- 2 months ago
Bon Appétit spends a day on the line with executive chef Emily Yuen of Yingtao, New York City’s only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant. Yingtao is on a mission to challenge perceptions of Chinese food, introducing diners to traditional ingredients and flavors through a modern fine-dining lens. From sourcing traditional Chinese ingredients and preparing everything from superior stock and wontons to dry-aged black cod, see how Yuen gets her team ready for a packed 74-cover service.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:02Ying Tao is the only Michelin star Chinese restaurant in New York City.
00:06A lot of Americans assume Chinese food is takeout food.
00:09For us, we want to change people's minds and elevate it.
00:13I love the guests' reactions to our food.
00:16I love when they ask me, like, what is a goji berry?
00:18What is a cordyceps mushroom?
00:21As a first-generation Chinese American,
00:23I want to make food that speaks to who I am,
00:26still with Chinese flavors, but also done in a modern way.
00:32Hi, I'm Emily Yuen.
00:34I'm the executive chef of Ying Tao restaurant.
00:36It is 8.45, and we're here at Po Wing,
00:38and we're picking up dried goods for the restaurant.
00:44Hi!
00:45How's it going?
00:46Good, how's it going?
00:47Nice to see you.
00:48This is Sophia.
00:49She is the owner of Po Wing.
00:52Well, second-gen.
00:53That's my mom, actually.
00:54My mom, say hi.
00:58These dried scallops are the ones I usually get for the restaurant.
01:01Dried scallops are really important to Chinese food
01:03because not only does it concentrate the flavor.
01:05I think in French food, you think fresh is best,
01:07but actually dried scallops are like a huge part of Chinese preservation and history.
01:12In the past, there's no refrigeration, but it concentrates the flavor.
01:15The methods they use, actually, it is priced more than a fresh scallop.
01:18I'm using these for my exo sauce.
01:20I would say it's an essential Chinese condiment.
01:23It still has a lot of umami, using a lot of dried shrimp and dried scallops.
01:26You can put it on anything we use at the restaurant to make it into a French-ish sauce.
01:30So I'm gonna go get some fish ma as well.
01:33Should we go around the corner?
01:34It is dried.
01:35It is the bladder.
01:36It has so much flavor.
01:37We use it for like our superior stuff.
01:39The one I was previously using, people were like a little bit strong.
01:42Oh, okay.
01:42So I think this one was like a great like gateway fish ma.
01:46Yeah, yeah.
01:46I think my goal is to like make people who are not Chinese like eat more of the delicacies that
01:51we're used to eating growing up.
01:53Okay, so I think you wanna get the goji berries as well, right?
01:56Oh, yes.
01:57It's just like a garnish but also on top of our wonton soup.
02:02I love people's reaction to it because they're like, usually they use it in like a smoothie.
02:06Yeah, yeah.
02:07I think I need to pick up my cordyceps.
02:09Mushrooms?
02:10Flowers.
02:10When people eat it, they're like, what is this?
02:12I really love that.
02:13That opens up a conversation about all Chinese ingredients as well.
02:16It has natural yummy in it.
02:18So we just rehydrate it and put it in our wonton soup.
02:21It's really important to come here to talk to Sophia and her family.
02:24I can't really find these anywhere else.
02:26I can't just order online for these ingredients.
02:28I'm gonna bring all these things back to Ying Tao so we can start our day.
02:41Alright, welcome to Ying Tao.
02:42We're a Chinese contemporary restaurant.
02:44We have about 38 seats and 9 at the bar.
02:47Today we have restaurant week and also our regular menu so it is pretty hectic.
02:53Restaurant week is a way for New York restaurants to do, I would say like a cheaper menu, shortened menu.
02:59Three courses for $60 as opposed to our regular seven courses for $150.
03:04This is, we call her Grandma Ying Tao, she overlooks us.
03:09This is our owner Bolin's grandma.
03:11The restaurant is named after her.
03:12We kind of like randomly pray to her, ask for a good service, less dietary restrictions.
03:21Okay, so I'm gonna change it to my chef's wife.
03:25We just got in our A5 Miyazaki Wagyu, flown from Japan.
