JACQUELINE Qiu is the only female Chinese executive chef at a Shanghai five-star hotel and describes herself as a "headmaster in the kitchen," watching over her cooks and customers.

For the past year and a half, Chef Jacqueline Qiu has been the executive chef at the boutique-inspired Andaz Shanghai in Xintiandi.

Her cooks sometimes complain that she endlessly reiterates kitchen's rules and points out cooking mistakes, even tiny ones. She's considered fussy.

"I have no alternative," she says about being exacting. "Today, whether in hotel or restaurant kitchens, cooks are dominated by the post-80s and post-1990s generations who need a lot of guidance and hand-holding."

Compared with male chefs, it's more likely for a female with "natural subtleness" to find a detail problem, such as a fingerprint left by a cook on a plate, the chef tells Shanghai Daily.

"But that doesn't mean I am always patient and gentle. If my cook makes the same mistake twice, I criticize him and even shout in the kitchen. Many times I'm tougher than many of my fellow chefs," the Shanghai native says.

The kitchen is famously a man's preserve, whether Chinese or Western, but this chef says she has never experienced bias. The males she has worked with don't resent her and are quite gentlemanly, helping her with heavy work. She cites an old Chinese saying that "if a man works with a woman, neither will feel tired."

Being a female executive chef is much tougher than being a male since she had to work hard to get there, handling heavy pots and pans. That's why most women are pastry chefs or line cooks in the cold station, she says.

But Qiu's athletic background helped. She was an ace volleyball player, almost recruited by the city's women's team but turned down because of her "short" height, 165cm. Strength and athleticism helped her in the kitchen, not just allowing her to heft cooking apparatus but also giving her perseverance to overcome difficulties.

She was trained at the Peace Vocational School in a special class training all students to work in kitchens of five-star hotels. However, most of her basic skills were learned in the kitchen of The Westin hotel.

In China's five-star hotels, most executive chefs are Westerners - and of course, they are male.

"A Chinese in this position clearly brings more benefits to food and beverage service," Chef Jacqueline says.

It's difficult for Western chefs to manage Chinese kitchens because they usually don't understand Chinese cooking and most don't speak Chinese, she says. Sometimes there is little communication between the Western executive chef and the Chinese head chef and sometimes the food concepts are too different in one hotel's Chinese and Western restaurants, she observes.

"For Chinese like me, it's much easier since we share the same language and food culture. I have even introduced job sharing from Western kitchen culture and this makes work more efficient," Chef Jacqueline says.

Chinese kitchens apply the principle "one man one job," so it's hard for a cold station cook to shift to hot dishes. But Western kitchens require staff be adept at multiple tasks and stations.

Chef Jacqueline, though her personal travels have been extensive, does not have international work experience and has spent her life in Shanghai.

But she has high-end experience, working 13 years for The Westin - five years at Jean Georges and two years at the Park Hyatt.

Timing and good fortune helped. Her career took off when Western dining taste developed rapidly in Shanghai, while most Chinese's understanding of Western cuisine was simplistic. "When I got the offer from Jean Georges, I didn't know who he is or realize what it meant for a chef," she says.

From Jean Georges Vongerichten she learned how to modernize food while preserving its classic elements, and the importance of using seasonal ingredients. That's her philosophy today.

On the menu of Hai Pai, the Andaz signature restaurant, the Chinese menu features classical Shanghainese dishes such as hongshao rou (braised pork). Guests can also order from a French bistro menu and eat both Chinese and French dishes together.

Vegetables and fruits have become her favorite ingredients and she especially likes various mushrooms. "They taste light, giving the chef more space to create. More flavors can be developed, through pairing mushrooms with meat or fish, or making them into soup, starters or the main course."

Her pride is her creation, foie gras with lavender-poached peaches. "The sweet and sour fruit taste creates a nice balance with the fatty foie gras," the chef says.

In Chef Jacquiline's kitchen there's a sign reading "Care." It's her management concept, as well as her interpretation of her career as a chef - it covers food, job and customers. Caring for her customers is the key and Chef Jacqueline believes a cook's personality will be transmitted to diners through the dishes she or he prepares. Therefore, she insists that everyone on her team be positive and optimistic in the kitchen. "Although Western cuisine pursues consistency, the same recipe cooked by one chef at different times - and in different moods - creates different flavors due to slightly different heat and time controls," she says.

Every week, from Tuesday through Sunday, Chef Jacqueline is in Hai Pai restaurant, greeting customers in English, French, Mandarin and Shanghainese. She chats and asks for feedback about the hotel's food, especially what they like most. She also asks if they have found good new restaurants.

"Communicating with customers inspires my cooking, especially creating new recipes. They can bring fresh perspectives from outside the hospitality business."

At home in the suburban Songjiang District, Chef Jacqueline becomes a farmer and gardener, as well as a mother. Her house has a small backyard garden where she plants trees, such as apricot, cherry, pear and hawthorn and flowers such as hyacinth and rose. She also grows seasonal vegetables such as Malabar spinach, eggplant and white gourd.

"Tasting the food you plant with your own hand brings happiness and a sense of achievement," she says.

She recommends small restaurants in Japan and France where there's only a daily menu. Her dream is to eat and drink her way around the world from big cities to small villages.


Ingredients:
Carp fillet 200g; salad oil 100g; smoked carp sauce 30g; dried osmanthus 1g; coriander 1g;

Smoked carp sauce:
Sugar 150g; seafood sauce 150g; rice wine 25g; oyster oil 35ml; light soy sauce 20ml; dark soy sauce 8ml; honey sauce 75ml; Chinese vinegar 20ml; water 150ml; dried osmanthus 3g.
Steps:
1. Smoked carp sauce. Melt all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool.
2. Deep-fry carp fillet in salad oil until it's crispy, golden-brown.
Dip fillet in carp sauce until coated evenly.
3. Add a little dried osmanthus and coriander. Serve immediately.