Danny Bowien is figuring things out. It’s been a tumultuous time: The pandemic wreaked havoc on restaurants across the world while a reckoning at Mission Chinese hit closer to home. Despite the hurdles, Bowien just wants to be himself-a Korean-American adoptee from Oklahoma, a chef, and a people-pleaser who wants to make others smile through food.
“I was drawn to becoming a chef because your job is to really make people happy with food, to be accommodating,” Bowien explains. It’s partially why he’s really dove deep into vegan cooking, and why veganism is at the centre of his new cookbook, Mission Vegan: Wildly Delicious Food for Everyone, which hits shelves August 23. “The restaurants that I ran, I would try to have a menu that catered to everyone. It would be a surprise to people with dietary restrictions that I had a totally separate menu that was vegan.”
To Bowien, veganism is intertwined with the gratification he gains by being able to serve everyone, but it is also a challenge. And Bowien, who concedes that chefs love to make things harder for themselves, loves a challenge. “Through my cooking career, I’ve learned it’s much harder to do more with less,” he says. “The more you take away, the simpler things become and the more confident you have to be, the more comfortable you have to be with yourself, to succeed.”
Although Bowien has been experimenting with vegan food for years (without necessarily referring to his culinary creations as vegan), the tipping point came after travelling to South Korea with chef Emeril Lagasse to film a segment for an episode of Eat the World With Emeril Lagasse. In the episode, Bowien meets chef Jeong Kwan, a Korean monk and vegan chef, who provides him a perspective that allows him to view himself as a worthy Korean chef.
“Here I was speaking to this person and I’d never cooked Korean food a day in my life, hadn’t even had it until I was 19 years old,” Bowien reminisces. “I told her I was too scared to cook Korean food, that I felt like I didn’t even belong, and she told me, ‘You’ll always be Korean. You should find your heritage, find your way through food.'” The fact that this came from a vegan Korean monk morphed his sense of identity and gave him the encouragement to pursue both Korean and vegan food more wholeheartedly.
Bowien doesn’t deny that his identity may make people uncomfortable. What does it mean to have a Korean-American adoptee from Oklahoma, who was raised by two white parents, whose first cookbook was rooted in Chinese cuisine, develop recipes? “I don’t have a box that I can put myself into,” Bowien laughs, “but I don’t think we have to be so definitive. I’ve always thought that as long as you come from a place of respect, curiosity, and obsession, food can be a medium or a gateway of discovery.”While Bowien’s first cookbook, The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook, focused solely on his restaurant, Mission Vegan is a journey of self-discovery and an exploration of identity through the lens of vegan food.
Take the recipe for chilly green chilli noodles, an electrifying dish that plays with the dichotomy of the senses. “The flavour profile of green chilli has lived through so many different periods of my life,” Bowien says. The sauce made for this dish reminds him of growing up in Oklahoma and visiting Chileno’s, a Mexican chain in Oklahoma that serves a poblano-based salsa. It also speaks to years spent in San Francisco living down the street from Green Chile Kitchen, a New Mexican restaurant that served green chile burgers.
Green chilli paste is a culmination of Bowien’s lived experiences and a condiment always stocked in his fridge; adding it to noodles became a natural progression. “I love that exhilaration of heat and cold,” Bowien explains, noting that noodles are the perfect canvas because they allow the roasted green chilli paste to really shine.
“With this cookbook, I wanted to come from a place that was honouring technique but still have recipes that I would want to cook and eat,” Bowien says. “I definitely want to get this right, but my approach is that I’m not your expert. I am going to find out as much as the reader and you guys can come along and discover with me.”
Make the noodle dough: 1. Sift the semolina flour onto a clean work surface, form a pile, and make a well in the middle. In a thin, steady stream, pour about 1/2 cup lukewarm water into the well while stirring with a fork to incorporate the liquid into the flour as it’s added. Bring the dough together, then add 1/4 cup lukewarm water and use your hands to bring the rough dough together, making sure you’ve incorporated all the flour. 2. Knead the dough until it’s smooth and springs back slightly when you poke it, about 5 minutes. Transfer it to a bowl, cover, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. 3. Cut the dough into two equal-ish pieces. Dust a work surface with semolina flour and use a rolling pin to roll out each piece to a thickness somewhere between 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch. Dust each one with a little more semolina flour. Fold each one into thirds and cut into noodles that are somewhere between 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch thick. Gently toss to separate the noodles and dust once more with a little semolina flour. 4. To freeze the noodles, divide them into four tangles, put them on a plate or tray, and freeze, uncovered, until solid. Transfer to freezer bags, forcing out the air as you close them. There’s no need to thaw before cooking.
