Audio By Carbonatix
Take about a dozen people lubricated with beverages, alcoholic and not, appetites whetted by spareribs with Hoisin sauce. Put them in a luxuriously sparse kitchen showroom in the Design District. Add a patient instructor offering directions while wielding a spatula and well-seasoned wok — cast iron, please, not carbon steel! Throw in a volunteer sous-chef chopping fresh bok choy, mushrooms, asparagus, and the all-important ginger and garlic. It adds up to Easy-Style Cooking, local art lover and PR maven Eleanor Hoh’s foolproof method to create tasty ethnic dishes in a snap.
The Hong Kong-born Hoh, onetime owner of a cooking school in Key West, which taught beginners and advanced students, knows her teriyaki from her tamari. While suffering tasteless English cuisine in a British boarding school, she taught herself to whip up recipes like mom used to make. Now she wants to teach you. Hoh maintains three simple steps — preparing, marinating, and stir-frying — are all it takes to create a magnificent meal. Stroll through the supermarket without a list. Buy what’s fresh and appealing. Then mix up a set of Hoh-recommended ingredients that can help even the most staid cook produce a splendid stir-fry. Sherry, chili garlic sauce, tamari, and white pepper are just a few. Placed in a handy-dandy plastic caddy, they are stored right in the refrigerator for instant access. Fire up the wok and away you go — without a recipe, mind you! Recipes are for unimaginative sheep.
Sound complicated? It’s not. Aside from the camaraderie and a little hands-on experience for the game, the class includes flyers full of reliable brands and local sources, and a flow chart with helpful tips. A couple of prize drawings feature aprons, coupons, music, and a stocked caddy. “Getting the maximum flavor with the minimum amount of work” is the objective, according to Hoh. An admirable aim in our busy world. Easy, in fact.
