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Chef’s Kitchen
Each month we bring a guest chef into our Chef’s Kitchen column to give us a
tip that elevates their cooking (and hopefully ours). They also provide a recipe
that showcases their tip. Our guest chef this month is Chef Xinh (pronounced
"sin") Dwelley of Xinh's Clam & Oyster House. This chef and her eponymous
restaurant are located in the small town of Shelton, Washington, about 20 miles
north of Olympia. Her mantra is you must have fun, enjoy your cooking, but above
all, make people happy.
 Chef Xinh Dwelley came to this country in 1970 from Vietnam and
settled in the Shelton area. She first began selling her egg
rolls at the Olympia Farmers' Market, and then became an oyster
shucker for the Taylor Shellfish Farms. She persevered through a
great deal of pain to become a very fast oyster shucker indeed;
winning the West Coast Oyster Shucking Championship 5 times and
retiring unbeaten in 1992. In 1996, she opened Xinh's Clam &
Oyster House with a menu that brought together the fresh
shellfish of Puget Sound imbued with the flavors of her
homeland. The sauces are complex, the spicing well balanced. Her
Oyster Stew has no comparison, those famous Curried Mussels won
the Seattle Times "Best Bite of 2005," and her prowess with
geoduck dishes have been shown recently on the Food Network
Channel's "Will
Work for Food,"
and were previously enjoyed by Anthony Bourdain.
Photo of Xinh, above, courtesy
of Jim Rawson
Fresh and raw vs. cooked
By Chef Xinh Dwelley
When making Asian Seafood Bisque, the following tips will bring
the best of the flavors out.
Always use the freshest seafood available, even if it costs a
little more. The flavor will be lighter, brighter, and cleaner,
with more definition.
I
recommend using all raw ingredients for the bisque with crab
being the only exception. I prefer crab legs be cooked before
adding to the mix just before serving or they will become mushy.
After thinly slicing lemongrass for use in any dish, grind those
thin pieces in a food processor so that they will more easily
disperse throughout the whole dish.
Xinh's Crab & Oyster House
221 West Railroad Avenue, #D
Shelton WA 98584
phone: (360) 427-8709
Click here to see
Xinh's recipe
February 2009
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