Tuesday 9 September 2014

Latest foodie interview: Mykl Wu of Behind the Craft!

Hello beautiful readers! As many of you already know, I love meeting new foodie people and learning more about the food industry.
I recently met Mykl Wu, who works and writes at  Behind the Craft, a podcast which is dedicated to knowing the "craft" of anything food or drink related. Sounds like my kinda person! Plus his personal food blog, Thank You Cooperate highlights delicious food and restaurants.






Interview with Mykl Wu:





Bio wise: I was a television news producer for about 10 years before discovering my love for food and returning home to run my family's restaurant business. Ever since then I've been learning about the craft of cooking and food. Now I write about food and produce a podcast called Behind the Craft, where we go "behind the craft" of everything about food. Whether it's brewing beer or sharpening a knife. If it has to do with the food industry, we want to know about it.
 
 
Ramen.
 


1) What brought you into the food world?


I've always loved food. Even as a child I'd separate instant ramen from its broth and pretend I was eating Japanese somen. But even with my family I never quite gotten into the cooking aspect of food, until I saw the original Iron Chef. After that I was hooked. From then it was Michael Ruhlman's amazing Chef's trilogy that inspired me to take on the craft of cooking. I've been obsessed since.

 
2) What is your most memorable dining/food experience?


That is like asking who's your favorite child (not that I have any lol.) They're all special in their own way. Whether it's an adventure eating street side mussels in Istanbul or fresh sea urchin tostada's in Ensenada, to a hard to get seats at Momofuku Ko or Rose's Luxury, they're all memorable. Once I drove 3 hours from Barcelona to El Bulli (after they've closed) just to pay homage and have a picnic there. It was simple jamon, bread, and cheese but damn if it wasn't one of the most memorable experiences.

 
3) What is your least favorite food trend?


My least favorite food trend is also my favorite - Ramen. Even though this pedestrian bowl of comfort has been around for centuries, nobody in the U.S. cared about it until David Chang made it cool (and amazingly delicious, obv.) Now everyone thinks they can make ramen. And everyone claims to love it. In a way it's good that people are getting to know it, but it's bad because the overall quality is diluted. Making ramen takes years of skill and love. It needs to be appreciated and not just liked because it's trendy.

 
4) Describe your perfect meal at home.


(It's an interview of superlatives! lol) It's hard to pick the "perfect" meal. But I'll go two ways on this. One is the ultra simple but super delicious of a perfectly seared steak, some crusty bread and a bottle of red wine. That's when you just wanna unwind. It's quick and extremely rewarding.

The other would be a great big family meal where everyone chips in or better yet, just kinda watch and taste while I do all the cooking. Even though some people will think I'm insane but Thanksgiving dinner would be up there as a perfect meal at home for me. Sure it's stressful and tons of work, but at the end of day you've managed to feed and make the people you love happy, and isn't that what cooking is all about?

 
 
Steak dinner at Mykl's house. Can I be invited next time?

 5) You are on an island, what 3 food ingredient would you bring with you to cook?


Given the fact that I'm on an island. I'd just need salt, pepper, butter. I can catch all the seafood and surely there are some citrus (for acid) on the island. And that's pretty much all you need! 
 
 
 
Be sure to check out Behind the Craft for more food news and Thank you Cooperate for one of the best food blogs I have read.
 
Thank you Mykl for sharing your love of food!
Happy Cooking,
Kimm

 

Salmon.

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