03:33It's on our supplement so it's an add-on from our regular tasting menu.
03:37Maybe this side is better actually.
03:39Oh my god, this is like $800, you know.
03:41It's crazy.
03:42So I'm gonna take this to our dry-ager.
03:44So we have a dry-ager because my dream is to start a Chinese chair career program.
03:49I gotta put it in.
03:52Here I got some things started already.
03:54Our house-made lap chang sausage, which you typically never see, you always buy.
03:59Right here we have some cured pork lap yolk.
04:01So it's like cured pork belly with a lot of spices, soy sauce that's been curing, it's almost ready.
04:05You'll see in here, this is our black cod that we dry-age.
04:09Preserving and dry-aging is like an integral part of Chinese food and Chinese cuisine.
04:13Not only does it just preserve the food, but it concentrates the flavors.
04:16And for Chinese food, it's all about like layers of flavors.
04:19It's a lot of depth to it as well.
04:28So this is the black cod.
04:30We cut it up, dry-aged it for a little bit.
04:32We're gonna marinate it.
04:33This is a ginger scallion marinade.
04:34Blended up ginger and scallion.
04:37That we add a little bit of shalsing wine.
04:38So we want to marinate the fish for about 30 minutes.
04:41When I transitioned into fine dining, I realized that each dish might seem simple,
04:48but you need like 20 different layers of what makes a perfect dish.
04:51When I took the job here, I already had one Michelin star.
04:53So it was a huge transition for me because I worked in fine dining before, but just as a line
04:58cook.
04:59This is the first time I'm running a Michelin star restaurant.
05:02So for me, it was like a huge learning curve.
05:05We want to put the black cod just on the bed.
05:07We don't want to marinate the top because I want to keep it crispy.
05:11Because if we add extra moisture to the top, it's gonna not be as crispy when we sear it.
05:15So we're gonna leave this for about 30 minutes in the fridge, and then we'll come back to it in
05:19a little bit.
05:19Okay.
05:21Okay.
05:24Thanks, Sheriff.
05:25Yeah.
05:27Well, now the fish is done, I'm gonna move on to some tomatoes for our scallop dish.
05:38We start the first course with these refreshing scallops with these tomatoes because I want people to open their palate
05:45with a spicy kick.
05:46And also want them to realize what's coming, so they're either ready for the ride or they're not.
05:50So this is Hoimei.
05:51This is preserved plums.
05:53It's really good.
05:53I always eat one while we are cooking.
05:59It's kind of like a salty, like a drinking snack, I would say, even though I don't drink.
06:04We're putting some rock sugar in.
06:07Some lemon peels, water.
06:09So I'm gonna grab all that.
06:18Do we have any more lemons?
06:20Lemons.
06:20Maybe no, right?
06:22No.
06:23Okay.
06:23Let me make sure we put it on the order list.
06:25This is our board for the day where everyone puts down their orders, but obviously whoever took the last lemon
06:31forgot.
06:32Super annoying.
06:33So I'm gonna put it in now so we can make it for tomorrow.
06:37When life gives you no lemons, you use orange peel.
06:41Substitutions are like a normal part of every like chef's day.
06:44Being able to think on your feet and adjust is like super important.
06:47I mean, I always say my job is problem solving and babysitting.
06:52So I'm gonna put some water in it and melt down the rock sugar.
06:58Using rock sugar because it creates a little bit more of a shine.
07:01It's a little bit milder.
07:02It's easier to control.
07:04I don't want it to be too sweet.
07:05So I'm gonna peel all these tomatoes because we don't have a prep cook today.
07:09So people think it's a pain in us, but I actually really love it.
07:11It's like therapeutic.
07:12I don't have to think about anything.
07:13I'm doing the same thing.
07:14And then it only takes about like five minutes before someone yells my name and ask me for something.
07:20So these tomatoes have been pre-scored and then blanched.
07:24I tell them to do a little bigger cut because marinade also enters the inside as well.
07:29I wish there was a shortcut to this, but there isn't.
07:32I think that's also what makes Michelin star food.
07:35Can't really do shortcuts.
