Meet Jen Lin-Liu, Author and Chef

As of this post, just a few spots were left for “On the Noodle Road With Jen Lin-Liu: Mrs. Chao & the Stir-Fry” on March 22. Details here.

Anyone who has taken one of Jen Lin-Liu’s dozen or so classes at Hill Center knows she’s likely to impart cultural context as well as proper Chinese cooking techniques.

Her upcoming tutorial promises even more, because she is writing a book about Buwei Yang Chao (1889-1981)—a birth control pioneer who came to the United States in the 1920s and eventually became a culinary pioneer as well, teaching Americans how to handle chopsticks and confidently re-create her native cuisine in their own kitchens. 

As a published author, Jen, 47, felt uniquely suited to take on the project. She says it’s the same way she feels about her current work as director of events at Chang Chang in D.C., for restaurateur Peter Chang. “It’s a perfect marriage of shared experiences.”

Does the name “Mrs. Chao” ring a bell? Jen reports: A “Jeopardy” answer identified this trailblazer as the author of “How to Cook and Eat in Chinese” (1945). You also may recall that in 2024 the New York Times called it one of the 25 most influential cookbooks from the last 100 years. What you might not have realized is that Mrs. Chao is credited with coining the term “stir-fry.”

Jen’s own book research involved lots of travel across China and the United States, but the most personal revelations came from her own backyard. Mrs. Chao’s granddaughter, Canta, lives down the street and has become a friend. Canta, now 78, grew up in the Chao household in California and remembers enjoying a favorite dish her grandmother made—Ten Fragrant Vegetables.

Its fresh, preserved, and dried/rehydrated components “make it delightful, colorful, and truly fragrant,” Canta says. She has made the dish for Jen, and Jen will show class attendees how to make it on March 22. Canta’s mother, one of Mrs. Chao’s four daughters, helped translate the famous cookbook while she was in her early twenties.

Canta has lived in the District long enough to see its Chinese restaurant scene evolve from the few offering typical Cantonese fare in 1969 to the many more serving Sichuan and Hunan dishes a mere decade later, with establishment of the “full-fledged” Chinese Embassy.

Still, “there’s so much people don’t know about Chinese cooking despite the fact that it’s such a popular cuisine,” Jen says. “It is not hard to make. It’s home-style…. You don’t need a wok. Just a cleaver, a cutting board—and a big fire is really helpful.”

Canta agrees, and sees a connection between Jen’s instructional approach and Mrs. Chao’s: “Grandmother laid out the ways that made Chinese cooking more accessible. It’s flexible, depending on what you have.”

–Bonnie S. Benwick, for Hill Center

Bonnie Benwick is the former deputy food editor and recipes editor at The Washington Post. She is a freelance editor, recipe tester/developer and consultant. She has led Hill Center’s annual Holiday Cookie Baking class since 2013. Bonnie returns April 9th to lead yet another Cooking for One (or Two) class. Details and tickets here.