My favorite recipe for a visitor: Hainanese Chicken Rice

Assignment Title: “My favourite recipe for a visitor”

Please follow the instructions to write the essay, and the recipe is Hainanese chicken rice

The goal of this assignment is to describe a recipe that you would serve a visitor to Montreal, to say why you chose that recipe, and to report what you hope your visitor will get from the experience.

Recipes play a large part in the meals we eat – dishes we cook at home, those prepared by our friends and relatives and even ready-made dishes we buy from the supermarket are all made according to some pre-arranged formula, or recipe.

We often celebrate the visit of a friend or relative with a meal cooked at home – and it provides a nice opportunity to introduce them to some recipe or other that has a special meaning-

For us

For our visitor (perhaps because it is typical of Quebec cuisine, or iconic Montreal food, such as smoked meat)

For us and our visitor (enable them to share a glimpse into a particular immigrant group and their cuisine heritage – this great variety is very much also a part of Montreal’s food scene

Using either a report or an essay format, please:

1. Begin with an introduction to recipes – for this, provide a short summary of Michael Symons’ entry “Recipe” in the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.

2. Next, provide, in as much detail as you can, your “favourite recipe”

1. This needs to include the full set of ingredients, amounts required, and instructions for all of the steps to be followed, including the times needed for mixing, preparing and cooking.
2. Be sure to explain any technical terms that might be specific to your recipe.
3. If this is a traditional family recipe, be sure that you have permission to share it with us.
4. If possible think about providing a photo of the finished product
5. Please be sure to provide a proper bibliographic source for your recipe if it comes from a cookbook.

3. Provide a thoughtful analysis of one or more aspects of your “favourite recipe”. Some ideas to consider covering include: {Note: you do not have to cover all of these; they are just suggestions – and you can certainly use others from the readings or those of your own too]

1. Why is it your “favourite”?
2. Are there particular memories or stories attached to this recipe?
3. Does your recipe show the effects of migration to Canada (have ingredients had to change; have methods been simplified)?
4. Do you think that older recipes use more locally available or fresher foods than our more modern recipes?
5. Does your recipe provide an example of some of the wider changes we have mentioned above.
6. It might be helpful to contrast your “favourite recipe” with another recipe [perhaps from a modern cookbook] in order to help you highlight some of the contrasts or similarities.
7. The readings might suggest some other themes worth exploring
8. Is there anything not mentioned so far that would be worth talking about?

4. Explain what you hope your visitor will get from the experience of your favourite recipe