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.
For those of you who’ve been following us for a while, you may have noticed that lately, our recipes appear to be coming out of our American kitchen, rather than the broom closet that was the kitchen in Beijing. You’re eyes aren’t deceiving you. We’re making the official (and very belated) announcement that we’re now back from
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The first time I went to Shanghai, it was because I had failed. In my junior year of high school, I was rejected in the final round of interviews for a select academic summer program for high-performing high school students. Rather than spend the summer moping about my missed opportunity to run around with fellow nerds, my mom
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Homemade multigrain english muffins, hot right off the griddle are a real treat to have for weekend breakfast or a Sunday brunch. Our family has been eating my Homemade Multigrain Bread for a long time now. I make two loaves every couple weeks, and it’s always been a breakfast staple. The other day, though, Bill
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Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans are a very popular dish both in China and here in the US, as Sichuan cuisine becomes more prevalent. This dish is also known as Szechuan dry-fried green beans of Chinese stir-fried green beans but if the restaurant is any good, they are prepared using the same method and quite
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Cuban sandwiches have become a favorite everywhere these days, from bodegas, to diners, to high end restaurants. The first time I had a Cuban sandwich was in Union City, NJ, where the population is over 80% hispanic. You can find food there from almost every Latin American cuisine, and I still go to Union City’s
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Tostones is a classic across Latin America and definitely a favorite of ours at The Woks of Life. These days, some takeout Chinese restaurants are actually serving up fried plantains on their menus. They’ll slice the plantains, freeze them in single portions, and quickly drop them into a fryer when ordered. That’s a method you could potentially use
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Before we start, let me clarify something. I don’t pretend to know how to make every dish China has to offer. It’s a big country! But when I make up my mind to learn how to make a dish (usually one I personally love), I’m big on research. I study the origins of the dish,
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Pork Potstickers are always a favorite, but they can sometimes be a pain to make—all those folds can be difficult to get a hang of if you’ve never done it before. That’s why we’re posting this easy potsticker recipe—the lazy cook’s potstickers that require NO complicated folding whatsoever. Ok, I just wanted to repeat that
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Whenever we visit my grandparents in Queens, it’s all about where to go for lunch. Soup dumplings at Nan Xiang Dumpling House, Malaysian curry noodle soup at the hole-in-the-wall place I can’t actually remember the name of, cumin lamb noodles at Xi’An Famous Foods, or a trip to the food court in the New World
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Cantonese Wonton Noodle Soup is such a basic, no-brainer bowl of noodles that you’ll find at most Cantonese restaurants. But if you’re not near a Chinatown or Cantonese place, you’ll definitely want to give it a try at home. It’s so easy to put together! If you’re not in the mood for a classic wonton noodle
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With this blackberry apple tart, I laugh in the face of seasonal-food-enthusiasts! Funny story. I was walking around the other day, and came upon a street stand selling blackberries at $1.50/box. How could I refuse? …I need funnier stories. But a couple days later, when I discovered that said blackberries were looking a little (dare I say it?)
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Fluffy apple cider pancakes make a fall weekend just that much better. Last weekend, we went apple picking, with the colors of fall in full effect. It’s already a bit late in the season to be picking apples, but there were still plenty of fruit ripe for the picking and plenty of fresh apple cider. This recipe
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Fall is a great season for comfort food, and potatoes are definitely comfort food. So what recipe could I do with potatoes that hadn’t been done before in the blogosphere? There’s a famous Chinese dish called Twice Cooked Pork, or 回锅肉(hui guo rou) of Hunan origin, where pork belly is blanched, and then stir-fried with leeks,
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It’s obvious that China has no shortage of noodle dishes and Chinese noodle soup recipes. More than you’ve probably ever heard or dreamt of. The variety is as expansive as China’s geography, and EVERYTHING is delicious. But among the many noodle dishes (and noodle soups in particular), one stands out, Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup. Consisting of
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This one has been on our hit list for a while now. A dim sum classic, the restaurant version of which probably contains copious amounts of lard, these Chinese Roast Pork Puffs are definitely an I-don’t-really-want-to-think-about-what-I’m-eating-right-now-because-it-tastes-so-awesome-but-I’ll-probably-have-to-spend-three-hours-on-a-stairmaster kind of food. Somehow, the fact that we use puff pastry for these roast pork puffs instead of lard-based dough
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Hello citrus season! Adorably tiny clementines are back in grocery stores again, and it’s time to celebrate with adorably tiny desserts! To make these, I basically took a pound cake batter, added orange liqueur, citrus zest, and clementine juice, and made a citrus glaze to go on top. If that isn’t winning at life, I don’t know what is.
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So I’m probably the LAST person on earth who would endorse a dish involving a whole fish. But here I am. Doin’ it. You may not know this about me, but I was once a long-time shunner of any and all seafood–everything from innocent filets of salmon to the most non-threatening tuna salad sandwich. I would balk at
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A while ago, we posted a traditional yet versatile Cantonese Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodle recipe, and we’ve since seen how people have made that recipe their own by adding whatever ingredients they happened to have on hand. It’s always great to rummage around in the fridge and be able to use what you have to put
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