07:36Whenever the cooks and I have a free second, we're peeling tomatoes.
07:39Right now it's on the restaurant week menu, so there's no free seconds.
07:42So I'm trying to help them out today by peeling tomatoes, get them started for the day.
07:47Because we're, I think we are at, I'm gonna cry, 74 covers.
07:52When it's not restaurant week, it's probably about like 40 to 50 covers.
07:57But it just depends on what kind of season we're in.
07:59So I'm gonna be doing this for the next like half an hour to 40 minutes.
08:04And then I'm gonna check in on the wontons.
08:10Okay, so I'm gonna help Lynette.
08:13So Lynette's our owner.
08:14We're a little bit shorthanded.
08:15So she's helping us today fold wontons.
08:17She's folding it into a form of a golden nugget.
08:20It represents prosperity, wealth.
08:22So hopefully you'll eat our wontons and you'll be young and rich.
08:26Yeah, there are a lot of different wonton folds.
08:29And this is not the most efficient way.
08:33But we're folding it, like chef said, into a golden nugget or golden ingot.
08:40Because we want to have a prosperous year.
08:43For Chinese food, it's not just about how good it tastes, but it's about what it represents.
08:47So the filling is pork, shrimp, and then abalone sauce, 13 spices, garlic chives, white pepper, salt, and then also
08:56egg whites.
08:56So we whip it up so it's nice and bouncy.
08:59So the whole thing is capped off with a table side pour of our superior stock.
09:03This is where I would say our superior stock gets highlighted the most.
09:07You can really like taste it.
09:08And a good tip for when you know you have a good Chinese stock is like you put your lips
09:14together.
09:14And you have that like collagen and if your lips are like sticky and go like then like you know
09:20that the chef made a really good stock.
09:22So you're saying you made a really good stock.
09:23I've made a really good stock.
09:25Of course I've made a good stock.
09:27Okay, thank you so much Lynette.
09:29Only ten more dozen to go.
09:30I'm moving on.
09:43So we have chicken feet, yellow chicken corn fed with head and feet on for the extra collagen.
09:49So we're going to start washing all these upstairs so we can get ready for our superior stock.
09:56Our superior stock is probably about five of the dishes we use.
10:00From our egg custard to our sauces for fish.
10:03For the beef we also use it as well to mix it in with our vieux jus.
10:07These chickens are really special.
10:09They're heavily corn fed.
10:10It's really hard to find.
10:11So these are really essential to why our superior stock tastes so good.
10:16It's a lot more fat in it.
10:17It flavors the stock.
10:18It makes the stock taste so much better and rich.
10:20This is kind of like a French chicken stock or veal stock.
10:24We feature it in a lot of different ways.
10:26That's why it's really important that Chef Enrique or I make it.
10:29We don't let anyone else touch it because if someone gets it wrong or something like that.
10:33I know it's a very simple thing but it's also simple to mess up.
10:37We get chicken feet as well because it's all about that collagen.
10:41I want all that gelatinous body into the stock.
10:45So now we're going to do our first blanch of that.
10:47So we want to bring it up to a boil really quickly.
10:49You see this superior stock he started last night.
10:52This one is almost ready to go.
10:53You see that yellow fat on top.
10:54That's because of the corn fed chickens.
10:56We end up using that to flavor rice.
10:58So that's like something that you should never throw away.
11:00This is going.
11:01We're going to leave it until it brings it to a boil.
11:03For my R&D project right now, I don't really have that much time or patience.
11:07But I'm going to challenge myself and make my own century eggs.
11:10Let's go check on them in the wine fridge right now.
11:16My GM is not too happy that I put it in her wine fridge.
11:19But we're just going to not tell her that.
11:21We're using the wine fridge because actually it's perfect temperature.
11:24I can't put it in the fridge because it won't ferment.
11:26And then I can't put it in my dryer because it's a little bit too cold.
11:29Century egg is a fermented egg.
11:31So it's usually buried in clay and ash.
11:33And there's like, it's just a national fermentation process.
11:35My R&D project right now is just making it a little bit crystal so it's clear.
11:40I don't want it to be like black.
