what it's a time when I'm

38:44

always thinking about that. going back

38:46

and then moving forward. Mm. I

38:48

love that. That's super, super lovely.

38:50

Well, thank you so much, Andrea.

38:53

It's been such a pleasure talking

38:55

with you. Always a pleasure talking

38:57

with you, Francis. Andrea Wynn's latest

39:00

book is called Vietnamese Food Any

39:02

Day, and her next one, all

39:04

about the great plant-based dishes of

39:06

Vietnam, is evergreen Vietnamese. And on

39:09

our website, splendotable.org, you can find

39:11

one of her classic recipes. for

39:13

pork ribs and caramel sauce. It

39:16

is a really, really great time

39:18

for Korean food lovers in New

39:20

York City right now. There has

39:23

just been this incredible bumper crop

39:25

of exciting creative Korean restaurants all

39:27

over the city. One of New

39:29

York's absolute greatest Korean chefs isn't

39:32

really looking to innovate anything. Hooney

39:34

Kim keeps it old school. So

39:36

old school in fact that he

39:39

has been spending the last 12

39:41

years traveling back and forth to

39:43

Korea, learning how to make the

39:46

traditional seasonings like soy sauce and

39:48

fermented soybean paste, they're the backbone

39:50

of Korean cuisine. And so we

39:52

figured anyone that interested in tradition

39:55

would probably take the Lunar New

39:57

Year pretty seriously. Hey Chef, it's

39:59

great to see you! Hi Francis,

40:02

nice to be here, thank you.

40:04

Yeah, I'm super excited to talk

40:06

with you about this, because I

40:08

actually don't know much about what

40:11

a traditional Korean Lunar New Year

40:13

celebration is like. And when we

40:15

talked earlier, you said you do

40:18

actually celebrate it in a very

40:20

traditional way. Yes. Do you remember

40:22

how you first started learning about

40:25

these traditions? I was born in

40:27

Korea, and I was there until

40:29

I was four. I lived in

40:31

England in them, no, here to

40:34

the US. My first memory of

40:36

celebrating these these lunar New Year

40:38

customs is when I was about

40:41

five or six, it's the first

40:43

time that I sort of realized

40:45

I didn't have a father, because

40:47

my father passed away when I

40:50

was two. And New Year's, a

40:52

lot of my relatives, we would

40:54

get together at my house and

40:57

sort of have this. For me,

40:59

it was festive. You know, the

41:01

ladies, the women cooked all day

41:04

in the kitchen from scratch, and

41:06

at night, we had this huge

41:08

table with enormous amount of food,

41:10

fruits, candies even, and we would

41:13

all sort of take turns bowing,

41:15

and then afterwards, we would just

41:17

eat pig out all night, and

41:20

everybody would go home with food

41:22

that was left over. And I

41:24

found out later. the reason why

41:26

we were there was to sort

41:29

of remember my father who passed

41:31

away and this this act or

41:33

this ceremony is called Chezha and

41:36

we do it once twice a

41:38

year once Lunar New Year and

41:40

once the the day that he

41:43

actually did pass away which is

41:45

early December and you know I

41:47

never really grew up in Korea

41:49

but The more I visited Korea,

41:52

I realized it's not just me,

41:54

it's a lot of people. Christians,

41:56

Buddhists, and all religions. It's more

41:59

of a tradition. cultural rather than

42:01

sort of religion, Buddhist-based. Oh, but

42:03

some of the particulars of how

42:05

you celebrate are rooted in a

42:08

religious. Yes, yes. And when I

42:10

was living in England or in

42:12

New York, my mother was too

42:15

busy to cook and we didn't

42:17

have relatives in the country, so

42:19

we would actually celebrate or do

42:22

the Chesa at a Buddhist temple.

42:24

Oh yeah and you know we

42:26

are Christian we go to church

42:28

every Sunday but twice a year

42:31

we went to the Buddhist temple

42:33

to remember my father what I

42:35

remember you know when I got

42:38

to be a certain age I

42:40

started to question the the monks

42:42

who would perform this jazz are

42:44

with me like why are we

42:47

doing this I'm Christian you know

42:49

what's this for and I think

42:51

I was 12 and that explanation

42:54

that I heard when I was

42:56

12 is the reason why I

42:58

keep doing it and the reason

43:01

why I will do it for

43:03

the rest of my life. The

43:05

monks explained that when we die

43:07

and we become spirits, we're just

43:10

like, we're, you know, we're alive,

43:12

we're very social. So all the

43:14

spirits are hanging out together, there's

43:17

a group of friends, and they

43:19

like to have parties, and their

43:21

parties are thrown by... by us

43:23

who are still living. So these

43:26

Cesar's are for them a bragging

43:28

right. You know, it is their

43:30

party night because they go around

43:33

to all of their friends Cesar's

43:35

and they eat and they have

43:37

a good time because everybody's remembering

43:40

them, bowing to them, pouring them

43:42

liquor at Cesar. And you know,

43:44

if you don't have Cesar for

43:46

your ancestors, then they are embarrassed.