Make the dish: 1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Fill a large mixing bowl with water and a bunch of ice and set it aside. Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook to al dente, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain the noodles, then add them to the icy water and stir until they’re chilled. Drain again really well. 2. Dump out the water and wipe the large mixing bowl dry. Add the noodles, chilli paste, olive oil, and salt to taste, and toss really well. Divide among plates, garnish with the Sichuan peppercorn powder and herbs, then grate on the zest of the lemon. Cut the lemon into wedges and serve with the noodles.
Directions: 1. Stir together the vinegar and mushroom seasoning powder in a small mixing bowl. 2. Position an oven rack about 4 inches from the broiler and preheat the broiler. Put the chillies on a sheet pan, drizzle with the oil, and toss well to coat them. Arrange them in a single layer and broil, turning over the chillies once about halfway through, until they’re blistered and blackened, 8-10 minutes for the red chillies and about 20 minutes for the green chillies. Let them cool a bit. 3. Pull the stems off the chillies, but don’t deseed them or remove the skins. Add the chillies to a food processor and pulse until fairly finely chopped, then add the vinegar mixture and pulse until well mixed but still a little chunky. Note: It keeps in the fridge for up to 1 month.From Mission Vegan: Wildly Delicious Food for Everyone by Danny Bowien with JJ Goode. Copyright 2022 by Danny Bowien. Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
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Kat Thompson is a senior staff writer of food & drink at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @katthompsonn.
If you’re a fan of the royal family (because “fan” is the more socially acceptable way of saying obsessive internet stalker), this is your year. Netflix’s The Crown has returned for its second season, the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant with her third child, Prince George and Princess Charlotte continue to be the cutest heirs to ever walk the face of the earth, and Prince Harry has finally been wrangled from his former wild ways to marry Meghan Markle this spring. All of this royal family news has us in a tizzy, and we need a stiff drink to calm our excitement back down to inside voices. Thankfully, the royal family are drinking icons. Here are the favorite drinks of all the main figures of the new Elizabethan era, so you can properly drink along with all the upcoming royal festivities.
Much has been written about the Queen’s legendary drinking habits , with many articles claiming she drinks as many as six glasses of booze a day. Insiders have disputed this rumor, saying that she “would be pickled” if she drank that much, but we all know that the queen is a creature of habit, and probably does enjoy these drinks fairly regularly. Her all-time favorite cocktail is the Dubonnet Cocktail with a lemon twist, which is gin mixed with the sweet French fortified wine the drink is named for. Her staff always carries the two bottles and lemons wherever the queen goes in case she gets thirsty. Additionally, Queen Elizabeth II is said to drink wine with lunch, the occasional Dry Martini in the afternoon, a glass or two of Champagne with dinner, and some port wine after dinner. For someone that looks 91 years young, this monarch seems to know a thing or two about the secret to a long life .
While his wife loves her gin tipples and wine, the Duke of Edinburgh just fancies beer-and none of that fancy craft stuff. His lifelong favorite brand was Boddington, a regional brewery in Manchester. Unfortunately, the brewery ceased operations in 2005, forcing Prince Philip to drink other, still unassuming, beers. He is even said to have muttered, “Get me a beer. I don’t care what kind it is. Just get me a beer!” when he was offered fine wine by former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato while dining in Rome.
The long awaiting king-to-be enjoys a wide variety of stiff drinks. His favorite whisky is a peaty Islay single malt, Laphroaig 15-year. Prince Charles also helped produce his own whisky, Barrogill ; HRH personally selected the single malts for the blend, which was distilled by Inver House Distillers and North Highland Products. The bottle features a watercolor of Barrogill Castle that was painted by Prince Charles himself. Additionally, Prince Charles is said to enjoy plenty of wine with his wife Camilla, along with his go-to cocktail, a 50/50 Martini made with equal parts gin and dry vermouth .
Prince William seems to take after his grandfather when it comes to drink preferences, opting for straightforward beers over cocktails or rare wines; His two favorite beer brands are said to be Stella Artois and Guinness, but he occasionally also enjoys shots of Sambuca. He didn’t always have such simple tastes, though. In his youth, the Duke of Cambridge was said to have ordered (on more than one occasion) the “Treasure Chest” from Piccadilly club Mahiki, which is a $180 cocktail consisting of brandy , peach liqueur and a bottle of Champagne, served in a smoking treasure chest with tons of extra-long straws, flowers and ignited sparklers.
