PBS Hawaiʻi Classics is sponsored by the Olson Trust.

(instrumental music) Titus Chan: Hi, I'm Titus Chan.

I'm an offspring of  your favorite detective, Charlie Chan, and also your humble host of cooking The Chan-ese  Way.

Right now, I'm standing right in front of a beautiful Chinese temple, as you will see  folks, now the four characters right up there, from right to left, is called Dai Hong  Bo Dian.

Dai Hong Bo Dian means a great, magnificent Chinese temple.

And folks, let  me tell you, a Chinese temple involves so much Chinese culture, and that's what is  in our incoming program.

We will show you all aspects of Chinese culture, as well as  the cooking of the Chinese good cuisine, type of food.

So right now, we will take a  trip into the temple itself, but now we will stop in front of an emblem which is outside  the temple.

So, would you please follow me?

As I just said, this is outside of the  temple.

We are now looking at the two golden dragon.

Now this is strictly hand  carved, and it's covered by a large glass.

The dragons represents dignity,  represents prosperity.

Therefore, if you go China, you look at those old palaces,  there are a lot of dragons there.

And it is for this reason, so many people who are owning  the Chinese restaurant throughout the world, they often use the name as Golden Dragon  restaurant or something like that.

And this represents something that people are very favorite  about it.

And then they put practically everyone like that on the four corners of this temple.

So  now let's take a look the dragons from the inside.

Behind me are the dragons you just saw a  while ago.

Now, right next to the dragon is a god.

We call it, actually it is a  guard.

He serves to guard the temple from all the evil spirit coming into the temple.

He is not the main guard in this temple.

Now, if we would take a closer look at him from the  top to the bottom, then you will see him right over here.

You see his headgear.

Now right  in front of his headgear is got the head of a rooster.

That represents his masculine because  in China, people respect that rooster very much, because it is always very dependable.

In  the villages, they depend on the rooster to wake them up so that they could go into  the field and making a living.

Then later on, you will see right over here, right at his middle  of his whole garment there, it's got a tiger head, although it's a little hard for you to see, but  represents, again, masculine again, to show that he's brave.

Then looking at what he's holding on  his right hand, now in American or western mind, and you think, oh, he's an old man, and he's using  a cane.

But folks, this is not this is his weapon.

This weapon used to chase all the evil spirit and  fight his enemies.

Now, right, right now we take a look at whatever he's standing on.

This looks  like a piece of rock, but actually it is not.

It is the cloud.

It is believed that the Chinese  guard always riding on the cloud.

That's when they travel back and forth.

Save you a lot of trouble  traveling in your 744 nowadays, transportation.

And folks this is how it looks for the whole guard  is very masculine.

He served his duty royally.

Music plays a very important part in the Chinese  life.

May it be in everyday life, such a drama, things like that, but also, it's very important  into a temple.

So, as you can see over here, we have all kind of musical instruments, but  all of these are devoted to the worshiping.

Now you take a look at this red wooden stuff.

We  call it Bok Yu.

You know folks it's hard for you to understand.

This is actually called the wooden  fish.

I don't know why they call it fish, but this is a part of the very important musical instrument  for worship, to calling the attention to the gods so that they know that the music is going  on, worship is taking place.

Now it will sound like this, like that, then you put it down, then  you do something else.

Of course, by the time the worship is done, the monks all scatter around, and  each one in charge a certain type of instrument.

Now this is a drum you know in the American world  and every time you see a drum, you're immediately thinking of swinging in the dancing floor, but  this is strictly for worshiping.

As you can see, this is the little stick used to hit the drum.

Now it will sound like this, and then you go this bell as well, like that, isn't it nice?

It's  very pleasant, nicely combined rhythm.

Then right over here on my right-hand side, you see  a gong is made out of metal and is painted gold looking.

And this is the stick, which you use it  to combine with all the other kind of instruments, and also it will sound like this.

And folks, you  know, back in China, most of the famous temples are built on the mountain, so when they worship,  usually is in the morning and in the evening.

This kind of bells scatter all over the sound scattered  all over the village to remind people this is the time they should think, they should go back to  the God so that they would have a strong desire to do good.

In Chinese classical literature,  we call this kind of feeling or hearing of the bell.

We call it Bong Wu San Jung, fat yan  sam sung.

This is a part of Chinese culture.

This is the Buddha.

As you can see, his body  is painted by gold.

In the Chinese mind, gold representing prosperity and respect.

That's  why they always paint their God's body with gold.

Then, as you can see, his right hand and  his left hand, that's the time when he's meditating.

He has a certain posture.

Then he's  riding on the lily flower.

In the Chinese mind, the Buddhas are riding on the lily flower  whether they travel, whatever.

