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.
Wor Wonton Soup isn’t something that we grew up with, but it’s a popular Chinese takeout specialty in many parts of the United States. It’s a wonton soup with lots of vegetables, sliced chicken, roast pork, and shrimp added, to make a full meal in one bowl. Our wor wonton soup recipe is particularly easy
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Saozi Mian is a noodle soup from Shaanxi province made with a wide variety of colorful ingredients. The soup itself is spicy, fragrant, and slightly sour. The combination of many textures make it uniquely satisfying. It’s a meal all in one bowl, with pork, noodles, mushrooms, potato, carrots, and bright green chives and scallions. Note:
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The day has at long last arrived! The Woks of Life Cookbook: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family is here, and it’s a New York Times Bestseller (and [update]: James Beard Award & IACP Award nominee)! Last week, we had a journalist over at the house for dinner. We made a
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Chicken egg rolls are something you hardly ever see in restaurants, as most egg rolls are made with pork. However, for those of you who don’t eat pork, or who just happen to have chicken on hand instead, this chicken egg roll recipe is for you! You can even be creative and mix and match
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I can’t believe we’re already at the fifth installment of our How to Grow Chinese Vegetables series! We’ll be talking about how to grow garlic chives, a Chinese perennial herb that’s perhaps one of the easiest things to grow in your garden. This series is a collaboration between us and Choy Division, a regenerative Asian produce
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Our cookbook, The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know & Love from a Chinese American Family, is almost here! In just ONE WEEK on November 1, it will hit bookshelves and start landing on your doorsteps if you pre-ordered! If you’re in the NYC area, we have some upcoming live cookbook events next week. Grab
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Bo Kho is a spicy and flavorful Vietnamese beef stew that makes for a pretty epic bowl of noodle soup. Maybe you’ve had your fill of pho or are looking for something a little different. Bho Kho with rice noodles is just the ticket. Note: This recipe was originally published in October 2017. Since then,
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Welcome to The Woks of Life guide on things to do in London! Fueled by a few trips to London over the years, this is NOT a local insider’s guide, but if you are a well-meaning, optimizing tourist, we hope you enjoy this post! International travel can be a little tricky as you decide where
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We’re slightly sheepish to say that we’re classic overachievers and wrote wayyyyyy too much in the first draft of The Woks of Life cookbook. Happily, however, we’ve repurposed it into a surprise gift for anyone who pre-orders (or already pre-ordered) the book. It’s a delightful 25-page Bonus Pack of never-before-seen content, some from the book,
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Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival (春节 – chūnjié), falls on a slightly different day in January or February of each year, as it follows the Chinese lunisolar calendar, rather than the regular Gregorian calendar used in most parts of the world. It is also known as Lunar New Year, which is a term that’s
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This Kung Pao Beef will have you devouring delicious little chunks of seared crusty beef, wok-roasted peanuts, and little bits of aromatic, popcorn-toasted dried chilies—all in a spicy, tangy sauce. Don’t forget the rice! Kung Pao Beef? It’s true that many restaurants don’t have Kung Pao beef on the menu, because it’s definitely not a
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Today we have the chick update of all chick updates! We’re talking about how to raise chickens in your backyard. As many of you who follow us on Instagram know, we now have a flock of backyard chickens laying fresh eggs every day. We started sharing regular chick updates when we got them as baby
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Fujian Fried Rice is not your average fried rice! This unique dish is a marriage of fried rice and a saucy stir-fry, consisting of a basic egg fried rice topped with a mixture of meat, seafood, vegetables, and sauce. If you love extra spoonfuls of sauce over your rice, you’ll love this recipe. What is
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Hot and Sour Dumpling Soup is a dish from Shaanxi Province. Plump dumplings are served in a piping hot bowl of spicy, sour soup seasoned with Chinese black vinegar. This is a great recipe for anyone who loves sour foods like pickles or other fermented treats, like Justin, the newest member of our family who
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We’re getting closer to November 1, the day our cookbook will finally be in your hands! We couldn’t be more thrilled, and it’s a good time to share some extra tidbits about the book. What’s more, we’ve got other posts planned over the next month to share behind the scenes from the book development process,
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There are many savory Chinese sauces and pastes made from fermented soybeans. Instantly adding flavor to stir-fries, stews and other dishes, you can find them stacked side-by-side in any Chinese grocery store. Just look for the aisle with a dizzying array of soy sauces, vinegars, rice wines, hot sauces, and bean pastes. In this article,
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This is our complete guide on how to make wontons, where we’ve gathered all of our wonton recipe and supporting articles in one place! If you’re new to making wontons at home, we have tips on what makes a great bowl of wontons, different fillings to choose from, soup bases, and several folding techniques. Let’s
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Here’s the fourth installment of our How to Grow Chinese Vegetables series: how to grow chili peppers. We’ll be talking specifically about Asian varieties you can grow, though the principles for growing different chilies and peppers are largely the same. We’ve found that chilies are easy to grow from small plants or from seed, as
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