All Posts
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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.
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Chicken Penne w/ Asparagus and Peas
Updated:View Post: Chicken Penne w/ Asparagus and PeasDuring the workweek, I actually have a pretty flexible schedule. My job involves a lot of work that can be done online remotely (read: me sitting on the couch in my pajamas all day, tapping furiously at the keyboard for…
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Red Cabbage Salad w/ Crispy Spring Onions and Potato Sticks
Updated:View Post: Red Cabbage Salad w/ Crispy Spring Onions and Potato SticksCold dishes are a common appetizer in China, especially in Beijing. All menus have a variety of these cold dishes just as sure as you’ll find mozzarella sticks, wings, and potato skins at a Friday’s. While having a weekday lunch at…
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Sichuan Three Pepper Chicken
Updated:View Post: Sichuan Three Pepper ChickenThree Pepper Chicken has become a classic Sichuan dish. It’s made with crispy wok fried chicken, caramelized bits of garlic, and the three peppers are long hot green peppers, Chinese dried chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns! We used to eat…
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A Young Cook’s Library: The 5 Most Influential Cookbooks of My Childhood
Updated:View Post: A Young Cook’s Library: The 5 Most Influential Cookbooks of My ChildhoodI’m a nostalgic person. I like black and white photographs. Sepia is even better. I like old, cracked things. I watch way too much American Pickers for my own good. And I keep piles of strange and sentimental junk in…
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Dim Sum Sticky Rice Lotus Leaf Wraps (Lo Mai Gai)
Updated:View Post: Dim Sum Sticky Rice Lotus Leaf Wraps (Lo Mai Gai)Dim Sum. One of those all-is-right-with-the-world meals, perfect for a weekend morning (also there’s totally this smokin’ hot seating host at the local place we go to in NJ, so there’s that. We suspect he’s the owner’s son, and I’ll…
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Easter Eggs
Updated:View Post: Easter EggsOur family has never really been big on Easter. We usually have a big summer July 4th or Labor Day BBQ for family and friends; we pull out all the stops for Thanksgiving, whether we’re in the US or in Beijing;…
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Lemon Basil Yogurt Cake
Updated:View Post: Lemon Basil Yogurt CakeIt’s a relatively rare occurrence when the sheer delight and originality of a new recipe totally and completely makes your day. Today is that day, my friends. Okay, so at first glance this cake does kind of look like jalapeño…
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Savory Soy Milk Soup w/ Fried Dough (Dou Jiang)
Updated:View Post: Savory Soy Milk Soup w/ Fried Dough (Dou Jiang)This Savory Soy Milk Soup with Fried Dough, or Dou Jiang You Tiao, is a popular breakfast/brunch item in China. It’s the simplest thing you’ll ever make, after a quick trip to the Chinese grocery store. It’s basically a soy…
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Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (Hong Shao Rou)
Updated:View Post: Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (Hong Shao Rou)This Shanghai braised pork belly recipe, or hongshao rou, is simpler than you think to make, with just 6 ingredients (plus water). Since we first published this recipe in 2014, soon after we first embarked on this journey to document…
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Mulberry Galette w/ Vanilla Sauce
Updated:View Post: Mulberry Galette w/ Vanilla SauceSo…I’ll admit that I didn’t think that the mulberry was an actual fruit before yesterday–at least not one that we still eat. I figured…eh, it’s probably one of those things that the Native Americans used to snack on and dye…
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Hong Shao Kao Fu: Braised Wheat Gluten with Mushrooms
Updated:View Post: Hong Shao Kao Fu: Braised Wheat Gluten with MushroomsHong Shao Kao Fu, (红烧烤麸) is a Shanghainese vegetarian cold appetizer. Kao fu is a form of wheat gluten, often sold dried, that tastes kind of like tofu. What a lot of people don’t know about Chinese food is the…
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Pea & Carrot Soup
Updated:View Post: Pea & Carrot SoupPeas and carrots. The stuff of old-school cafeteria lunch lines, bizarre All That sketches, and Forrest Gump’s propensity for metaphor and simile. Yes, it may seem like a somewhat tired combination, bordering on the cliché. But hark, what light from yonder…
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Stir-fried Pink Amaranth Greens
Updated:View Post: Stir-fried Pink Amaranth GreensWe wanted to feature this Chinese spinach amaranth vegetable on the blog today, because it’s popping up all over the market, and it’s really just a gorgeous, healthy green that you should try if you haven’t already! It’s called “amaranth”,…
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Maple Roasted Nuts
Updated:View Post: Maple Roasted NutsThese maple roasted nuts are a great snack or treat. They also make a great food gift to give around the holidays, a special addition to an ice cream sundae bar, or a topping for salads! Maple Roasted Nuts: A…
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Homemade Sweet Sesame Crisps
Updated:View Post: Homemade Sweet Sesame CrispsSo we had a long, arduous, and patently ridiculous argument about what to call these flat, round, sesame thingies. We debated calling them cookies, cookie crisps (which just made me think about overenthusiastic cereal slinging mascots), “crunches” (whaa??), and crackers. But…
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Beef Asparagus Stir fry
Updated:View Post: Beef Asparagus Stir fryWe’re just starting to see spring asparagus in the markets these days, and I saw a really fresh selection today. In fact, the asparagus was so fresh that I decided to make a beef asparagus stir fry with some of…
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9-Layer Chinese Scallion Pancakes
Updated:View Post: 9-Layer Chinese Scallion PancakesFor a long time, when I would try to make scallion pancakes, I would end up with a lifeless, flat cracker resembling matzo (which is good stuff, but probably not the best comparison for a pancake). I eventually realized that…
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Beef Stew w/ Lemon Parsley Gremolata
Updated:View Post: Beef Stew w/ Lemon Parsley GremolataHallelujah! Winter is over! Well, before we move into summery salads and light, fruity desserts, how’s abouta last hurrah of hearty, wintry, gravy-drippiness? This Beef Stew is full of herbs, red wine, and veggies. The addition of the lemon parsley…
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We’re Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill– a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes.
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