Soy Sauce For Beginners by Kirstin Chen

Soy Sauce for Beginners

By Kirstin Chen

EGG RATING

This is only the second time reviewing –if I can call writing down my random thoughts a review?

 Of course this doesn’t include sharing a book with a friend and giving away the ending (spoiler alert) that’s probably what I’m going to do here too.

I’m hoping that you’ve already read the book after letting you know the title of the book in last month’s review.

OOOOOPPPS

 Ok, I’ve just re-read the last book review, and I didn’t tell anyone what my next read was going to be (thank you Mr G for letting me know, right again sigh). So, massive apologies and I will make a mental note to include the next title in the one I’m reviewing.  If I forget, just give me shout out.

Did that make sense?

Hope so.

 Soy Sauce for Beginners By Kirsten Chen is about food and family, two of my favourite things.

Gretchen Lin is pulled back home to Singapore to live in her family home after her husband has an affair with one of his students.

Leaving him behind in San Francisco, she reluctantly helps out in the Lin family soy sauce business and is immediately drawn into work and family drama.

 Gretchen feels isolated and estranged from her old friends outside of work and in her work environment. She tries to work out why, wondering if she is just “different” wanting to live away from home and in another country away from family and cultural traditions. Over time she comes to realise, America was her mothers young dream.

 She finds the relationships with her parents a little confusing and knowing she has a lot of unanswered questions for her parents, she’d rather stay out of their way instead of talking to them about what’s going on.

 Her mother has a long standing and seldom spoken about drinking problem, having health issues because of it. Her father has business problems with his nephew and his failed attempt to launch a new product.

 Gretchen feels that because she has plans to go back to America to resume her music studies, and probably reunite with her husband, she doesn’t need to be drawn into their woes. Of course she’s unable to get away from them, even though she tries in the arms of a man

 Throughout the book, Gretchen begins the process of healing her wounded pride and broken heart, and examining the reasons for going to study in America. She also does that so old thing all children do, realise that their parents are human, make mistakes and have their own ambitions.

 I’ll let you read what happens in the end of the book, so no spoiler alerts from me.

Just remember, how much I love a happy ending :)

 Since I’m randomly choosing the books to review, its really telling that I’m choosing books that I can relate to in some way.

 Of course, I was taught, in a previous work life as a counsellor, that they may be connections and insights into ourselves with the choices we make and the words we choose.

 The other train of thought is, as Freud once said, (I think?) “Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.”

 There will be no surprise then, that I found a lot of the same questions that the leading character Gretchen Lin wanted answering.

 Having gone through a divorce myself, I wanted Gretchen to examine her part in the break up of their marriage a little more, and before anyone shouts at me for that, let me explain.

 I am the first person to cry out , “Hey, get out of my house you big pooooo,” if a husband did that to me.

For character engagement purposes, I would have liked a little more of her personal exploration about this.

 Writing this, I recall the place in the book where Gretchen remembers an incident from her childhood involving her mother, father and another character. This piece of writing makes it becomes a little clearer why it takes her longer to trust herself and her decisions.

Lets face it, as far as I know; no one gets married hoping they will break up.

Anyone out there, who has done this, put me right.

 I’m a big shouter about personal power, and there’ve been plenty of times in my life that I’ve given my power away. I still do sometimes.

Like I said, always learning.

That’s why I was pleased to see that at the end Gretchen reclaimed it. Not just by the choice she made with her husband, but also taking back her place in the family business, on her terms and at her pace.

 Is that a spoiler? It might well be

 I’ve always had a dream of having a family business, either with my children, the lovely Mr G or with some of my sisters. The problem with that is they all have their own lives and passions to follow. How dare they:) ? I mean, I brought my son and daughter up to be independent free thinking people with dreams of their own, and what happened? They disappoint me by growing up to be independent free thinking people with dreams of their own . Again, How dare they :)?

 The ways Kirsten Chen writes about the dishes eaten by the characters, the passion with which she describes each dish is a work of art. I’m hoping the only reason she can make my mouth water with her culinary descriptions is because she’s loves food. As a fellow foodie, I loved reading and almost tasting the flavours bounce off my tongue as she spoke about the nuances of each ingredients flavour in her meals.

 Before reading this, I knew very little about the differences in soy sauces. Light for dipping and dark for cooking, different levels of salt, and even chemical additions. How did I not know that before?

 In the book, there’s a drink given to visitors of her family business to show potential customers the quality of their soy sauce, why it stands out making it special. Have you ever tried ice cold sprite with a dash of soy sauce?

