You found us! We are a family of four (Bill & Judy, and daughters Sarah & Kaitlin), and The Woks of Life is our way of sharing our recipes & travels with each other and the world.
What began in 2013 as a quest to document our family’s history through food has become a robust online community. Since then, our blog has been recognized as the online authority on Chinese cooking.
Whether you’re:
- A food lover interested in going beyond Cream Cheese Wontons and Sesame Chicken…
- A college student with a drawer full of wrinkled take-out menus and only rudimentary knowledge of how to boil an egg…
- Or just someone looking to make weeknight dinners a little more interesting…
You’ve come to the right place!
Allow us to quickly introduce ourselves:
- Judy (the family matriarch) regularly scours Chinese cookbooks for new ideas and wants to keep traditional recipes alive for new generations of home cooks.
- Bill (the patriarch) grew up working and cooking in restaurants, including years of experience at his own parents’ Chinese takeout joint, which is why you can be sure our American Chinese takeout recipes are legit!
- Sarah and Kaitlin are millennials who grew up cooking from a young age, learning from grandparents, their very cool parents, and of course, food TV.
Judy
Bill
Sarah
Kaitlin
The fact that we all cook can admittedly lead to the odd kitchen squabble. But we bond over and overanalyze our food, think about what to make for dinner before lunch is over, and are relentless about perfecting our favorite dishes.
The Beginnings of The Woks of Life
The Woks of Life was born in 2013, when half of our group (the parental half) relocated to Beijing. Kaitlin was in college stateside, and Sarah began moving between both China and the U.S. whilst figuring out the meaning of post-college life.
Between all the plane rides and intermittent Skype conversations, it became difficult to stay up-to-date on all our day-to-day comings and goings, let alone what we were each preparing for dinner.
We also realized that the kid-parent separation led to said kids eating a lot less of the Chinese food normally served up by said parents.
Because let’s face it…though the two daughters of this family could make restaurant-quality thin crust pizza like nobody’s business, they hadn’t exactly been studying up on dishes usually left to the older generation.
Our solution? This website and blog, where we could share recipes, kitchen exploits, and travels.
We’ve kept it going ever since, even now that we’re all back in the U.S. Our recipes represent our own culinary genealogy, from the simple to complex, the traditional to the reinvented.
So take a look around. Pour a beverage and find tonight’s meal. Pick up some travel tips, wok shopping advice, or an explanation of what the heck Chinese black vinegar is.
(It’s the nectar of the gods, is what it is.)
Happy Wokking!
Want to know more? Check out our bios here:
The Woks of Life Family Bios
Bill: Dad/Husband
Grew up in upstate New York, working through high school and college in restaurants with his father, a chef. Rose from modest beginnings as a Burger King sandwich assembler to Holiday Inn busboy and line cook, to cooking at the family’s Chinese restaurant, while also learning the finer points of Cantonese cooking from his immigrant parents. Specializes in all things Cantonese and American Chinese takeout.
Judy: Mom/Wife
Born in Shanghai, and arrived in the U.S. at age 16. Pretty much a boss when it comes to languages, being fluent in both English and three separate Chinese dialects. And boy, can she fold a spring roll (the rest of ours tend to just fall apart. It’s sad). Plus, she’s the only one in the family who’s actually good at reading Chinese, so she’s our professional menu-translator when we’re eating our way through China.
Sarah: Daughter/Older Sister
Born and raised in the Garden State, growing up on episodes of Ready Set Cook and Iron Chef. Writer, photographer, marketing professional, and daydreamer, with a penchant for Quick and Easy recipes that take less than 20 minutes to make. Like the rest of the family, she loves the outdoors and writing delightfully detailed posts about the Art of Cooking Outside.
Kaitlin: Daughter/Younger Sister
Notoriously unable to follow a recipe (usually preferring to freestyle it), Kaitlin’s the family artist, chunky-sweater-obsessed knitter, and keeper of an unreasonably detailed knowledge bank of Korean pop music. The master of all things sauces and condiments on the blog (her chili oil is legendary) and steward of our drool-worthy Instagram account.
