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.
Help! How do I cook a family-style Chinese meal—with multiple dishes—in just one wok and get everything on the table piping hot at the same time? This is one of the questions that we see at The Woks of Life most often—especially around this time, with Chinese New Year and more family gatherings on the
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These beautiful, tender linzer cookies with raspberry jam filling are perfectly sweet (i.e. not TOO sweet) and particularly enjoyable during the holiday season. You’ll have friends and family waiting in the wings while you assemble them! No wonder they’re our new Christmas tradition! The Perfect Holiday Cookie For the past few years, we’ve all looked
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This simple tofu soup recipe gets sweetness from napa cabbage and richness from a few eggs. It is deliciously warm and comforting, and incredibly easy to make. With just 11 ingredients—most of which you probably already have in your kitchen (stock, water, white pepper, sesame oil, salt), you can make a tasty tofu soup that’s
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Taro is an Asian ingredient that also happens to be one of our favorites to cook with! It has a deliciously buttery flavor and smooth texture, and it’s as versatile as a potato. In this article, we’ll talk about what taro is, how to cook it, and our favorite recipes that use it. What Is
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This Air Fryer Tofu recipe makes for tasty jagged seasoned chunks that—no joke—taste like chicken nuggets! The texture and flavor combination is absolutely addictive! I know we just did a whole roundup on the individual and irreplaceable virtues of tofu…but for much of my life before age 18 and arguably much of my life after
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Jasmine rice is our go-to white rice for serving with Chinese dishes and making fried rice. In this post, we’ll answer all your questions about rice measuring, the “finger trick” every Asian kid knows, and the rice cooker we all own. And of course, we’ll teach you how to cook jasmine rice perfectly every time,
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In this highly adaptable, easy recipe, we’ll teach you how to make perfect scrambled eggs. They’re fluffy and delicious, uniform in silky perfection, and most excellent with toast. If you’ve seen any viral egg scrambling videos on the internet—this recipe is how you achieve that beautiful, fluffy, tender and wobbly egg texture at home! The
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Fish fragrant eggplant or yuxiang qiezi (鱼香茄子) is a delicious Sichuan Chinese recipe that, incidentally, has no fish in it. The term “fish fragrant” actually refers to a flavor profile similar to certain Sichuan fish dishes. This recipe has a great balance of spicy, sweet, tangy, and savory flavors. We’re long overdue on sharing our
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After years of experimenting, soul searching, mashing, and whipping, this recipe for chive mashed potatoes is my perfect mashed potato recipe. Perhaps it’s too soon to say forever, but for me, there’s no reason to go back to the drawing board with this recipe in hand! After Decades of Tinkering, Our Favorite Mashed Potato Recipe
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This herb stuffing recipe is not just the perfect Thanksgiving side dish, you can enjoy it any time of year! Serve it with a roast chicken, oven-baked turkey thighs, or even something like a pork roast. This easy stuffing recipe with dill, parsley, and thyme is straightforward to make—and delicious! Our Favorite Thanksgiving Side We
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If you’re looking for a simple, go-to way to cook green beans without too much fuss—or the perfect side dish that goes with everything—this recipe is for you. Inspired by Chinese cooking techniques, this recipe for garlic green beans yields tender beans with a slightly blistered exterior, and golden, lightly fried garlic. The only ingredients
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Pan-fried tofu, the Chinese way, is much easier than you think to make—without much oil, no pressing or drying, and just 2 ingredients. It’s versatile enough to be used in a multitude of stir-fries, but you can also serve it on its own with a tasty dipping sauce, as we have here! As a Chinese
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Roast pork egg foo young is one of the most delicious egg foo young variations! I cooked countless egg foo young patties in my parents’ Chinese restaurant in the 80s and early 90s, so if you’re looking for a real-deal nostalgia-packed recipe—complete with luxurious brown gravy—this is it. We’ll show you how to fry these
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Tofu is one of our go-to ingredients—it takes on whatever flavor you add to it, and we love the variety of textures it can have. If you’ve got a block of tofu that you don’t know what to do with, we have tofu recipes for every kind—firm tofu, soft tofu, silken tofu and pressed tofu!
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Luxurious XO sauce is a fragrant mixture of dried scallops, shrimp, Chinese ham, and chilies that was made to go with rice. Here, we use it to make a Fried Sticky Rice with XO Sauce. It’s simple and delicious, and there’s no chance you’ll be left feeling dissatisfied once you’ve had a bowl! What is
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This easy Hot & Sour Cabbage stir-fry shines with thin slices of cabbage that cook down to almost noodle-like perfection, all coated in a hot & sour sauce. It’s our new favorite way to cook cabbage! This humble vegetable lasts forever in the fridge, is good for you, and it’s inexpensive. If you’re not cooking
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This is our guide for cooking tender pan fried salmon that’s perfectly cooked—with a crispy golden crust, and no more guesswork! Whether you’re enjoying your delicious fried salmon on its own, with salad or sides, or you’re adding a sauce or other flavors to it, this recipe is the perfect starting point. Perfectly Crisp, Tender
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Sweet black sesame soup (芝麻糊) is a traditional Chinese dessert thought to also have abundant health benefits. Have you ever questioned whether a supposedly “healthy” dessert is actually healthy? This one really is! If you’ve enjoyed other black sesame desserts, like black sesame tang yuan, black sesame ice cream, or black sesame cake, you will
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