October 25, 2014
The Science of Service: Dr. Yinsheng Wan, student researchers feed the hungry
By Liz F. Kay
The wallet of Dr. Yinsheng Wan, professor of biology, betrays his other talents, with his Restaurant Depot membership card and VIP status at Sam’s Club.
“I’m a biologist, but I’m a chemist, too,” Wan said. “Cooking is chemistry.”
The professor cooks monthly meals for his fellow parishioners of the Chinese Christian Church of Pawtucket, R.I. Five years ago, Wan started cooking regularly for clients at Mary House, a Smith Hill soup kitchen that serves weekly meals.
Wan likes to cook traditional Chinese dishes, and when the weather is warm, wings are on the menu. He immerses them for an hour in a cooking wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil marinade flavored with garlic, ginger, and green onions before grilling them for 45 to 60 minutes.
“I never do it overnight — the cellular water will come out. You’ll lose the tenderness,” he said.
With each person eating about a pound of wings, Wan estimates he cooks about 5,000 to 10,000 wings annually for different groups.
Originally, his family of four helped him make these meals, but when his two children got older and busier, Wan recruited his student lab workers to help.
“If the students can do the grilling, they can do the science,” Wan said.
Jeanine Justiniano ’16 (Providence, R.I.) agreed. “It’s not so different than lab work,” she said.
She said she had been looking forward to helping to cook meals after hearing about it from lab workers the previous year.
Ryan Garrity ’16 (East Walpole, Mass.) added that this experience is valuable, since a college degree is about more than just absorbing biology knowledge.
“Education is to teach people how to be good citizens,” he said.
Dr. Wan’s Chicken Wings
20 chicken wings (about one supermarket tray)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cooking wine
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons ginger, sliced
2 heads of garlic, sliced
3 teaspoons green onion, sliced
Protocol:
Marinade wings for 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature.
Deployment: Over low fire, load the wings on the rack of a gas grill and lower the lid for 3 minutes.
Turn over: Increase the heat to medium fire, and turn the wings over. Lower the lid for 3 minutes. Then reduce the heat to low fire and turn the wings, as needed, every 3 minutes.
Relocation: Relocate the wings on the grill, as different areas have different degrees of heat.
Watch out: Make sure no direct fire hits the wings — otherwise, the wings will be burned and wounded.
Redeployment: Finally, lay the wings on the grill for a final time and remove them when they achieve the desired color.
It takes about 25 to 30 minutes to get the best quality wings.