11:41So I figured out that if I'm able to ferment it a little bit less,
11:44it won't turn black on the outside and a little bit more palatable and visually appealing.
11:50I'm just washing one off to check it.
11:52I just want to see what it looks like on the inside.
11:54How many more days.
11:56It's time for a check-in anyway.
11:58Oh, okay.
11:59So, I mean really cool.
12:01But it's like starting to jelly around the outside.
12:04We're in the right direction.
12:05So I'm going to peel the whole thing anyway and see.
12:08This is like actually way cooler than I thought it was going to be.
12:11I mean this is what I was thinking about in my head.
12:14I can tell it's like not totally ready.
12:16Inside it's like a little bit liquid.
12:17That is so cool.
12:18I really want that clear century egg.
12:20So I think it needs a couple more weeks.
12:22At least.
12:23So I'm just going to bury it in the corner here.
12:26And like, you know, just pray that my GM doesn't yell at me today.
12:30We're hurtling for service.
12:32So Nayeli has made a new dessert.
12:35So we're going to try that out and see how that goes.
12:42Nayeli has made this dessert because we wanted a new dessert seasonally.
12:45We want to change into something different.
12:46So we have three, our GM, Lynette our owner, and our pastry Nayeli.
12:52So Chef Nayeli, can you explain what you made for us today?
12:56So it's a sesame oil cake.
12:58Sesame Chantilly with the soy sauce caramel, red bean paste, and red bean ice cream with black sesame twill.
13:05Visually already, I think this is like so much better than the first one.
13:08I'm super excited to try it.
13:09The taste was already almost there.
13:11So.
13:13I think this is like the first dessert I've ever had with sesame oil in it.
13:18Yeah.
13:19Me too.
13:20Right?
13:21What do you think, Lynette?
13:23No, I really like the nuttiness of sesame.
13:27I like the thickness of it this time.
13:29But I would like a little bit more red bean in the ice cream.
13:33How is it during service?
13:35Piping is already set beforehand.
13:37So as soon as the table's fired, all I do is the brush of the caramel and place the cake,
13:43and then just the red bean paste, and then Quinella the ice cream.
13:47And then what about the prep side of things?
13:49Prep side?
13:51It's a bit heavy.
13:52First I have to bake the cake, and then make the cream.
13:55Then I can build, and it has to be frozen enough for me to be able to get the clean
14:00cuts of the cake.
14:01As far as service goes, like once I'm able to get that out of the way, it's pretty fast.
14:07Let's put it on the menu.
14:09Yeah.
14:09I think we're ready to go if you can start prepping it and have it on the menu for this
14:13weekend.
14:14Let's go.
14:14You did a good job.
14:16It's about 4.15 now, so we're going to have our pre-ship with our front of the house staff
14:20and brief them.
14:26Good afternoon.
14:28Good afternoon, Chef.
14:29Okay, so how many do we have in the books for tonight?
14:32We have about 74 tonight.
14:33We have 6 tasty menus.
14:35No more urgent we can add on as a supplement, so only saving that for...
14:39Available for a tasting menu.
14:40Yeah, tasting menu only.
14:42We did do a tasting with Nayeli today with the sesame oil cake.
14:45We will be rolling that out for this weekend, and you guys will have a taste of that, so...
14:49Okay, let's survive.
14:50Day 3, restaurant week.
14:52Sounds good.
14:52Alright.
14:54Happy...
14:55Good Thursday!
15:01Dear Grandma, please have a good service for restaurant week.
15:06Please.
15:07Please.
15:08So we have about 15 minutes before service.
15:10I'm going to be doing last minute sauce checks, and then during service I'll be at the pass here,
15:14and then checking all the dishes and making sure everything goes out on time and pushing the cooks.
15:19And one of the last things I like to do is FaceTime with my daughter.
15:22Peace, Mama.
15:23I eat dinner.
15:25Have a good service.
15:27I love free and Mom.
15:29Mom!
15:29Love you too!
15:31Bye!
15:32See you later!
15:40Really close to five.
15:42We're heading to a really busy service, so please get the f*** out.
15:44Bye!
15:44Bye!
15:46Bye!
15:46Bye!