Easy One-Pan Kung Pao Chicken
Addictively spicy, loaded with umami
The Kung Pao Lesson I Never Found in a Recipe
During my culinary-school internship at the Mandarin Oriental, I learned how to make Kung Pao chicken from a Chinese cook named Cam. He spoke very little, broken English, but somehow taught me one of the biggest lessons of my career: a recipe can give you ingredients, but it cannot always teach you how to cook.
He taught me to listen to the pan, to move quickly, to know when the garlic and ginger were fragrant but not burned, and to trust my eyes when the sauce turned glossy and clung to the chicken just right. Kung Pao is all about that balance, the heat, the sweetness, the tang, the crunch…and Cam showed me that instinct is what turns a list on paper into something you actually crave.