So therefore, the lily flowers play a very important part in the  Chinese life, such as lotus root and lotus seed, things like that.

They use it for food.

And you  see the two small, little guards are more or less his messenger, his bodyguard.

And they do not  lie on the lily, but they stand on the crown.

One thing it would be interesting to see, you  see, right in the Buddha on his chest, there is a cross.

Now this cross representing his symbol.

It is only this Buddha and have the right to have this cross, and it is nothing new.

It when it came  to China thousands years ago.

It's been this way.

Now, if you would like to take a look at the  major portion of this altar, as you can see, right in the back there two candles, which is  carved, making by red and gold in color.

Now the Chinese carving is very good.

As you can see, they  are combining their art, such as carving and color combination, things like that, into their temple.

After all, that's one of the very important thing in their life.

Now, all over here you see  the kind of fresh flower that's a part of the so-called sacrifice.

They always use a lot of  fresh flowers.

For this one, as you can see, we call it bird of paradise.

And this one, we  call it anthurium.

Now, these are very colorful flowers of Hawaiʻi, and people using it as part  of sacrifice.

And other than that, you see this kind of fruit.

Chinese call it boh look.

This  thing is not commonly seen on the mainland U.S., but it is very popular in China.

This kind of  fruit has been impressed the celebrated traveler Marco Polo, very, very much in his writing, you  will see he described this type of thing.

Now, all these are a part of the sacrifice.

The  kind of flower are mostly long lasting flowers, the kind of fruit, are long lasting, therefore  it's very, very good to use it for the sacrifice.

Now, over here we see this is the ways  we use it to put the incense.

Now, when the people come to worship, the first thing  they do they will kneel down, right over there, kneeling down.

And then right next to it would  be the contribution box.

You put a little money there, and then you come into here to put the  incense in.

By the time you place the incense, normally is three pieces together,  six pieces together, or nine pieces, depending how much you want to offer, or, let's  say, your financial standing.

Then later on, they will kneel down right over here to do  their prayer that occupies a part of their life.

They wish the prayer would be answered and they  would be very happy in their life.

And later on, you will see more about the incense.

And for this,  conclude the little tour of this Chinese temple here.

And let us now going into this studio, and  I will show you the first major step, how to use a wok.

And from then on, we will study how to  do the classical or popular Chinese cuisine.

Now that we are in the studio, let's  take a look see what we can do.

Oh, boy, there's a lei over here, folks.

This kind  of lei is a good custom in Hawaiʻi.

Sometimes, if you were to do anything, people give you a  nice lei.

And on top of that, you got a bonus too.

You'll be kissed by a pretty girl right in front  of your wife and you don't have to feel guilty.

Let's take a look what we can do for this wok.

Because I told you, we will show you how to use the wok.

Now, as you can see right up over  here, we have a wok over here.

This is the cover.

The cover is a lot to do with the cooking  to make your meat tender, you need the cover, but we will study it later on.

Now, we will be  interested in taking a look at the wok itself.

This is a 16-inch wok.

This is a very versatile  instrument.

Chinese people using it for thousands of years.

They use it to cook, and they are  using it to roughly about 30 different kinds of methods of Chinese cooking.

All of them  could be used this wok.

So, as you can see, this is 16-inch wok, about one half a foot  deep.

And this wok, is made out of cast iron, which is one of the best wok that you can  find.

It's kind of thick and heavy.

Now, if you will follow me up to here, you see  this wok has been well used.

Around this wok right over here, the black stuff, the  black stuff right around here, roughly, is about nine inch in diameter.

That area  is so called your cooking area.

Actually, when you put the food there, that's where the food  is cold.

So now this is the area cooking area.

Then on top of this, roughly from the ninth  to the 11th inch right around this area, that would be your heating area.

In that area, the  food does not cook, but it would have to heating it up.

And then on top of this, from the 11th inch  on all right around here, we call it fencing area.

This is the area we fence in the food.

So,  by the time you do the stir frying, whatever, then your food would not be spreading out, half  in the wok, half on the stove, so you don't make a mess.

Then some of you will say, well,  what's the dove every time I cook it's a mess.

Alright, now let's take a look at the bottom  again.

Other than the wok, we have a bottom right over here.

We call it a ring.

This is very  important.

You could use the gas stove.

You could use your electrical stove.

They work just as well.

But for one thing, you have to have a ring.

So, when you put it down like this way, then the  wok will closer to your heat.

But by the time you do your stewing, or things like that, steaming  things like that, does not require a higher heat, then you turn it the other way, like this.

Then by the time you sit the wok on top of it, then this way the wok is a little above the heat.

So, it's very versatile.

