Pigging Out With Chef Leah Cohen
Leah Cohen in the Pig and Khao kitchen. Image by Courtesy of Pig and Khao
Chef Leah Cohen sounds so restless that it’s almost hard to believe she’s settled down to run a restaurant.
After years of toiling in A-list Manhattan kitchens like Eleven Madison Park and Centro Vinoteca — and taking a star turn on Bravo’s Top Chef — Cohen crisscrossed Asia for a year exploring food of her Asian heritage. The daughter of a Jewish father and Filipino mother, Cohen opened Southeast Asian hotspot Pig & Khao in 2013.
As she contemplates her next move — maybe a noodle bar, she says, or a Philly branch of Pig & Khao — Cohen had a quick chat with the Forward from her Lower East Side eatery.
Did you grow up around Jewish food?
My grandmother on my father’s side was a home economics teacher. We lived with her until I was about 5, when my parents bought their own house. We always celebrated Jewish holidays at her house. I was her little helper — her prep cook, you might say. We made matzo balls, brisket, haroset for Passover. Passover at her house was my first memory of preparing food.
For a lot of Jews, pork is so taboo that it becomes sexy. Is that how it ended up at the center of your menu?
Pork was a non-issue for us. We literally ate everything. And I still became obsessed with it.
What would you suggest for a home cook who wants to try replicating one of Pig & Khao’s dishes at home?
The most approachable dish on our menu for any home cook is adobo, which is probably the most famous dish from the Philippines. You can do a basic chicken adobo, which has only five only five ingredients: soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, black pepper and bay leaf. You can use whatever protein you want and serve it with the rice. The sauce is key, balancing those flavors. It’s a one-pot dish, very approachable, and not an intimidating flavor. I learned to make it when I was 12.
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Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected]
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