Inside Duke Medicine
Sharp chef will cook up some fun
posted September 24th, 2008
With knife-handling skills that rival a samurai warrior, Master Chef Martin Yan can carve a chicken in 18 seconds.
With his sharp wit, he makes audiences laugh while whipping up dishes like chicken and pineapple stir-fry, and curried seafood on rice.
Yan, host of the award-winning television series “Yan Can Cook,” will be at Duke from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. The author of more than 25 cookbooks, Yan will sign his latest book from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and give a cooking demonstration from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Great Hall on West Campus. The event is part of Duke Dining’s campus culinary training and is open to the public.
“I’ve seen Chef Yan in action at conferences across the country, and he engages the audience,” said Jim Wulforst, director of Duke Dining, which is sponsoring the event with Bon Appétit, Duke’s primary food service vendor. “It’s exciting that someone of this caliber in the culinary world is coming to campus to work with our staff and provide tips for the Duke community.”
Foodies will recognize Yan from his shows that have aired on PBS and other channels for almost three decades. Along with “Yan Can Cook,” he hosts “Martin Yan’s Chinatown,” offering a culinary tour from San Francisco to Singapore.
Yan’s passion for cooking began as a child in Guangzhou, China. His father was a restaurateur; his mother operated a grocery store. At age 13, he became an apprentice at a popular Hong Kong restaurant. He refined his talents at the Overseas Institute of Cookery in Hong Kong and University of California/Davis, where he received a master’s degree in food science. He later launched his own restaurants and a cooking school.
Learn more about Yan.