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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw
series • cooking
PG
series • cooking
PG
Adam Liaw has a knack for making everyday cooking feel special, but keeping it easy. On The Cook Up, he sprinkles in clever tricks that can completely change how you cook. Here are seven of his best hacks from this season.
Use bicarb to tenderise meat
In Chinese cooking, there’s a technique called velveting that keeps meat juicy and tender. Adam demonstrates a simple version of it on The Cook Up, when he adds just a pinch of bicarb soda to chicken and prawns before cooking.
“It actually stops the chicken muscle from tightening up too much, and the prawns too,” he explains. “The prawn will have a much nicer texture, they won’t be rubbery, they’ll be sort of springy. And the chicken will be much, much more tender.”
It’s a tiny step that makes a big difference, whether you’re cooking a quick stir-fry or a dish like dragon and phoenix (a classic combination of prawns and chicken).
Microwave mushrooms before pan-frying
If you’ve ever fried mushrooms and watched them soak up oil like sponges, you’ll love this tip. In episode 31, Adam suggests microwaving mushrooms in water before cooking them in fat.
This does a few things: the mushrooms cook faster, absorb less oil, and have stronger umami flavour. He even suggests saving the flavour-packed mushroom cooking water to make consommé, using in risotto or deglaze a pan instead of wine.
Stop berries sinking in cakes
A viewer wrote in with a common baking problem: her berries always sink to the bottom of cakes and muffins. Adam’s explanation is straightforward: it’s about density. Heavy fruit naturally drops through the batter.
His solution? Choose lighter berries, or coat them lightly in flour before folding into the mix. That flour coating helps them cling to the batter and stay suspended, so your muffins come out studded with berries from top to bottom.
A congee upgrade
Congee is one of Adam’s comfort foods. “Whenever I had a stomach upset when I was little, my grandma would always make that for me,” he recalls in episode 70.
He recommends keeping congee toppings simple but flavourful. Concentrated chicken stock and a spoonful of miso as the base, along with a touch of soy sauce, white pepper and Tianjin preserved vegetables can transform the dish. But his absolute favourite garnish is simply onions and garlic fried in oil until golden.
Speedy mango sticky rice
Mango sticky rice might feel like a restaurant or travel-only indulgence, but Adam Liaw has a shortcut that brings it to your kitchen in minutes, with the help of a rice cooker. He mixes glutinous rice cooked in the rice cooker with a sweet coconut cream preparation, then tops it with shaved palm sugar (optional) and fresh mango.
The key, he insists, is drizzling the dessert with salted coconut cream. That salty-sweet balance, finished with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, is what makes the dish pop. It’s a dessert that feels indulgent but is easy enough for weeknights.
Plant-based Parmesan
Cheese lovers looking for a vegan option will appreciate Adam’s “Parmesan” hack. He combines nutritional yeast, pangrattato (crispy breadcrumbs), pine nuts and powdered dried shiitake and porcini.
The savoury powder mimics Parmesan’s depth. “You have your very own plant-based pasta topping,” Adam says. “You can sprinkle that on anything, and it would be delicious.”
Thicken a soup three ways
We’ve all made soups that turn out too thin. In episode 57, Adam shares three ways to rescue them:
- Blitz some solids: For soups like minestrone, simply blend a portion of the vegetables back into the liquid for body.
- Starch slurry: A spoonful of potato starch or corn starch dissolved in water is a classic Asian method.
- Flour-and-oil paste: Blend plain flour with olive oil, then stir it through with a stick blender for a velvety finish.
Each method works differently, but the goal is the same: a soup with better texture and more flavour.
Everyday brilliance
What’s striking about Adam Liaw’s hacks is how approachable they are. None require fancy tools or complicated steps, just small tweaks that make home cooking more flavourful, efficient and fun.