So, to a certain extent, by the time you're using it, if you were using an  electric burner, then you use the largest burner, and then you fence it both side with a  little aluminum foil, so that the heat would not go out too much.

Otherwise, it  would be little slower to getting the heat.

Now that we say this is a very important  thing, you have to have something like that, somebody will say, well, what about if I don't I  don't want to use this.

What about I just sit this right on over here?

It doesn't work, because that  wok is going to be swinging like this.

You got to have something like this, otherwise, the wok would  be just as swinging as you folks are.

So now we got this.

Now this wok is very good.

It lasts you  10, 15, years though, long term investment.

Then you do all kind of cooking, and if you want to  by the time the food is done, you could using it as in your calling bell, you simply say, hey, come  and get it.

The food is on the table.

Chow time.

Now we put it right back here.

Turn the  heat on.

You want your wok, work well, you got to have a stove which or a  burner which already on for a while, let's say, at least a minute or so.

Then you  put the wok.

You put the wok right on top of it, and you do not use it.

You put it roughly  about the medium high, about medium high.

You do not use the wok at least a minute and up  so that it can do something for you.

Otherwise, the meat would stick to the wok.

That's the whole  thing.

So now, what are we going to do today?

First thing we are going to show  you how the wok would work for us if we were to do a dish of soup.

So, all  what you need to do, you heat up the wok, then you put the soup stock.

Put it right  in there.

Ah, boy, nice, good.

Well, it would not make anything like that because it's  heavy.

That's what it's supposed to be.

Now, the soup stock is boiling, so all you need to do  we're going to make so called egg flower soup, which is a very popular soup all over the mainland  or here in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

You know about it.

Folks, I must emphasize today, we're not  interested in showing you the recipes.

We're just simply showing you how the wok can function.

So don't, don't worry now, just be with us and later on, follow our programs.

Then you you will  know what to do, how to cook up different kind of thing.

So today, all what we're interested in  now would be simply showing you how it's going to work.

Now, you got a wide area over here, so  all you need to do, you put it in now your hand, everything is not going to be bothered,  yeah.

So, keep the fire on.

Keep the fire on.

Now this is what we call Chinese ladle.

Chinese  call it hoak.

Call it hoak.

Now you stir it a little bit, and then this is what we call spatula  or wok chan.

Wok chan.

So, you have these two things.

This always on your right-hand side.

This  is on your left-hand side.

So, you mix up a little bit, you mix up a little bit like that.

Now that  you wait until the soup is boiling, you got to, if you want to, you may make it a little higher  and get a little stronger heat.

You always would have to adjust the heat a little bit so that  you can get the wok to the right temperature.

One thing about Chinese cooking, that is,  you have proper temperature and timing, which makes a lot of difference.

Now, as you  can see over here, we having it boiling now, then you have a little egg yolk.

Yeah, about  one egg yolk.

Whip it a little bit.

Then all you need to do, you pour it right in there  and mix it up, and you got your egg flower soup.

You see how easy, how simple that  is.

So, from now on, if you follow us, watching our program, lot of goodies you  can learn which is very simple and easy.

Now up to this part, you would  use these two things to mix it up, to mix it up like that.

Then you put your salt,  you put your pepper, a little gourmet powder to season your soup.

Let's say we put a little salt.

That's the most important thing, yeah, of course, we are using chicken broth as our cooking  liquid and a little bit pepper.

Now while you work nothing is in your way.

That's why a  wok is good.

Up to this one, then that's all done.

We're going to put it right into this part  right over here.

Now, the easy way for you to do you simply get a hold of that putting it right on  it.

That's egg flower soup.

So easy and simple, and we leave it aside.

Now that the wok is a  little dirty at this time, what can be done?

Oh, that's very simple.

So, you wash it a little  bit.

You take a little cold water, hot water, whatever you want, put it right in there.

Then  you use a little brush.

This brush is made out of bamboo.

You know, folks in China, we got so  much bamboo, and they really utilize it.

You use the bamboo shoot to eat and use the real bamboo,  cut it out into that small then you could use it for the brush.

So now all you need to do, you  touch it a little bit.

Like that.

See how simple, easy that is.

You don't have to get your hand  wet.

Then all you need to do you pick it up and pour it right in the floor.

That's all that's  to it.

Then you say, oh, it's not clean enough.

Do one more time.

Do one more time.

And that's  all that's to it.

The wok got to be very clean at all times.

Otherwise, it's going to be  getting a lot of black stuff right around your food.

That's the thing.

You got to be very  careful.

If the floor is not wet enough, you wet it a little more.

There you go.

Then you dry it  up a little bit.

A dry wok is very important.

Now, we are going to do another dish.

We call it  stir frying method.

