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.
A 30-day confinement after childbirth is a Chinese tradition that stretches back over two millennia (for C-section birth, it extends to 6 weeks). Known as zuò yuè zi (坐月子) in Mandarin, it’s a time when you’re meant to safeguard your and your baby’s health, while your body is in a fragile state after birth. Over
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This taro sago (tapioca) dessert soup is a tasty and lightly sweet end to any Chinese meal. It’s also fairly simple to make, with just water and 8 other ingredients. It freezes well too, so you can make a big batch and save some in pint or quart containers for a quick and easy dessert
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A Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Eggs is classic Cantonese comfort food. My mom used to make it whenever she made a homemade batch of salted duck eggs, or if she could find uncooked ones at the market. Needless to say, growing up in rural upstate NY, it wasn’t easy to find freshly salted
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The holidays are fast approaching, and we’ve got over 35 holiday recipes, new and old, savory and sweet! This might be obvious given what we do here on the blog, but the food is the main event of any holiday. This is the time of year when all of our nostalgia-laden favorite family recipes get
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These buttery jasmine shortbread cookies are subtly flavored with ground jasmine tea leaves, making them the perfect complement for a hot cup of tea on a cold winter day. Note: We partnered with Frontier Co-op to bring you this Jasmine Shortbread Cookie recipe. As always on The Woks of Life, all opinions are our own. Enjoy! Let
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These Disney copycat smoked turkey legs have become a tradition in many of our readers’ households around the holidays since we published this recipe in July 2015. Originally developed by our aunt (my dad’s older sister), we’ve since updated it with more details on pressing questions ya’ll have asked over the years: We have answers
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The Winter Solstice in Chinese is 冬至 (dōng zhì in Mandarin Chinese), which translates to “winter arrival.” As you may already know, it’s the shortest day of the year and the longest night. The Dongzhi Festival is an important Chinese holiday, but it’s sometimes forgotten—overshadowed by the Lunar New Year (AKA the Spring Festival). In the
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This anchovy fried rice is a shortcut recipe for a Cantonese classic, Salted Fish Fried Rice. It’s a dish that we love, but it can be hard to find the right salted fish. Recently, we discovered that Italian anchovies packed in oil are a great substitute for Cantonese haam yee (fermented salted fish). This recipe
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Today we turn to 50 underrated recipes that have simply flown under the radar. Under-loved and sometimes almost completely unknown (unless you counted yourself as an original reader back in the early 2010s), these recipes deserve more! These recipes are our hidden gems, unsung heroes, long-lost loves. Heck, sometimes we’ve even forgotten about them. If
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In this cookbook behind the scenes post, we share a look behind the curtain, from the messy reality behind each beautiful food picture in the book, to our fun lifestyle shoot with Christine Han! Cookbook Excitement! Our cookbook, The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know & Love from a Chinese American Family, has been on
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Char Siu Chicken is an easy alternative to our popular roast pork char siu. If you can’t eat pork or just prefer chicken, this oven-roasted char siu chicken recipe is for you! This post contains a video that will autoplay or you can choose to watch the full video via Youtube right above the recipe
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The year has come full circle here at The Woks of Life HQ. It was around late September of last year that we packed up our old home and moved into an 18th Century farmhouse—nearly getting crushed under a wall of kitchenware-filled moving boxes in the process! One year in, and we’ve now seen the
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It’s Kaitlin—I’m back with another adventure! Oxford is a beautiful city full of history and charm. Here’s a look at what we did during a quick two days in Oxford—during my trip to London. As promised in my review of a recent trip to London, Oxford is Part 2, with Part 3—the Harry Potter Studio
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Finally, we’ve found our family’s perfect Macaroni and Cheese! This mac and cheese is everything I want—it has a creamy cheese sauce, with delicious fall flavors that meld together perfectly: rosemary, nutmeg, garlic, and bay leaf. I know what you’re thinking. It’s the DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING AND NOW YOU POST THIS MAC & CHEESE?! NOW?!!
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Our How to Grow Chinese Vegetables Series continues! Today, we’re talking about how to grow Daikon Radish, a tasty, mild, and sweet winter radish that we use a lot in our cooking. If you’re new to this series, check out our past posts on how to grow bok choy, napa cabbage, Chinese eggplant, chilies, and
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I have these melt-in-your-mouth fluffy Chinese scrambled eggs with salted chilies (i.e. Hunan-style duò jiāo – 剁椒) at least 2 times a week if I’m on my own. I’ll eat it any time of day—breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In fact, everyone in my family knows I survive during the week largely off of a carton
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Today, we’re talking about a topic near and dear to our hearts: Chinatown. For generations of our family, the Chinatowns of New York City were a refuge—a place where cherished ingredients could be found, where family has gathered for weddings, birthdays, and babies’ first month celebrations, and where each visit is always intertwined with tradition.
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With Thanksgiving just a couple weeks away, we’re rounding up ALL of our family’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes on the blog. Every year we try to update this post with new musings and recipes, so even if you are a longtime reader, read on! Thanksgiving: the super bowl of the food world Thanksgiving has become the
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