43:49

You know, because people, you know,

43:51

they, it sort of shows that

43:53

you hadn't lived a good life

43:56

where people on earth don't remember

43:58

you. Or trying to remember you.

44:00

Yeah, yeah. That's so interesting. So,

44:02

you know, I had never known

44:05

my father, but he. gifted me

44:07

my life and I'm a very

44:09

happy person. So to show that

44:12

appreciation, I would always try, or

44:14

I have done a chess out

44:16

for 48 years now, 47 years,

44:19

yeah. Wow. And so what's on

44:21

the menu for this feast? It's

44:23

gotten now where every family or

44:25

every region has like sort of

44:28

different rules. What I do is

44:30

I veer a little bit away

44:32

from the Buddhist diet. So when

44:35

I was doing this at the

44:37

temple with the monks, they would

44:39

never use any spices. They wouldn't

44:41

use garlic onion, the aromatics, because

44:44

they said that these strong pungent

44:46

aromas would scare the spirits away.

44:48

Well, you know, I learned from

44:51

my relatives that my father loved

44:53

spices and loved meat and loved

44:55

fish. So I just thought, why

44:58

not cook food that he would

45:00

like? You know, even if it

45:02

would scare some of the spirits

45:04

away, which, you know, I don't

45:07

believe too much. But I truly

45:09

a chef. And I told my

45:11

son the other day, and he's

45:14

only 13, and he's like at

45:16

that point where he's questioning why

45:18

we do this. I told him,

45:20

look, you don't have to cook.

45:23

But go to a steakhouse, leave

45:25

an empty table for me, and

45:27

order me a nice porterhouse, medium

45:30

rare. And that would be... Because

45:32

that's how I would like to

45:34

remember. Traditionally, we always have chuns,

45:37

which are sort of savory pancakes,

45:39

little flays of fish. zucchini, tofu,

45:41

and then we definitely have Namus,

45:43

which are vegetables. Like if you

45:46

know pibimpap, it's the vegetables inside.

45:48

So spinach, watercress, what else? Which

45:50

now you mention, they're not very

45:53

heavily seasoned, right? Yeah. They're not

45:55

very heavily seasoned, but they always

45:57

have garlic. Yeah. All the Korean

46:00

Namos have garlic. and bean sprouts,

46:02

among bean sprouts. And I sort

46:04

of make it delicious, because we

46:06

have to eat it afterwards. So

46:09

I season it to the point

46:11

where, you know, it's, it's yummy.

46:13

And those are the

46:16

traditional ones. Are they

46:18

blanched? Yes. They're blanched.

46:20

And then they're dressed with

46:23

salt, soy sauce, garlic, sesame

46:25

oil, sesame seeds, etc. etc.

46:28

Kochkaru, which is the red

46:30

pepper flakes, which I do

46:33

because it tastes better. So,

46:35

and then a lot of

46:38

seasonal fruits, these days it

46:40

would be persimmons, very colorful

46:42

fruits as well, oranges, and

46:45

then candy. Candy, I actually

46:47

can't get here, but traditionally

46:50

in Korea, they have candies

46:52

that are specifically made for

46:54

Chesa. Very colorful Buddhist colors,

46:57

a lot of like... prime,

46:59

you know, green, blues, reds.

47:01

It just makes the table

47:04

look a lot more festive.

47:06

And then always a soup,

47:08

always a clear soup and

47:10

a large bowl of rice

47:12

and alcohol. Sometimes I do

47:14

sojus, sometimes I do makali.

47:16

Soju is like a clear

47:19

spirit, right? Almost like a...

47:21

Yes. But makali is like

47:23

a cloudy, fermented rice. Yeah,

47:25

it's brewed like a beer

47:27

almost. And I guess you

47:30

can sort of say it's almost

47:32

like a nigori sake slash

47:34

beer. Alcohol contents only

47:37

6%. It's on the sweeter side because

47:39

it is a lot of sugars

47:41

from the rice. And it's

47:43

traditionally a farmer's drink. Farmers,

47:45

middle of the day when

47:47

it was too hot, they

47:49

would drink makuli, take a

47:51

little hour nap, and then

47:53

they would go back to

47:55

work. It's actually not filtered.

47:57

It's actually the scraps.

