Sam Leong

Stephen Lee

Description

Sam Leong is one of the most forward-thinking, talked about, celebrated and controversial chefs of his generation. This entertaining and often amusing account of Sam's life and career examines his rise from troubled childhood to Modern Chinese culinary maestro and famed celebrity chef. Sam's innovations and achievements are viewed through the lens of local and international gastronomy, in order to better understand his place in Singapore's haute cuisine landscape. Filled with fascinating insights, this biography of one man's amazing journey through food and cooking will engage not only epicureans, but anyone interested in the extraordinary culinary revolution unfolding today.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Marshall Cavendish International
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789814484657
• Langue: English

Extrait

SAM LEONG

2013 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196
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National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Lee, Stephen, 1961-
Sam Leong : defining a culinary icon / Stephen Lee. - Singapore : Marshall Cavendish
Editions, 2013.
pages cm
eISBN : 978 981 4484 65 7
1. Leong, Sam, 1966- 2. Cooks - Singapore - Biography.
3. Celebrity chefs - Singapore - Biography I. Title.
TX649.A25
641.5092 - dc23 OCN840752687
Printed in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
Author s Note
Introduction: Why Talk About Sam?
1. His Mother s Voice
2. Tiger
3. Becoming Sam
4. Making Music
5. Problem Redefined
6. Kitchen Alchemist
7. The Birth Of The Modern
8. Worlds Ablaze
9. Who Is This Guy?
10. Anni Mirabiles
11. Indecent Exposure
12. Bane And Blessing
13. Aranya
14. Give
Conclusion: Hiatus
About The Author
I enjoy eating, but food has never been the centre of my life. Nor can I cook. So what am I doing writing a book about one of Singapore s most famous chefs?
I believe that sometimes, a non-specialist, outsider or newcomer can bring the most unexpected, unprejudiced and penetrating views of any subject. That s why I humbly took on the challenge.
The story of Sam s life, both personal and professional, is familiar to many readers. In this book, I ve focused more on his inner drives-his motivations, his influences, his psychology-in short, what makes him tick and why he is the way he is. I ve tried to situate Sam in a wider historical and cultural context in terms of cuisine, to throw some light on where, how and why he made a difference or a major contribution.
The writer Adam Gopnik once said, All animals eat. An animal that eats and thinks must think big about what it is eating not to be taken for an animal. The opinions expressed in the book are mine alone.
Through the unfolding of Sam Leong s amazing journey, I hope I ve been at least partially successful in bringing the reader with me on my own path of discovery through the intriguing world of chefs, restaurants and cuisine.
Stephen Lee Singapore, May 2013
Throughout the first decade of 2000, Sam Leong was perhaps the most well-known chef in Singapore. Mention Sam in connection with food, and everyone from the cook in the restaurant, to the diner at the hawker stall, to the housewife at home knew instantly whom you were referring to.
This book is about how that came to be.
Sam was the first cooking star Singapore had ever produced. The public flocked to Sam not so much to see him cook, but because he was entertaining.
The man is a stunningly innovative chef and much of his work is groundbreaking. But Sam s early technical achievements-first at Jiang Nan Chun and then with the Tung Lok Group-were in the realm of haute cuisine, and caused ripples amongst a relatively small segment of the population, namely the gourmets and those in the culinary profession. To the larger public, they would have meant little, or nothing at all.
But all that changed in 2008, when a guest stint on the Asian Food Channel (AFC) series, Chef in Black , led to Sam helming a reality series of his own- King of Kitchens . At first scandalised by his raw, no-holds-barred honesty, people were soon clamouring for more.
And the TV offers kept coming. From co-host, main judge and mentor duties on two seasons of cooking competition series Star Chef , to co-host on Good Food Fun Cook , Sam became a bonafide food television star.
On television, Sam s appeal cut across age and language, and cultural and social barriers. He was popular with the younger generation as well as the housewives. He was influential with both the western- and the Chinese-oriented. He appealed to the street-food enthusiast and the gastronome. As a Chinese chef who flourished in a predominantly western model of food television, Sam changed the game for all Chinese chefs in Singapore.
Sam s appearances on television and the press led to a gradual change in the way the culinary profession was perceived. A man who cooked was no longer considered silly or effeminate. Cooking became an art of self-expression and a popular hobby or career option. Television was a platform where home cooks, students and wannabe-chefs shared the limelight with top culinary professionals, and it gradually eased the distinction between high and low cuisine. Sam helped demystify fine cuisine and while doing so, glamourised the kitchen.
And then there is the cuisine. The influence of Sam and other Singaporean avant-garde chefs on modern Chinese dining is profound. Their influence is evident each time we encounter a flavour that is unmasked by sauce or seasoning; an unconventional Chinese ingredient or an unexpected combination of tastes; an untraditional sequence of courses or a dainty meal artistically organised on a plate. And each time you enjoy a meal that combines taste, aroma, atmosphere, surprise, memory and inexplicable satisfaction... you would have experienced a touch of Sam s brilliance.
There is an old Cantonese saying that goes, Yad wok jao tin ngai -literally one wok runs to the edge of the sky . It has several meanings but the one I like best is one who uses the wok becomes a master of the cooking world .
Ultimately, Sam is proof that with hard work, passion, imagination, courage, some good mentors and a guardian angel or two, you can write your own story.
This is Sam s.

