A Look Inside the Steamy Kitchen
"I think the one talent I really do have is studying, and teaching myself," she told me in a phone interview. Well, shoot. Anyone working through her approachable, quick, and zingy recipes would figure she's also got a talent for cooking and teaching.
Another part of her that clearly comes naturally: In person and chatting on the phone, she's the same energetic, fun, best-girlfriend-like presence that she is on the page. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation, and a clip from the Bulgogi Burgers she cooked up on The Today Show:
On how the "Steamy Kitchen" blog began: It was just a way to keep her recipes safe. "I used to write my recipes on index cards, and then I'd lose the index cards. Then I'd write the recipes on my hard drive, and the hard drive would crash. Then I discovered people were writing online...It wasn't for the purpose of having an audience, even though I made my husband read it, and made my brother read it, and I think my mother-in-law read it because she was curious what I was cooking for the kids."
On how her audience grew: "The reason I think it happened so soon is because I really, really got into the community. I'd go around commenting on other blogs and making friends, and it was not for the purpose at all of getting people to my site. That's the biggest mistake I think some of the new bloggers make, "I'm going to your site, you have to visit mine." I was just so happy and thrilled to find other people who loved food as much as I did."
On how she got interested in sharing her knowledge of food: She moved from San Francisco to a small town in Florida, and the culinary transition was tough. It reminded her of her childhood in Nebraska, where Asian families and groceries were rare. With the move, "I lost all my ethnic grocery stores, and my really really good ethnic restaurants." Standing at a local restaurant called "Bangkok Tokyo," she heard a woman "wearing all her jewelry, perfectly made up, talking on her cell phone with perfect nails, "Oh, I'm having sushi at the Chinese restaurant." Oh, my gosh, I was cussing to my husband. I was like, "Bangkok Tokyo" is not China! There's something wrong with this!" Hair called up a local cooking school, told them she had no experience, and asked them if she could teach a class anyway. She wanted people to know the difference between fish sauce and soy sauce, the difference between Thai and Vietnamese food, how to start out in Asian cooking. The school took a gamble on her, and the class sold out.
On teaching herself food photography: "At first, all I did was use automatic settings and just click and rely on the camera. Slowly I went from automatic to semiautomatic. Then my friend Diane spent literally 15 minutes with me one day...and taught me how to use the camera on the manual setting, and it was so easy. Then I started practicing, practicing, practicing, starting to understand. With the food styling...I would take magazines and flip through them. Every time I stopped at a photo, (I'd ask), 'What makes this dish look so good?' or "Why do I not like this photo?'...I don't use any of the tricks stylists use, (like) shellac. I don't have tweezers. I use chopsticks and my hand. And all the food is edible. We eat my food after I take a photo."
On how she came to shoot the pictures for her own cookbook: It wasn't easy. "(Tuttle Publishing) said, we want to do a book with you, but your photography isn't good enough, not good enough at all. I said, Whaaaa? Then my ego kicked in." She sent in photo samples, and the company sent them back to show her how they would look on glossy cookbook paper, and what was wrong with the photo or styling. She adapted her style, and "finally, it worked, and they said, OK. You're ready now."
Want to catch Jaden on tour? Her schedule is here. And here she is cooking up Bulgogi Burgers with banchan.
-- Rebekah Denn
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TikiPundit on November 10, 2009 at 06:57 PM
"(Tuttle Publishing) said, we want to do a book with you, but your photography isn't good enough, not good enough at all."
Wow -- the photography was the first thing that attracted me to her blog. Online display of photos vs print?? I'm just amazed by this. Got the book to compare, too.
fitflops on November 11, 2009 at 12:04 AM
I love cooking and Always love to learn new reciepe. And I think your post gonna help me a lot.
CakeSpy on November 11, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Wow, what an inspiring interview! Jaden is a fireball of energy all right, and I love how she is continually challenging herself and trying to improve her work. She's doing some great stuff!