Tell us a little about yourself, who you are, what you are up to?

My name is Daniel Meng, and I’m a marketing student at Georgia Tech. I’m a passionate home cook and content creator, and I’m the president of the culinary club at Georgia Tech. I’m currently a marketing intern at Americold, a cold food logistics company, which has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the food industry. I’m always experimenting with new hobbies and avenues, so outside of cooking, I’ve recently started gaining experience in event planning and diving deeper into content creation.

What inspired you to start cooking?

To be honest, it was more circumstantial than a conscious decision. In elementary school, my parents often worked late, so I had to cook for myself. Aside from my love for food, I grew to appreciate the process of transforming raw ingredients into a complete dish. I enjoyed cooking for friends and family, and I started selling food in middle school. This led to becoming the president of my culinary club in high school and eventually in college.

Do you have a favorite dish that you love to cook? Why?

Although I’m biased, I love Chinese cooking, especially the technique of stir-frying. It allows you to use a wok, my favorite cooking vessel, to transform various ingredients into a harmonious dish. It’s also really fun to aggressively stir-fry over a roaring flame. Fried rice epitomizes the beauty of stir-frying. Many people just toss everything in a pan, dump in an egregious amount of soy sauce, and call it a day, but fried rice of the highest level is much more meticulous. It’s a dish I love to cook due to its versatility, potential for creativity, and technical skill required, whether that’s the precise knife work, cooking each ingredient perfectly, or stir-frying properly.

Do you have any tips for beginners who want to start cooking?

Follow and understand recipes to the T. It’s ironic coming from someone who loves to experiment in the kitchen, but it’s important to follow recipes in the beginning. Letting imagination take over and deviating too far from a dish can create something inedible. Many recipes online have been tested hundreds of times and are the way they are for a reason. Once you follow recipes and understand the roles of each ingredient and the purpose of each step, then you should start experimenting.

What’s a mistake beginners make when cooking?

Overcooking. Many beginners are scared of undercooking food, which leads them to overcook it to ease their conscience. However, the difference between overcooked and properly cooked food is night and day. For example, chicken breast has this perception of being dry, but when cooked properly, it is extremely juicy and tender. Another great example is salmon. Salmon is a fatty fish, so it’s more forgiving and still tastes good when overcooked. However, many people believe that “flaky” salmon is tasty, but perfectly cooked salmon is more “buttery” and has an indescribably soft texture. Another one is scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs shouldn’t have any brown crusty bits but should be creamy and tender. Mushy broccoli, dry cookies, and rubbery shrimp all fall victim to this beginner cooking mistake. My advice would actually be to undercook your food since you can always cook it more, and once you cook a dish enough times, you train your senses to gauge when your food is cooked perfectly.

How do your cultural background and personal experiences influence your cooking?

Both of my parents are Chinese immigrants, so I grew up eating a lot of Chinese food, whether it was my mom’s cooking or dining out. I love Chinese cooking due to its wide variety of flavors and techniques. Though Chinese cooking is my favorite, I love experimenting and intersecting techniques and flavors from different cuisines. I was fortunate enough to eat out often with my family, and many restaurants have provided inspiration for my cooking. Although I’ve tried the full spectrum of restaurants, from hole-in-the-wall to Michelin-starred establishments, I usually gravitate towards the lower end. One’s perception of a restaurant’s food relies heavily on the atmosphere, expectations, and service, but I tend to find that many hole-in-the-wall restaurants simply have better-tasting food. In most scenarios, all I care about is creating the best possible dish with what I have. That doesn’t mean cutting corners, but rather being efficient and creative.

Who is your biggest cooking inspiration?

My biggest cooking inspiration is actually a character named Yukihira Soma from my favorite anime, “Food Wars”. Soma comes from a diner and cooks more commoner food, but his attention to detail, boundless creativity, and never-ending passion for exploring the culinary horizons make him a huge inspiration for me. Like Soma, I enjoy cooking unpretentious dishes, but my cooking is also bound by no traditions or by-the-book techniques.

How do you use social media to share your cooking journey?

On my Instagram and TikTok account @mengseats, I showcase my culinary creations and teach others how to cook. Although I have a lot of room to grow as a cook (as does every cook), my main goal is to inspire and teach others how to cook and to be the inspiration and resource I wish I had.

How do you stay authentic and true to yourself while building your online presence?

It’s extremely easy to act like someone you’re not online, whether that’s due to insecurity or in hopes of achieving virality. I’m still discovering what my authentic online presence is, but I’m confident enough in myself, my content, and the value I provide to the point that I don’t need to be gimmicky or rely on heavy edits. I don’t want to come across as obnoxious or flashy, because that’s not who I am as a person, and that’s not the type of content I want to inspire other people with.

What’s your biggest cooking accident?

I’ve cut and burned myself numerous times and have even set my kitchen on fire, but there was one time that triumphed over all of that. For my high school’s international night, I made flan, but I decided to add a splash of rum. At the event, everyone was raving over my flan, and one teacher in particular asked me what ingredients I used. I nonchalantly told him I used a little bit of rum, and then his face went completely blank. He told me that he had been sober from alcohol for over 10 years, and he tattled to the principal that I had “served alcohol to minors” at the event. I was on the brink of facing out-of-school suspension, but thankfully that never happened.