When Jeffrey Alford arrives for a cooking session at The Washington Post, something’s missing: his wife and co-author, Naomi Duguid.
As much as the two are known for their cookbook collaborations, they take a different approach to their media tours and research trips: Divide and conquer.
Travelling solo, “you meet more people, and you’re more vulnerable”, Alford says.
Dressed in scruffy jeans and a rumpled shirt, Alford looks every bit the seasoned traveller.
And when he shows me how to make noodles by hand — an art he learned from the Kazakh people of far northwestern China — he is nothing if not casual.
“It’s dead easy,” says Alford, 54, whose latest book with Duguid is titled Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China.
Measuring ingredients is not mandatory. He pours a little salt into his hand and throws it into the dough. By the end of the session, he’s well dusted with flour and wipes his hands on his shirt.
Culinary traditions
For more than 25 years, Alford and Duguid, who met while on a bicycle trip in the Himalayas in 1985, have crisscrossed Asia.
He has bicycled through Inner Mongolia and crossed the Himalayas to Tibet, thirsty for Chinese culture and the culinary traditions of the ethnic people.
Beyond the booming cities of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai is another China of mountain villages and vast plains.
That’s what Alford and Duguid want readers to recognise when they page through Beyond the Great Wall and try fixing a classic stew from Lhasa, a deep-fried whiting as it’s prepared in a Dong village in eastern Guizhou province and much more.
For this half-cookbook, half-adventure journal with gorgeous location photographs that the couple shot themselves, they witnessed the food and culture customs in China’s more remote provinces, some of the least-touristed areas of the world.
They have seen first hand how the country has grown and they have been “blown away by the social changes”, Alford tells us. His favourite section is the noodle chapter, which he says “could take over the whole book”.
For the Kazakh noodles, the ingredients are just flour, eggs, salt and water. With the help of a food processor, perfect dough is ready in seconds.
There are no surprises: “We always come out with noodles and they always taste great.” The back of a chair is put to use for collecting and draping the noodles.
Dash of local condiment
Over the noodles, we ladle on a sauce of stir-fried lamb and vegetables briefly tossed in a wok.
A key ingredient turns out to be a common condiment in northern and western China: dark Jinjiang vinegar, made of black rice, which has a slight caramel flavour. After a splash or two of this vinegar, Inner Mongolia doesn’t seem so far away.
PERSONAL TOUCH
What makes them special
Cookbook authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid call for these two ingredients in their recipe for Silk road lamb stir-fry with sprouts and greens: Jinjiang (black rice) vinegar and soya bean sprouts.
These can be found in Asian markets; below, the authors offer substitutions, with caveats.
Here’s what they like about each ingredient. Black rice vinegar has the qualities of a good Spanish sherry vinegar or Italian balsamic, Duguid says, with a rich, intense flavour.
Substitute this for sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar.
Soya bean sprouts retain their crunch in stir-fries better than the more delicate mung bean sprouts.
They take longer to cook, which is why they are added about halfway through the cooking time. You can use mung bean sprouts in this recipe, but add them during the last 2 minutes of cooking.
RECIPE
Silk road lamb stir-fry with sprouts and greens
Servings: 3 to 4
Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid enjoyed a version of this dish one day in Turpan, an oasis city southwest of Urumqi, China, where it was presented on large plates with a stack of flatbreads alongside. At home, they usually serve it with rice.
- 1 tbs peanut or vegetable oil (may substitute 1 tbs rendered lamb fat)
- 1 tbs garlic, minced
- I 1/4 tsp cumin, ground
- About 1/2 pound lamb, boneless, trimmed of most fat, then cut into bite-size pieces (about 1 cup)
- 3/4 pound (about 4 cups) soya-bean sprouts
- 2/3 to 3/4 pound Taiwan bok choy or other leafy green, root ends trimmed, stalks cut crosswise into 2-inch-wide strips
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbs soya sauce, low-sodium
- 2 tbs Jinjiang (black rice) vinegar
Heat a large wok or wide, heavy skillet over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the garlic and cumin and stir-fry briefly, then add the lamb and stir-fry for a few minutes, until all ingredients’ surfaces have changed colour.
Add the sprouts and stir-fry for about one minute, then add the greens and salt. Stir-fry for two to three minutes, then test the sprouts for doneness: When the beans at the ends of the sprouts are beginning to soften, add the soya sauce and vinegar.
Cook, stirring occasionally, for two minutes or until the beans are tender. (The timing will vary according to the size of your wok or skillet.) Transfer to a platter; serve hot.
NUTRITION Per serving (based on 4): 187 calories, 14g protein, 6g carbohydrates, 12g fat, 4g saturated fat, 37mg cholesterol, 838mg sodium, 1g dietary fibre.
