The smell of spices and peppers wafted through the halls of Technological Institute Thursday night.

“Ooh, it smells incredible,” one audience member said as she breathed in the smell of stir fry.

Chef Dorothy Huang gave a cooking lesson to about 85 people in the Tech faculty lounge. The Taiwanese American Student Club brought Huang to campus.

Huang spoke to the audience about her life and Taiwanese cooking before she demonstrated how to make chicken stir fry. Huang is the author of two books, “Dorothy Huang’s Chinese Cooking” and “Chinese Cuisine Made Simple.” She was born in China but was raised and educated in Taiwan.

“I always like to explain my recipes easily so my students can duplicate them at home,” Huang said.

She tried to get the audience involved in the cooking.

“I just wonder if I can have any volunt-,” she said before being interrupted.

Weinberg sophomore Julia Chen raised her hand.

“Oh, I see I already have one, and I haven’t even finished,” Huang said as the audience laughed lightly.

Weinberg sophomore Erzhe Zhang also offered to volunteer after Chen walked to the front.

They alternatively read and followed the instructions to make chicken stir fry.

Huang also offered cooking tips such as using chopsticks to check if the oil is hot.

Chen said she volunteered because it sounded fun.

“I love cooking at home, but I can’t really do it at campus,” she said. “So I decided to come here and cook.”

Chen’s friend Carrera Harris, a Weinberg sophomore, said Chen was enthusiastic about cooking.

“She actually decided before she came here that she was going to volunteer,” Harris said.

Harris said she attended the demonstration to learn how to cook.

“I’m moving off-campus next year,” she said. “I wanted to learn a dish and get a cookbook.”

The first 30 people to arrive received a copy of Huang’s “Chinese Cuisine Made Simple.” Robynn Yip, TASC’s education chairwoman, said the group decided to bring Huang to campus because of her personality.

“Dorothy Huang was really friendly and flexible,” the Weinberg sophomore said. “We thought her friendly nature would work for the event.”

Megan Chiou, the group’s president, said the event helped the group because it displayed Taiwanese traditions.

“We felt it was a good balance of culture and pop media,” the SESP sophomore said. “Food is important to our culture, and it’s a really popular thing, especially free food.”

The cooking lesson helped expose the campus to Taiwanese culture, Chiou said.

“I really think it gives us more of a presence on campus,” she said. “It shows the campus who we are, and this is part of our culture.”

Reach Ketul Patel at [email protected].