Nowadays, you’ll find the Duchess of Cambridge publically drinking whatever is served at the many events she attends with her husband (when she’s not pregnant, of course), from Guinness at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in London to wine at a vineyard in New Zealand-where she exclaimed she was “really enjoying being able to drink again” after the birth of Prince George. But in her pre-duchess days, according to sources, Kate enjoyed fruity cocktails like Piña Coladas and the “Crack Baby,” which was served at Prince Harry’s favorite (now-defunct) nightclub, Boujis, and consisted of vodka , raspberry liqueur, passion fruit and Champagne. Rumor has it the future queen also still enjoys her go-to whiskey, Jack Daniel’s, from time to time.
The once infamous party boy may be settling into married life soon, but we reckon he’ll still enjoy his favorite drink, Cîroc Ultra-Premium Vodka , from time to time. Hopefully his bride-to-be Meghan will curb his questionable cocktail of choice, a Red Bull Vodka , and encourage him to try her far more interesting drinks of choice.
The name on the tip of everyone’s tongue this year is Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s beautiful betrothed and an American former-actress to boot. Because Markle was famous prior to her engagement, she gave decidedly down-to-earth interviews, including one with The New Potato where she said, “God, do I love wine-a beautiful full red or a crisp white. But if it’s cocktails, I love a spicy tequila cocktail, Negroni or good scotch (neat).” Markle also named her former lifestyle website, The Tig , after Tignanello red wine. If that wasn’t enough to make her your new drinking hero, Markle also once told Delish , “French fries and vino are my vices,” going on to say that she’d “forgo a gooey, chocolate dessert for a ‘big, beautiful red’ just about any day. … In the summer, though, when I’m out with my friends, it’s rosé all day.” A future duchess after our own hearts.
The Duchess of Cornwall is said to be a big fan of wine, having once said she was “brought up as a child drinking wine like the French.” But Camilla was also rumored to have exasperatedly said, “I really need a Gin & Tonic ” after exiting a conversation with Prince William over the nature of her relationship with his father, Prince Charles, back in 1998.
Queen Elizabeth II gets her proclivity for Dubonnet from her mum. The late Queen Mother was much heavier a drinker than her husband King George VI, who didn’t imbibe much during wartime due to nationwide rations and his unfortunate love for cigarettes instead. Elizabeth would allegedly start at noon with a cocktail that was one part gin and two parts Dubonnet, garnished with a lemon or orange twist (some people actually refer to the Dubonnet Cocktail as the Queen Mother Cocktail). Then at lunch, she would drink red wine and a glass of port after the meal. A biographer wrote that if people asked for water, Elizabeth would ask, “How can you not have wine with your meal?” At around 6 p.m., the Queen Mother would enjoy a Martini , and at dinner she would have some Veuve Clicquot. Other drinking-related quotes attributed to her include: “I couldn’t get through all my engagements without a little something,” and, after being told by a host that they heard she liked gin, “I hadn’t realized I enjoyed that reputation. But as I do, perhaps you could make it a large one.”
Princess Margaret is enjoying a posthumous fan obsession, thanks to her fiery, scene-stealing portrayal in The Crown. The show never depicts Margaret without a cigarette in hand, but the princess loved scotch almost as dearly. Her favorite drinks were neat scotch with a drop of water and a Scotch & Soda , both made with The Famous Grouse and Highland Spring mineral water. Her staff instructed those within her circles to always keep bottles of both on hand, in case she stopped by for an informal visit. A staff member claimed that “if you didn’t serve Famous Grouse, she could identify exactly what was in its place.” Allegedly Princess Margaret even asked for the scotch while visiting The Macallan distillery in the 1980s. A decanter of The Famous Grouse was always present at Margaret’s apartment, and though she was “always a delight,” according to a friend , “there could be unpleasantness with staff if her glass wasn’t kept full or if the ice melted. That was one of her tiny weaknesses.” Today, the royal family continues to support the whisky brand; the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge opened The Famous Grouse Experience at the Glenturret distillery in 2014.
The late, beloved Princess of Wales wasn’t much for imbibing; she opted to skip the booze in favor of maintaining her iconic radiant skin. But when she did drink, she preferred something light, like chilled white wine, Champagne or a peachy Bellini. She is said to have ordered a Bellini on her infamous night out on the town with Freddie Mercury when she disguised herself as a man.