Clockwise from top: Sam, his mother Madam Pit Yoke Eng, his wife Forest Leong, younger son Yew Jhow and elder son Yew Choong.
A genius is the one most like himself.
-Thelonious Monk, unpublished notebooks
If anyone had said to 12-year-old Sam that he was destined for fame and glory, those who knew Sam would have rolled on the floor with laughter-not least his parents, and perhaps even Sam himself.
It was plain that the kid wasn t interested in being much of anything, nor was he going to amount to anything.
But what he did have was street cred. When he was nine or 10, Sam loved to hang out at the railway tracks near where they lived. He would pick fights with the local kids. Even though it was none of my business, not my fight, I still wanted to go in... gang fights, lah. It was Malaysia, you know, said Sam.
Sam was a handful, his mother told me. And with two other children to raise and care for, the poor woman was often at her wits end.
Needing to walk Sam s siblings to school one day, she had no choice but to restrain the boy. She chained him by his ankle to the bed (such were the times; it was a common practice back then).
When she returned, Sam had disappeared. He had freed himself by lifting the bed leg, coiled the loose end of the chain around his leg, and thrown a towel over the bulge before heading back to his usual haunt!
His mother was a giant of forbearance. When Sam was in Secondary One, he was placed an abysmal 499 out of 500 students in the annual school exams. He gleefully told us this story:
Wah, my mom was so proud of me you know. There s one student who s more stupid than you! Don t worry, you beat Rajah- you still got hope!
Sam would pilfer coins from his mother s purse and when she confronted him, he would confess. His schoolmates, who didn t have pocket money, had been asking him for some. He didn t have enough himself, so he took her loose change.
In a fight, Sam would always stand with the losing side or the underdog, and no matter what he was in the middle of, he would always come running when his mother called.
The kid had a heart.
Sam s mother, Pit Yoke Eng- Sei Sum (fourth auntie) to her family-is a small, soft-spoken woman with fragile features. She s 72 this year. We re sitting down for tea at the Equarius Hotel in Sentosa and her eyes light up when Sam, in chef s whites, arrives to join us.
She teases Sam that she s been spilling the beans on him. My mom was so worried about me because I was naughty. Ho tam sum (very troubled), he says, and I visualise the elegant, coiffured lady sitting beside me tearing her hair out.
Madam Pit told me that in the neighbourhood where Sam grew up, her frequent bellows of AH KAAAYYY, LEI HAI BIN DOU AH? (Ah Kay, where are you?) earned her the nickname Sei Sum yao kiu chai (fourth auntie is looking for her son). I cast an incredulous look at the petite, delicate old lady, and she whispered back with a wink, I only reserve my loud voice for Sam!
Many people have asked her why she didn t just give up and leave the in