Gok’s Wok
In Gok Cooks Chinese, the 37-year-old talks viewers through the cuisine he ate as the son of a restaurateur and chef.
Wan says he’d “die of embarrassment” if he were called a TV chef but he has been cooking all his life and loves it.
“I used to work for my dad in the kitchen. And it’s one thing serving food for friends, but another serving it to people who are paying for it, because there is a huge amount of responsibility that comes with it. I think that’s where my confidence comes from.”
With the show, and accompanying book, Wan debunks myths about Chinese cuisine, and encourages us takeaway lovers — who, he says, eat more Chinese food than roast dinners — to make it at home. “The biggest myth is that it’s really unhealthy and complicated and you have to use very exotic ingredients you can only get from Asia. All of that is wrong. Traditional Chinese food is super-healthy and it isn’t that complex. Once you’ve got the principles right and the preparation done, the actual cooking is the easiest part.
“It’s a slightly different discipline from cooking western food. Most of the ingredients, bar a handful in the entire book, you can get from a supermarket.”
His dishes are more akin to the “mountain food” you’d find in homes, rather than the gloopy fare some of us associate with Chinese restaurants in Ireland.
“I would never want to take anybody out of business,” he says. “A lot of people love that kind of food. But this is a different style. It’s like opening the doors to an Asian family and saying, ’This is what we cook at home’.”
Viewers glimpse Wan’s family life in the series, with his father, Poppa Wan, sharing tips and chuckling at his son’s teasing. “I love cooking with him,” Wan says. “We drive each other nuts. I’m almost 40 now, so I’m the adult in the relationship and he’s kind of regressed. It always happens with families.
“But when we get to the kitchen, he remains the master. He’s obviously got many more years’ cooking experience than I do. He’s the one that taught me so he’ll always be the person in control.”
Growing up, Wan battled obesity and later anorexia. But he says his attitude towards food never changed. “I never really considered that, when I made the series, anyone would make a direct comparison between anorexia or obesity and cooking, because eating disorders are very rarely about the food ... It’s far more psychological.”