47:59

from the actually filtered

48:02

part from the more

48:04

expensive Korean spirits and

48:06

alcohol. So from what

48:08

the rich people would drink, the

48:10

rice wine would be clear, and

48:13

then the scraps left over would

48:15

go to the farmers. These days,

48:17

though, it's really hip in Korea. All

48:20

the young people are sort of into

48:22

it. You know, I like it. So

48:24

I don't know if my dad liked

48:27

it, but I'm sure I'm sure he

48:29

would. He'll want to knock one back

48:31

with you. Yeah. So, yeah. Can we

48:34

go a little bit into the

48:36

Jones you make? Because I love these.

48:38

I've never been to a Korean New

48:40

Year celebration, but I see them in.

48:43

Korean restaurants, like sometimes a seafood pancake,

48:45

or some like kimchi pancake. Okay,

48:47

so that is a chunk as

48:49

well, but that's more like a

48:52

composed jun, where it's large and

48:54

round. The chaisea jun is a

48:56

little bit different. You make a

48:59

chunk individually, so it's flour, egg

49:01

batter, and then pan fry. And

49:04

we do that with like little

49:06

slices of like coins of zucchini.

49:08

We do it with little fillets

49:11

of fish. So we fillet of

49:13

fish and cut it down to

49:15

like sort of bite size

49:17

knobs. And then we season

49:20

it, flower it, egg batter

49:22

it and fry it. So

49:24

it's a lot of work.

49:26

So like individual. Yeah. Yeah.

49:29

You know, Jezaw food, you

49:31

know, and I've experienced this,

49:33

I don't know if it's

49:35

the best tasting Korean food,

49:37

but it is the most

49:40

labor intensive. It is the

49:42

most sort of, the toughest

49:44

to resource because traditionally because

49:47

you can't season it too much,

49:49

the ingredient itself has to

49:51

be fresh and has to

49:53

be really good because that

49:55

is what you're showcasing. So

49:57

a lot of this takes

49:59

in. Korean word Chung-song which is

50:01

care and dedication and devotion all of

50:03

that. I guess putting it all together

50:06

I'm thinking if I was in Korea

50:08

and I know there's probably regional variation

50:10

but like what are some of the

50:13

ingredients that I would be looking for

50:15

right now that that are stand-out ingredients

50:17

in the winter? Cabbage jun, nappa cabbage

50:20

because this is kimchi-making season. Kim-jiangs. Right

50:22

now is when cabbage is the sweetest.

50:24

Sweet potatoes and definitely fish. Like right

50:27

now, it's out of its fattiest. And

50:29

the Namos, it would be dried. Spring,

50:31

summer, great vegetables, Koreans dry it, and

50:34

then they hydrate it and make the

50:36

Namos in the winter. And that tradition

50:38

still exists. So you would be going

50:40

to the markets and knowing during the

50:43

summer which stalls have the freshest and

50:45

the nicest vegetables. in the winter they

50:47

will be selling the same vegetables that

50:50

are now dried. So that's what you

50:52

would get. And if for those who

50:54

might not know what Namu is, if

50:57

you go to a like a Korean

50:59

barbecue restaurant or in Korean restaurant, they

51:01

start you out with these little side

51:04

dishes, this Banchans. And most times they

51:06

will have several Namu's as one of

51:08

the Banchans because they are cheaper to

51:11

make and you can sort of make

51:13

a... a whole bunch at the same

51:15

time and it stays, you know, fresh

51:18

in your fridge for a couple of

51:20

days. And, you know, in Korea and

51:22

here, it's for every Korean family, we

51:24

always have Namul in the fridge. And

51:27

it's also a staple for Chesa. Yeah,

51:29

yeah, yeah. And I know you just

51:31

opened a little, a banchan, like, deli.

51:34

I can't wait to come visit you

51:36

there and actually grab a bunch of

51:38

these numbles and bring them home. Yeah.

51:41

I make them every day. Every morning.

51:43

Well, Chef, it has been great talking

51:45

with you. Thanks so much. Happy New

51:48

Year. Too too. Thank you. Bonchahn Shop

51:50

and is called His

51:52

and you can find

51:55

his recipe from

51:57

Simple Korea those fritters

51:59

he was talking about,

52:01

find his .org. for that

52:04

is our show today

52:06

to all of

52:08

you who celebrate was

52:11

Lunar New Year. at

52:13

talk to you next

52:15

week. And

52:18

that is our show today to all of who run

52:20

by Chandra Kavadi and Joanne

52:22

Griffith and the Splendid Table was

52:25

created by to and Lim Yozo

52:27

week. It's made each week by

52:29

technical producer Jennifer Jennifer Luci, producer Romero,

52:31

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52:33

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