Three chefs on dishes inspired by their grandmothers – grilled fish, minced pork rice, and pâté

‘She’d look at an egg and know it’s going to hatch in a few weeks. She’d make pickles in a huge bathtub,’ says Ho Lee Fook chef Jowett Yu of his grandmother

Another Hong Kong chef, Arlyn Mendoza at Brut, recalls being sent up trees to pick tamarind, while Nate Green at Henry remembers lunches that lasted all day

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There was always an abundance of food at the farmhouse of Yu Li Xue (above, right) in Taiwan, her grandson Jowett Yu, executive chef at Black Sheep Restaurants in Hong Kong, recalls. He honoured her memory in a dish called lu rou fan – minced pork rice – on the menu at Ho Lee Fook restaurant. Photo: Jowett Yu

Published: 12:12pm, 3 Sep 2020Updated: 6:11pm, 3 Sep 2020

Johanna English died in 1991 at the age of 96 after a life well lived. The resilient, no-nonsense mother of five – a primary-school teacher from County Tipperary in Ireland – was a classic Irish matriarch with certain culinary quirks, like holding a loaf of bread tightly under her arm before buttering and slicing it.

She was also my granny – and whether you call her nonna, po po or abuelita, chances are that your grandmother’s cooking will also have left lasting memories.

In Hong Kong, three chefs from different cultures told the Post about how their grandmothers were instrumental in their love for food, in their becoming chefs, and how they inspired dishes in their restaurants.

Jowett Yu, born and raised in Taiwan, is executive chef at Black Sheep Restaurants group. The creative force behind Ho Lee Fook, in Hong Kong’s Central district on Hong Kong Island, says the cooking of his ah ma (paternal grandmother) is showcased on his menu.

Lu rou fan – minced pork rice – is a dish that Yu prepares at Ho Lee Fook. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“Yu Li Xue passed away five years ago at 95. She was ancient, a really hard-working lady with eight boys that obviously would have taken up most of her life. She and my grandpa lived on a farm that was about 45 minutes away from our suburb of Taipei, so in summer holidays we’d go and entertain ourselves there.

“There was always something to eat, always an abundance of food, especially during rice harvest season in autumn. She was like an encyclopaedia. She’d look at an egg and know it’s going to hatch in a few weeks. She’d make pickles in a huge bathtub by filling it with veggies, taking off her shoes and stepping on them to draw out the moisture. Some she’d leave in the sun and some she’d put in the urn to ferment.