You know folks that stir fry method is the kind of method that is most popular.

Oh, I know you say, oh, you don't have to tell me that.

I know about Chinese cooking.

Sure,  you know about Northern food, Southern food, Cantonese food, but among that the most popular  dish the method of preparing it would be your stir fry method.

That's why we're going to show  you a little bit about a stir fry method.

Now, again, your, your stove has been on, yeah, you set  the wok on, set the wok on about a minute or so, a minute and up then you can use it.

During  which time you do anything you want.

You don't have to fold the hands here and say, oh, come on.

Let's get hot.

Let's get hot.

You do something else.

So now while you're doing something so  we do the lining up.

I'm going to show you the other dish that we are going to do.

We call  it beef with vegetable.

Beef with vegetable.

While we're heating up the wok folks, I like for  you to take a look at my vegetable.

You know, the Chinese people really have their way making  the vegetable so green and crispy.

Now why it would be that way?

One of the secrets is  because you got a wok.

All you need to do, you cut up your vegetable, everything.

Then  you have a pot of hot water.

You fill it up, yeah, fill it up.

Then you put your vegetable  in there.

By the time the water is hot, boiling, you put the vegetable in, use a little baking  soda or brown sugar, whatever.

Then you use this zhao li.

This is Chinese zhao li.

So, you  move it fill time.

In less than a minute's time, you take it out, you see now this offer you a wide  space, and this zhao li will take it up so fast, so fast.

So, you take up your vegetable and  cooling off.

Then you get it right there already.

So now we take a look at this one.

It is hot  now, so we put a little oil in it.

This oil is to keep it from the meat sticking in the  in the bottom, a little water, ah, boy.

That happens all the time, folks, if you are you get a  thing like that.

Don't get too, too scared.

Now, you see the wok is hot.

When it's hot, then we're  in business.

That's the beef.

Cooking the beef we need, we need hot, hot temperature for the beef.

Now, once we put the beef in there a drop of oil around the edge of the wok that would hasten your  planting effect.

Now, like that.

This is the thing that you have to have a wide like this, so that  the oil would get down there.

You see all a lot of noise right there.

This means it is going to be  getting nice and brown.

Then you turn on the other side, now you see that golden brown effect.

Oh,  boy, that's nice tender beef.

Up to here, then all you need to do simply add your vegetable.

Right  putting it right in.

Then, stir fry.

You stir 3, 4, 5, times, then you fold up your hand, and you  wait about 15 seconds.

Wait 16 seconds, all right, I guess it's all right.

Well, 14, 14, times it's  all right.

14 times it's all right.

So, you just stir it up a little bit, and then you wait.

Why  do we do that?

Because you got to have the heat getting in the wok, so that the wok is hot, so  that your cooking area gives you enough heat.

Then we add a little bamboo shoot things like  that, just to give a little color.

Then you pick it up like that.

Now folks you see how easy  that is.

Then while you're waiting for it is hot, all you need to do, you put a little oyster sauce.

Yeah, that's what we call Chinese magic sauce, that makes your food really tastes good,  and a little bit of soy sauce like that.

And mix it, it up.

Mix it, up.

Now, salt  and pepper.

Don't ever forget that.

Yeah, salt to taste and so to speak.

Now, on top of  this, one thing which is good would be you put a little wine.

Put a little wine right around  the edge of the wall, like that, to give you some extra smell.

Therefore, you would need a wok  like that to perform this kind of vessel aroma.

Now we are going to take this stuff.

It's done,  folks, it's just that easy.

Stir fry method is always fresh.

As soon as the beef is done,  the vegetable is done.

Now we are in business putting everything in here to have a nice meal.

We got the soup.

We got the vegetable and meat, things like that.

Other than this kind of  wok, there's another kind of wok.

We call it.

We call it the Peking wok.

Now at home, we  don't really call it Peking wok, but over here, people calling it.

So, we say, if you don't  beat them, you join them.

So, I'm joining the folks and calling this a Peking wok.

This is a  Peking wok.

Really what we mean by Peking wok, it's the kind of wok by the time you cook, you  can through your meat.

You can through your meat.

That's why we call it a Peking wok.

Now something  like this while you are cooking.

Here the difference between the northern and the southern  food, some of the characteristics is this way, the northern food is hotter in flavor.

It's also  hotter in in temperature.

So, you have to have something like this.

Now I, I show you how it  could be done.

You put something over here, then you cook it a little longer time, but if  you keep cooking, it's going to get burned, so you threw it, you threw the things like  that.

That's why we call it the Peking wok.

So please be with us, and I'm  counting on you next time we will see you again.

And until then,  we say joi gin.

That means goodbye.

(instrumental music)