Meet the Ottawa scientist whose recipe blog has 40M views

Chinese food enthusiasts know therecipe blog MaomaoMomis the place to go for delicious, time-tested recipes.

The blog is so popularit recently surpassed 40 million page views.

What not everyone knows, however, is that the woman visitorsrely on for those healthy, authentic dishes isLu Yang, a National Research Council chemist basedin Ottawa.

Many Chinese-Canadians, when they move to Canada, they don't know how to cook. So at least they have [somewhere] they can look to start with.- Lu Yang, aka MaomaoMom

When Yang isn't in the lab analyzing mass spectrometer research, she's in her hometesting out all manner of intriguing kitchen devices.

"They blend well, I think," Yang told Alan Neal, host of CBC Radio'sAll In A Day.

"As a chemist, I do experiments in the lab. In the kitchen, [I] also experiment."

In the kitchen with MaomaoMom

6 years ago

Duration 3:21

Lu Yang's Chinese recipe blog MaomaoMom has had 40 million views. She shared the story of the blog and a recipe with the CBC's Alan Neal.

A dearthof 'authentic' food

Yang traces the blog's genesis all the wayback to1993, when she movedto Ottawa and noticed there weren't many local restaurants providing "authentic Chinese food."

"Just lots of fried food I didn't like. Too oily, maybe. I wanted something more healthy," Yang said.

It helped that, when her son was born in 2006, he turned out to be"quite a little fussy eater." And when a dinner party guest later told her she should share her recipes online, she took the plunge.

She began posting one recipe a weekin Chinese. Gradually, more and more people began to take notice and before she knew it, millions of people had read her recipes for dishes like ma po tofu or braised pork with bamboo.

Yang said her site's popularity has proven immensely rewarding.

"Many Chinese-Canadians, when they move to Canada, they don't know how to cook. So at least they have [somewhere] they can look to start with," she said.

As for her site's name: "Maomao," Yang said, is her nickname for her son and it means "sweetie" or "darling."

This week on D is for Dinner, Yang shares herrecipe for pan-fried garlic and soy chicken wings.

Pan-fried garlic and soy chicken wings

Ingredients:

• 12 chicken wing midsections
• 1 small fermented bean curd
• 1 tbsp. freshly minced garlic
• 2 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp. light soy sauce
• 2 tsp. premium soy sauce
• 1 tsp. chopped green onion
• (And you'll need a Ropot cooker)

Instructions:

1. In the morning, rinse the chicken wings under water and pat dry.
2. Place in a plastic bag, add all the ingredients except for the green onion, and seal.
3. Shake to mix well and store in the fridge for eight to 10 hours.
4. Plug in the Ropot, press the power button to turn it on, and place the flat bottom inner pot into the machine.
5. Pat the wings dry and arrangethem inside the pot.
6. Close the lid and press the function key to select the "pan fry" option. It should be set to four minutes.
7. Once the frying time is up, open the lid and turn over the wings.
8. Select"pan fry" again, but this time set the timer forthree minutes.
9. Transfer the cooked wings to a serving plate and serve with the green onion.