Eric Sze

My restaurant 886 started a bento initiative called Bento Essential (3/19/2020), where we take donations from the public and turn them into bento boxes for healthcare workers. All proceeds go to our staff. So far, we've raised more than $143k and have also helped two other restaurants (Raku & Ho Foods) keep their staff employed. We have donated more than 13,500 bentos to date and are wrapping up production on 5/15. Not sure what the future holds, but we're proud of the progress we've made in helping our staff stay employed.

“Growing up in Taiwan, I didn’t learn to appreciate my culture and food until I left. Now it’s my goal to learn more about my heritage while spreading it in other areas of the world. It’s been extremely rewarding seeing so many others on a similar journey.”

— Eric Sze

My recipe

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"In my opinion, the best rendition of this dish is served at a karaoke in Taiwan. Growing up in Taipei, KTV was my entertainment of choice. Everytime I went, there was essentially a free flow of this congee (since it's everyone else's favorite too). During quarantine, many of my Taiwanese friends had the opportunity to return home and wait out this virus. I don't have that luxury and am truly jealous of them all. This dish signifies my nostalgia for the better times. The times when we were young and without worry." - Eric Century Egg & Pork Congee INGREDIENTS: Century Egg *2 Lean pork ~100g (i used pork tenderloin cut into strips) Yellow Onion *1 medium Smoky Bacon/Ham ~ 40g Rice Wine ~ 1/2 cup Rice ~ 1 cup Water ~ 5 cups (add in increments) DIRECTIONS: 1: chop onions relatively finely 2: in a cold pot, place bacon in and turn the heat to medium. this will begin rendering out the bacon fat 3: once bacon is lightly rendered, add in the pork tenderloin. once the pork has gotten a bit of color, add in the onions to caramelize. Then, add in the rice wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot. 4: add in the washed rice & water (add water as it continues to reduce) 5. century egg goes into the pot, cook on medium low heat, continue to stir 6. cook stir, cook stir, cook stir 7. the desired consistency, cooked for about 1 hour 8. plate, add chili oil & scallion as garnish

A post shared by Honoring AAPI Heritage Month (@makenoisetoday) on May 13, 2020 at 2:52pm PDT