Edward Lee – The Marco Polo of American Cuisine

I think one of the things that I've always spoken about is that the South is a very large place. From North Carolina or Virginia down to parts of Florida, west to Texas, north to the eastern part of Kentucky. It's incredibly vast. One third of the United States. So to say that the South is one cuisine is very restrictive. The south is full of regional specific cuisine like the coastal cuisine of North Carolina or South Carolina is very different from Texas cuisine, which is very different from Kentucky cuisine, which is very different from north Florida cuisine from Mississippi, from the Delta. These are all very specific regions. They share some similarities but when we start to talk about the South we have to focus in on specific regions, specific peoples, and how immigrants are also changing the South. What we covered in this episode Chef Edward Lee talks about his love for the word graffiti. It is something that is impermanent: comes up and goes away. He drew a parallel between the graffiti's ephemeral characteristic and the non-permanent nature of the dishes Chefs create.Korean food is the food of his childhood and it is always in his mind. He loves Southern food. The combination of the two comes organically. He doesn't try to force it.Smoke should be the 6th basic taste like sweet, salty, bitter, acid, and umami.Authenticity doesn't apply in the food world. We should speak about tradition."Immigrants are also changing the South. This is a discussion that we have to start having because it's not just about traditional foods. The world is changing and the world is the real world of food doesn't stop just because you know we want it to." We talked about his restaurants 610 Magnolia, Milkwood, and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, KY and Succotash in Washington DC.Chef Edward Lee talked about his new restaurant project in Cincinnati.His mentioned the collaborative creative process that takes place in his test kitchen in Louisville, KY.Everything is inspiration. In fact least of his inspiration comes from other restaurants or cookbooks.People who are set-up for leadership is what Chef Edward Lee is looking for while hiring people.We talked about beverage and food pairing, beyond wine."Now that American food has turned spicier and gotten a lot of influences from Mexico, South America, from Asia, Southeast Asia, and all the spices from India, there are certain dishes where there's no wine to pair it with."Chef Edward Lee says that the best bourbon is the one that's in your hand.The most important criteria in selecting a bourbon for drinking or food pairing is the Mash Bill, the char, and the age expression."It's funny every time someone does something to buck tradition people are always outraged by it. And I always tell the outraged people that the ultimate test of whether something will stand or become a new tradition or it will stand the test of time is if it tastes good or not." It is all about trial and error. Maybe only one out of 10 cocktails make it to the final menu.Chef Edward Lee talked about the Lee Initiative, a foundation that trains and empowers young female chefs.5 rapid-fire questions. Chef Edward Lee for a better Chicken Sandwich You have to really focus on the ingredients. So you can take a chicken sandwich and use crappy mayonnaise, and you know white bread from the store and put them and is just going to be a bad sandwich and that’s fine. But it is not going to taste great. And then you can take that same chicken sandwich with the exact same thing right mayonnaise, but you can make your own mayonnaise or you can buy a high quality mayonnaise. Instead of using like iceberg lettuce you can use some kind of arugula or  watercress. And then you can bake your own bread or you can buy an artisanal bread. To me that's the most important thing you can do, just to look at every component of that sandwich and see how each of those components you can do a better version of it, or find a better quality version of it. That right there will make the sandwich ten a thousand times better. I think all too often we just kind of settle because it's convenient or this is what's available online. And so obviously down to the chicken, you can really good quality organic chicken versus just something that you find at the supermarket so that right there is I think the most important, and is the easiest thing you can do. You don't have to change a recipe. Just find better quality and if you do that you'll see how much better the chicken sandwich is and this really will give you an appreciation of why chefs do what they do. We obsess about finding the best chicken, the best white asparagus, the best bread because it does make a different especially when you put all that stuff together. So to me that that is the most important thing you know. And after that do some pickles, put some put some spice into it.Everyone has a different flavor profile that they want. You want to make it Indian you can add some curry to the meal. Those things are fun to do. But before you even get there you have to work on the quality. #gallery-3 { margin: auto; } #gallery-3 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-3 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-3 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ 610 Magnolia dish 2 610 Magnolia Louisville, KY Chef Edward Lee and @flavorsunknown in Louisville, KY Dish at 610 Magnolia, Louisville, KY Chef Edward Lee and @flavorsunknown podcast recording Succotash Wings Washington DC Succotash Washington DC Whiskey Dry Menu Louisville, KY Click to tweet I love the idea that graffiti is something that is impermanent. It comes up and it goes away. And I've always felt some kinship with food because it's kind of the same thing like we create stuff but it's not permanent. Click To Tweet Southern food is very spice driven. It's very bold. It's full of flavor. And so is Korean food. It kind of works well together. Click To Tweet Smoke has its own distinct flavor. You can pretty much add smoke to anything you know. You can manipulate it, you can quantify it. It should be the 6th taste. Click To Tweet It is really important in this business to lead people. That's essential. It doesn't matter if you're a cook or a waiter, dishwasher, you have to be a leader. Click To Tweet Social media Chef Edward Lee Twitter Instagram Facebook Social media 610 Magnolia, Succotash, Milkwood, and Whiskey Dry Instagram Instagram Instagram Instagram Links mentioned in this episode Chef Edward Lee610 MagnoliaMilkwoodWhiskey DrySuccotashThe Lee Initiative