Ducks don’t like me when they look at me. I’ve cooked countless peking ducks, probably several thousand. On my first TV series [Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery on BBC Two, first broadcast on 29 October 1984] we did peking duck in the first programme and there was a run on ducks the next day in all the supermarkets. I’m their nemesis.
My father died when I was eight months old, he had a heart attack. So I grew up in Chicago with a single mum who, because she came from China, never spoke English. I had to speak Cantonese to her and it’s been a blessing in disguise. Because of that, I became bicultural. I spoke English in a western world, but at the same time, I kept my Chinese-ness, which I pride just as much. And it makes me proud too to do Chinese cooking and to have my books translated into Chinese. I mean, wow!
I started in my uncle’s restaurant when I was 11. I was peeling 50kg of garlic, 100kg of prawns. I thought: “God, I never want to go into the restaurant business. You must be a masochist! Are you joking? Long hours. No recognition. Treated like dirt. Who would want to be a chef?” I studied history of art [at the University of California, Berkeley]. I tried to get away from food.
The BBC interviewed more than 50 people from around the world before we made Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery. They’d been searching for more than two years for someone to do a Chinese cookery series. And the thing is, I was petrified of being in front of the camera. That’s not my thing. But I was a teacher, I had a cooking school. I taught ordinary cooks who wanted to learn any type of cooking: French, Italian, believe it or not; and of course, Chinese. So it was a real challenge.
Doing TV was a bloody nightmare. But it was very successful. The BBC wanted another series straightaway and I said I couldn’t do it for another 10 years, I was so traumatised. And I didn’t until Ken Hom’s Hot Wok in 1996.
People say: “Oh, Ken, you don’t have a restaurant?” And I say: “Sure. You think it’s glamorous to have a restaurant? When the dish washer doesn’t show up, guess who’s washing the dishes?” People say, “You could have made so much more money.” Hey, forget it. I have a stress-free life. I’m very chilled out. I play in other people’s restaurants. I create concepts which allow me to be creative, I train the chefs and then it’s their problem. I don’t want to own anything.
I laugh a lot, that hides the wrinkles.
Lots of British households have one of my woks. But at the end of the day, it’s not because of Ken Hom, it’s because it works. And it lasts more than 30-something years, everybody tells me. I say, “Don’t you need a new one!” But that makes me proud. They can give it to their children and grandchildren. That’s a legacy.
In China, I had a dinner made with one goat: 32 dishes from the same goat. I was bowled away. I’d say to my French chef friends, “You try that!”
The most memorable meals are simple ones, comfort food, with people you love. I don’t want to go to Michelin-starred restaurants. Sorry. It’s like sex. You want sex to be fun, not formal. That’s the best analogy I can give. The most memorable sex is the casual one. See, now at this age, I can say things like that!
My favourite things
Food
It depends where I am. For instance, I’m here in London now, I’m hankering for fish and chips. It’s something I discovered when I first came as a very poor student with a rucksack, and it was so different from what I grew up with. I became addicted to it.
Drink
I was being treated for prostate cancer about 14, 15 years ago in Japan and I discovered sake and Japanese whisky. Sake, I think, goes very, very well with a lot of Chinese and Asian food. And a bit of whisky at the beginning is nice.
Place to eat
I love Thailand, because the people are wonderful and it’s warm and the food is spicy. And there’s a place in Bangkok called Have A Zeed. I don’t know what the hell it means, but it’s just my local Thai food, everything is so good and it’s so affordable.
Dish to make
A simple stir fry. I’m against food waste, I never throw away anything. And I’m still amazed after cooking for 64 years at the power of the wok. When you cook anything in it, it’s hot, it’s smoky and the flavour it gives to the food is wonderful. Can’t miss.
Ken Hom is an ambassador for Action Against Hunger; My Stir-fried Life (Biteback, £20); Kenhom.com
