Arlington Heights cook keeps Chinese traditions alive
By Abby Scalf
Daily Herald Correspondent
For almost 40 years, Helen Weiner's parents lovingly prepared and served to diners what she calls Americanized Chinese food at their restaurant, Mount Prospect Chop Suey.
"They instilled in us cooking skills, to use unlimited flavors and a strong work ethic," she said.
While Helen said she wished as a child to have the dishes most kids would eat such as bologna sandwiches and chicken nuggets, her parents would come home to make a two- to three-course traditional Chinese meal such as steaming a whole fish.
"As an adult, I realize the work and the variety I got growing up," she said.
Watching her parents, the Arlington Heights resident developed a love of cooking and a passion to try and replicate those traditional dishes her parents prepared but never wrote down.
One example is a dish her father would make, a Cantonese dish called char siu bao. Char siu refers to the pork filling and bao means bun. Encased in the center of a bun is slow-roasted pork tenderloin. The pork may be traditionally added to a syrupy mixture including oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame seed oil. The dish may be baked or steamed.
"I've had many flops but I think with some experimenting I've found a recipe that comes close," she said. "For me, at my age I can try and better it, but right now it satisfies me and helps me remember my parents."
Another favorite, Helen said, is a Chinese version of a Mexican tamale called a Joong, which she shares her recipe with readers to try at home. Not a difficult dish but time consuming, she adds she prepares them in a pressure cooker to shorten the cooking time.
"Because they were wrapped in string and they were green, ever since I was a little kid I used to call them Chinese hand grenades," she said. "They were green and looked like you could throw it at somebody. They are so delicious."
Sometimes, she will try to figure out what a particular flavor is from a dish she remembers from childhood and will experiment, but she adds it will not taste the same. Every parent cooks differently.
"It's the way she cooked it. It's the way she approached it. It's not just the ingredients. It's how you bring yourself into that dish," she said.
For Helen, these foods meant love from her parents. She said her parents came from China and would not publicly display affection. But they loved and nurtured their children through the foods they made. While she may be more physically affectionate with her family, she also shows affection for family and friends by preparing a good meal.
"It's the feeling of being able to do something I know I can do well and to share that with others," she said. "Preparing food is an extension of love."
Helen adds while she loves to prepare dishes she remembers growing up, some dishes are influenced by marriage. Married to David, she loves just as much to prepare a brisket for a special holiday meal for the family.
"Now I'm making a Shabbat dinner. I'm making brisket, which we would never really made as Chinese people," she said. "I got submerged into another culture, a wonderful culture of food. I'm always trying to better my next brisket."
But for Helen, her passion truly is making the recipes that she remembers growing up. And now, she enjoys teaching her children, Jared, 32 and Adam, 29, how to make those recipes in addition to giving them the recipes with detailed diagrams, she adds.
"They could look it up. There are so many variations of the recipe. I want them to know the ingredients that I remember using as a child and to remember their family heritage," she said.
• To suggest someone to be profiled here, send the cook's name, address and phone number to food@dailyherald.com.