Phoebe Melnick

1 month ago | epicurious.com | Calvin Eng |Phoebe Melnick

ArrowJump To RecipeSave RecipeSavePrintEvery Chinese person loves a deal. That’s ultimately why we all love Costco. Every time my family went there to shop, we always snagged a box of croissants (they reheat so well), a large supreme pizza (because it was the same price as a regular cheese), and a hot rotisserie chicken off the spit (because in those days it was practically the same price as an uncooked chicken). We would make that five-dollar chicken last for as many meals as possible.

1 month ago | epicurious.com | Calvin Eng |Phoebe Melnick

ArrowJump To RecipeSave RecipeSavePrintDeveloped in the 1980s by a chef in Hong Kong, this sauce leans on a trio of umami-heavy ingredients: dried scallops, dried shrimp, and cured Chinese pork (specifically, Jinhua ham), for their powerful flavors. I have never had a bad XO. This is an expensive sauce, as dried seafood does not come cheaply, but homemade beats store-bought any day because you can control the quality of the ingredients and the care that goes into the preparation.

1 month ago | epicurious.com | Calvin Eng |Phoebe Melnick

ArrowJump To RecipeSave RecipeSavePrintMy first taste of Hong Kong scrambled eggs was at a booth in a random cha chaan teng in 2016. The eggs were soft and pillowy, custardy and light. They were unlike any other scrambled eggs I had experienced before. I soon learned there were a few tricks to making this style scramble. Ingredients like evaporated milk and cornstarch are key, as is making sure everything is whisked together really well.

1 month ago | epicurious.com | Calvin Eng |Phoebe Melnick

ArrowJump To RecipeSave RecipeSavePrintIf you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a lover of overly salty things. Really savory, salty things. Especially fermenty, savory, salty things like shrimp paste. It’s one of those extremely flavorful and pungent condiments that lends the kind of depth to a dish that a few extra pinches of salt can never achieve. A little shrimp paste goes a long, long, long way. My mom taught me that.

1 month ago | bonappetit.com | Phoebe Melnick |Calvin Eng

One month after Calvin opened his Cantonese American restaurant, Bonnie’s, in Brooklyn, we found out I was pregnant. We couldn’t wait to tickle our baby boy’s tiny toes and kiss his chubby cheeks, to read and sing to him, to be a family. Most of all, we couldn’t wait to cook for him. So naturally, we were ecstatic when Levi’s first teeth popped through.