Brandon Zhu, winner of the 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef in California, is the chef-owner of Mister Zhu’s, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown that opened in 2016 in a space that’s been home to Chinese restaurants since the 1880s.
An American-born Jew, he continues the traditions of these restaurants by creating a contemporary take on Chinese-American cuisine, and just like his immigrant chef predecessors who tried to create authentic Chinese food using whatever ingredients were available, he sources local, seasonal ingredients and works closely with nearby farmers to grow organic, traditional Chinese ingredients.
“I was looking for something more glamorous than boosting my ego as a chef. I wanted to pay tribute to something deeper,” he says. “I found peace when I realized I was continuing a restaurant tradition that has been in this business for generations in San Francisco.”
But while he adapts to tradition, he also evolves it. He uses non-Chinese ingredients in his dishes and draws inspiration from different culinary cultures to give new spins on Chinese cuisine. He’s particularly known for his unexpected takes on fried rice, such as one inspired by dirty rice, a Louisiana Creole dish that often includes shredded chicken liver.
Inspired by his mother, who would “pack up the leftover roast beef or rib eye steak from Sizzler on a Saturday night” and make fried rice for lunch the next day, he also knows the secrets to transforming leftovers into chef-quality dishes.
Below, Zhu shares his tips and two recipes for transforming leftovers into a delicious fried rice dish using steak strips and fish offal.
Mr. Jiu’s cooking. Photo courtesy of Mr. Jiu’s
Tips on how to make fried rice
“When making fried rice, it’s important to be able to make it quickly, Send-off “It’s fried rice, with all the leftovers mixed together,” Zhu says, “and the key to fried rice is to bring out that charred, smoky flavor, aroma and texture. Chinese panA wok makes this much easier, but I could also accomplish it in a thin cast iron skillet.”
To make professional-quality fried rice, Zhu recommends using rice with more moisture, rather than rice that’s moist but not too wet: Fresh rice will be mushy, but yesterday’s leftovers left in the fridge uncovered will end up fluffy when fried.
The rice should be cold and the pan hot when you start cooking it: “The temperature you’re thinking of is probably not hot enough,” he says.
“Turn up the heat and open the windows. Wait until the wok smoke reaches your nose first before adding oil, swirl the oil around the sides and around the pan. When you’re cooking, unless you have a gas range with a wok burner or a wok with plenty of firewood, you need to turn up the heat every time you add something new, then turn it down before the smoke gets out of control.”
Use a wide metal spatula to stir and move the ingredients around in the pan (the pan or wok should be at least 14 inches (35 cm) in diameter). Alternatively, cook in batches, stirring at the end.
Steak Fried Rice Recipe
Serves 2-4
material
3 ounces/85 grams broccolini or broccoli, cut into florets and stalks cut into 1/2 inch/1 cm pieces
1 egg
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon neutral oil
4 ounces (115g) ribeye, hanger, or skirt steak, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
2 cups/230g chilled long grain jasmine rice
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 scallion (thinly sliced)
1 salted beef heart (may need to be special ordered from your butcher), salted egg yolk, or bottarga
Method
Bring a small saucepan of heavily salted water (seawater or so) to a boil over high heat. Add the broccolini and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl with a pinch of salt. Heat a wok or large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon of neutral oil, then add the eggs and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and scrambled but not browned, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Heat a skillet over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon neutral oil, arrange the steaks evenly, season with salt, and cook without moving them until well cooked on the bottom, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Add the rice, broccolini, and scrambled eggs and stir to break up any rice clumps. Continue stirring until heated through, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
Leave the rice, without stirring, until it’s browned on the bottom and lightly charred in places, about 1 minute. Can you smell the wok? If not, stir the rice again and allow it to brown again.
Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil to the rice and mix well.
Total time is about 1 minute.
Transfer to serving bowls, top with spring onions and a generous sprinkling of salted beef heart, salted egg yolk or bottarga. Serve immediately.
Brandon Zhu and author Tienlong Ho. Photo: Pete Lee/Mr. Zhu
Salt Fish Fried Rice Recipe
Use up leftover cooked fish with this deeply umami dish, or salt some raw fish that you don’t have time to cook and save it for another day.
Use 3 to 5 percent sea salt by weight. Black cod or other white fish works well. Sprinkle the fillets with salt on both sides, with the skin on, then place them skin-side up on a paper towel in the refrigerator for 2 days, changing the paper towels daily. On the third day, pat the fish dry and then fry or steam it. Then flake and add it to fried rice.
Serves 4
material
Ideally, 1 quart (500g) of cooked jasmine rice should be dried overnight and broken into individual grains the next day.
2 ounces/56g salted fish, steamed and cut into large chunks
2 ounces/56 grams Lap Cheong Chinese sausage, steamed and cut diagonally into ¼ inch/0.5 cm thick pieces
1 ounce (28 g) green onion, thinly sliced
1 duck egg, beaten until smooth (chicken egg can also be used)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Method
Toasted Rice
Heat a wok or large cast iron skillet over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add 2 tablespoons of neutral oil and stir.
Add the rice and stir with a flat-bottomed wooden spoon. Mix well until the rice is evenly coated with the oil and begins to toast in the pan, breaking up any clumps of rice. About 2 minutes. Can you smell the wok? If not, stir the rice again and allow it to brown again.
Add ingredients
Add the lap cheong and mix it into the rice. Next add the salted fish and mix it into the rice. Be careful not to burn it too much.
Seasoning the rice
Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil to the rice and mix well.
Total time is about 1 minute.
Move the rice to one side of the pan and add 1 tablespoon of neutral oil. Add the duck eggs directly to the oil. Beat the eggs until they are scrambled. Then begin to stir them into the rice.
Transfer to a serving bowl and top with scallions.
This recipe for steak fried rice is reprinted with permission from Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food by Brandon Jew and Tienlon Ho. Copyright © 2021. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Available to buy here.
