This chef turns her Tacoma kitchen into an online Filipino cooking school

In a typical May, Jan Parker would either be prepping in a shared commercial kitchen or cooking pork belly adobo, a seasonal pancit and ube pancakes at multiple farmers markets and the Tacoma Night Market.

Instead, Parker’s been cooking from her home kitchen — not only for her family but also for students tuning into her regular broadcasts on Instagram Live.

Early into Washington’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order, she realized she was running low on yeast, another grocery story staple that, like dried beans, rice and flour, suddenly became a rarity. She decided to document her attempt to salvage the last of her sourdough starter.

“People were curious,” she said, “and so I went down that road.”

From there, the evolution was rather organic, as her social media followers chimed in with questions and photos of their own starters.

“We gave them names, and we started to give updates, and people were gaining a lot of positivity and focusing a lot of energy on that and staying busy,” said Parker.

The pace of the interactions grew beyond what Instagram alone could handle, so she transitioned to Zoom, the video chat platform that has surged during the pandemic. She asked people what they wanted to know, what they wanted to learn.

“Whatever people want to make, that’s what I’ll incorporate into the curriculum,” she explained of her newfound role as a virtual cooking instructor. “People have more need for skills right now to be able to make these types of food at home. Sometimes you find bread and sometimes you don’t. It’s really teaching people necessary skills to sustain right now.”

By the end of March, she had planned her first official online course featuring pandesal (or pan de sal), a classic Filipino roll commonly enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or as a snack. Similar to a Parker House roll, they are fluffy and slightly sweet, with a few tablespoons of butter and a hefty teaspoon or two of salt. Before baking, they are dipped in breadcrumbs, adding texture and curb appeal.

The ability to connect with others around food, even if through the glow of a computer screen, lifted her up in a time where it has been so easy to feel down.

“These classes are something that I definitely look forward to because I know I’m going to be able to connect with people,” she said. “It’s actually the highlight of my day. I try to flip that, and if you’re a student, it’s probably the highlight of your day, too.”

By the second week of April, she had planned a half dozen classes, the topics developed in tandem with her followers. Together, they made pizza dough, focaccia, siapao (steamed pork buns) and more pandesal served as a benedict with longanisa, the spiced Filipino sausage.

Having two children, she incorporated family friendly classes: a teen course on pancit, a Filipino noodle stir-fry with julienned vegetables, chicken or pork sausage; and pancakes made with ube, a purple yam that Filipino cuisine incorporates into everything from ice cream and pastries to dumplings.

Those who have visited Parker at the farmers markets or Night Market have likely tried her pancit and ube creations, the latter of which she tops with a coconut cream sauce and roasted peanuts.

Ube is similar to taro root, which you might recognize from bubble tea, but it’s not quite the same, especially without the vibrant purple hue, explained Parker. Part of her mission is to introduce these ingredients through “relatable” foods like pancakes, waffles and cinnamon rolls. In February, she started serving warm ube cinnamon rolls at the Night Market a la carte and as dessert with her kamayan plate, a communal feast traditionally using banana leaves rather than a fork or chopsticks.

“We try to create freshness, whatever it’s tied with,” said Parker of her approach to cooking.

In Tacoma, Filipino food tends to be served as a buffet or other casual setting, rife with common dishes like lumpia (small fried egg rolls). In cities like Seattle, there is a “larger pool of Filipino cuisine presented in different ways.”

She wants to bridge that gap, and the markets provide an ideal setting to bring people together over fresh, seasonally driven Filipino food.

“I’m really trying to take the fine dining, but not make it too unapproachable, where it’s too fine,” she told The News Tribune in April. “I’m just going to produce restaurant quality meals and try to achieve anything a restaurant chef would try to achieve.”

Her market setup under a standard pop-up tent is impressive, with the sizzle of pork belly tossed on the grill, the sound of a spatula scraping the wok and her small team calling out orders.

“I think that’s part of the draw, too; that’s what our customers enjoy. They enjoy the drama of it — not the drama, but taking in the order, and just my command of my tiny little kitchen,” she said. “They like seeing their food being prepared. They enjoy getting a glimpse of that.”

At most Night Markets, the line never stops, as she serves anywhere from 150 to 200 customers.

BUILDING A TACOMA AUDIENCE

Parker, who studied culinary management, baking and pastry at the Art Institute of Seattle, started her first food business in a small town near Frankfurt, Germany, after a friend’s suggestion that she teach cooking classes. Her husband, now retired from the U.S. Army, was stationed there for a few years. She created classes for the United Services Organization, focusing, of course, on Filipino cuisine.

“Things just kind of happened,” she recalled of that time. “I ended up going on an AFN (American Forces Network) radio station, talking about Filipino food.”

Segments were sometimes aired on other stations in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, cultivating a continental audience. When she and her husband returned to Washington, they settled in Tacoma so that he could easily access Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

A food business was always part of the plan, but it took a few years to find the right model. She bounced ideas off a chef mentor in Seattle.

“He was like, ‘No, not interesting,’” she laughed, “but then I told him about kamayan — family meals, banana leaves, the way you eat with your hands from the banana leaves. It definitely represents unity. He said, ‘You need to do that.’”

She hosted pop-up dinners in Seattle and Tacoma, including at RAIN Incubator. Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, she connected with a local farmer and vowed to incorporate seasonal Northwest ingredients, honing her mantra of Filipino flavors made with American bounty.

“I was just trying to find my footing, to find my litmus test to how people would receive Filipino food in Tacoma,” she said. “My kamayans, it’s not the big piles of food that you normally see. It’s more thoughtful, seasonal.”

Now a couple of years into the market circuit, Parker has nurtured a loyal following, about a quarter of whom are vegan. That has forced her to be creative with dishes like ensaladang manga, a green mango salad with fruit cut on-site, tossed with ginger, soy, sesame and scallions.

With cautionary measures pinned down, she will return to the Proctor Farmers Market on Saturdays later this month and the Tacoma Broadway market when it starts June 7.

Bringing the virtual show full-circle, she and Clarissa Grace Gines, an art manager, will host another edition of Kain Tayo on May 30, with a Zoom dance party the night before. Last year’s sold-out event brought together Filipino-American chefs, artists and other creators. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they will run “A Fiesta from Afar” online with discussions on family recipes as well as a Filipino chef battle and other entertainment.

“Our goal is to create a fun and thoughtfully procured event revolving around people of the Philippines, but give the surrounding community total access,” she said.

JAN PARKER COOKERY

▪ Details: Sign up for a virtual cooking class through janparkercookery.com.

▪ Find her cooking at the Proctor Farmers Market on Saturdays starting May 9 and the Broadway Market on Tuesdays starting June 7.

▪ Follow updates on Instagram for classes and the Kain Tayo virtual party.

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This story was originally published May 3, 2020 at 7:00 AM.