a culinary genealogy
Below, view all our posts in chronological order, starting with the most recent. To browse recipes by category, course, or collection, visit our Recipe Index. Also be sure to check out our How-To section and Chinese Ingredients Glossary.
Chili garlic shrimp is a spicy treat that comes together very quickly. Chop the aromatics, sear some jumbo tiger shrimp in a super-hot wok, combine with our tasty homemade sauce mixture, and voila! It’s the year of the tiger in the coming Chinese New Year 2022, so what could be more fitting than chili garlic
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This red braised chicken recipe (hóngshāo jī, 红烧鸡) is for our readers who can’t eat pork and haven’t been able to try our popular Hong Shao Rou (Shanghai-style red braised pork belly) recipe! It’s also a great way to cook chicken if you happen to have some chicken thighs in the freezer. I’ll show you
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Mei Cai Kou Rou, a dish of braised and then steamed pork belly, holds a high position on the Chinese comfort food list. It’s also a celebratory dish suitable for a Chinese New Year dinner or other special occasion. A dish that makes you miss the motherland if you’re Chinese, a dish that makes you
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Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year (to be more inclusive of other cultures that celebrate the holiday) or Spring Festival (春节 – chūnjié), is just around the corner. This year, Chinese New Year falls on February 1, 2022, beginning the Year of the Tiger. As the Chinese New year approaches, remember to
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This orange beef recipe (陈皮牛 – chén pí niú in Mandarin), is crafted with a mix of interesting, complex flavors. Shallow-fried beef is complemented by fresh orange and fragrant dried mandarin peel, along with aromatics like star anise, dried red chili peppers, ginger, garlic, and scallion. Note: This post was originally published in December 2013.
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What a year it’s been. We plum can’t believe it’s almost over—it passed like a blink of the eye. Sarah got married(!) and we wrote a dang cookbook. We also just moved a couple months ago, which will lead to some exciting projects here on the blog. (We’ll share more about that in the new
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Salted Pork Bone Soup is a homestyle comfort food recipe that we crave in the wintertime. The addition of glass noodles makes this an extra satisfying meal (you can use mung bean noodles, as we have here, or sweet potato starch noodles, or even stir in cooked rice!) If you’ve never enjoyed this soup, it’s
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Earlier in the fall, we knew we wanted to have a family gathering, but we weren’t sure we wanted to take on the task of cooking that big of a spread. We fell back on the classic pot luck model, but with a twist. Hence, The Woks of Life Family Cooking Competition! The “rules” were
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Episode 3 of our Family Meal digital series with the Food Network is here! Check it out on Foodnetwork.com, or watch on Facebook if you’re outside the United States. Read more about ep 1 and ep 2 Read more about the show and Episode 1 here, and read more about Episode 2 here! This third and final episode is
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Croissants are something I NEVER thought I could successfully make at home. But just like our sourdough (first in my list of things I’d never thought I’d be able to make), I’ve figured out a great croissant recipe that even a novice baker can pull-off. Best of all? It starts with our trusty, easy milk
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This Taiwanese fried chicken (台湾盐酥鸡 – táiwān yán sū jī) has all the traits of a good fried chicken: juicy, crispy, and addictive. The fact that the pieces are bite-sized is a plus. It’s a popular street food in Taiwan, meant to be popped into your mouth and enjoyed as you stroll. You’ll need sweet potato
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The holidays are fast approaching, and we’ve got 30 holiday recipes, new and old, savory and sweet. For me—this might be obvious given what we do here on the blog—the food is the main event of any holiday! Of course, this is the time of year where all of our nostalgia-laden favorite family recipes get
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Episode 2 of our Family Meal digital series with the Food Network is here! Check it out on Foodnetwork.com, or on YouTube or Facebook. (Read more about the show and Episode 1 here.) The second episode is all about how we continue to learn about Chinese cooking and use that learning to develop new recipes
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This easy, no-cook(!) spicy bamboo shoot salad can be served as an appetizer (either cold or at room temperature). You can also serve it as a side dish with other stir-fries, braises, etc. The flavor of the sauce is balanced, with spicy raw garlic and chili flakes, salty oyster sauce and light soy sauce, a
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Shrimp with black bean sauce is a delicious dish to enjoy over steamed rice, with plenty of sauce and a rich umami flavor from the fermented black beans. About this version of shrimp with black bean sauce When you think of Shrimp with Black Bean Sauce, you might think of a drier stir-fry, like this
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We’re beside ourselves with some exciting news! We have a 3-episode digital Food Network series releasing this month. It’s a show called Family Meal, about family food businesses. Ours was the first family to be featured! The three episodes document how we started The Woks of Life and how we continue to work on it
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This Tomato Hot Pot with Beef is the perfect warming meal to take you through the winter. The tart and sweet tomatoes provide the perfect contrast to the marbled, thinly sliced beef. Enoki mushrooms and mung bean vermicelli both add additional textural contrast for a warming, satisfying meal. Is This Technically a “Hot Pot?” Well,
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This salted pork bone is an old school recipe that I was reminded of recently when my mother gave me several pounds of salted pork bones she’d made. Later, I cooked them into soup, and it was so delicious that we knew we had to share the recipe on the blog. My mother, who is
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