From Soy to Satay: Asian Sauces Going Mainstream

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Chicken satay with peanut sauce (Elsa Ruiz/Asia Society).

NEW YORK, June 2, 2008 - Culinary fans got "saucy" at the Asia Society as four food experts—Susanna Foo (executive chef of Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine in Philadelphia), Raghavan Iyer (author of 660 Curries), John Nihoff (professor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY) and Whiting Wu (president and co-founder of Summit Import Corporation)—discussed the growing popularity of Asian sauces in the country and how Americans are becoming more creative with them.

Moderated by Saveur magazine Editor-in-Chief James Oseland, the disussion highlighted the speakers' expertise and gastranomic preferences, and covered topics such as the differences between Eastern and Western cooking techniques.

The program also included a food tasting at Asia Society's Garden Court Cafe, where audience members sampled five dishes and their corresponding sauces—wontons with duck sauce, chicken satay with peanut sauce, vegetarian spring rolls with sweet chili sauce, beef rendang-topped sticky rice with rendang sauce (rendang is meat cooked in coconut milk and spices), and chicken curry-topped sticky rice with curry sauce.

Listen on Demand (1 hr., 25 min.)

Listen to the complete program (1 hr., 23 min.)