The only thing that counts is if you know how to prepare your ingredients. Even if with the best and freshest ingredients in the world, if your dish is tasteless or burnt, it's ruined.

He also appeared as a guest judge on the season 10 finale of Top Chef. Career
Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program and appearing on a Canadian Calgary talk show in 1978 (on CFAC-TV now CICT-TV). He has hosted over 1500 episodes of the PBS cooking shows Yan Can Cook since 1982.