A Chinese Chef

Talking about food, I really should mention my brother. Just like how you would picture a chef: my brother looks well-built, has a passion for food and most importantly, can really cook!

Chinese food is very tasty but being a Chinese chef is not easy. I can say that probably all his friends back from culinary school have left the industry. So has he. What drives them out is the heavy work load, the dirty job, the hours, and the stress from making food to perfection.

Have you seen it on TV or somewhere? A Chinese chef stir-frying with a wok. The wok goes up and down like a firy dragon's mouth. You think 'Wow, that's really cool!" No! It's really hot there and just to handle that wok is a tough job. I remember when he was in school: the teacher asked them to practice waving a wok filled with 10kg of sand 100 times in a row - with one hand! And that was part of the test at the end of the term. From there, a lot of people had already failed. Not to mention the art and craft classes which came later on to artistically present the food.

It is a shame that my brother left the industry and now he only cooks for his daughter, wife and in-laws. Note, just the in-laws, not us. At home, my mum still cooks for us and he is happy to just relax. Occasionally, like the Chinese New Year, we can still taste his food. And each one of them is memorable!

I love watching him cooking. Unlike us, he always cooks with a long big spoon reaching and throwing a lot of sauces into his dishes while I blink. To me, he is like a magician in the kitchen. After one year graduating from the school, he was made the head chef at a three star restaurant. Besides his crafty hand, what made him successful was the thoughts he put in food. Tasting food is a process of researching, studying, and improvement. At home, he used to practice day and night with his curled knives to turn ordinary fruit and vegetables into flowers and animals for table presentation.He is a quiet person. When he cooks in front of me, that is when he starts talking. He gives me tips for cooking, bosses me around and tells me stories about food and restaurants. Then he is done, leaving a big mess in the kitchen. To be precise, he only leaves the mess to ME!

Since the opportunities of trying his food are so rare, I happily roll up my sleeves and clean up.