If you’re like me and have an awkward obsessive relationship with the Food Network, the name Ming Tsai will most likely ring a few bells. As a contestant on The Next Iron Chef and host of East Meets West, Ming’s Quest and Simply Ming on the Food Network, Fine Living Network and American Public Television respectively he has both won an Emmy and become a familiar face to food aficionados everywhere. Little do most people know, Tsai is also an engineer.
Tsai transferred to Phillips Academy and later to Yale University where he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. While at Yale Tsai was also the second ranked player on their Squash team. He later received his masters degree in hotel administration and hospitality marketing from Cornell. While attending culinary school at le Cordon Bleu in France afterwards, he also played in the European professional squash league just to keep busy. Tsai also speaks four languages; English, French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
Tsai and his wife own and operate his restaurant Blue Ginger in Wellesley Massachusetts. He has also written three cookbooks; Blue Ginger, Simply Ming and Ming’s Master Recipes. He also has a host of television guest appearances under his belt, and was also once voted #16 on People Magazine’s most beautiful people list.
Innovation is truly at the heart of Tsai’s cooking – it’s his fusion of eastern and western styles of cooking that has made him famous. He combines classics passed down through his Chinese-rooted family with a North-American twist that are both delicious but ridiculously simple to make at home. Tomato and mozzarella basil tempura with three-vinegar aioli – need I say more? Just remember when you’re cooking up your latest box of Kraft Dinner, there’s a plethora of engineer-worthy foods you can easily make yourself that will taste phenomenal and be super simple. After all, it was an engineer that wrote the recipe!
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