  I’m so used to buying soy sauce from the supermarket shelf, without even knowing the difference, I was pleasantly surprised to think that it’s possible to find a soy sauce so good I could add it to a drink. Christmas is coming, I might ask for some for a pressie.

 I know nothing, about soy sauce and there is so much to learn about it, and food in general. Learning new things every day.

 There is a quote from the book I know applies to me. “Chinese people believe all problems can be solved over food”. I can’t see anything wrong with this.

 I think there is nothing more personal and shows love more than preparing the food together then sitting down together to enjoy it. The stories that get told, the recipes that get shared and the laughter, along with the arguments and the tears, are for me, the things that count.

 Onto the recipe.

 I wanted to make something with soy sauce even though I don’t have any of the posh stuff, so this family recipe seems just the thing.

 Try it yourself and let me know how it turns out.

 Enjoy Your Sweet Life 

Look at all those flavoursome caramelised bits . Best bits.

Beef With Broccoli

What You Need

 For Marinade

• ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

• 1 tsp white sugar

• 1 tablespoon corn flour

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon water

• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 1 ½ lb Flank Steak – Cut into thin strips – See Tip Box

Cut Strips of Beef

 For The Sauce and Putting it together

• ½ cup soy Sauce

• 2 tablespoon soft brown sugar

• 4 cloves of garlic - minced

• 2 tablespoons plain flour

• 1-tablespoon sherry  - See Tip Box

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 Heads of broccoli – separate the crowns and slice them thinly – See Tip Box

Cut Broccoli including the stalks. Don’t waste them

How It’s Done

Marinade and Beef

•  Mix together all the marinade ingredients until you have a smooth paste. It doesn’t look like a lot, but there is enough to coat the cut beef strips to marinade, which is all you need.

• Cut the beef into thin strips and put the strips into a bowl that you can store in the fridge– See tip box

• Pour the marinade over the beef and mix really well so that all the beef is coated in a layer of the marinade.  Cover and store in the fridge until 20 minutes before cooking. – See Tip Box

Marinade mixed and ready for the beef strips

 For the Cooking

• Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce, everything except the sliced broccoli and the vegetable oil.

• Mix all the ingredients together.

• Heat up your frying pan or wok. When it’s really hot, add 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat.

• Add the broccoli and cook on a high heat for approximately 3 minutes.  The broccoli should be a little brown around the edges, cooked but still with a little crunch. You don’t want the broccoli to burn, so don’t walk away from it and make sure you stir it often.

• After 3 minutes, take the broccoli out and set aside for later.

• Add the remaining oil to the same pan.

• Add the beef strips and half of the sauce mixture.

• Sauté the beef and sauce mixture on a high heat for about 4 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink and it’s cooked all the way through.

• Add the broccoli back to the pan along with the remaining sauce and mix well.

• Sauté for another couple of minutes and then serve hot 

Beef & Broccoli with all the sauce

Tip Box

• Veggie – If you want to keep it veggie, replace the beef with some mushrooms. Treat them the same way as you would the beef, but adjust cooking time accordingly.

• Substitute - My ideal choice of beef to use here is flank steak. Even though this is a cheaper cut of meat, it’s sometimes difficult to get from your butcher. Its because it’s cheaper that lots of butchers use in their mince meat. Give your butcher a shout out to order some in advance. If you cant get flank , ask your butcher for a good substitute.

• Cut the beef – To keep the beef tender, cut the strips against the grain. This makes the grain of the meat shorter making the meat even more tender

• No Sherry - Don’t have any sherry? Not many of us do. Substitute white or red wine or even port is good.  Whatever you’re drinking at the time.

• Soy Sauce -Gluten free soy sauce is available really easily from supermarkets, in case you’re gluten intolerant. I also like the lower salt soy sauce. I’d prefer to make use of other seasoning. Entirely your taste

• Marinade – Marinade the beef for more than an hour. It’s so easy to prepare. I will usually prepare the beef in the morning or night before, cover and leave it in the fridge until I need it later.

• Cornflour – If you don’t have any cornflour in your pantry, use plain flour instead in the marinade. Make sure it’s well-mixed together with no lumps before you pour it over the beef.

• Broccoli – The recipe calls for just the broccoli heads or florets to be used.  I don’t like to waste anything, so I also slice the stalks really thinly and cook those too.

Those brown bits, mmmmm. All that taste