Terence Tam

Proves noodling is good for body and soul

The Canton Wonton House in Seattle's International District has steamy windows, linoleum floors and loyal customers who slurp warm bowls of fragrant broth and dumplings filled with shrimp, pork, bamboo shoots, fungus and shitake mushrooms. A chat with owner Terence Tam:

Q: On an average day, how many dumplings do you sell?

A: About 1,000.

Q: In Chinese tradition, people eat noodles for long life. Any traditions about wontons?

A: Noodles for long life — that's a superstition! I don't believe in that. But I would say wontons are healthy because you don't use a lot of oil. Just a little to keep them from sticking together. I eat wonton and sui-kau (another dumpling) soup every day, and look at me!

Q: What's the secret to making a good wonton?

A: No secret. Just marinate the pork and shrimp. Salt, sugar, pepper, oil. Everybody does that.

Q: What about the broth?

A: That's a secret! Chicken and some spices. Everybody has their own recipe. I got mine from my ex-in-laws, and then I improve it to my personal likes. I believe my taste is more like the majority of people's tastes. Not everybody is going to like what you like. I try to hit 80 out of 100 customers. Then I'm happy.

Q: Do you use MSG?

A: A little. If you know how to use it right, it brings out the flavor better than without. But if you use it a lot, people get itchy or very thirsty.

Q: How should people feel after eating a bowl of wonton noodle soup?

A: Warmer from the stomach up, from the inside out. Especially winter time.

Q: What's the ideal wonton soup?

A: The broth has to be right. The smell has to come up in the steam. It won't be oily. After you boil it, you have to skim the oil off. It should be clear. It should taste of chicken. The egg noodles you want a little chewy, but not too chewy, not like rubber bands. Thin noodles. Some people like the thick ones, but when you eat, the noodles are supposed to go shloop, shloop, shloop, make that sound.

A good wonton should have that square shape and the sui-kau, a moon shape. When you eat it, it's supposed to be more loose, puffy, not firm like a rock. If you cut it through the center and see all the layers inside, some air, that's good. If you squeeze too much when you wrap it, it doesn't taste good when you eat it.

It's like good chocolate, when you put it in your mouth, it melts inside.