Photo credit: Sarah Yeoman
Thank you for this website. Really helped my brother and I connect through our mutual love of home-cooked food. For my brother (diagnosed with schizophrenia) it’s really inspired him to take on cooking again. It’s been 12 years. He’s printed off about 40 of your recipes and cooks for the family every weekend!! Thank you Bill, Judy, Sarah & Kaitlin.
I love that you include dishes from other Asian countries, as well, since I love all Asian food and want to learn a lot of different recipes.
I’ve only made your chicken corn soup, so far, but was very pleased. Thank you!
I did it, follow closely on ur recipes and my family like it, thx again. Honestly, i have not cook this childhood dish for a long long time! Loving it..xx
How great is that, Wai Lin. A msg like yours is the energy that we need to plow ahead! :-)
I saved your site to my contact list in order to save the recipes, routine and found the name Sarah, attach to it so I had to read further. Now! that I have completely lost all track of time, I want to thank you for such a great website, THANK YOU !! I dare not go on your instagram, yet ! because I have to rush to the grocery store.
Haha you’re very welcome Maria! So happy you found us!
I wish to buy a carbon steel wok with utensils.
Can you help? I wish to purchase through you but don’t see a shopping link on your website
Hi Gregg, we don’t sell woks or have a preferred brand, but check out our guide on choosing a wok here: https://thewoksoflife.com/best-wok-to-buy/
I am happy to have found your site. My parents never made Egg Foo Young, but my wife loves it! I found your site looking for an “authentic”, recipe. I feel I have hit the jack pot! One of my parents favorites was egg rolls and fried wantons. They also did variations of Stir Fry of some sorts… Sorry, cant remember all of it, been a few decades. His favorite recipe and story was the Sweet & Sour sauce, which I have memorized. That was the one thing people would ask for in particular, and if they could get the recipe. He received it from one of his scouts, whose parents worked a restaurant. After about three months, and inquiring a couple of times, he acquired it. His scout explained that he would watch his mom make it and then would write down ingredients/instructions, so thats why it took a while… It was a family secret recipe… And my favorite! as a side note… Our kids are adopted from Cambodia, a melting pot for sure… but our facilitator, Man, took us to lunch to a local place. I ordered sweetsour chicken since that sounded the most familar, etc. It had the same flavor as my dads! if it wasn’t the same recipe, you would have had a hard time telling which one was which. We were so lucky to bring our 3 home in July and August, before Sept. 11th happened. Being Asian, our kids like a local restaurant in our city, but I still prefer my sauce, (My wife and I are as honky as you get… :). I look forward to seeing if I can learn to expand by skills in Chinese takeout, because they love the noodle dishes, fried rice, crab ragoon, and things I don’t really have skills at. I’m still learning how to use and season a real wok… My parents had an electric wok, non stick, that they used till it probably died… happy from all the meals it cooked.
I look forward to exploring your site, and hopefully learning the proper way to do Egg Foo Young. Love your site! Thanks!
Hi Russell—we’re happy you’ve found us as well! And that you’ve found an egg foo young recipe to make for your wife. :) Sounds like you’re on your way to being able to cook many of your family’s favorites. :) Let us know in the comments sections of any of our recipes if you ever have cooking questions!
oh my gosh. I’m so happy I found you guys-I just emailed myself like 10 recipes and had to stop because I’m salivating at work. Going to make one of the vegan/veg recipes tonight!
Thank you for all that you do!
We are so glad that you found us too :-)
Love all the food and stories on here. Reminds me of many beloved meals and memories growing up.
Do you have any recipes for a sweet potato/glutinous rice fried “dumpling”? At the New Year, my mom and grandmother made crescent shaped ones with a savory pork filling (hom teh?) Sweet spherical ones were filled with black bean paste or peanut butter fillings.
Hi Michael, we don’t yet have this recipe, but we’ll make a note to research it!
Found your website by a happy accident, and have learned more about Chinese cooking in the last few minutes than I had after reading half a dozen how-to books. You guys are GREAT! I’ll probably visit every page of your site by the end of the weekend. Too cool…
Thank you so much for your high praise! We are so glad you found us.
I can confirm the above sentiment, great blog with a wealth of information to inspire!
Thank you so much, Matt!